The S&P 500 index futures continued higher Wednesday, building momentum ahead of the latest major component earnings report in the evening.

Overnight, bulls extended Tuesday’s gains, lifting futures from a low of 6892.25 up to last week’s high near 6930. After the opening bell, they broke through the premarket high and tested resistance around 6950. A small pullback followed, but bulls regrouped and pushed to fresh session highs over the lunch hour. There were no significant selling waves afterward, though progress slowed to a steady grind higher into the close.

The session ended near the intraday high at 6959.75, up 56 handles. After hours, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA)’s earnings helped trigger a spike to 6983.75 before a later retreat.

Thursday brings another full day of earnings reports morning and evening.

Among the top components of the index, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) stood out as the biggest gainer, climbing $11.64 or 2.99% to close at $400.64.

That performance was over three times better than the cash index’s 0.84% advance.

On the other hand, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) was the biggest loser, falling $0.97 or 0.77% to close at $125.78.