Dow Tumbles Over 300 Points As Trump Rejects Iran's Hormuz Plan: Investor Sentiment Weakens, Fear & Greed Index Remains In ‘Fear’ Zone

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a decline in overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Monday. U.S. stocks settled lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 300 points during the session as oil prices jumped and the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2007, after President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the months-long standoff. Major indices recorded gains last week, with the Dow adding 0.3% and the S&P 500 adding 1.2%. The Nasdaq also rose 2% during the period. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) gained almost 5% on Monday, extending last week’s move on the Sept. 23 launch of its Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense service. On the downside, MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB) plunged over 18% after Chief Executive Chirantan Desai abruptly stepped down to take a senior role at Meta Platforms, with former CEO Dev Ittycheria returning as interim president and CEO. On the economic data front, the Dallas Fed’s general business activity index for Texas manufacturing fell to 9.8 in September from 11.6 in the previous month. Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with communication services, consumer discretionary and financial stocks recording the biggest losses on Monday. However, consumer staples and health care stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher. The Dow Jones closed lower by around 347 points to 51,481.50 on Monday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.77% to 7,683.69, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.92% at 26,820.38 during Monday’s session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Carnival Corporation Ltd (NYSE:CCL), Carmax Inc (NYSE:KMX) and Concentrix Corp (NASDAQ:CNXC) today. At a current reading of 34, the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Monday, versus a prior reading of 37. What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index? The Fear & Greed Index is a measure of the current market sentiment. It is based on the premise that higher fear exerts pressure on stock prices, while higher greed has the opposite effect. The index is calculated based on seven equal-weighted indicators. The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greediness. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock