It took the S&P 500 index futures some time to decide which way to go for the session, but for the third day in a row, the price action was resolved to the upside. Once again, investors were waiting for a sharp dip to buy, and there wasn’t one.
There was a decline early in the session, but it found support just under the premarket low (4478.75) at 4474 and that was it for buying on weakness. Once the index breached the premarket high in the final hour, offers were scarce.
For the session, the index added 30.75 handles to close at 4535. Following a strong Q4 report from Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG or GOOGL), the index ended the after-hours session well above the mark at 4549.50.
Excluding the frantic after-hours buying spree, MetaPlatforms Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was the biggest gainer of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue gained $5.74 or 1.8% to close at $319.
That was over double the cash index’s increase of 0.69%.
The biggest loser of the top components was UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH). The issue snapped a four-day win streak by falling $4.16 or 0.88% to close at $468.41.
