Fear & Greed Index Remains In 'Fear' Zone Ahead Of Powell's Speech

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index remained in the "fear" zone, despite a surge in U.S. stocks on Wednesday.

Wall Street has recorded sharp losses since mid-August following hawkish remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Markets are now expecting a 75-basis-point rate increase by the Federal Reserve later this month to combat surging inflation.

Investors are now awaiting speech from Fed Chair Powell today for some clues related to interest rates.

The energy index dropped close to 1.2% amid a sharp decline in oil prices on Wednesday.

The Dow jumped 1.40% to close at 31,581.28 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 rose 1.83% to 3,979.87, while the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.14% to settle at 11,791.90 in the previous session, amid a surge in stocks, including, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

At a current reading of 40.0, the index remained in the "fear" zone, following a previous reading of 41.0.

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.