For the first time since May 5, the S&P 500 index futures traded above 4300, when it peaked late in the session at 4304.75. That comes in just below its matching highs from April 26 and 28 at 4305.50, clearly giving the index a major hurdle to clear for the two-month-old rally to continue.
The premarket traders could have not been more wrong, pressuring the index from 6:00 PM EST opening on Sunday night, taking it down to 4249, from Friday’s close of 4281. The bulls easily defended that low early on as the index bottomed two ticks off the 9:30 AM EST open and were able to ward off the bears on several attempts to make it a red day.
Once the index was able to stabilize in the mid-4270 handle just before lunchtime, the pace of the rally accelerated. It paused at 4300 on a few occasions but was able to press through late in the session but could not close on the highs, unlike Friday.
Profit-takers could not resist in the final few minutes, trimming the gain for the session to only 17.25 handles to close at 4298.25. That marked the highest close for the index since May 4, when the day finished at 4297.25. Unfortunately, it cratered the next session, losing over 150 handles to close at 4145.25.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest winner of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue advanced by $27.87 or 3.1% to close at $927.96. That marks the highest close for the issue since May 4.
That was over seven times better than the cash index’s gain of 0.4%.
Much lower Crude Oil futures caused Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) to be the biggest loser of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue declined by $1.68 or 1.8% to close at $92.32. It should be noted that the issue rebounded sharply off it intraday low ($89.66) to avoid a much steeper loss for the session.
