MacroRadar Sentiment Index
7-component fear & greed proxy built from market and economic data
As of August 2026, the MacroRadar Sentiment Index reads 50/100 — Neutral. The fear & greed composite blends 7 market and economic components and extends back to 1990, covering multiple full business cycles.
50
Neutral
MacroRadar Sentiment Index (since 1990)
Historical composite (0–100) from five long-history components — NASDAQ momentum, VIX, credit spread, yield curve, consumer sentiment — each scored against only its own trailing window, so no reading uses information from after its date. Low = fear, high = greed. Daily back to 1990, covering the dot-com boom, 2008 crisis, and 2020 pandemic. The live reading above adds two market-priced components available only in recent years.
The 1990 index, against itself
These rows read the daily history above — five FRED components, causal percentile scoring — never the 7-component composite at the top of the page. The two are built differently, so a difference between them measures the construction, not the mood.
Today's reading is at or above 59.7% of the 12,751 daily readings in the record, which covers 36 years. That is a count of the record, not a statement about what follows it.
Components
Market Volatility (VIX)
14.43
z-score percentile (inverted, 5y rolling)
Growth Breadth (NASDAQ 12m)
-1.61
z-score percentile (5y rolling)
Market Momentum (S&P vs 125d MA)
5.68
z-score percentile (2y rolling)
Consumer Sentiment
55.20
z-score percentile (10y rolling)
Safe Haven (Stocks vs Gold 20d)
-8.73
z-score percentile (2y rolling)
Yield Curve (10Y-2Y)
0.41
z-score percentile (5y rolling)
Credit Spread (HY OAS)
2.60
z-score percentile (inverted, 5y rolling)
What this reading is
Neutral is the band a composite of 7 components lands in today. Each component is scored against its own trailing distribution, so the number says where conditions sit relative to their own recent history — not whether that is good, and not what happens next. Read it beside the macro regime and the recession probability, which measure different things.
How the Sentiment Index works
The MacroRadar Sentiment Index combines 7 components spanning market behavior, consumer confidence, credit conditions, and economic momentum into a single 0-100 score. Each component is scored relative to its own historical distribution — self-calibrating, so readings are always comparable across time.
This is not the CNN Fear & Greed Index. MacroRadar's index uses economic data (not just market data) and extends back to 1990, providing sentiment context through multiple full economic cycles.
Cite this page
MacroRadar, "US Market Sentiment Index," https://www.macroradar.io/sentiment (as of August 2026).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the MacroRadar Sentiment Index?
A composite indicator that measures whether economic and market conditions reflect fear (risk aversion) or greed (risk appetite). It combines 7 components — market volatility (VIX), high-yield credit spread, the 10Y-2Y yield curve, consumer sentiment, S&P 500 momentum against its 125-day average, stocks versus gold, and NASDAQ 12-month momentum — into a single 0-100 score.
Why are there two numbers on this page?
The headline composite uses 7 components, two of which are priced daily and available only in recent years. The chart and the comparison rows use a 5-component, FRED-only construction that reaches back to 1990 and is scored by causal trailing percentile. They are different indices measured different ways, so the page never subtracts one from the other — a difference between them would measure the construction rather than sentiment.
How is this different from the CNN Fear & Greed Index?
MacroRadar's index uses economic data (consumer sentiment, credit conditions, the yield curve) alongside market data, and its history extends back to 1990 — covering the dot-com crash, the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic. Every component and its scoring rule is published, so any reading can be recomputed from the source data.
How often is the sentiment index updated?
Daily. Each component updates at its own frequency — most are daily (VIX, credit spread, yield curve, index levels) and consumer sentiment is monthly. The composite recalculates whenever any component updates.