The theme of the market finishing the week near the highs or lows continues once again for the S&P 500 index futures.
Like most other days this week, the bears were testing support in the early premarket hours, but support held firm in the 5089 area. The session took a turn when Fed President Barkin’s comments at 8:30 am EST gave some fodder for the bears, but the selloff was short lived and soon enough the bulls had the index futures back to unchanged.
The regular session started slightly in the green, and continually tested the previous day’s close for the first half hour of trading. Once it was clear that support would hold, the bulls took charge. With only a couple pauses at yesterday’s highs and at previous all-time highs, the bulls stampeded their way to new all-time highs in the index futures. Although the rally tempered in the session’s last two hours, the bullish sentiment ultimately prevailed, closing the day near the highs, up by 42.25 handles at 5146 – a new all-time closing high.
After a fairly muted range for the week, today’s breakout to the upside accounted for nearly the whole week’s gains of 44.50 handles or 0.87%.
Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) stood out as the day’s most prominent gainer among top components of the index, buoyed by Oppenheimer’s raised price target. The semiconductor behemoth surged $98.68 or 7.59%, closing at $1399.17, establishing a new all-time closing high.
That ascent was more than eightfold the cash index’s advance of 0.94%.
Conversely, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) emerged as the day’s biggest loser among top components, shedding $1.70 or 1.22% to finish at $138.08.
