S&P 500 Settles Higher But Records Weekly Loss, Market Volatility Falls Slightly

US stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the Nasdaq recording losses during the session.

The Nasdaq notched its first weekly drop this year, falling around 2.4%, while the S&P 500 fell around 1.1% last week.

Expedia Group, Inc. EXPE shares dropped 8.5% on Friday after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results.

As far as the earnings season is concerned, around 70% of the S&P 500 companies have released quarterly results so far, with around 70% of those exceeding market estimates.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with energy and utilities stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday. However, consumer discretionary and communication services stocks bucked the market trend, recording losses during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.62% to close at 12,304.92 on Friday, amid losses in shares of Tesla Inc TSLA and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

The S&P 500 gained 0.22%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.50% to 33,869.27 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 0.9% to 20.53 points on Wednesday.

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.

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