Coming into Wednesday’s premarket session, one could think the S&P 500 index futures were set up for a gap-and-go bull rally. This optimism was fueled by positive earnings reports from Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), and others, and the index futures opened the regular session over 20 handles higher.
Despite an early selloff after the opening bell, encouraging data from the S&P’s flash US services and manufacturing PMI survey, which came in above estimates, invigorated the bulls to buy the dip. This led to a choppy rally, pushing the index futures above the 4930 mark. However, the bullish momentum was short-lived as the bears reemerged after the lunch hour, initiating a steady selloff that nearly erased all the day’s gains.
A last-minute push from the bulls prevented the index from closing in negative territory, ending the day with a marginal gain of 3 handles at 4898.
In the top components of the index, chip stocks led the charge, with NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) standing out as the session’s biggest winner. The semiconductor company rose by $14.89 or 2.49%, closing at $613.62.
That gain was more than two percent better than the cash index’s modest advance of 0.11%.
On the other end of the spectrum, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) continued as the biggest loser among the top components. The electric vehicle manufacturer saw a decline of $1.31 or 0.63%, ending the day at $207.83. After hours developments included Tesla’s Q4 earnings report, which revealed lower-than-expected operating margins and EPS. Following the report, Tesla’s stock experienced a further decline, amounting to a total loss of around 5% for the day as of writing.
