After the S&P 500’s AI darling rallied off a stellar earnings report, it seemed inevitable that the S&P 500 index futures would do the same. And for most of Thursday’s overnight and premarket hours, the index did exactly that.
The previous all-time high was broken just before midnight (EDT), and after another retest of that level, the bulls were able to extend the all-time high to 5368.25 an hour before the regular session began. Coming into the open, profit-takers and short sellers already had the index futures retreating from that level.
The bears soon took full control of the action in the index futures, as well as most of the market. After pausing only for a moment at the previous all-time high (5349.25), the selloff continued and accelerated once May’s S&P flash US services & manufacturing PMI data came in above expectations. Support was eventually found in the 5317 area by mid-morning, and the bulls were able to initiate a solid bounce that took the index futures back up into the 5340’s.
After some chop during the lunch hour, the bears took back the reins and resumed the selloff. By the final hour, the index futures bottomed at 5273.50 just as Fed President Bostic began his speech. Nothing really new was said, and could be summed up as ‘the inflation target is taking longer to reach than expected.’ Between yesterday’s FOMC minutes and today’s comments, market participants seem to be factoring in fewer rate cuts for 2024. With all that in mind, the day concluded somewhat above the intraday lows at 5285.25, down by 42.75 handles.
Among the top components of the index, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) was by far the biggest gainer. Their Q1 2025 report released after hours Wednesday included beats on the top and bottom lines by 5.7% and 9.5%, respectively, along with a strong forecast for the upcoming quarter. The chip design company was able to advance by $88.49 or 9.32% to close at $1037.99 for the day, a new all-time closing high for the issue.
That performance was over 10 percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.73%.
The biggest loser was once again Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). For the day, the EV maker declined by $6.37 or 3.54% to close at $173.74.
