The euphoria from the US government not shutting down on Monday lasted until around 4:45 AM EST, then the bears took over.
What was 20+ handle gain turned in a loss of over 10 handles by the opening of the regular session. While most of the mega cap tech was in the green for the day, the index did not take notice until very late in the session.
Heading into the last 90 minutes of the session, the bears were making another to make a new low for the day and test last week’s low. However, the bulls had other plans for the final 45 minutes of the session.
What transpired was a 30+ handle rally that took the index to unchanged (or slightly in the green for the session). The end result on a choppy two-way day was a flat session at the closing price of 4324.25, just below Friday’s close of 4325.50.
Among the top components of the index, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) was the biggest winner. Investors flocked to the issue in a down market as Goldman Sachs added the company to its Conviction “Buy” list, with a price target of $600. For the session, the issue gained $12.83 or 2.94%.
This performance was much better than the cash index that was flat for the day.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest loser of the top components. The catalyst for the decline, along with the weakness in the broad market, was a decline of over $2 in Crude Oil futures. For the session, the issue declined by $1.95 or 1.66% at the closing price of $115.63. After making a new all-time high on Wednesday, the issue is now on a three-day losing streak.
