Following Wednesday’s rocky session, the onus was on the bulls to protect Wednesday’s low and they did it in fine fashion. After a choppy premarket session, the bears made an attempt to get the index sub-4300 early on and force a test of Wednesday’s spike low (4277).
However, the bulls only allowed the index to breach the premarket low by one handle and instigated a 50-handle rally. The rally found profit takers around 1 PM EST and index eventually retreated to mid-range for the session.
However, heading into the final hour, the bulls regained control and the index drifted higher into the close. Although it was unable to make a new high for the day, the index added 24 handles at the closing price of 4337.50.
Among the top components of the index, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest winner after being the biggest loser on Wednesday. For the session, the issue added $5.88 or 2.4% at the closing price of $246.38.
This performance was nearly two percent better than the cash index’s advance of 0.59%.
Profit-taking continued in Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) making it the biggest loser of the top components. For the session, the issue declined by $5.31 or 0.97% at the closing price of $544.45. It is now over $50 off its all time high made on September 14 at $601.84.