U.S. stocks managed a decent rebound on Tuesday, shaking off Monday's jitters as the global bond sell-off that the Bank of Japan accidentally triggered finally took a breather. The Nasdaq Composite led the way, climbing more than 100 points, while the broader market posted modest gains across the board.
The standout performer of the day was MongoDB Inc. (MDB), which rocketed to an 18-month high after absolutely crushing Wall Street's expectations. The database software company's blowout results helped revive momentum across the broader tech sector. Meanwhile, Boeing Inc. (BA) had its best trading session since April, surging after the company's CFO laid out an optimistic roadmap projecting higher 737 and 787 deliveries in 2026. Even better, the aerospace giant said it expects free cash flow to turn positive next year, targeting "low single-digit billions" after burning through roughly $2 billion in 2025.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed about 185 points to close at 47,474.46 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 gained 0.25% to finish at 6,829.37, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.59% to 23,413.67 for the session.
Interestingly, the market breadth wasn't particularly strong despite the headline gains. Most sectors on the S&P 500 actually closed lower, with utilities, energy, and materials stocks recording the steepest losses. The bright spots were industrials and information technology stocks, which managed to close the session in positive territory.
Looking ahead, investors are gearing up for earnings reports from Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR), Macy's Inc. (M), and Salesforce Inc. (CRM) today.
Understanding the Fear & Greed Index
Here's the curious part: despite Tuesday's rally, investor sentiment barely improved. The CNN Money Fear and Greed Index showed only a marginal change, inching up to 24.4 from 24.8. That keeps the index firmly planted in "Extreme Fear" territory.
For those unfamiliar, the Fear & Greed Index measures current market sentiment based on a simple premise: excessive fear tends to push stock prices down, while excessive greed does the opposite. The index crunches data from seven equal-weighted indicators to produce a reading between 0 and 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greed.
So what we're seeing is a market that's managing to climb even as investors remain deeply nervous about what's ahead. That disconnect between price action and sentiment could be telling us something important about where we go from here.