Investor Optimism Improves Despite Stocks Ending Mixed On Friday: S&P 500 Closes Lower With Nvidia Dropping Over 3%, Dow Jones Ends Marginally Higher

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some improvement in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 edging lower amid a decline in shares of NVIDIA Corporation NVDA.

The S&P 500 hit an intraday record level of 5,505.53 earlier last week and recorded a weekly gain of 0.6%. The Dow Jones index, meanwhile, gained 1.45% to record its strongest weekly performance since May.

On the economic data front, the S&P Global US services PMI surged to 55.1 in June versus 54.8 a month ago. The S&P Global US manufacturing PMI climbed to a three-month high level of 51.7 in June.

Shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc FDS gained around 4% on Friday after the company posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. Shares of CarMax Inc KMX edged higher on Friday after the company released first-quarter results.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with consumer discretionary and communication services stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday. However, information technology and energy stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower.

The Dow Jones closed higher by over 15 points to 39,150.33 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 0.16% at 5,464.62, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.18% at 17,689.36 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Enerpac Tool Group Corp. EPAC and Beyond Air, Inc. XAIR today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 40.8, the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 40.2.

The Fear & Greed Index is a measure of the current market sentiment. It is based on the premise that higher fear exerts pressure on stock prices, while higher greed has the opposite effect. The index is calculated based on seven equal-weighted indicators. The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greediness.

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