Dow Dips 150 Points Ahead Of Powell Speech: Investor Sentiment Declines, Fear & Greed Index Moves To 'Neutral' Zone

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a decline in the overall market sentiment, while the index moved to the “Neutral” zone on Thursday.

U.S. stocks settled lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 150 points during the session as investors continued to adopt a risk-off stance ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday.

Shares of Walmart Inc. WMT fell 4.5% on Thursday after the company reported mixed second-quarter results and raised its annual outlook. Shares of Coty Inc. COTY dipped around 22% following a fourth-quarter adjusted EPS miss.

On the economic data front, U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 11,000 from the previous week to 235,000 in the second week of August, compared to market estimates of 225,000. U.S. existing home sales climbed by 2% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.01 million in July. The S&P Global services PMI fell to 55.4 in August from 55.7 in the previous month, while manufacturing PMI climbed to 53.3 in August versus 49.8 in July.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with consumer discretionary, utilities and consumer staples stocks recording the biggest losses on Thursday. However, energy and materials stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher.

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 153 points to 44,785.50 on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 0.40% to 6,370.17, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.34% to 21,100.31 during Thursday’s session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. BJ, Buckle Inc. BKE and Gold Fields Ltd. GFI today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 54.3, the index moved to the “Neutral” zone on Thursday, versus a prior reading of 55.2.

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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