Even a slightly higher-than-expected reading for the November Consumer Price Index couldn’t derail the recent rally. Although it was hardly a straight up affair.
Shortly after the release, the S&P 500 index futures reached its highest level since early August, but reversed course. The primary catalyst being a retreat in the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ: TLT) As a result, an early 15+ handle gain turned into a modest opening of the regular session in the red.
The bears pressed on and were able to breach the premarket low by a considerable margin. However, the bulls came to the rescue long before the index even got close to Monday’s low. A well-received Treasury bond auction at 1:00 PM propelled the index to new highs for the day.
Heading into the final fifteen minutes, the index backed off momentarily before ramping up into the close. The end result was a gain of 18.75 handles at the closing price of 4697.25.
Among the top components, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) was the biggest gainer. The issue nearly recouped all of Monday’s steep loss and more, by gaining $8.94 or 2.7% at the closing price of $334.22.
That was nearly six times the cash index’s advance of 0.46%.
Following another collapse in Crude Oil prices, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest loser of the top components. The issue, which has been lower in five of its last seven sessions, declined by $1.62 or 1.63% at the closing price of $98.00. That marks the lowest level for the issue since March.
