Following the wild week affected by interest rate concerns, the action in the S&P 500 index futures on Monday was quite muted. One could call it the quiet before the storm of inflation data set to be released Wednesday morning.
During the overnight session beginning Sunday, the bears were able to take the index futures down to test the daily pivot level, but the bulls were able to bring the index back into the positive by the time the regular session commenced Monday morning.
Following the opening chop, the bulls were able to test the overnight/premarket high, nearing Friday’s high, but resistance held strong. The regular session then turned into a tug-of-war between the bulls and bears, chopping around Friday’s close but mostly staying in the positive.
The bears came in with one last wave of selling in the final 30 minutes, after denying the bulls their chance for a late day rally. Not giving up, the bulls were able to keep the index futures in the green by a single tick, ending the day with a scratch advance of 0.25 handles, closing at 5253.25.
Among the top components of the index, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) emerged as the biggest gainer. Following Friday’s after-hours news of the company announcing their August robotaxi event, the issue was able to advance by $8.08 or 4.90% to close at $172.98 for the day.
To save readers the mental math, that performance was over 81 times better than the cash index’s scratch advance of 0.06%.
The biggest loser ended up being Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META). After hitting a new all-time high off the open, traders and investors rang the register, bringing the social media giant down by $8.09 or 1.53% to close at $519.25.
