Bears struck first on Monday as an AI-related pullback greeted the S&P 500 index futures to start the week, but bulls defended support near recent lows and clawed back some of the initial losses.

Weekend chatter and reports of potentially slowing AI development at many companies set a sour tone, and Sunday evening trading opened with a gap lower. Overnight, bears pressed on, driving the index futures to a low of 7661.25 by early morning before support held, forming a near-perfect double-bottom with Friday’s low.

The regular session began with the action settling rather than picking up in the opening minutes. Bulls soon went for a rally, but the index futures fell just short of the premarket high before bears hit back and probed the premarket low. Bulls held the line, and once it was clear support would hold, they started to recover some losses. Late-morning posts from Trump about Iran wanting to make a deal added some wind to the bulls’ sails, sparking a fresh rally. The advance slowed once the index futures pushed above the 7700 area, eventually topping out at a high of 7719.75, falling short of Friday’s close. Light profit-taking crept in during the final hour, mostly after closing imbalances were released. The session concluded near the day’s midpoint at 7692.75, losing 34.50 handles in the December contract.

Tuesday, market participants can look forward to some minor macro data before the open, along with a small handful of earnings reports in the morning and evening.

Among the top components of the index, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) emerged as the biggest gainer. The tech giant advanced by $10.89 or 3.22% to close at $349.39 for the day.

That performance was easily better than the cash index’s decline of 0.45%.

Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) following the calls for AI development slowdowns. For the day, the chip designer declined by $17.27 or 4.77% to close at $344.72.