One day before the ever-important FOMC interest-rate decision is announced, the S&P 500 index futures experienced a rally to make new highs for the month, but ended Tuesday’s session nearly perfectly flat to make a shooting star pattern on the daily chart.
While the overnight session may have started on a bearish note, the bulls kept up an ever-increasing bid through early morning hours to make for a green open of the regular session. Chop quickly followed the opening bell with neither bulls or bears clearly gaining the upper hand.
As the morning progressed, the bulls were able to push past premarket highs, and after some short-lived bouts of selling, pushed past the multi-day top near the September high. This marked a new all-time high for the cash index, but not the front month contract for the index futures. Resistance in that area seemed to have given way, but only for a moment. Sellers soon had the index futures back below the regular session open, and the pace of selling accelerated as the bears made new intraday lows.
Support was found near the 5680 area and proceeded to chop between that point and the 5700 area, coinciding with much of the action seen in Monday’s trading session. As the close neared, the bulls were able to initiate a small rally in the final 15 minutes to end the day near the upper area of the afternoon’s chop.
The scratch session still concluded below the day’s midpoint at 5700.25, gaining a single handle, which also marked a seven-day win streak for the index futures. Market participants now don’t have to wait much longer for the FOMC interest-rate decision, being announced Wednesday at 2:00pm EDT and followed by Fed Chair Powell’s speech at 2:30pm EDT.
Among the top components of the index, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) emerged as the biggest gainer. The e-commerce giant was able to advance by $1.99 or 1.08% to close at $186.88 for the day.
For those keeping track, that performance was a magnificent 27 times better than the cash index’s advance of 0.04%.
The biggest loser ended up being Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY). For the day, the healthcare company declined by $17.36 or 1.88% to close at $906.18.
