US Stocks Settle Higher After Strong Results From Meta; Market Volatility Decreases Sharply

The S&P 500 closed sharply higher on Thursday following strong earnings reports from several companies.

All three major US stock indices recorded gains, with tech-related stocks leading the overall gains. The Nasdaq recorded its largest single-day percentage gain since mid-March, while the S&P 500 notched its biggest daily percentage gain since early January.

Meta Platforms META shares jumped around 14% on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and an increase in active users.

Economic data released Thursday showed that the U.S. economy grew lesser-than-expected during the first quarter. U.S. initial jobless claims dropped by 16 thousand to 230 thousand in the week ending April 22, versus market estimates of 249 thousand.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with communication services and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest gains on Thursday.

The Nasdaq 100 jumped 2.76% to close at 13,160.03 on Thursday, amid gains in shares of Microsoft Corp MSFT and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN.

The S&P 500 rose 1.96%, while the Dow Jones added 1.57% to 33,826.16 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 9.6% to close at 17.03 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.

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