S&P 500 Records Largest Weekly Decline Since March 2023 As Nvidia, Google Tumble: Fear & Greed Index Moves To 'Fear' Zone

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a decline in the overall market sentiment, with the index moving to the “Fear” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks settled lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 logging its worst week since March 2023. Megacap tech stocks moved lower with investors dumping risk assets. Shares of Amazon.com AMZN dipped 3.7%, while Alphabet GOOG GOOGL shares tumbled 4.1% during the session. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation NVDA dipped 4.1% on Friday.

On the economic data front, the U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August versus a revised 89,000 gain in July, but down from market estimates of 160,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in August from 4.3% in the previous month. Average hourly earnings for all employees rose by 0.4% to $35.21 in August compared to a 0.2% gain in July.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with communication services, information technology and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest losses on Friday. However, real estate stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session slightly higher.

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 410 points to 40,345.41 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 1.73% to 5,408.42, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.55% to 16,690.83 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Oracle Corporation ORCL, Mission Produce, Inc. AVO and Matrix Service Company MTRX today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 39.3, the index moved to the “Greed” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 47.6.

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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