After a five-day streak of new all-time highs and all-time closing highs, the S&P 500 index was looking for an excuse to go down. Unfortunately, a suicide bomber at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan was the catalyst for Thursday’s retreat.
It is not as if the index exuded any strength during after-hours premarket sessions. During the after-hours session, it peaked just above Wednesday’s all-time closing high (4493), at 4494.25 and spent much of after-hours/premarket trading sessions in the red.
Off the open, the index ran into sellers right away in the 4490 handle and could do no better than 4492 during the regular session. It was hovering in the mid-4480 handle, when there was a delayed reaction to the political unrest that sent the index spiraling south.
The index easily breached the premarket low (4480.25) and sliced through Tuesday and Wednesday lows at the 4476 area, but eventually found buyers at 4465.25. From that level, it drifted higher in the afternoon to mid-4480 handle, when another barrage of sellers had the index make a new low by one-tick.
Bulls were barely able to defend the low of the day at the close. For the day, the index closed lower by 26.5 handles to close at 4466.50.
JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) led the index as it was higher for the sixth day in a row, adding $0.83 or 0.52% to close at $161.75. It should be noted that it was over $2 lower than the high for the session at $163.83. Meanwhile, the index was lower by 0.55%.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest loser of the top components. For the third day in a row, it found willing sellers at the $715 area and gave way. Tesla ended the session lower by $10.04 or 1.41% at $701.16.
PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Williams Sonoma (NYSE: WSM)
Williams Sonoma blasted over the $200 level off the open, but found a steady stream of sellers for the remainder of the session.
