Investor Optimism Improves Slightly Ahead Of Jackson Hole Symposium

U.S. stocks moved higher on Wednesday helped by gains in energy shares, with the CNN Money Fear and Greed index remaining in the "neutral" zone on Thursday.

Investor are now awaiting the Jackson Hole symposium starting today, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell scheduled to speak on Friday.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced plans to forgive a portion of federal student debt for qualified borrowers and to extend the loan payment freeze until the end of the year.

After the closing bell, NVIDIA Corporation NVDA posted downbeat Q2 results. On the other hand, Salesforce Inc CRM reported upbeat results for its second quarter, but lowered its annual projections.

The Dow rose 0.18% to close at 32,969.23 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 gained 0.29%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.41% to settle at 12,431.53 in the previous session.

Investors are now awaiting earnings results from Dollar General Corporation DG, Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR and Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, scheduled for release today.

At a current reading of 46.0, the index remained in the "neutral" zone on Thursday, following a previous reading of 45.0.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

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.