Similar to Wednesday, the S&P 500 index futures began the regular session deep in the red, both the result of worse-than-expected inflation data. On Wednesday, after the scary CPI data, the index limped back only to close weak and give it all back in Thursday’s premarket trading.
Of course, punk earnings from the big banks did not help matters as JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) were deep in the red and in the case of JP Morgan, making a new low for the move.
The PPI data did nothing to assuage inflation fears and the index was poised for a really bad day. Off the open, the bears were able to breach last week’s low and had the bulls on the ropes. However, buyers emerged heading into lunchtime and took firm control of the direction for the remainder of the day.
As a result, the index mounted a nearly 70-handle rally to end the session in the red by only 11.25 handles at 3793.25, after being down over 80 handles at the low of the day.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the biggest gainer of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue gained $2.98 or 2.04% to close at $148.47.
That was much better than the cash index’s decline of 0.30%.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) was the biggest loser of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue declined by $5.44 or 3.3% to close at $158.05.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG or GOOGL)
Bad timing for a stock split. Read more on GOOG here.
