The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some improvement in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks settled mostly lower on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 150 points during the session.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) soared around 9% after announcing plans to build a cloud business to sell its excess AI compute capacity. In semiconductors, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell around 1.3% and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) sank 10.6%.

The Dow jumped 8.9% during the first half of the year, recording its best first-half performance since 2021. The S&P 500 gained 9.6%, while the Nasdaq climbed more than 12%.

The S&P 500 climbed 14.9%, while the Nasdaq surged 21.4% in the second quarter, notching its biggest quarterly surge since the second quarter of 2020. The Dow also climbed 12.9%, notching its best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2022.

On the economic data front, U.S. private businesses added 98,000 jobs in June, down from 122,000 in May and market estimates of 113,000. The S&P Global manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 53.9 in June, from the preliminary reading of 55.7 and also down from May’s final reading of 55.1.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with communication services, financial and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest gains on Wednesday. However, information technology and utilities stocks were among the worst performers.

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 14 points to 52,305.24 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.22% to 7,483.23, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.66% to 26,040.03 during Wednesday’s session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Lindsay Corp (NYSE:LNN) today.

What Is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 32, the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Wednesday, versus a prior reading of 30.9.

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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