Friday’s weak ending in the S&P 500 index futures continued into Monday’s abbreviated session (due to the long weekend), and into Tuesday’s, but that isn’t the whole story.
The majority of the premarket managed to hover above the 5000 mark, but as the regular session commenced, the index found itself back at this psychological level.
The bearish momentum was exacerbated by January’s US Leading Economic Index, which reported a contraction of -0.4% against an anticipated -0.3%. This data, suggesting a stagnating or contracting US GDP, once adjusted for inflation, weighed on market sentiment. Though the bulls tried to hold support, they were unsuccessful in the morning’s action.
During the lunch hour, the index futures reached their lowest point, down over 50 handles from Friday’s close. The afternoon held a slow, choppy rally to recover some of the day’s losses, but resistance held strong just below the psychological 5000 level.
Ultimately, the index futures concluded the session in the middle of the day’s range, closing at 4991.50 with a 28.25 handle drop.
Among the top components of the index, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) emerged as the biggest gainer. The issue was able to advance by $0.70 or 0.39% to close at $179.73 for the day, making for a new all-time closing high.
This performance was nearly as good as the cash index’s decline of 0.55%.
The biggest loser ended up being NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) as traders and investors took profits before the tech titan’s quarterly earnings report, scheduled for release after Wednesday’s close. For the day, the issue declined by $31.61 or -4.35% to close at $694.52.
