In another volatile session, both the bulls and bears had their chance to shine in the S&P 500 index futures, one day before the ever-important US employment report scheduled to be released Friday.
Thursday’s overnight session was full of back and forth above and below Wednesday’s close, but if anything, spending slightly more time in the red. During premarket hours, some jobs-related data was released, including August’s ADP employment coming in at 99,000 vs. 140,000 exp., Q2 US unit-labor costs being revised to 0.4% vs. 0.8% exp., and others that were within or near expectations. Bears took the initiative right after the ADP employment numbers, but as the other economic data came out, the bulls bought the dip back up.
The regular session began slightly in the red and the bulls were soon testing the premarket highs as August’s S&P final U.S. services PMI came out slightly above expectations. The real volatility came after August’s ISM services report came out at 10:00am EDT at 51.5% compared to 51.0% expected. Off this print, the index futures surged past the premarket high, nearing Wednesday’s high, and came right back down to the premarket high. The bulls and bears battled it out between these levels, peaking at 5557.25, but the bears soon started to gain the upper hand.
Once support at the premarket high was breached, it was nearly a straight drop down through the premarket low as well as Wednesday’s low. Support was found in the 5490’s, bottoming perfectly at 5490. After that point, the bulls choppily made their way back up through the premarket low, even bringing the index futures into the green very briefly.
The final hour of trading was full of selling pressure (and chop), but buyers were able to reclaim some of the losses during the final five minutes. The session concluded in the lower half of the day’s range at 5512.25, losing 17.75 handles.
Among the top components of the index, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) emerged as the biggest gainer for the second day in a row. After the company announced they are planning to roll out FSD software in Europe and China in Q1 2025, the EV maker was able to advance by $10.76 or 4.90% to close at $230.17 for the day.
That performance was over five percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.24%.
Conversely, the biggest loser was Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) after news came out that their weekly insulin injections showed similar results to daily injections. For the day, the healthcare company declined by $33.56 or 3.55% to close at $912.75.
