As market participants continue to gauge upcoming rate cuts, there was a lot more caution in the S&P 500 index futures after Thursday’s inflation data was released in the morning. In addition, the day’s range was kept within the bounds of all-time highs and the top of the range from earlier this week.
Despite the bulls’ attempts to instigate an overnight rally, they weren’t able to sustain any gains by 8:30am EDT, when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data was released as follows.
| September Report | Actual | Expected | Previous |
| CPI (MoM) | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| CPI (YoY) | 2.4% | 2.3% | 2.5% |
| Core CPI (MoM) | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Core CPI (YoY) | 3.3% | 3.2% | 3.2% |
The higher-than-expected inflation data instigated an initial pop by the algos, followed by an immediate selloff. Support was found in the low-to-mid 5810’s, which became a key area for the rest of the session.
The bulls were able to recover some of the losses by the regular session open, but the bears came right back to test the premarket low. Though the bears were able to make a new low for the day, it wasn’t by much, and the bulls came right back in to buy the dip. The action then continued to chop just above the lows.
During the lunch hour, the bulls were able to bring the index back into the green and test the premarket high. In short, resistance held strong. Bears had their way and soon had the index chopping around closer to the lows once again, but the bulls weren’t done yet. After making a new intraday low, the bulls bought the dip and instigated a small rally during the final hour. The session concluded near the day’s midpoint at 5829, losing 12.25 handles. Market participants now have more inflation data (PPI) to look forward to, being released Friday at 8:30am EDT.
Among the top components of the index, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) emerged as the biggest gainer. The chip designer was able to advance by $2.16 or 1.63% to close at $134.81 for the day.
That performance still beat the cash index’s decline of 0.18%.
Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META). For the day, the tech conglomerate declined by $6.68 or 1.13% to close at $583.83.
