S&P 500 Settles Sharply Lower Following Powell Remarks, Market Volatility Increases

The S&P 500 settled lower on Tuesday as investors digested Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks.

All three major stock indices dropped more than 1% at the close on Tuesday.

Meta Platforms Inc META plans to cut "thousands of employees" as soon as this week, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.

Major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with financials and real estate stocks recording the biggest losses on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.22% to close at 12,152.17 on Tuesday, amid gains in shares of Tesla Inc TSLA and Apple Inc AAPL.

The S&P 500 fell 1.53%, while the Dow Jones lost 1.72% to 32,856.46 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 5.3% to 19.59 points on Tuesday.

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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