As has been the case the past few days, the S&P 500 index futures continued to expand its trading range during Friday’s session, with both the bulls and bears getting in on the action this time.
Not much progress was made in either direction during the premarket hours, even as the Producer Price Index (PPI) data was released at 8:30am EDT. Instead of a sustained direction from the mixed data, the inflation news instigated a quick dip to last week’s close, which was bought up just as quickly.
| June Report | Actual | Expected | Previous |
| PPI (MoM) | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| PPI (YoY) | 2.6% | 2.3% | 2.4% |
| Core PPI (MoM) | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Core PPI (YoY) | 3.1% | — | 3.3% |
After the PPI-instigated dip, the regular session opened slightly in the green. Once the premarket high was cleared, it was off to the races. The rally continued with nearly no resistance until the all-time closing high, where the bears gained back some ground. However, the selling didn’t last long as the rally resumed during the lunch hour and continued past previous resistance in the afternoon. The bull rally finally found its top at 5708.25, half a handle above the previous all-time high.
Once resistance proved to be too much at the all-time high, the index futures hovered around the 5700 area until the final 30 minutes. It was then that profit-takers and bears took hold, driving the index futures nearly straight back down to the tune of 40 handles. Buyers were able to recover some of the losses with a last-minute rally to the middle of the day’s range. After the dust settled, the session concluded at 5664.75, marking a gain of 25 handles. For the week, that makes for a gain of 43.25 handles or 0.77%.
Among the top components of the index, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) flipped its role once again and came out as the biggest gainer. Partially assisted by several price target raises, the EV maker was able to advance by $7.20 or 2.99% to close at $248.23 for the day.
That performance was over four times better than the cash index’s advance of 0.63%.
On the other hand, the biggest loser ended up being Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META). For the day, the tech conglomerate declined by $14.58 or 2.84% to close at $498.12.
