A tool that I use in gauging the sentiment of the U.S. markets is CNN’s Fear & Greed Index (https://edition.cnn.com/markets/fear-and-greed). Presented in a semicircular odometer-style chart on a scale of 100, the index has five regions, namely: Extreme Fear, Fear, Neutral, Greed and Extreme Greed. CNN uses seven indicators in deriving the numbers, which are explained in detail in the link provided above, and the index is updated as soon as new data from the indicators are available.
As shown in the historical numbers, the index can be volatile as well, and can change within just days or weeks apart; on 1 Apr 2024, the index was at 71, which was at “Greed”, and by 19 Apr 2024, it dropped to 28 which was “Fear”. For the period in context, the markets were down due to higher reported inflation figures which lowered the probability of interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
It was also during this period that we had entered Apple (USD 165, coincidentally on 19 Apr 2024) after using the CNN Fear & Greed Index as one of our indicators, on top of others such as price action, and a quick review of its fundamentals. Similarly, after the index’s recent fall into “Fear” territory from 21 Feb 2025, we had added positions to Nvidia and Alphabet (and after also considering other factors and indicators).
Personally, I find the index is a good gauge to utilise though I must stress that it should not be the main dealbreaker for your buy/sell decisions. As I had mentioned above, it is good to aggregate it with your other tools and analysis before pressing the execute button.
Disclosure
The Bedokian is vested in Alphabet, Apple and Nvidia.
