While Thursday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures may have started with optimism, it did not end on as high of a note. However, in a somewhat similar fashion to Wednesday’s action, there was a definitive V-bottom made during intraday trading.
An initial rally during the Globex session brought the index futures slightly higher, where it stuck around the 5850 mark, which was also last week’s low. Just before equities premarket trading began, the bulls broke out of that area, eventually reaching into the high 5860’s.
At 8:30am EDT, last week’s initial jobless claims came in under expectations (227,000 vs. 245,000 exp.) which introduced a bout of volatility. However, the bears held back until minutes before the open to really put the selling pressure on. The selloff continued past the opening bell, where the action turned to chop around the 5850 area once again.
Sellers continued to press on, and by the lunch hour reached the low 5820’s. It was at this point the bulls found their footing, and initiated a rally right back up to the 5850 area. For the rest of the afternoon, the index futures oscillated above and below that level, never breaching the intraday high or approaching the low. The session concluded near the day’s midpoint at 5849, gaining 11.25 handles.
While most top components of the index were near flat, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) emerged as the biggest gainer by a wide margin, helping to fuel the optimism of the day. The EV maker’s stellar rally was sparked by their Q3 earnings report released after hours Wednesday. Other than a significant bottom-line beat and increased forecasts, several analysts raised their price targets and one (Terry Lee, KGI Securities) upgraded their rating from Neutral to Outperform. The issue nearly reached its September high, advancing by $46.83 or 21.92% to close at $260.48 for the day.
That performance ballooned over the cash index’s advance of 0.22% over 99-fold.
On the other hand, the biggest loser was Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY). For the day, the healthcare company declined by $11.93 or 1.32% to close at $891.32.
