The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed further increase in the fear level among U.S. investors as stocks on the Wall Street settled lower for the third session in a row on Thursday.

Big technology stocks including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) recorded losses on Thursday.

On the economic data front, US initial jobless claims increased by 5,000 to 213,000 in the week ended September 17th, while current account deficit shrank to $251.1 billion in the second quarter, following a record gap of $282.5 billion in the first quarter.

Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc (NYSE:DRI) dropped 4.4% on Thurs after the company posted weak sales for the first quarter.

The Dow dropped 0.35% to close at 30,076.68 on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 0.84% to 3,757.99, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.37% to settle at 11,066.81 in the previous session.

Investors are now awaiting earnings results from Huize Holding Limited (NASDAQ:HUIZ) and InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:INM), scheduled for release today.

At a current reading of 29.0, the index remained in the "fear" zone, following a previous reading of 31.0.

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.