Investor Optimism Improves, Dow Settles Above 40,000

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some improvement in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Greed” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, as the Dow Jones index settled above the major 40,000 level for the first time.

U.S. stocks also notched weekly gains, with the Dow gaining 1.2% to record its fifth consecutive weekly gain, while the S&P 500 added 1.5% last week.

On the economic data front, the U.S. leading index fell 0.6% month-over-month for April, versus market expectations for a 0.3% decline.

Shares of GameStop Corp GME fell around 20% on Friday after the video game retailer released preliminary first-quarter results, anticipating revenue between $0.872 billion and $0.892 billion.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with energy, materials and financial stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday. However, information technology and consumer staples stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower.

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 134 points to 40,003.59 on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.12% at 5,303.27, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.07% at 16,685.97 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Nordson Corporation NDSN, Palo Alto Networks, Inc. PANW, and Zoom Video Communications, Inc. ZM today.

At a current reading of 64.5, the index remained in the “Greed” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 63.5.

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.

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