Investor Fear Eases Further, Here's Why

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed US stock markets remained in the "fear" zone on Thursday, but the fear level continued to ease with tech stocks recording sharp gains in the previous session.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Wednesday on positive earnings signals with investors also monitoring inflation and further rate increases by the Federal Reserve.

Netflix, Inc. NFLX shares gained over 7% on Wednesday after the company reported a lower-than-expected decline in subscribers during the second quarter. Tesla Inc TSLA shares gained around 3% in pre-market trading after exceeding profit estimates for the latest quarter.

Investors, meanwhile, are now awaiting earnings results from AT&T Inc T and American Airlines Group Inc. AAL.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.58% to close at 11,897.65 on Wednesday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 also added 0.15% and 0.59%, respectively on Wednesday.

At a current reading of 39.0, the index remained in the "fear" zone on Thursday, following a previous reading of 36.0.