Similar to Thursday, the S&P 500 index futures were unable to sustain premarket/early morning rallies during the regular session. Today’s early advance was instigated by a tick-up in the US unemployment rate to 3.8%, which may indicate the Fed is getting its desired effect to cool off the economy. As a result, a potential pause in its relentless interest rate hikes over the past year.
While Apple Inc, notched a solid gain for the session, the other mega-cap technology stocks faded well off their post-open highs. Tesla Inc. and NVIDIA Corp were the biggest drag on the index, ending the session well off their intraday highs.
After being higher by over 39 handles early on, the bears did make an attempt to end the week on a bad note as the index retreated 40 handles around lunchtime. However, the bulls stood firm and nudged the index to a modest gain of 5.50 handles at the closing price of 4521.50.
For the week, the index had a robust gain of 107.25 handles.
Among the top components of the index, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the biggest gainer. The issue extended its winning streak to six sessions, adding $1.59 or 0.8%.
That was better than the cash index’s advance of 0.18%.
The worst performer of the top components was Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA). The Street frowned upon the company slashing prices again for Models S and X. For the session, the issue declined by $13.07 or 5.1% at the closing price of $245.01.
