Michelle ThompsonOn Wednesday, U.S. stocks fluctuated, losing earlier gains as investors attempted to recover from significant losses earlier in the week. The Dow dropped 234 points, or 0.6%, after initially rising by more than 400 points. The S&P 500 fell by 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined by 1.1%.
CNN’s Fear & Greed Index, which assesses market sentiment through seven indicators, ended in the “extreme fear” zone. Meanwhile, the Cboe Volatility Index, a measure of expected stock market volatility often referred to as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” decreased to 27.
Oil prices increased on Wednesday, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, settling at $75.23 per barrel, and Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, closing at $78.33 per barrel.
Japanese stocks rose by 1.2% on Wednesday, continuing their recovery after the Nikkei 225 index experienced its biggest daily percentage drop since 1987 on Monday. Japan also faced the impact of a stronger yen after the central bank raised interest rates for the second time in 2024. U.S. stocks saw a slight rebound on Tuesday following concerns about slowing U.S. economic growth sparked by recent labor and manufacturing data, which led to a major selloff across global markets. On Monday, the Dow and S&P 500 recorded their worst day since 2022, with the Dow dropping more than 1,000 points.
Sean Frank, Chief Investment Officer at Cloud Equity Group, commented, “A global recession has been predicted on and off for more than 18 months, but it has yet to happen in the U.S. The best advice for investors remains to diversify their portfolios.”
Even the top-performing tech stocks, known as the Magnificent Seven, suffered significant losses on Monday as concerns grew that artificial intelligence has not yet translated into revenue growth. These companies lost a combined $615.6 billion in value on Monday, according to data from S&P Global.
