Volatility In Markets Subsides Further Following Upbeat Earnings From Apple, Amazon

U.S. stocks settled sharply higher for a second day, with the Dow Jones jumping more than 300 points on Thursday.

Data released Thursday showed a quarterly contraction in the US economy, which shrank an annualized 0.9% on quarter during the second quarter. The news increased speculation that the Fed might not continue with aggressive rate hikes.

The Federal Reserve, on Wednesday, raised interest rates by 75 bps on Wednesday in order to combat surging inflation.

The market sentiment was boosted by better-than-expected quarterly results from Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN. Ford Motor Co F also reported upbeat quarterly net income.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 settled higher, with real estate stocks recording the biggest surge on Thursday. Communication services, however, was the worst performing sector in the previous session, dropping around 0.7%.

The Dow Jones jumped 332 points to 32,529.63 on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.08% to 12,162.59 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped 1.5% to 22.00 points on Friday.

Investors are now awaiting the release of several economic reports, including Chicago PMI and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index today.