S&P 500 Settles Lower, Market Volatility Rises

US stocks closed lower on Thursday, reversing gains recorded earlier during the session.

Data released Thursday showed initial jobless climbing to 196,000 in the week ending February 4, compared to the prior week's nine-month low of 183,000.

The Walt Disney Company DIS shares fell 1.3% after the company reported Q1 results. PepsiCo, Inc. PEP shares gained 1% after the company posted upbeat quarterly earnings and announced a 10% increase in its annualized dividend to $5.06 per share.

As far as the earnings season is concerned, more than half of the S&P 500 companies have released quarterly results so far, with around 69% of those exceeding market estimates.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with communication services, materials and utilities stocks recording the biggest losses on Thursday.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.91% to close at 12,381.17 on Thursday, amid gains in shares of Alphabet Inc GOOGL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

The S&P 500 lost 0.88%, while the Dow Jones fell 0.73% to 33,699.88 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 5.5% to 20.71 points on Wednesday.
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.

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