After two solid up-days in a row, the S&P 500 index futures took a breather in Tuesday’s session. The index, which spent most of the premarket in the red, had trouble finding its equilibrium off the opening of the regular session following computer glitches at the NYSE. The malfunction had several issues in the index trading at levels far away from their true value in both directions.
Once that issue was resolved, the bears made several attempts to get the index back under 4000. However, the bulls made a stand just above that key psychological level, bottoming at 4005.25.
The choppy and indecisive rally took the index from over 30 handles in the red, to in the green. In the final hour, there were quick spurts in either direction. The end result was a loss of 3.75 handles with a closing price of 4032.75.
At the time of this update being written, earnings from Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has enabled the index to tack on a few handles from the mark.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was the biggest gainer of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue gained $5.79 or 1.2% to close at $491.60.
That was much better than the flat session for the cash index.
The biggest loser of the top components was Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG or GOOGL). For the session, the issue declined by $2 or 1.98% to close at $99.21.
