Fear & Greed Index Drops Further As US Stocks Record Losses For Fourth Straight Session

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index moved slightly lower, but still remained in the "neutral" zone after U.S. stocks recorded losses for the fourth session in a row.

All the three major indices notched their weakest August performance since 2015 following Jerome Powell’s comments at Jackson Hole.

For the month, the Dow Jones dropped around 4.06%, while the S&P 500 declined 4.24%. The Nasdaq index, meanwhile, dipped about 4.64% in August.

Data released on Wednesday showed ADP private payrolls rose by 132,000 jobs during the month of August. The jobs report is due on Friday, with analysts expecting nonfarm payrolls increasing by 300,000 last month following a 528,000 growth in July.

The Dow fell 0.88% to close at 31,510.43 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.78% to 3,955.00, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.56% to settle at 11,816.20 in the previous session amid a drop in megacap stocks, including Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

Investors are now awaiting earnings results from Hormel Foods Corporation HRL, Campbell Soup Company CPB, Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU and Broadcom Inc. AVGO.

At a current reading of 48.0, the index remained in the "neutral" zone, following a previous reading of 49.0.

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.