CNN Fear & Greed Index: Stock Market Sentiment Today

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Current Values

The CNN Fear & Greed Index compresses seven market signals into one number from 0 to 100. Readings near 0 mean investors are acting defensively (selling stocks, buying protection, moving into bonds); readings near 100 mean they are bidding up risk. Because the headline score is an equal-weighted average, the individual indicators often say more than the score: two readings of 32 can come from very different combinations of stress.

What the Index Measures

CNN Business built the index on a simple premise: fear pushes stock prices below what fundamentals justify, and greed pushes them above. The index cannot measure intrinsic value directly. It measures behavior that tends to accompany those emotions, such as how far prices sit from their trend, how many stocks are making new highs or lows, how much investors pay for downside protection, and whether money prefers Treasuries or junk bonds.

It gauges US stock market sentiment and is built mostly from S&P 500 and NYSE data. Bonds enter only as signals about stock investors’ appetite for risk.

The Seven Indicators

Each indicator is scored on the same 0 to 100 scale according to how far its current value has moved from its own average, relative to how far it normally moves. The seven scores are then averaged with equal weight. Fifty is neutral.

How to Read the Score

Readings right on a boundary can carry either label. A 55 has been rated Neutral on one date and Greed on another.

Because the score is an average, a single extreme input can be diluted. For a hypothetical example, if six indicators each score 40 and safe haven demand scores 90, the headline is (6 × 40 + 90) ÷ 7 ≈ 47. That reads as Neutral even though most of the market leans fearful. The reverse happens too: one deeply fearful input, such as a sharp flight to Treasuries, can drag an otherwise calm market into the Fear band.

The indicators also run on different clocks. Momentum uses a 125-day average and changes slowly. The put/call ratio (five days) and safe haven demand (20 days) react to a single bad week. Extreme fear in the short-window indicators with momentum near neutral points to a recent shock rather than a long decline. Deeply fearful momentum means prices have already fallen well below trend.

What Drives the Readings

Price action feeds the index from several directions at once. A selloff in the S&P 500 lowers momentum, produces more 52-week lows, shifts volume toward decliners and usually lifts the VIX, so four indicators can move together on the same news. The bond-based inputs add a second channel: junk spreads widen when investors worry about corporate defaults, and Treasuries outperform when money seeks safety.

Macro events work through those channels. Interest rate decisions, inflation reports and recession signals move bond yields and option demand quickly. Higher-than-expected inflation readings or a hawkish central bank can push the volatility, options and safe haven components toward fear within days.

What History Shows

The index has hit its deepest lows during genuine crises. In September 2008, after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the AIG rescue, it fell to 12 as the S&P 500 dropped to a three-year low. On March 12, 2020, during the COVID-19 crash, it reached 2 as stocks fell into a bear market. At the other end, it climbed above 90 in September 2012 as equities rallied on the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing.

These episodes explain why many investors read the index in a contrarian way: extreme fear has coincided with forced selling, and extreme greed with stretched rallies. But a low reading describes stress already in prices, not when it will end. Readings can stay in Extreme Fear for weeks while markets keep falling.

Limits of the Index

• It is descriptive, not predictive. Every input is derived from past prices, volumes or yields. The score tells you how the market is behaving, not where it is going.
• Inputs overlap. Momentum, strength and breadth all reflect stock prices, so the index can overstate how broadly sentiment has shifted.
• Equal weights are a design choice. A five-day options signal counts as much as a 125-day price trend.
• US focus. It says little about international stocks or individual sectors.
• No valuation input. The index does not consider earnings, interest rates or price-to-earnings levels, so “fear” does not mean stocks are cheap.

Historical Data

All10Y

FAQs

The Bottom Line

The index helps US stock investors gauge how defensive or risk-hungry the market is right now. Because it is built from past prices, volumes and yields, it describes stress already in prices and gives no signal of when that stress will end. Checking the individual indicators shows whether a reading reflects a recent shock or a long decline, and a fearful score still says nothing about whether stocks are cheap.