Fear & Greed Index Inches Toward 'Fear' Zone Again Amid Plunge In Stocks

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index is again inching toward the "fear" zone on rate-hike concerns, but the index remained in the "neutral" zone on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks dropped sharply again on Monday after all the three major indices recorded losses last week ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central banking conference later this week in Jackson Hole, with markets expecting an aggressive rate increase from the central bank in September.

The Dow fell 1.91% to close at 33,063.61 on Monday. The S&P 500 fell 2.14%, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.55% to settle at 12,381.57 in the previous session.

Investors are now awaiting earnings results from Macy's, Inc. M and Medtronic plc MDT, scheduled for release today.

At a current reading of 46.0, the index remained in the "neutral" zone on Monday, following a previous reading of 51.0.

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.