S&P 500 Closes Higher, Volatility In Markets Decreases

The S&P 500 ended slightly higher on Friday ahead of this week's Fed monetary policy meeting.

All three major stock indices closed the session on a positive note, with the Nasdaq notching the biggest surge.

As far as the earnings season is concerned, 143 S&P 500 companies have released quarterly results so far, with around 67.8% of those exceeding market estimates.

Shares of Intel Corporation INTC dropped 6.4% on Friday after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 results and issued soft guidance. Chevron Corporation CVX shares fell 4.4% after reporting worse-than-expected Q4 earnings.

Major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a mixed note, with consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest surge on Friday. However, energy stocks, bucked the overall market trend, moving lower by around 2% during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.96% to close at 12,166.60 on Friday, amid gains in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Tesla Inc TSLA.

The S&P 500 gained 0.25%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.08% to 33,978.08 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 1.2% to 18.51 points on Friday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

Read Next: Eiger BioPharmaceuticals And 2 Other Penny Stocks Insiders Are Aggressively Buying