Markets Turn More Bullish

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed although US equity markets remained in the "fear" zone on Friday, but they are slowly inching towards the "neutral" zone, as the overall fear level continued to ease with a sharp rise in tech stocks in the previous session.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Thursday after Tesla Inc TSLA reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter. Investors are also keeping an eye on rising inflation level and aggressive monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

U.S. initial jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 251,000 the week ended July 16th, recording the highest level since November 2021.

Investors, meanwhile, are now awaiting earnings results from American Express AXP , Verizon Communications VZ and Twitter Inc TWTR.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.36% to close at 12,059.61 on Thursday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 also added 0.51% and 0.99%, respectively in the previous session.

At a current reading of 42.0, the index remained in the "fear" zone on Friday, following a previous reading of 39.0.