The bulls and the bears battled it out Wednesday in a volatile fashion. The bulls had control for much of the premarket trading and fended off the bears from the opening bell to stay green until lunchtime.
The bears asserted their strength off some “hawkish” Fed comments and took the index well beyond Tuesday’s low (4405.50) to 4277. That put the index in the red by nearly 40 handles until it roared back with a vengeance.
The index was able to recover and go green by nearly ten handles before wandering aimlessly into the close.
The index had a fitting end to a day where the bulls and bears were at war, with the index closing just under unchanged at 4313.50.
Among the top components of the index, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest winner for the second day in a row. The catalyst for the huge rally was a $3+ rally in Crude Oil futures. For the session, the issue added $3.80 or 3.26% at the closing price of $120.21. That marks a new all time closing high by nearly $2.
This performance was over three percent better than the cash index’s fractional loss.
On the downside, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest loser. There was no specific catalyst for the decline of $3.62 or 1.5% at the closing price of $240.50.
