The CNN Money Fear and Greed Index showed some improvement in overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 500 points during the session after recording losses for four straight days, as crude oil retreated from above $100 a barrel.

All three major indices had recorded losses for four consecutive sessions, with the Dow notching its longest daily losing streak since late April. The Dow dropped 1.6%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.8%. The Nasdaq also declined around 0.7% last week.

The relief arrived in spite of an August inflation report that pushed the market-implied odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike next week to roughly 90%. Headline consumer prices rose 0.4% month-on-month in August, the most in three months, with a 3.9% surge in gasoline accounting for over a third of the increase and the annual rate holding at 3.4%.

Chewy Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) fell around 3% on Friday after JPMorgan downgraded the online pet retailer to Neutral from Overweight and cut its price target to $24 from $29. Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) stock gained around 3% after the grocer reported second-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with communication services, information technology and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest gains on Friday. However, utilities and health care stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower.

The Dow Jones closed higher by around 509 points to 52,573.29 on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.86% to 7,656.98, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.96% to 26,333.04 during Friday’s session.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), Dave and Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) and Radiant Logistics Inc. (NYSE:RLGT) today.

What is CNN Business Fear & Greed Index?

At a current reading of 33, the index remained in the “Fear” zone on Friday, versus a prior reading of 32.

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 greed.

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