When making new all-time highs, or even 52-week highs, one wouldn’t expect much resistance, but that was not necessarily the case for the S&P 500 index futures Friday.
The day’s action was influenced by the latest inflation data, released during the premarket session at 8:30am EST. December’s CPI adjustment to 0.2% from 0.3%, alongside revisions for October’s and November’s numbers meant the annualized Core CPI figure remains at 3.3%. The bulls took this as “no news is good news,” spurring a sharp rally to take the index futures to 5043.
However, this enthusiasm was met with a swift reversal, erasing most of the overnight and premarket advances before the regular session began. Despite this setback, the bears’ attempt to flatten the index’s gains was thwarted by support around Thursday’s close, sparking a recovery and subsequent rally throughout the day, with the only major pause taking place before the lunch hour.
Profit-taking in the final hour slightly tempered the day’s gains, but the session still closed on a positive note at 5044, up by 26.25 handles. For the week, the index futures are up 63.75 handles or 1.28%.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) stood out as the day’s most significant winner, buoyed by its announcement to venture further into tailor-made AI and cloud computing chips. The company’s stock reached a new all-time and closing high of $721.33, marking a gain of $24.92 or 3.58%.
This performance was over six times greater than the cash index’s increase of 0.58%.
On the contrary, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) found itself as the session’s biggest laggard, with a modest decline of $1.89 or 0.40%, ending at $468.11.
