It was not as easy as it looked, but the S&P 500 index futures started the year out on a good note. Although the premarket gains evaporated after the release of USA Markit Manufacturing PMI for December (57.70 which was shy of the 57.80 consensus estimate), the index found support in a familiar area and reversed course.
While investors did not get a look at the premarket and eventual low for the day on Friday (4750.50), they had a brief moment to buy in that area off the open. The swift and nearly 30 handle decline found buyers just under that low at 4747.50 and gave investors only one chance at it.
After the morning swoon and initial rebound, the index was range-bound during the lunch hour between 4760-4770. Once it stabilized over the upper boundary, it flirted with the intraday high a few times and could not breach it until the final minute of the session.
For the session, the index added 27 handles to post a new all-time closing high (barely) at 4785.50.
The biggest gainer of the top components by a wide margin was Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) off better than expected deliveries for Q4. For the day, the issue added $142.03 or 13.4% to close at $1198.78.
That was 22 times better than the cash index’s return of 0.64%.
From the biggest gainer of the top components on Friday, Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was the biggest decliner on Monday. On the day, the issue declined by $6.37 or 1.5% to close at $408.64.
PreMarket Prep Plus Monday Segment: “Briefing With Brent”
Brent Slava, head of the Benzinga Pro Newsdesk joined the broadcast to discuss catalysts for the market in 2022. Read more about the Briefing here.
