The trend of dips getting bought and new all-time closing highs getting made has yet to be broken in the S&P 500 index futures.
After the bulls were able to keep the index futures in the green overnight and during Thursday’s premarket session (for the most part), another set of inflation data was released at 8:30am EDT. This time, it was the producer price index (PPI), detailed below. The index futures got a quick pop off the news, nearly to the all-time high, followed by a short drop back to where it was just before the data release.
| May Report | Actual | Expected | Previous |
| PPI (MoM) | -0.2% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
| PPI (YoY) | 2.2% | 2.5% | 2.3% |
| Core PPI (MoM) | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| Core PPI (YoY) | 3.2% | – | 3.2% |
The regular session began at 5444, and that was nearly the intraday high as the bears took immediate control. The bulls tried to establish a bid around the pivot area, but the bears ultimately won the morning’s battle. During the lunch hour, support finally held at 5408.50 as the buy-the-dippers stepped in once again. From that point, the bulls were able to maintain a fairly steady rally until the final hour of the regular session. During that final hour, the index futures turned into chop.
In the final few minutes, the bulls were able to push the intraday highs slightly higher, but resistance at the regular session open held strong and the last-minute gains were soon given up. The session once again concluded above mid-range on the day at a new all-time closing high of 5438.50, advancing by 11 handles.
Among the top components of the index, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) emerged as the biggest gainer by far, fresh off its earnings report released Wednesday evening. Other than top and bottom line beats, the company also announced a 10-for-1 stock split, plus many analysts increased their price targets on the issue. The chip designer was able to advance by $183.48 or 12.27% to close at $1678.99 for the day.
That performance was over 61 times better than the cash index’s advance of 0.20%.
On the other hand, the biggest loser for the day was Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN). The ecommerce giant declined by $3.06 or 1.64% to close at $183.83.
