Friday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures dialed back the recent volatility somewhat with an inside day, still witnessing wild whipsaw moves, but landing closer to the week’s highs than lows.
Overnight, bears started by taking out bids, eyeing Thursday’s low. However, bulls dug in just above the psychological 5200 mark, cementing the day’s floor at 5206, a level that wouldn’t be seen for the rest of the session. The night and early morning brought a rollercoaster of ups and downs, with a premarket high pegged at 5379.
March’s Producer Price Index (PPI) report dropped at 8:30 AM ET, helping to nudge the index futures deeper into the green, but like Thursday’s CPI pop, the rally fizzled fast.
| March Report | Actual | Expected | Previous |
| PPI (MoM) | -0.4% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| PPI (YoY) | 2.7% | – | 3.2% |
| Core PPI (MoM) | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
| Core PPI (YoY) | 3.4% | – | 3.5% |
By the regular session’s open, red reclaimed the tape. Whipsaws at the start were brutal, with 50+ handle swings ripping through in minutes. By noon, bulls found traction, busting out of the opening range to challenge the premarket high. Sellers pushed back, but buyers surged past to tag the day’s peak at 5418.25.
A small, last-minute selloff trimmed gains, but the session still closed near the high at 5391.25, up 89.25 handles. That sealed a healthy weekly gain of 281 handles, or 5.50%. Earnings season goes into full swing next week with more big banks to start, then moving to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSM) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Thursday.
Among the index’s top components, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) snagged the biggest win during Friday’s session, climbing $9.64, or 5.59%, to close at $181.94.
That outran the cash index’s 1.78% rise by over three times.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) stumbled as the day’s biggest loser, dipping $2.72, or 0.50%, to close at $543.57.
