Are you saying that it is a tough time because the economy in general is crap, or because of the [url=http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/feeds/ap/2004/08/02/ap1485154.html]terrorist attacks that are supposed to target financial institutions[/url]?
There's an old saying: "Sell in May and Go Away". It's been very true this year in particular. Most of the more active traders and institutions slow down in the summer, so overall volume is very low. To see stock prices rise sharply usually requires great volume. That's why we saw a lot of stock prices up in the early parts of the year. But since then we've seen a good bit of outflow.