Investors have made a huge wager that the Federal Reserve Bank is either going to renege on its quarter point rate hike, or Jerome Powell will strike a dovish tone during his Q&A following the release.
The bulls were in control of the index from the opening of the premarket session. It immediately bottomed early in the session and was in the green by nearly 30 handles by the opening of the regular session.
The bears made a few weak attempts to get the index into the top of Monday’s range, but were thwarted in every attempt. From 2:30 PM EST on, the index caught a sustained bid that lasted until the final fifteen minutes of the session.
The end result was the index posting its highest close since March 8, by gaining 52.75 handles at a closing price of 4035.75. There is limited resistance if the index breaches Tuesday’s high (4043.25) until its March 9 high (4057.50). If the index fails to hold the close in the overnight session, there is limited support until the 4020 area.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest winner of the top components of the index. A strong market coupled with an upgrade in its credit rating enabled the issue to gain $14.33 or 7.8% at a closing price of $197.58.
That was six times the cash index’s gain of 1.32%.
The only issue of the top components not to post a gain was Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). The issue was flat on the session at a closing price of $153.89.
