S&P 500 Hits Fresh Highs Following Jobs Report: Investor Sentiment Improves, Fear & Greed Index Remains In 'Neutral' Zone

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

U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 200 points during the session. The S&P 500 also surged to fresh highs, recording a weekly gain, following the release of the jobs data.

The S&P 500 gained 1% last week, while the Dow and Nasdaq surged 2.3% and 1.9%, respectively.

December nonfarm payrolls rose by 50,000, slightly below expectations of 60,000, confirming a continued cooling in employment growth. The brighter signal came from the unemployment rate, which unexpectedly declined to 4.4% from 4.5%, suggesting the labor market may be stabilizing after months of gradual deterioration.

Investors are now almost fully pricing in the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged at its late-January meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Intel Corp. (INTC) jumped more than 10%, reaching its highest levels since March 2024, after President Donald Trump described his recent meeting with CEO Lip-Bu Tan as “a great meeting.”

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with materials, utilities and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday. However, health care and financial stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower.

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 238 points to 49,504.07 on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.65% to 6,966.28, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.81% to 23,671.35 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Sify Technologies Ltd. (SIFY) and Wealthfront Corp. (WLTH) today.

What Is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 50.6, the index remained in the “Neutral” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 47.2.

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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