It looked like the S&P 500 index futures would carry forward momentum Tuesday, but fresh headlines and bears had different ideas.

Overnight, bulls defended support multiple times, locking the low at 6762.50. Bulls even pushed past Monday’s high before bears tested the low again pre-open. After the bell, bulls attempted a rally but were quickly denied. Bears retested the low once more, yet bulls held support firm. With that level secure, bulls rallied straight back up with little resistance to the premarket high. Bids stayed strong, and post-lunch bulls drove to a new high of 6852. Unfortunately, that’s where sellers entered. 

Reports of Iran escalations in the Strait of Hormuz helped trigger a flush that erased the entire day’s gains. Bulls defended Monday’s close for the final two hours, but bids crumbled near the end. The session closed below the day’s midpoint at 6787.25, down 13.75 handles.

Wednesday brings February’s CPI report at 8:30 AM ET plus a handful of earnings reports before the open and after the close.

Among the top components of the index, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) stood out as the biggest gainer, rising $2.12 or 1.16% to close at $184.77.

That performance was just over one percent better than the cash index’s 0.16% decline.

Flipping its role from Monday, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) was the biggest loser, falling $3.17 or 0.92% to close at $342.58.