S&P 500 Records Gains, Market Volatility Drops Further

The S&P 500 settled higher on Tuesday ahead of the Fed’s policy decision.

Shares of First Republic Bank FRC jumped more than 29% on Tuesday following reports suggesting JP Morgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon is leading discussions to come up with a new rescue plan for the bank. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said the government is prepared to take more action to aid banks.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to conclude a two-day policy meeting today, with markets expecting a 25 basis-point rate hike.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with energy and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest gains on Tuesday. However, utilities and real estate stocks bucked the overall market trend, settling lower during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 gained 1.42% to close at 12,741.44 on Tuesday, amid gains in shares of Tesla Inc TSLA and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

The S&P 500 gained 1.30%, while the Dow Jones added 0.98% to 32,560.60 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped 11.5% to 21.38 points on Tuesday.

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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