The mood on Wall Street got noticeably brighter on Friday. The CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which tracks overall market sentiment, shifted into neutral territory—a meaningful improvement from earlier in the week.

U.S. stocks closed higher across the board, with the Nasdaq Composite leading the charge with a gain of around 300 points during the session. Investors continued showing enthusiasm for AI-related companies while positioning themselves ahead of December's "triple witching," when options and futures contracts all expire simultaneously.

Micron Technology Inc. (MU) stood out among Nasdaq 100 gainers, climbing more than 7% after already jumping 10% on Thursday following stellar earnings results. Meanwhile, Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) rallied 3.9%, marking its strongest daily performance in over a month.

On the economic front, U.S. existing home sales rose 0.5% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.13 million for November—a modest but positive signal for the housing market.

Most sectors within the S&P 500 finished in positive territory, with information technology, industrials, and health care stocks posting the largest gains. Consumer staples and utilities bucked the trend, however, closing lower for the day.

The Dow Jones climbed approximately 183 points to close at 48,134.89. The S&P 500 rose 0.88% to 6,834.50, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.31% to 23,307.62.

Understanding the Fear & Greed Index

At its current reading of 45.5, the index moved into neutral territory on Friday, up from 43.8 previously.

The Fear & Greed Index measures prevailing market sentiment based on a simple premise: excessive fear tends to push stock prices down, while excessive greed drives them up. The index calculates seven equal-weighted indicators to arrive at a single number between 0 and 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greed.