In the largest single-day gain in nearly two years on a percentage-basis (since Nov 30, 2022), the S&P 500 index futures experienced a bull stampede as the presidential election results rolled in.
As the overnight session began and polls started closing, bulls didn’t let the index futures go into the red for even a second. Throughout the evening, the bull rally progressed level by level, breaking through resistance at last week’s high, then the previous all-time high by the time the new president-elect was confirmed.
The rally then slowed to a halt in the early morning hours, but the regular session still began just above the previous all-time high. Post-open, profit-takers and other sellers were able to instigate an initial selloff, but support held strong at the psychological 5900 level. From there, the bulls fought back to eventually reach the premarket high by late afternoon.
An hour before the close, the bulls pushed past the premarket high to make new all-time highs (5967). The session concluded at a new all-time closing high of 5958.25, gaining an astounding 146 handles. The week’s news is not over for market participants, who now have the FOMC interest-rate decision along with Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech to look forward to Thursday afternoon.
For the second day in a row, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) emerged as the biggest gainer among top components of the index. Helped by CEO Elon Musk’s association with president-elect Trump, the EV maker was able to advance by $37.09 or 14.75% to close at $288.53 for the day, marking new 52-week highs.
That performance was nearly six times better than the cash index’s healthy advance of 2.49%.
Also for the second day in a row, the biggest loser was Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY). For the day, the healthcare company declined by $29.68 or 3.68% to close at $776.38.
