Though there was definitely volatility during Thursday’s trading, the S&P 500 index futures ended another session not too far from the day prior.
The Globex session started with an initial uplift, but the bears soon took advantage. Overnight, the index futures declined with European markets but found a bottom at 5726.50, near Wednesday’s low, and started rebounding. At 8:30am EDT, last week’s initial jobless claims came in slightly above expectations (225,000 vs. 220,000 exp.), which introduced a bit of volatility that was followed up by sellers once again.
After the regular session commenced, wicked chop and whipsaw moves saw the index futures test the premarket (Globex) high and fall straight back down into the red. The action was stirred in part by several economic data releases, including September’s ISM services coming in above expectations (54.9% vs. 51.8%) at 10:00am EDT. The volatility continued into the afternoon, where the bears were able to test support at the premarket low. In short, the bulls fiercely defended that level.
During the final 15 minutes, the bulls were able to reclaim over half the day’s losses with a last-minute rally. The session concluded nearly perfectly at the day’s midpoint at 5749.50, losing 10.75 handles. Market participants now have September’s US employment report to look forward to, set to be released Friday at 8:30am EDT.
Among the top components of the index, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) easily emerged as the biggest gainer after CEO Jensen commented demand for Blackwell was “insane.” The chip designer was able to advance by $3.95 or 3.32% to close at $122.80 for the day.
That performance was over three percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.18%.
For the second day in a row, the biggest loser ended up being Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). For the day, the EV maker declined by $8.36 or 3.36% to close at $240.66.
