Thursday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures was more or less a snooze, stuck in a tightening range with little to show by the close.

Overnight, the index futures barely budged until Fed’s Waller seemed to spook the bulls with talk of no Fed bond buys in primary auctions. Bears pounced, and the index futures tumbled to a low of 5828.75. However, buy-the-dippers soon swooped in as last week’s jobless claims came in slightly under expectations, helping to lift the index futures back to green. 

The regular session kicked off near unchanged, settling into choppy waters. May’s S&P flash US services and manufacturing PMI topped forecasts, briefly fueling bullish hopes, though the momentum fizzled as the index flipped between gains and losses.

Post-lunch, bulls found traction, pushing the index to a high of 5895 near the daily pivot, teasing a solid finish. But a late half-hour sell-off snatched it all away, dragging the session to a close below the midpoint at 5856.75, down 4.50 handles. 

Market participants can look forward to a bit more fedspeak Friday.

Among the top components of the index, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) led the pack, climbing $6.42 or 1.92% to close at $341.04.

Tesla’s gain smoked the cash index’s limp 0.04% decline, outperforming it by nearly two percent.

On the other hand, Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) took the hardest hit again, dropping $9.75 or 1.34% to $715.20, marking its second day in the biggest loser’s seat.