Until the final minute of the session, the S&P 500 index was poised to post a slight loss of a few handles. However, the combination of a large sell imbalance to the sell side ($1.5B) coupled with investors lightning up heading into March instigated a rare 10+ handle drop in the final minute.
The end result was a loss of 12.50 handles with a closing price of 3975.50. That brings the loss for the month to 113.50 handles or 2.8 percent. From the high made early in the month, the decline comes to 231 handles of 5.8%.
For the year, the index is still in green by 3%.
The biggest gainer of the top components was Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). For the session, the issue had a gain of $0.47 or a half of percent with a closing price of $94.23.
That was better than the cash index’s decline of 0.31%.
The biggest loser of the top components was UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). The issue was lower for the third session in a row after declining. $7.38 or 1.53% with a closing price of $475.94.
