Market Volatility Increases; S&P 500 Records Gains

The S&P 500 settled higher on Friday, with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) closing with a $3 trillion market capitalization for the first time.

The personal consumption expenditure price index in the U.S. rose 3.8% year-over-year in May, recording the lowest reading since April 2021.

Traders are seeing around 84% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 25 basis points at its July meeting.

The Nasdaq recorded its strongest first-half performance in 40 years, adding over 31% during the period. For the quarter, the S&P 500 jumped 8.3% while the Nasdaq Dow gained 3.4%.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) shares gained 9.7% on Friday after Jefferies upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $9 to $25.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with information technology and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday.

The Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.60% to close at 15,179.21 on Friday, amid gains in shares of NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL).

The S&P 500 rose 1.23%, while the Dow Jones gained 0.84% to 34,407.60 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 0.4% to close at 13.59 on Friday, after earlier dropping to a one-week low level.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

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