S&P 500 Logs Worst Weekly Decline Since April; Investor Optimism Falls Further

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a further decline in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Neutral” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 350 points during the session. The S&P 500 fell 1.97%, while the Nasdaq dipped 3.65% last week, recording their biggest weekly losses since April. However, the Dow gained 0.72% during the week.

On the economic data front, the total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by one to 477 rigs this week, reported Baker Hughes Inc.

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. CRWD shares dipped over 11% on Friday after the company suffered a major outage impacting businesses around the world. Netflix Inc. NFLX posted better-than-expected earnings and sales results for its second quarter, after the closing bell on Thursday.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with energy, information technology, and financials stocks recording the biggest losses on Friday. However, healthcare and utilities stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher.

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 377 points to 40,287.53 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 0.71% at 5,505.00, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.81% at 17,726.94 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO, SAP SE SAP, and Verizon Communications Inc. VZ today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 49.2, the index remained in the “Neutral” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 53.6.

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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