Dow, S&P Record Best Month Of Year: Investor Sentiment Improves, Fear Index Remains In 'Greed' Zone

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

U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 surging to fresh highs during the shortened trading session.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) gained 1.3% on Friday, with Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares adding more than 2% during the session.

The Dow gained 1.4% last week, recording a gain of 7.5% for November. The S&P 500 gained 1.1% on the week, surging by more than 5% last month. The Dow and S&P 500 recorded their best months of the year.

The stock market was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and closed early at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

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

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 189 points to 44,910.65 on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.56% to 6,032.38, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.83% to close at 19,218.17 during Friday's session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Imperial Petroleum Inc. (NASDAQ:IMPP) and Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 66.1, the index remained in the “Greed” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 63.7.

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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