The old adage of “Sell Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur” prevailed yet again for 2023, though it was not clear the bulls would win at the start of the session.
The shadow of Friday’s decline briefly lifted during the overnight action, marking a short-lived relief rally. However, the respite was swiftly thwarted by the S&P 500 Futures Index hitting new lows for the month during this morning’s premarket session. A confluence of looming threats, including a potential government shutdown and impending inflation data, heightened market anxieties.
When the regular session commenced, the bearish overture was clear, with the index registering its lowest open (4348.25) since June. Yet, the bulls orchestrated a defense of the opening level, managing by the afternoon to resurrect the index into the green. Nearing the close, the bears took the index to being flat on the session, before the bulls staged a rally in the final 45 minutes, pushing the index to close near the overnight highs.
For the day, the S&P 500 futures established a gain of 17.75 handles, closing at 4378.75.
Among the top components of the index, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) charged ahead, emerging as the biggest winner. Propelled by news of the retail giant investing $4 billion in a competitor of Chat-GPT, the stock advanced 1.67% or $2.15 to close the day at $131.27.
This performance overshadowed the cash index’s gain of 0.40%.
The top components of the index did not register any losers for the day, rendering Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) as the day’s smallest winner. The stock observed a modest ascent, inching higher by 0.17% or $0.53 to close at $317.54.
