Investor Sentiment Declines After July's Jobs Report

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a decline in overall sentiment among U.S. investors on Friday.

U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, as investors digested the recent jobs data. The S&P 500 fell for a fourth consecutive session, also recording its worst week since March. The Dow
fell 1.1%, while the S&P declined about 2.9% last week.

The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in July, compared to market estimates of 200,000 and compared to a revised 185,000 gain in June. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June and versus market estimates of 3.6%.

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN shares gained 8.3% after reporting upbeat quarterly profit and issuing positive guidance. Shares of Apple Inc. AAPL fell around 4.8% on Friday after the company reported results for its third quarter.

As far as the earnings season is concerned, 84% of the S&P 500 companies have released quarterly results so far, with around 89% of those exceeding market estimates.

On the economic data front, U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 6,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the week ending July 29, in line with estimates. The ISM services PMI declined to 52.7 in July from 53.9 in June.

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 150 points to 35,065.62 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 0.53% at 4,478.03, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.36% at 13,909.24 during the session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN, Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC and Celanese Corporation CE today.

At a current reading of 69.0, the index remained in the "Greed" zone, versus a previous reading of 74.0

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

The Fear & Greed Index is a measure of the current market sentiment. It is based on the premise that higher fear exerts pressure on stock prices, while higher greed has the opposite effect. The index is calculated based on seven equal-weighted indicators. The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greediness.

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