The net change on the session, a gain of 25.50 handles at a close of 4005.50, does not reflect the premarket and intraday battles that took place.
Premarket gains, undercut by a hike in rates by the ECB, turned into steep losses off the opening bell. Once Powell stopped speaking around 9:50 AM EST, the robust 70-handle rally caught traders by surprise. The 50-handle retreat off the late morning high had the bears on the prowl
The sustained post-lunch rally accelerated in the last 45 minutes and led the index to close just off the highs for the session.
After the two-way action that ended up tilted in the bull’s favor, investors should be looking forward to Friday’s price action. The reason is the index often ends the week at the extreme end of the weekly range. Thus, Thursday’s strong close, making a new high for the week provides a bullish set-up for Friday’s price action.
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) was the biggest winner of the top components of the index for the first time in a long time. After a seven-day losing streak, the issue is now on a two-day winning streak as it gained $2.76 or 2.01% to close at $139.90.
The one and only and biggest component of the index was the only one in the red, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Concerns over their workers being unionized exerted selling pressure on the issue. For the session, the issue declined by $1.51 or 0.97% to close at $154.45.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Asana Inc. (NASDAQ: ASAN)
Gains back much of its August losses after Q2 beat and moderately higher Q3 and FY23 guidance. Read more on ASAN here.
