Market Volatility Decreases Further As Investors Await Powell Speech

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday driven by gains in mega-cap growth shares.

Investors are awaiting speech from the Fed chief Jerome Powell at the central bank’s annual monetary policy conference.

Shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR dropped more than 10% on Thursday after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q2 sales and issued Q3 earnings guidance below estimates.

The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.75% to close at 13,143.58 on Thursday, while the S&P 500 rose 1.41%. The Dow Jones gained around 323 points to settle at 33,291.78 in the previous session.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a higher note, with materials and communication services stocks recording the biggest surge on Thursday.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 4.6% to 21.78 points on Thursday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.