The S&P 500 index futures continue to consolidate in its recent range (6110~6185 in the front month contract), but this time the bears ruled most of the action during Tuesday’s session.
Bears were able to pressure the index futures overnight, setting the stage for a red open that coincided with last week’s close. Following the opening bell, sellers prevented any relief rallies from taking hold, and they soon breached the premarket low. The good news is that bulls still held support near last week’s low, almost exactly at Friday’s low.
The relief rally that followed brought the index futures back into mid-range on the day, but still far from green territory. For the remainder of the morning and most of the afternoon, the action turned to chop. Then in the final two hours, bids seemed to give out and sellers took back the reins.
It wasn’t until the final half hour of trading that the bulls found support in the same area as the morning and cut back some of the losses with some last-minute buying. The session concluded below the day’s midpoint at 6053.75, losing 26.75 handles. Though the year is starting to come to a close, market participants still have to look forward to the latest FOMC interest-rate decision on Wednesday at 2:00pm, along with Fed Chair Powell’s following press conference.
Among top components of the index, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) emerged as the biggest gainer. The EV maker was able to advance by $16.84 or 3.64% to close at $479.86 for the day, marking new all-time highs in the process. That brings the total December gain to 37% for the issue.
That daily performance was still over four percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.41%.
Flipping its role from the past few days, the biggest loser ended up being Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO). For the day, the chip designer declined by $9.77 or 3.91% to close at $240.23 as traders and investors took advantage of its recent rally.
