Fear & Greed Index Moves To 'Neutral' Zone After Fed Minutes

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index moved to the "Neutral" zone on Wednesday after investors digested minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting.

U.S. stocks settled lower, with the Nasdaq falling more than 1% on Wednesday. According to the meeting’s summary, there is a possibility of rising interest rates. Most participants continued to see “significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy,” the minutes stated.

On the earnings front, shares of Target TGT gained around 3% on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. The Progressive Corporation PGR shares gained 8.9% after the company reported July results.

Majority of sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with consumer discretionary, communication services and real estate stocks recording the biggest losses on Wednesday. However, utilities stocks bucked the overall market trend, settling higher during the Wednesday’s session.

The Dow Jones closed lower by over 180 points to 34,765.74 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.76% at 4,404.33, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.15% at 13,474.63 during the session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Walmart Inc. WMT, Tapestry, Inc. TPR, Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT and Ross Stores, Inc. ROST today.

At a current reading of 52.0, the index moved to the "Neutral" zone from the "Greed" zone, versus a previous reading of 57.0

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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