Investor Optimism Improves Further Following Fed's Rate Hike

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed further improvement in overall sentiment among US investors.

US stocks closed higher on Wednesday as investors digested a quarter-point rate increase from the Federal Reserve.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD shares jumped 12.6% on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results and issued Q1 guidance.

The Dow closed higher by around 7 points to 34,092.96 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 gained 1.05% to 4,119.21, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2% to settle at 11,816.32 in the session.

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Investors are awaiting earnings results from Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Apple Inc. AAPL, Ford Motor Company F and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL today.

At a current reading of 73.0, the index remained in the "Greed" zone, compared to a previous reading of 71.0.

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.

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