S&P 500 Settles Higher, Market Volatility Falls Further

US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, after retail sales for January increased the most in around two years.

Retail sales rose 3% month-over-month in January, recording the biggest growth since March 2021 and higher than market expectations for a 1.8% increase.

Roblox Corporation RBLX shares climbed more than 26% on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 sales results.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with consumer discretionary and communication services stocks recording the biggest gains on Wednesday. However, energy and health care stocks bucked the overall market trend, moving lower during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.77% to close at 12,687.89 on Wednesday, amid gains in shares of Tesla Inc TSLA, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Apple Inc AAPL.

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The S&P 500 added 0.28%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.11% to 34,128.05 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 3.6% to 18.23 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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