Monday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures capped Q1 with a wild ride, spending most of Sunday night and Monday’s session in the red before bulls staged a relentless comeback. 

Overnight, bears held the reins, eventually pulling the index down to a premarket low of 5552. The regular session kicked off just above that mark, but sellers hammered the bid, carving out a new day’s low at 5533.75. From there, bulls flipped the script, buoyed by March’s Chicago PMI landing above expectations at 47.6.

Buyers clawed their way back to the 5600 area by the afternoon, which matched the overnight high. In the final two hours, exhausted sellers finally gave way, and bulls powered into the 5600 handle, flipping the session green for the first time. Half an hour before the close, they hit a peak of 5672.75, only to ease off slightly as month-end and quarter-end orders rolled in. 

The session still wrapped up in the upper half of the day’s range at 5653.25, notching a gain of 30.25 handles. For March, that still makes for a loss of 276.79 handles, or 4.67%. And for Q1, that’s a slide of 360.05 handles, or 5.99%.

With April now in play, traders and investors are eyeing March’s US employment report, due Friday morning.

Among the index’s top components, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) shone as the biggest gainer. The tech giant climbed $4.23, or 1.94%, to close at $222.13. 

That surge outpaced the cash index’s 0.67% gain almost thrice.

On the flip side, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) stumbled as the day’s biggest loser. The EV maker shed $4.39, or 1.67%, closing at $259.16, still distancing itself from the morning’s low.