The old saying “if you are not fading, you are trading” is very apropos to describe Tuesday’s session. Early on in the regular session, the index was in the red by nearly 40 handles when it bottomed around 10:00 AM EST.
The fearless “buy the dip” crowd came in force and erased all of those losses as the index was higher by over 20 handles at the high for session, late into the lunch hour. The index reversed course once again and went back in the red. There was no specific catalyst for the retreat, but weakness in the bond market, including auctions, are weighing heavily on the rest of the market.
In addition, the stalemate in Washington to elect a new speaker of the house coupled with geopolitical tensions has investors trigger-happy to the sell side.
With all the ups and downs, neither the bulls nor bears can declare a victory as the index ended just about where it ended Monday’s session (4401). That would be a small gain of 0.75 handles at 4401.75.
Among the top components of the index, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest winner. For the session, the issue added $1.44 or 1.31% at the closing price of $111.39.
That performance was over one percent better than the cash index’s fractional decline of 0.7%.
Conversely, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) was the biggest loser by a wide margin. During premarket trading, a U.S. official said exports of the company’s A800 and H800 chips to China will be restricted under an updated export control rule. As a result, investors exited the issue as it declined by $21.57 or 4.67% at the closing price of $439.38.
