The S&P 500 index futures have gone down hard over the last four sessions, but refuse to stay down for very long. That is the best way to characterize the price action in the index over the last four volatile sessions.
While the highs and lows of the last four sessions are similar, the closes have not been. The index, which has had larger than average trading ranges, managed to have its third inside day in a row (highs below the previous day’s high and lows above the previous day’s low), which is a rare phenomenon. Despite the ranges getting more compressed, the closes of the index have been scattered from Monday’s low close for the recent slide (4291.25) to Tuesday’s close (4334) to Wednesday’s close the highest of the three at 4354.
After making a premarket low at 4273.75, which was just above Tuesday’s low (4369), bears made several attempts to breach that level but could do no better than 4279.50. Several early rallies into 4300 handle, were met with sharp dips under 4300, which was greeted by more-than-willing buyers.
The final attempt was made just after 1:00 PM and once the index surpassed the early morning high (4319.50), the pace of the rally accelerated. The final push higher in the last 15 minutes of the session took the index to nearly Tuesday’s high (4359.75), reaching 4355.75.
The index was able to close just off the highs for the session, which may be indicative of a sustained move to the upside on the horizon. For the session, the index added 29 handles to close 4354.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) was the leader to the upside of the top components. For the session, the issue added $4.35 or 1.51% to close at $293.11. That was over triple the cash index’s gain of .41%.
Once again, even the biggest loser was a winner. After barely breaching Tuesday’s low ($325.70 vs $326.15). Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) added $0.68 or .20% to close at $333.64.
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