Similar to Monday, the S&P 500 index futures started the regular session substantially in the red. Also like Monday, the index battled back and pared those losses.
Once the opening push by the bears to breach the premarket low was thwarted, which was just above Monday’s low, the bulls took control. Boldly, leading the way was mega-cap technology stocks. Only Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) did not participate in the rally.
While the index was still in decision mode around 10:00 AM EST, weaker-than-estimated job openings numbers signaled to investors that the Fed is done raising rates. Furthermore, if the economy begins to slow down too much, the Fed may actually lower rates sooner than expected.
After going green ahead of the lunch hour, the index retreated and went back in the red.
Heading into the final hour, the index was hovering at the 4570 area making several attempts to go green, green then drifting back to that level. In the final five minutes, bulls boosted the index to slight decline of 1.50 handles at the closing print of 4575.
Among the top components, the biggest winner was NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA). The issue had its best performance since its Q3 beat and upbeat guidance, which attracted net sellers instead of buyers until today. For the session, the issue added $10.56 or 2.3% at the closing price of $465.66.
That was much better than the cash index’s fractional loss of 0.06%.
On the other side, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest loser. The issue is now approaching double digits, which have not been seen since March. The issue followed Crude Oil lower by declining $2.01 or 1.96% at the closing price of $100.42.
