The good news is that last week’s rally in the S&P 500 index futures followed through into Monday’s session. The bad news is that some investors decided to lock in profits as the Thanksgiving holiday draws near, turning much of the bullish attention to retail issues.
Starting off the Globex session Sunday night well in the green, bulls were able to maintain their lead throughout overnight trading. Before the regular session began, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for October was released at 8:30am EST, showing that growth decreased more than expected (-0.40 vs. -0.20 exp.). Around this time, bulls seemed to spring into action, furthering their lead before the opening bell.
Once the regular session was underway, bulls were able to breach the premarket high, but not by much and not for long. Sellers were soon testing support at the premarket low, and once that area was breached, they continued to take out bids. Support wasn’t found until Friday’s closing level, at which point the tide turned.
Making their way back up to the premarket low (also coinciding with the Globex open), support in that area turned to resistance for most of the afternoon. In a last-minute rally, the bulls managed to finish the day virtually right at this level, closing below the day’s midpoint at 6006.50 for a gain of 19.50 handles.
Among the top components of the index, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) emerged as the biggest gainer, helped along by the bulls’ focus on retail. The e-commerce giant was able to advance by $4.33 or 2.20% to close at $201.45 for the day.
That performance was a significant six times better than the cash index’s advance of 0.34%.
For the second day in a row, the biggest loser was NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA). For the day, the chip designer declined by $5.93 or 4.18% to close at $136.02.
