For a brief period during Tuesday’s intraday session, it almost looked like the S&P 500 index futures would continue its recent winning streak. Alas, the recent rally came to an end with a small decline. The question remains, is this just a brief pause for the bulls, or are market participants in for a pullback? With July’s FOMC minutes being released Wednesday afternoon, earnings reports and other macro announcements coming this week, traders are sure to find out soon.
Neither the bulls or bears were able to gain any significant ground during Tuesday’s premarket session. However, once the opening bell rang, the bulls showed up to take the index futures from slightly red to surpass Monday’s high. Not too much time was spent in the green, as bears came right back to sell the early morning pop and breach the premarket low.
For the remainder of the day, the index chopped between the daily pivot and Monday’s closing area, for the most part. The bulls tried for a last-minute rally during the final 15 minutes, but ultimately came up against too many sellers. The session concluded below the day’s midpoint at 5619.75, losing 10.25 handles.
Among the top components of the index, Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) emerged as the biggest gainer following news that its weight loss drug cut the risk of diabetes by 94% in a recent trial. The pharmaceutical company was able to advance by $28.16 or 3.05% to close at $949.97 for the day.
That performance was just over three percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.16%.
Flipping its role from Monday, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) ended up as the biggest loser. For the day, the chip designer declined by $2.75 or 2.12% to close at $127.25.
PreMarket Prep’s “The Closing Print” With Michael Pachter (Managing Director at Wedbush Securities)
Closing Print with @michaelpachter https://t.co/XGrbIUZtRS
— Joel Elconin (@Spus) August 20, 2024
