S&P 500 Rises Following Bostic's Comments, Market Volatility Drops Further

The S&P 500 rose on Thursday following comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic.

Treasury yields fell from prior highs after Bostic argued for quarter-point hikes and said he preferred a "slow and steady" course of action for the central bank.

Tesla, Inc. TSLA shares dropped around 5.9% on Thursday following the company's Investor Day presentation. Macy's, Inc. M shares gained more than 11% after the company reported upbeat Q4 results and issued guidance.

Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with utilities and information technology stocks recording the biggest gains on Thursday. However, financials and consumer discretionary stocks bucked the overall market trend, settling lower during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.89% to close at 12,044.87 on Thursday, amid gains in shares of Microsoft Corp MSFT and Intel Corporation INTC.

The S&P 500 rose 0.76%, while the Dow Jones added 1.05% to 33,003.57 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 4.8% to 19.59 points on Thursday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

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