Market Volatility Falls; Fed Decision In Focus

The S&P 500 closed higher on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones recorded gains recorded gains for the 12th consecutive session.

The Fed will announce its policy decision today, with markets seeing interest rates increasing by 25 basis points.

After the closing bell, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported better-than-expected earnings and sales results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak sales outlook for the current quarter. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. The S&P 500 earnings are now likely to fall 7.7% for the latest quarter.

Major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a mixed note, with materials and information technology stocks recording the biggest gains on Tuesday. However, financials and real estate stocks settled lower during the Tuesday’s session.

The Nasdaq 100 gained 0.73% to close at 15,561.42 on Tuesday, amid gains in shares of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) and NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA).

The S&P 500 rose 0.28%, while the Dow Jones gained 0.08% to 35,438.07 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 0.4% to close at 13.86 on Tuesday.

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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