Fear & Greed Index Moves To 'Neutral' Zone; S&P 500 Settles At Record High Ahead Of Jobs Data

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed an improvement in the overall market sentiment, with the index moving to the “Neutral” zone on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 gaining to a new record high during the session.

On the economic data front, U.S. private businesses added 152,000 workers to their payrolls in May, compared to market estimates of 173,000 and down from 192,000 in April. The ISM services PMI climbed to 53.8 in May, notching the highest level in nine months, and topping market expectations of 50.8.

Investors are awaiting the release of nonfarm payrolls report for May, due to be released on Friday.

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA surpassed a $3-trillion valuation, overtaking Apple Inc. AAPL to become the second most valuable U.S. company. Dollar Tree Inc DLTR shares fell around 5% on Wednesday after the company reported its first-quarter FY24 earnings and announced a review of strategic alternatives for its Family Dollar business segment.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with communication services, industrials and information technology stocks recording the biggest gains on Wednesday. However, utilities and consumer staples stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower.

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 96 points to 38,807.33 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 rose 1.18% at 5,354.03, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.96% at 17,187.90 during Wednesday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from The J. M. Smucker Company SJM, The Toro Company TTC and NIO Inc. NIO today.

At a current reading of 45.4, the index moved to the “Neutral” zone on Wednesday, versus a prior reading of 39.9.

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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