Investor Sentiment Edges Lower, S&P 500 Falls For Sixth Straight Day

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a further decline in the overall market sentiment, but the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 falling for a sixth straight session. The index fell over 3% last week to record its worst weekly performance since March 2023. However, the Dow Jones index edged higher by 0.01% for the week.

On the economic data front, the total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 5 to 511 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Shares of Netflix, Inc. NFLX fell over 9% during Friday’s session following first-quarter results. Paramount Global PARA shares jumped more than 13% to $12.35 following reports suggesting Sony is in talks with Apollo to join a bid for the company.

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

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The Dow Jones closed higher by around 211 points to 37,986.40 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 0.88% at 4,967.23, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.05% at 15,282.01 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Zions Bancorporation ZION, Nucor Corporation NUE, and Albertsons Companies, Inc ACI today.

At a current reading of 31.2, the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 33

What Is The 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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