Software and chips helped carry the bulls through Thursday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures, with NVIDIA Corp’s latest earnings report helping to provide most of the fuel.

Bulls took control as soon as the evening futures session opened, though profit-takers were quick to take advantage of the strength. Through the night, buyers found their footing above the psychological 7700 area, yet sellers kept a firm cap on every rally attempt.

The regular session began comfortably in the green, and the opening chop pushed the low down to 7702.75. That chop persisted, but the bulls carved out consistently higher lows and mounted a rocky rally to new highs. Bears hit back near last Thursday’s high, and the bulls were just as quick to respond. Once buyers broke through that previous high, they ran the index futures up to a peak of 7755.50. The bulls lost steam after reaching that level and bids began to falter, allowing sellers to strike back in the afternoon. Buyers were ready, and a late rally in the final half hour brought the index futures home fairly strong. The session concluded in the upper half of the day’s range at 7742.50, gaining 52.50 handles.

Friday, market participants can look forward to some minor macro data in the morning, along with a few minor earnings reports in the morning.

Among the top components of the index, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) emerged as the biggest gainer after delivering top- and bottom-line beats and strong forecasts, with 70% growth noted during the call for the coming fiscal year. Several analysts raised their price targets for the issue, and the chip designer advanced by $18.32 or 8.74% to close at $227.98 for the day from Wednesday’s close.

That performance was a lucky 13 times better than the cash index’s advance of 0.66%.

Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT). For the day, the retail giant declined by $1.71 or 1.64% to close at $102.63.