When the top four components of the S&P 500 are all mega-cap technology stocks (Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, the combined Alphabet Inc., and Amazon.com) it is difficult for the index to have a good day when they are all deep in the red. For the session, those issues were down between 2.4 and 9%. The catalyst was horrible responses to Microsoft Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Q3 reports.
Despite the down open, the index was able to muster a significant rally that brought the index the closest it had been to 3900 since late September. However, the bears fought back with a vengeance seizing on the geopolitical tensions with China increasing.
Heading into the final hour, the index was back where it was immediately following the “tape bomb” from Alphabet Inc. The index did taper off into the close despite a nearly $2B buy imbalance on the close. For the session, the index declined by 29.25 handles to close at 3841.
Boosted by a robust rally in Crude Oil, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest winner of the top components. In the session, the issue made a new all-time and all-time closing high by gaining $1.29 or 1.2% to close at $107.17.
That was roughly 2% better than the cash index’s decline of 0.74%.
By far, the biggest drag on the index of the top components was Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG or GOOGL). In one of its worst sessions since March 2020, the issue swooned $10.11 or 9.6% to close at $94.82. That marks the lowest level for the issue since February 2021.
PreMarket Prep Talks Stock Rotation
Is the decade of technology dominance in the S&P 500 index subsiding or coming to an end? Read more on the talk here.
