Why Fear Level Among US Investors Is Decreasing

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index remained in the "fear" zone, but fear level eased slightly following a rise in the U.S. stocks on Thursday.

Wall Street recorded gains in the previous session driven by financial and healthcare stocks.

Markets swung between gains and losses in a choppy trading on Thursday as concerns over Fed’s upcoming steps to combat a rising inflation remain.

Barclays, Bank of America and Jefferies said they are now expecting the Fed to increase interest rates by 75 basis points during this month’s meeting.

The Dow jumped 0.61% to close at 31,774.52 on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 0.66% to 4,006.18, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.60% to settle at 11,862.13 in the previous session, amid a slight rise in stocks, including, Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

At a current reading of 42.0, the index remained in the "fear" zone, following a previous reading of 40.0.

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.