Following major moves in the S&P 500 index, there is always a period of consolidation when the bulls and bears battle it for the next move. At this time, the onus is on the bulls to take out last week’s high and reenter the 4600 handle.
Meanwhile, the bears, or investors attempting to exit, to initiate shorts, or exit longs, are certainly making their stand in the upper 4500-handle. At this time, the last five daily highs have been within just over a 13-handle range from 4567.00-4580.50. Interestingly, the two closing highs for the move are nestled in the lower part of that range (4567.25 and 4568.25).
While the bulls are not making progress on the upside, the bears are not giving investors anything to salivate on. Instead, the lows from the last three sessions are in a narrow handle range (4543-4462).
Obviously, the bears had a slight advantage in Monday’s session as the index declined by 7.25 handles at the closing price of 4561.
Among the top components, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) was the biggest winner. The bulls are digging in at the $477 area, while the bears are defending its earnings day closing price ($487.16) as it was not reached in today’s session. The end result was a gain of $4.66 or 0.97% at the closing price of $482.42.
This performance was over one percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.20%.
On the other end, Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was the biggest loser. The issue reversed its role from Friday, then being the biggest winner. For the session, the issue declined by $9.57 or 1.59% at the closing price of $591.51.
