The Dow plunges more than 300 points, market volatility increases

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, while dollar and Treasury yields rose ahead of Friday's jobs report.

Wall Street remained volatile during the session, but closed lower after several Fed members pointed out that interest rates would be raised to control soaring inflation.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN traded lower on Thursday.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.76% to close at 11,485.50 on Thursday, while the S&P 500 fell 1.02%. The Dow Jones lost about 347 points to stand at 29,926.94 in the previous session.

The majority of S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with utilities and real estate stocks posting the biggest declines on Thursday. However, energy stocks bucked the overall market trend, gaining around 1.8% in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 6.3% to 30.36 points.

What is the CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, commonly known as the VIX, is a measure of stock market volatility expectation based on the call and put options of the S&P 500 index.

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