Market Volatility Subsides With Support From Technology Stocks

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell around 1.6% to 26.40 on Thursday.

What Happened: US stocks had recorded sharp losses in early trading on Thursday, following the release of producer price index, which showed producer prices for final demand increasing 1.1% month-over-month in June, above analysts’ expectations of 0.8%. However, Wall Street pared losses later in the session, with the Nasdaq 100 index settling higher by 0.34% on Thursday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 lost 0.46% and 0.30%, respectively.

JPMorgan Chase & Co's JPM shares fell around 3.5% on Thursday, after the big bank reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter. Conagra Brands, Inc's CAG shares declined by more than 7%, after the company posted disappointing Q4 sales.

Technology stocks provided some support to the overall markets, with shares of Apple Inc. AAPL gaining around 2% on Thursday.

Investors now await several economic reports, including retail sales, industrial production and import and export prices, due to be released today.