The S&P 500 index futures witnessed a mixed trading session on Tuesday. The Sunday night session began with a modest rally on light volume, but the momentum soon dwindled, leading to a gradual decline through the limited action on Monday (owing to MLK Day) and into Tuesday’s premarket session.
During the premarket hours, the bulls began to assert themselves, managing to lift the index from its lows by the open of the regular session. However, their efforts were quickly countered by the bears at the opening bell, who drove the index sharply downwards, breaking the premarket low by 1.75 handles. This decline prompted a robust defense from the bulls, who not only halted the fall but also rallied the index back up, nearly reaching positive territory for the day.
Despite this rally, the index faced resistance around Friday’s close, a level tested several times before the lunch hour but never breached. The subsequent pullback from this resistance saw the index approaching its daily lows again.
In the final two hours of trading, the bulls staged another comeback, elevating the index from the intraday low of 4779.50. This late rally helped pare down the day’s losses to 18 handles, with the index closing at 4798.50.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) continued its upward trajectory, leading the top S&P 500 components as the biggest gainer. The semiconductor giant climbed by $16.72 or 3.06%, ending the day at a new closing high of $563.83.
This robust performance outshone the cash index’s loss of 0.37% by over three percent.
Conversely, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META), which had been a top performer on Friday, turned into the session’s biggest loser among the major components. The social media giant saw its stock retreat by $7.03 or 1.88%, ending the day at $367.46.
