Fear & Greed Index Moves To 'Fear' Zone Ahead Of Powell's Speech

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index moved to the "Fear" zone on Thursday.

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday ahead of a key speech from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA shares surged to an all-time high after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results and issued strong revenue guidance for the third quarter. However, the stock closed higher by just 0.1% on Thursday.

Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR shares dipped 12.9% on Thursday after the company reported second-quarter financial results and issued third-quarter earnings guidance below estimates.

On the economic data front, U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 from the previous week’s revised reading to 230,000 in the week ending Aug. 19, compared to market estimates of 240,000. Durable goods orders fell 5.2% from the prior month in July versus a revised growth of 4.4% in June.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with communication services, information technology and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest losses on Thursday.

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 374 points to 34,099.42 on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 1.35% at 4,376.31, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.87% at 13,463.97 during the session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hibbett, Inc. HIBB and Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. AKBA today.

At a current reading of 43, the index moved to the "Fear" zone on Thursday, compared to a previous reading of 50.20.

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.

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