Bears controlled the opening act of the shortened week on Tuesday, as reports of Iran strikes on US ships put a damper on sentiment and left the S&P 500 index futures with a weak start.

Overnight, bulls fought off the bears and dragged the index futures from a red Sunday open all the way back above Friday’s close. That effort stalled at a high of 7728.50 before the tide turned. A steady selloff went straight down to the psychological 7700 area, where the index futures oscillated around that point into the morning.

By the regular session open, bulls were nearing unchanged again, but bears took control and pressured the index futures down to new lows. Buy-the-dippers showed up to mount a recovery, yet resistance at the psychological 7700 area refused to give, and despite the bulls’ attempts it held for the rest of the afternoon. Then reports of the Iran strikes hit, and bears pressured lower once again. In the final minutes, a new low was carved out at 7672.25.

The session concluded near that low at 7680.50, losing 41.50 handles.

Wednesday, market participants can look forward to a few earnings reports in the morning and evening.

Among the top components of the index, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) flipped its role once again and emerged as the biggest gainer. The AI/EV company advanced by $14.08 or 3.98% to close at $368.16 for the day.

That performance was over 4% better than the cash index’s decline of 0.55%.

Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA). For the day, the chip designer declined by $4.63 or 2.01% to close at $225.73.