Wednesday’s S&P 500 index futures session notched new all-time highs but snapped a four-day win streak amid volatility tied to the FOMC rate cut and Powell’s cautious outlook on future easing.

Overnight optimism drove bulls to battle for gains, with the regular session opening strong and pushing past the premarket high to a new all-time peak of 6952. The rally faded quickly, facing selling pressure while holding above Tuesday’s close. Volatility spiked after the FOMC’s 25bps rate cut announcement, intensifying during Powell’s press conference, where he noted a December cut is not guaranteed. That helped trigger a sharp 60-handle drop to a low of 6882.25, which was then met by dip-buyers. The afternoon remained choppy, but bulls defended higher lows. 

Late buying lifted the close just above the day’s midpoint at 6922.75, down a negligible 3 handles. After-hours trading saw a quick rip, dip, and gradual recovery to unchanged, fueled by post-close earnings from several top components.

Thursday brings more earnings in the morning and evening, including Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) at 4:01 PM ET and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) at 4:30 PM ET.

Among top index components, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) led as the biggest gainer, surging $13.01 or 3.49% to close at $385.98, hitting new all-time highs

That outperformed the cash index’s 0.05% gain by a very nice 69 times.

For the second day in a row, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.B) was the biggest loser, falling $5.73 or 1.19% to close at $475.76.