The S&P 500 index futures traded back and forth Wednesday, but bulls held on to a few more gains and closed firmly in the green.

Overnight, bulls slowly built bids and cemented the low at 6848.25. By early morning, futures sat comfortably in the green. When December durable goods orders and housing starts/permits came in stronger than expected, sellers pushed the index back toward unchanged as the close neared. Volatility rose after the opening bell as bears probed Tuesday’s close, but bids held firm there and turned the action into chop just above that level. Resistance soon gave way and bulls rallied sharply past the premarket high into the 6900s. Progress slowed to chop above the psychological level, topping at 6925.75 in the early afternoon. 

Bids faltered right after the high and a decline wiped out nearly all the day’s gains. In the final half hour, shorts covered and dip-buyers stepped in to lock in a green finish, though the last minutes saw nearly 10 handles slip away. The session closed above the day’s midpoint at 6894.25, up 33.75 handles.

Thursday brings various macro data at 8:30 AM ET including December’s US trade deficit along with a heavy slate of earnings reports morning and evening including Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) at about 7:00 AM ET.

Among the top components of the index, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) stood out as the biggest gainer, climbing $3.64 or 1.81% to close at $204.79.

That performance was a thrifty three times better than the cash index’s 0.50% advance.

On the other hand, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) was the biggest loser for the second day in a row, falling $2.23 or 1.73% to close at $126.62.