Two large components in the green on Wednesday (Microsoft Corp. and Tesla Inc) could not make the index close higher. However, on Friday two large components in the red (Apple Inc. and Amazon.com) did not prevent the index from making a new all-time intraday high and a new all-time closing high.
The selling pressure applied to the mammoth tech companies kept the index in the red for all of the after-hours and premarket sessions. However, from the open of the regular session, the “buy the dip” crowd did what they do best, “buy the dip” early and often from the ring of the opening bell.
Heading into the final 15 minutes it appeared that the index was going to come up shy of a new all-time closing high as it wallowed in the lower 4580 handle.
After the index pushed into the 4600 handle near the close, for the first time ever, peaking at 4601, it ended the day higher by 10 handles at 4597.50.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the top component that had the biggest impact on the gains. For the session, the issue gained $36.96 or 3.4% to close at $1114. That dwarfed the cash index’s gain of 0.19%.
Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was the biggest drag after its Q3 report. The issue, which has stuck between $3000 and $3500 since August 2020, is right in the middle. For the session, the issue declined $74.16 or 2.16% to close at $3372.41.
The buying continued in the after-hours as the futures tacked on another 5 handles to go off the board (5:00 PM EST) at 4602.50
