S&P 500 Hits Record High: Investor Sentiment Improves, Fear & Greed Index Moves to ‘Neutral’ Zone

by | Oct 7, 2026 | General

The CNN Money Fear and Greed Index showed further improvement in overall market sentiment, while the index moved to the “Neutral” zone on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 250 points and the S&P 500 hitting a fresh all-time high amid a decline in Treasury yields.

On the economic data front, the U.S. trade deficit widened to $105.6 billion in August from $92.8 billion in July, wider than the $102 billion forecast, as imports rose to $420.8 billion from $403.6 billion and exports increased to $315.2 billion from $310.7 billion.

Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) surged over 12% after announcing a 20-year agreement with Google to supply 890 megawatts of nuclear capacity to the PJM grid. Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LW) gained over 7% after reporting fiscal first-quarter earnings of 75 cents per share, ahead of the 59-cent consensus.

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

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 253 points to 51,521.28 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 rose 0.58% to 7,818.93, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.45% at 27,599.89 during Tuesday’s session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI), Applied Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:APLD) and Richardson Electronics Ltd. (NASDAQ:RELL) today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 47, the index moved to the “Neutral” zone on Tuesday, versus a prior reading of 44.

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 equally weighted indicators. The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greediness.

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