For the third time this week, the S&P 500 index futures have moved contrary to the premarket action. On Monday and Tuesday, the index battled back from lower opens to trim its losses in a meaningful way by the closing bell.
However, on Wednesday, the index was sporting a 20+ handle gain during premarket hours, but failed miserably when it was unable to breach the premarket high during the regular session. Interestingly, that level was just under the closing high for the recent move on Friday (4598.50 vs. 4600.75).
Once again, the premarket rally accelerated when weaker-than-expected jobs data came out. At 8:30 AM ET it was announced that private payrolls grew by 103,000 workers in November, which was below the lower revision at 106,000 in October and the 128,000 Dow Jones estimate.
Certainly, the retreat can be attributed to the fact that “bad news” cannot be “good news” forever in reference to the economy slowing.
Heading into the final hours, the index was desperately trying to go green, but the bears held their ground. The index went on to make a new low for the session, right in the same area of several other daily lows that have protected the index from a deeper retreat.
The end result was a decline of 19 handles at the closing price 4556.
Among the top components, the biggest winner was Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY). In a risk-off session, the issue added $1.10 or 0.19% at the closing price of $589.25.
That was better than the cash index’s decline of 0.39%.
The volatility in NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) following its Q3 beat continues in both directions. After being the index’s biggest winner on Tuesday, it reversed its role on Wednesday and was the biggest loser. Early in the morning, it was in the green by over $8, but reversed course and ended in the red by $10.66 or 2.29% at the closing price of $455.
