Fear & Greed Index Drops But Remains In 'Neutral' Zone

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index remained in the "neutral" zone, but moved lower following another drop in the US stocks on Tuesday.

Each of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in negative zone, with the energy sector dropping around 3.4%, as crude oil prices dipped more than 5% on Tuesday.

Shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. BBY gained 1.6% on Tuesday after reporting a lower-than-expected decline in quarterly sales.

The Dow dropped 0.96% to close at 31,790.87 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 fell 1.10% to 3,986.16, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.12% to settle at 11,883.14 in the previous session amid a drop in megacap stocks, including Apple Inc. AAPL, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Microsoft Corporation MSFT.

Investors are now awaiting earnings results from Donaldson Company, Inc DCI, Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE: BF-B) and Designer Brands Inc. DBI.

At a current reading of 49.0, the index remained in the "neutral" zone, following a previous reading of 54.0.

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.