Monday brought a reality check to markets after last week's celebration, with U.S. stocks settling lower across the board and the Nasdaq Composite tumbling more than 100 points. The CNN Money Fear and Greed Index reflected the shift in mood, declining further while holding steady in neutral territory.
Tech stocks led the retreat. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) shares dropped over 1% after posting gains last week, reminding investors that what goes up can, well, go back down. The broader Nasdaq Composite closed 0.50% lower at 23,474.35.
The pullback comes after a solid week for equities. The S&P 500 jumped 1.4% last week, marking its fourth weekly gain in five weeks. Both the Dow and Nasdaq also added over 1% during that stretch, so Monday's decline looks more like profit-taking than panic.
The day's biggest disaster belonged to Mereo BioPharma Group plc (MREO), which plummeted 88% after announcing its Phase 3 ORBIT and COSMIC studies for setrusumab in Osteogenesis Imperfecta failed to achieve statistical significance. Neither study showed a meaningful reduction in annualized clinical fracture rate compared to placebo or bisphosphonates. Ouch.
On the economic front, there was actually some good news. U.S. pending home sales jumped 3.3% month-over-month in November, following a revised 2.4% gain in October and easily beating market estimates of a 1% increase. Housing may be expensive, but people are still trying to buy.
Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed in the red, with consumer discretionary, materials, and financials stocks posting the steepest losses. Energy and real estate stocks were the exceptions, managing to close higher and bucking the broader market trend.
The Dow Jones declined around 249 points to 48,461.93, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.35% to 6,905.74.
Understanding the Fear & Greed Index
The Fear & Greed Index currently sits at 49.3, down from a prior reading of 52.5 but still firmly in neutral territory. This measure tracks current market sentiment based on the idea that fear pushes stock prices down while greed lifts them up.
The index crunches seven equal-weighted indicators into a single reading that ranges from 0 to 100. Zero represents maximum fear, while 100 signals maximum greediness. Think of it as Wall Street's mood ring.