S&P 500 Settles Lower Amid Decline In Consumer Sentiment; Market Volatility Increases

The S&P 500 settled lower on Friday after data showed U.S. consumer sentiment declined to a six-month low level in May.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment dropped to 57.7 in May from 63.5 in the prior month.

Tesla, Inc. TSLA shares dropped 2.4% on Friday amid volatility in the stock after Elon Musk announced a new CEO of Twitter.

News Corp NWSA shares gained more than 8% on Friday after the company reported third-quarter financial results.

Major sectors on S&P 500 closed on a mixed note, with utilities and consumer staples stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday. However, consumer discretionary and financial stocks closed lower during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.37% to close at 13,340.18 on Friday, amid gains in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Tesla Inc TSLA.

The S&P 500 fell 0.16%, while the Dow Jones lost 0.03% to 33,300.62 in the previous session. For the week, the Dow fell 1.1%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.3%.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 0.6% to close at 17.03 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.

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