The S&P 500 index futures had its first four-day win streak since the end of August. Even a hotter-than-expected Producer Price Index could not temper the bullish enthusiasm of the index.
The bears did not go down without a fight. After being 20 handles in the green early in the regular session, the bears went on the offensive midday and at one point had the index 15 handles in the red. However, the release of the Federal Reserve Bank meeting minutes from September was benign and the bulls regained control.
The post-Fed-minutes move higher was a straight up rally that did not end with the closing bell. In fact, the index tacked on several handles in the immediate after hours trading.
The end result was a gain of 18.25 handles at the closing price of 4409.75. The last after-hours print was nearly 8 handles higher at 4417.50.
Among the top components of the index, Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE: LLY) was the biggest winner. The catalyst was a sympathy move higher with Novo-Nordisk ADR (NYSE: NVO) that announced positive development for its drug to cure kidney disease, of which Eli Lilly has one its pipeline. The issue extended its win streak to six and made a new all time high in the process. For the session, the issue added $25.97 or 4.48% at the closing price of $605.28.
That performance was just over four percent better than the cash index’s advance of 0.43%.
Conversely, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest loser. Investors punished the issue for its acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD). For the session, the issue declined $3.95 or 3.59% at the closing price of $106.49.
