Between company earnings, the FOMC rate-cut decision, other macroeconomic data and the continuation of the election-related rally, the S&P 500 index futures marched right up into the 6000 handle during Thursday’s session.
Bears began the Globex session with a small decline, but the bulls soon stepped in below Wednesday’s close and instigated a slow and steady rally. The regular session commenced virtually at the new all-time (premarket) high, and resumed its trajectory upwards.
After overcoming post-open selling pressure, the pace of the rally accelerated towards the 6000 handle. The psychological level acted as a point of resistance, even as the FOMC announced their 25 bps rate-cut at 2:00pm EST. The rate cut was within expectations, but still instigated some volatility just underneath the 6000 level until Fed Chair Jerome Powell started his speech at 2:30PM EST. He was careful not to reveal too much about expected rate cuts in 2025, adding that the current labor market and economic data is in a good place, even with a restrictive policy.
As Powell’s speech continued, bulls found their footing and blasted up through the 6000 level, turning the resistance level into support for the rest of the afternoon. After peaking at 6013 during the final hour, profit-takers had their way and the session concluded at 6003.75, gaining 45.50 handles for the day.
Among the top components of the index, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) emerged as the biggest gainer. The tech conglomerate was able to advance by $19.56 or 3.42% to close at $591.61 for the day.
That performance was over four times better than the cash index’s advance of 0.77%.
On the other hand, the biggest loser ended up being JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM). For the day, the banking behemoth declined by $10.68 or 4.32% to close at $236.38.
