S&P 500 Records Best Weekly Performance Since March; Market Volatility Increases

The S&P 500 settled lower on Friday after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's representatives stormed out of a private meeting with White House officials.

US stocks, however, recorded weekly gains, with the S&P 500 notching its biggest weekly percentage gains since March.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke both appeared at the Thomas Laubach Research Conference on Friday, offering monetary policy remarks.

On the earnings front, Deere & Company DE reported better-than-expected Q2 financial results and issued guidance, while Foot Locker Inc FL reported worse-than-expected first-quarter results and lowered its FY23 guidance.

Major sectors on S&P 500 closed on a mixed note, with consumer discretionary and communication services stocks recording the biggest losses on Friday. However, energy and health care stocks closing higher during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.22% to close at 13,803.49 on Friday, amid gains in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and NVIDIA Corporation NVDA.

The S&P 500 lost 0.14%, while the Dow Jones fell 0.33% to 33,426.63 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) jumped 4.7% to close at 16.81 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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