The S&P 500 index futures kicked off the shortened week with a turbulent Tuesday session as bulls defended support and bears pushed back at resistance.

Holiday trading Sunday and Monday saw bulls hit an early high of 6885.50 before sellers gained control. By Monday night and Tuesday morning, resistance at Friday’s close capped upside while support held at Friday’s low. After the opening bell, bulls briefly pushed into the green, but sellers hammered back hard. A swift 60-handle drop broke the premarket low and tested the psychological 6800 level. Support appeared to hold initially, but chop gave way to a low of 6791. Buy-the-dippers then stepped in aggressively, sparking a sharp rally back into the green. 

Bulls stumbled near unchanged before pulling away in the afternoon, nearly tagging the Monday morning high. Profit-takers and bears eased some gains in a calm final hour. The session closed above the day’s midpoint at 6860.50, up 10 handles.

Wednesday brings delayed housing reports and durable goods orders at 8:30 AM ET, followed by the minutes of the Fed’s January FOMC meeting at 2:00 PM and a load of earnings in the morning and evening.

Among the top components of the index, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) flipped its role from last week and stood out as the biggest gainer, climbing $8.10 or 3.17% to close at $263.88.

That performance was nearly 20 times better than the cash index’s 0.16% advance.

Similarly, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) flipped its role from last week and was the biggest loser, dropping $5.04 or 3.76% to close at $128.85.