The S&P 500 index futures experienced a particularly subdued session on this penultimate trading day of 2023, technically ending a four-day winning streak with a flat finish.
The market displayed minimal volatility, with the overnight session mostly hovering in positive territory and the premarket and regular sessions once again oscillating around the previous day’s close (4833.50).
In the intraday action, the bulls and bears jostled to break out of the earlier established levels, but neither managed to gain a significant upper hand. While the bulls came close to the overnight high multiple times, they consistently fell short by a few handles. The bears, on the other hand, slightly breached the premarket low by no more than 1.25 handles. Each of these bearish dips was promptly met with buying, with the final breach occurring just minutes before the close.
The index futures traded in less than a 14-handle range including the overnight action, ultimately concluding the session unchanged at 4833.50.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) stood out among the top components of the index as the largest gainer. The banking giant posted a gain of $0.90 or 0.53%, closing at $170.30. This move extended JPMorgan’s winning streak to five days, also marking its rise in 14 of the last 15 sessions.
That performance was slightly better than the cash index’s scratch gain of 0.04%.
Conversely, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) emerged as the session’s biggest laggard among the top S&P 500 components. The electric vehicle maker erased gains from its recent Santa Claus rally, declining $8.26 or 3.16%, to close at $253.18.
