After Monday’s session, it appeared that bulls were going to book some profits heading into month’s end. It seemed logical with the looming Federal Reserve Bank rate decision on Wednesday, a slew of major earnings reports later in the week and a jobs number on Friday.
However, the regular session was in stark contrast to the premarket session. At one point, during premarket trading, the index was lower by over 20 handles, when it bottomed at 4007.50 and began to rebound. Some benign inflation data (wages) at 8:30 AM EST instigated the index from going red to green.
During the regular session, the index did not even see Monday’s closing price and had limited intraday shakeouts. Once the index cleared the 4050 area late in the first hour, the pace of the rally accelerated. The steady march north allowed the index to post a new closing high for the month/year as it added 57.50 handles to close at 4090.
For the month, the cash index gained 237.10 handles or 6.2%.
The biggest gainer of the top components of the index was UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). The issue shrugged off some after-hours weakness on Monday, which had been in the red by nearly $10, to close in the green. For the session, the issue gained $13.40 or 2.76% to close at $499.19.
That was over 1% better than the cash index’s gain of 1.43%.
JP Morgan & Chase Co. (NYSE: JPM) participated the least in the rally of the top components. For the session, the issue advanced by $0.83 or 0.60% to close at $139.96.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F)
The looming recession has yet to hit the automotive industry as exhibited by General Motors (NYSE: GM), taking Ford to a new high for the year. Read more on F here.
