Investor Fear Eases Further As Dow Jumps More Than 300 Points

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed further easing in the overall fear level in the US stock markets, after the Dow Jones closed sharply higher on Thursday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve, on Wednesday, raised interest rates by 75 bps in order to combat the surging inflation level.

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. META, however, dropped over 5% on Thursday after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results and issued Q3 total revenue guidance below estimates.

Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, meanwhile, released better-than-expected quarterly earnings after the closing bell on Thursday.

The release of GDP data limited the gains on the Wall Street, as the US economy shrank an annualized 0.9% on quarter during the second quarter, compared to a 1.6% decline in the first quarter.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.08% to close at 12,162.59 on Thursday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500, meanwhile, added 1.03% and 1.21%, respectively in the previous session.

At a current reading of 39.0, the index remained in the "fear" zone on Friday, following a previous reading of 38.0.