The negative price action in Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) following its Q2 report after the close on Monday set the tone for the day in the tech sector.
The index spent all of the premarket and regular sessions in the red and an unexplained rally above the premarket high culminated around 1:45 PM EST, which brought the index within a few ticks of going flat.
However, the drag on the mega cap technology stocks was too much for the index to overcome. Six of the seven top components of the index (all mega cap tech) were down anywhere from 1-2.2%, with NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) the only one declining less than 1%.
The late afternoon decline found support in a familiar area, which was just below Monday’s low (4507.25 vs. 4508.75) and rebounded into the close. The index was able to trim its losses to 25 handles at the closing price of 4514.
Among the top components, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was by far the biggest winner. Its rally was aided by another sharp move higher in Crude Oil futures. For the session, the issue gained $3.37 or 2.96% to close at $117.49.
This performance was well over three percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.57%.
Conversely, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) reversed its role from Monday and was the biggest loser of the top components. After reaching its highest level since mid-July, profit takers came into the issue as it reached nearly $40 higher than Friday’s close. For the session, the issue declined by $6.10 or 2.2% at the closing price of $267.43.
