Dow Jumps Over 400 Points Amid China Tariff Hopes, Investor Fear Eases: Greed Index Remains In 'Fear' Zone

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index some improvement in market sentiment, with the index in the “Fear” zone on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones index jumping more than 400 points during the session. However, all three major indices closed the session well off their highs as the Dow jumped over 1,100 points at one point during morning session.

On the trade front, tensions with China appeared to thaw, with reports suggesting the White House is considering reducing tariffs on certain categories of goods.

Philip Morris International Inc. PM reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY25 adjusted EPS guidance above estimates. Shares of Tesla Inc. TSLA gained more than 5% on Wednesday after the company released earnings results for its first quarter.

On the economic data front, sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. jumped by 7.4% to an annualized rate of 724,000. The S&P Global services PMI dipped to 51.4 in April from 54.4 in the prior month. The S&P Global manufacturing PMI climbed to 50.7 in April from 50.2 in the previous month.

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

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 420 points to 39,606.57 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 jumped 1.67% to 5,375.86, while the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.50% at 16,708.05 during Wednesday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY, PepsiCo, Inc. PEP and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL today.

At a current reading of 27.3, the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Wednesday, versus a prior reading of 26.2.

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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