Something unusual happened Wednesday during the big stock-market rally -- the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, actually rose nearly a full point.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq each surged about 3% or more, buoyed by some strong profit reports and the Federal Reserve Board's economic growth upgrade, the VIX moved up from 25.02 to 25.89.

This...