Tuesday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures saw bears tighten their grip, marking a second straight loss as traders braced for Wednesday’s FOMC news.

Overnight, bears held the reins once again, consistently pressuring the index lower until the regular session opened. The opening action breached the premarket low but held near the psychological 5600 level, aligning with Thursday and Friday’s lows, where bulls found a bid and sparked a comeback. Just after noon, the Energy Information Administration’s forecast of slightly lower 2025 oil and gas output seemingly triggered a sharp bullish rip, falling just shy of the overnight low of 5673.25. A Trump post hinting at renegotiating the USMCA trade agreement sent sellers pounding the index futures right back down, with further trade deal headlines whipping the action both ways throughout the day.

Sellers landed a final blow in the last 10 minutes, closing the session in the lower half of the day’s range at 5625.75, down 46 handles. After-hours selling nudged the low to 5605. 

Wednesday brings more earnings, the FOMC rate decision at 2:00 PM ET, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference at 2:30 PM ET. For context, the CME FedWatch Tool shows a 97.8% chance of rates holding steady as of time of writing. 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class B (NYSE: BRK.B) snagged the biggest win among top components, inching up $0.18, or 0.04%, to close at $512.33, steadying after Monday’s slide.

That outpaced the cash index’s 0.84% drop by nearly one percent. 

Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) slumped as the biggest loser, shedding $46.34, or 5.64%, to close at $775.12.