As of late, the S&P 500 index has been making sharp moves down on bad news from just one company, whether it is a major component or not. That certainly applies to today’s price action as Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) submarined the index just after 9:00 AM EST, by announcing lower Q2 guidance due to currency headwinds.
That instigated a premarket decline not only in Microsoft, but the entire index as well. At one point, the issue was in the red by nearly $11 from Wednesday’s closing price. While it bottomed in the first five minutes of the session, the index took longer to find support.
That finally came near the end of the first hour of the session, when it came within three ticks of Wednesday’s low, bottoming at 4072.25 vs. 4071.50. While Microsoft was clawing its way back to unchanged, the index went green at noon and never looked back. Once the index cleared the premarket high for good, the pace of the rally accelerated.
The rally was only interrupted by the closing bell as it tacked on 76.25 handles to close at 4175.25, the highest close for the recent rebound.
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) resumed its post-earnings rally and was the biggest winner of the top components. The issue snapped a two-day losing streak by gaining $12.72 or 6.94 percent to close at $195.92.
That was nearly four times the cash index’s gain of 1.84 percent.
With the risk-on trade in vogue today, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was the biggest loser of the top components of the index. The issue was lower for the third day in a row declining by $0.56 or .32 percent to close at $177.15.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Chewy, Inc. (NYSE: CHWY)
Every dog has its day and Thursday was that issue after a Q1 beat. Read more on CHWY here.
