Q4 earnings season is off to a pretty good start, although it would have been difficult to predict that based on the initial reactions to the big banks’ Q4 reports. Along these lines, the S&P 500 index futures spent a majority of the premarket session in the red, as if they were going to erase Thursday’s gains and then some.
However, the index caught a strong bid just above the premarket low early on, and grinded higher. Once the index shrugged off a Noon swoon, it inched higher into the close. In fact, it was able to erase 40 handles of losses and end up green for the session by 14.75 handles with a closing price of 4018.25.
That brings the gains for the week to 102.75 handles or 2.6%.
While JP Morgan exerted upward pressure on the index, mega-cap technology stocks continued to rebound. This was evidenced by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) being the biggest winner of the top components of the index for the second time this week.
For the session, the issue advanced by $2.85 or 3% to close at $98.12.
That was much better than the cash index’s slight gain of 0.37%.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) was unable to maintain some sizable gains following its Q4 report and was the biggest loser of the top components. For the session, the issue declined by $6.10 or 1.23% to close at $489.57.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM)
A tale of two different reactions to their Q4 beat. Read more on JPM here.
