With last week’s rally now in the rearview mirror, market participants jostled for positions in today’s session, in what turned out to be the first six-day winning streak since mid-June.
The bulls set the tone early in the premarket, nudging the index futures above Friday’s closing numbers, albeit without challenging the high of the same day.
As the opening bell resonated, the bulls pushed the index past premarket highs, flirting with Friday’s high but falling short by a mere 2.25 handles. Between bears and those taking profits, the index never quite managed to reach the same highs for the remainder of the day.
The narrative took a turn as Fed’s Cook commenced her speech at 11am ET, with the bears briefly seizing the reins into the lunch hour. However, the speech failed to provide them with enough leverage to maintain control. The index took a dip to test the daily pivot, prompting the bulls to make a decisive comeback.
The remainder of the session saw a steady climb, with the S&P 500 futures closing up by 8.25 handles at 4384.25, rounding off the day near the open of the regular session.
Among the top components of the index, Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) emerged as the biggest winner. Fresh off their latest earnings report last week, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock, helping the issue rise another 4.82% or $27.38 for the day, closing at $595.19.
That performance beat the cash index’s gain of 0.19% by over four percent.
On the other hand, the biggest loser among the top components was Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). Opposite to today’s gain in crude oil, the issue fell 1.77% or $1.91 to close at $105.87 on the day.
