Thursday’s S&P 500 index futures session delivered another mixed day of dips bought and rips sold, ending with a tiny gain after relentless chop.

Overnight trading hugged Wednesday’s close without much progress. Just before the bell, reports that Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) was slashing Metaverse budgets and continuing AI efforts sparked a quick pop that printed the session high of 6880.75. The rip was immediately sold into at the open, and the index futures slipped into the red. Morning action turned into chop around Wednesday’s close, with bulls barely defending the 6840s.

A swift afternoon selloff pushed to the day’s low of 6836.25, but dip-buyers absorbed the supply. The recovery stayed labored until closing imbalances helped trigger a final small rally that flipped the day green. The regular session closed in the upper half of the range at 6866.75, up a modest 4.75 handles.

Friday brings the long-delayed September personal income, spending, and PCE index reports at 8:30 AM ET, with no notable earnings on tap.

Among top index components, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) emerged as the biggest gainer after the Metaverse-budget-cut news excited investors. The tech conglomerate surged $21.93 or 3.43% to close at $661.53.

That performance was over 49 times better than the cash index’s 0.07% advance.

On the other hand, the biggest loser was Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN). For the day, the e-commerce giant fell $3.27 or 1.41% to close at $229.11.