Investors cannot say that the S&P 500 index has not been giving them opportunities to sell into strength, instead of into weakness. The index offered up two chances to lighten up with a robust rally during premarket trading and another one off the opening that came to an abrupt end just after 11:00 AM.
Once the index was unable to hold Friday’s close, the pace of the decline accelerated. On a positive note, the index did not breach a few important daily lows from last week. In fact, the bears attempted to press the index towards them a few different times in the afternoon, but the bulls prevailed for now.
A lift in the final few minutes of the session helped the index avert a new closing low for the move (4160.50), finishing in the red by 29 handles at 4163.50. The show of force of buyers continued in the after-hours as the index tacked on nearly 8 handles (4172) by the 5 PM EST close.
The biggest winner of the top components was Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). The issue is making yet another attempt to clear the major monthly resistance at the $174 area, reaching it early in the session. However, it backed off to close higher by $2.34 or 1.38% to close at $171.69.
That was just over 2% better than the cash index’s decline of 0.74%.
A major decline in Crude Oil prices on Monday had investors moving away from the EV makers. As a result, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest loser of the top components of the index. Its three-day retreat has knocked off nearly $100, closing in the red by $28.98 or 3.64% at $766.37.
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