Friday’s S&P 500 index futures session halted a five-day winning streak, reaching new all-time highs before bears and profit-takers drove away all the gains.
Overnight, bulls drove to new all-time highs, though sellers tested support at Thursday’s close just before the regular session. At the open, bulls sparked a rally, climbing toward the premarket high. A brief pause came after September’s ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI disappointed at 50.0 (vs. 51.8 expected), after which sellers took control temporarily. Undeterred, bulls resumed the push, hitting a new all-time high of 6800 in the front-month contract over lunch.
Post-lunch, profit-takers and bears flushed bids, with cautious Fed commentary seeming sellers, erasing early gains and bottoming at 6754. Dip-buyers briefly lifted index futures back into the green, but sellers struck again in the final 10 minutes, wiping out remaining gains. The session closed in the lower half of the day’s range at 6764, down 2.75 handles. For the week, the index futures gained 67.50 handles or 1.01%.
Next week, if the government shutdown ends, delayed jobs data and other macro data releases are expected, alongside Fed’s September FOMC meeting minutes, fedspeak, and a few earnings reports.
Among top index components, Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) led as the biggest gainer, rising $20.02 or 2.44% to close at $839.87.
That outperformed the cash index’s flat 0.00% performance.
Conversely, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) was the biggest loser, falling $16.49 or 2.27% to close at $710.56.
