The S&P 500 index futures spent Tuesday mostly pinned between the bounds of Monday’s range, only edging slightly beyond them once the bulls finally fought off the bears.

Overnight resistance near Monday’s high, right around last week’s peak, kept any meaningful green progress in check. By morning, bears were probing the psychological 6600 level. After the opening bell they added pressure with a quick dip, but bulls fought back, buying up the dips. After hitting a low of 6572.75, forming a double-bottom with Monday, the buyers slowly turned the tide. Around noon, bulls pulled away and, after some afternoon chop, came within striking distance of green territory. 

Bears mounted one last push in the penultimate hour, but the bulls held firm at 6600 and delivered a solid final-hour shove that barely lifted futures back into the green. The session concluded somewhat near the day’s high at 6656.75, up 5.75 handles. After hours the high extended to 6673.50.

Wednesday brings the Minutes of May’s FOMC meeting and only a handful of earnings reports in the morning and evening.

Among the top components of the index, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) stood out as the biggest gainer, surging $19.54 or 6.21% to close at $333.97.

For those keeping track, that performance was over 155 times better than the cash index’s tiny 0.04% advance.

Conversely, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) was the biggest loser, sliding $4.30 or 3.39% to close at $122.49.