Though the recent rally has slowed, the S&P 500 index futures put in a four-day win streak during Thursday’s session, though it wasn’t always clear that would be the case.
Overnight, bears held the reins, driving the index futures down until support kicked in at 5867, still above Tuesday’s low. Bulls recouped some losses pre-market, gaining traction after the Producer Price Index (PPI) report at 8:30 AM ET came in softer than expected.
| April Report | Actual | Expected | Previous |
| PPI (MoM) | -0.5% | 0.2% | -0.4% |
| PPI (YoY) | 2.4% | 2.5% | 3.4% |
| Core PPI (MoM) | -0.1% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| Core PPI (YoY) | 2.9% | 3.1% | 3.5% |
With the PPI data helping bulls distance the index futures from the premarket low, the regular session opened with bulls poised to test the premarket high. After a choppy open, they were finally able to push into the green. Reports of new US-Middle East deals helped stoked this surge, propelling the index to a weekly peak of 5944.50.
The afternoon reverted to chop, but bulls kept the index comfortably in the 5900s. A last-half-hour buying wave sealed the session somewhat near the day’s high at 5933.25, up 24.75 handles.
Friday brings April’s import price index and other macro data to cap the week.
Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) snagged the biggest win among top components, flipping from recent losses to climb $17.73, or 2.48%, to close at $733.29.
That outpaced the cash index’s 0.49% gain by over five times.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) slumped as the biggest loser, shedding $5.08, or 2.42%, to close at $205.17.
