Investors were anticipating the reading of January Consumer Price Index would either send the index to new highs for the year or instigate a retracement of the January action. Wrong.
Although at a few different times during the session, especially in the premarket, the S&P 500 index futures looked poised for a breakout. On the downside, the bears had a sub-4100 print on the radar, but bulls stepped in ahead for a successful defense of it.
Late in the session, the bulls were close to posting a win for the day, but a wave of sellers came in the final minutes and negated that. The end result was a small loss of 1.75 handles with a closing print of 4145.50.
A price target increase at Bank Of America sent Nvidia Corp into orbit and it was the biggest winner of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue gained $11.83 or 5.1% to close at $229.71.
That was much better than the cash index’s slight decline of 0.04%.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was lower for the second day in a row and was the biggest loser of the top components. For the session, the issue declined by $1.36 or 1.16% to close at 1.16%.
