On the final trading day of November, the S&P 500 index futures experienced a dramatic turnaround. The morning began with the bulls at the helm, up until the release of the Core PCE inflation data at 8:30 AM ET, which reported a 0.2% increase, aligning with expectations, but still lower than the previous 0.3%, resulting in a year-over-year Core PCE of 3.5%.
Initially, the market’s reaction to the inflation data was muted, but by the regular session open the bears were in charge, exerting control for the majority of the day. Amid a somewhat turbulent trading environment, the bears drove the index futures to a new low for the week, bottoming out at 4544.75 in the afternoon.
However, the narrative shifted dramatically in the last two hours of the session. A strong resurgence by the bulls, particularly in the mega-cap tech sector, countered the bears’ earlier dominance. The bears mounted a brief counter-offensive between 3 and 3:30 PM ET, but were ultimately overpowered as the bulls propelled the index to a new high for the session at 4579.50.
Despite a slight pullback as the session drew to a close, the S&P futures managed to secure a gain of 17.50 handles, closing at 4576.75.
For the month of November, the S&P 500 index futures tacked on a healthy 367.75 handles, or 8.75%.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) stood out among the top components of the index, buoyed by buy/outperform reiterations from analysts. The healthcare giant notched a notable increase of 3.36% or $17.99, closing the day at $552.97.
This performance surpassed the cash index’s gain of 0.41% by nearly three percent.
Conversely, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) continued its downward trajectory, losing 2.85% or $13.70 to close at $467.70, amid ongoing market reactions to its Q3 report. NVIDIA was one of the few mega-cap tech issues that did not participate much in the late-session rally.
In after-hours trading, the focus shifted to Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), particularly following the initial delivery event of its much-anticipated Cybertruck. As of writing, Cybertruck pricing details have been released higher than expectations, spurring sellers to take the issue down approximately 4% or $10 from yesterday’s close.
