Wednesday’s S&P 500 index futures session kicked off the historically strong fourth quarter with a dip driven by government shutdown reports, but bulls powered through to notch new all-time highs.

Overnight, post-shutdown news sent futures tumbling to a low of 6680. September’s ADP Employment data, reported at 8:15 AM ET, disappointed at -32K jobs lost (vs. 45K expected to be added), triggering a brief sell-off. Bulls held firm at the 6700 support area, and off the opening bell, buy-the-dippers pushed futures back to the overnight high. The rally faltered briefly after September’s S&P Manufacturing PMI met expectations at 52.0, coinciding with a flush of selling. However, support near 6700 still held, and bulls resumed their ascent with minimal volatility.

The rally persisted through the day, leveling off in the final hour after hitting a new all-time high of 6769.50. Minor profit-taking emerged in the closing minutes. The session ended at a new all-time closing high of 6761.50, up 22.75 handles.

Thursday is set to bring minor macro data and fedspeak in the morning.

Among top index components, Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) led as the biggest gainer for the second consecutive day, soaring $62.42 or 8.18% to close at $825.42, riding sector momentum.

That outperformed the cash index’s 0.34% gain by over two dozen times. 

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) was the biggest loser, dropping $17.04 or 2.32% to close at $717.34.