Tuesday’s S&P 500 index futures session closed the month and quarter on a positive note, with bulls and bears battling through choppy action before a late rally secured gains.

Overnight, bears pressured support near the 6700 level, keeping futures mostly red. The regular session opened just above this support area, mired in persistent chop. Resistance near unchanged and support near Monday’s low of 6693 confined trading for most of the day. In the final two hours, bulls gained traction, possibly helped along by some dovish fedspeak, including Fed’s Goolsbee noting a steady labor market. 

Index futures rallied to new daily highs in the final hour, peaking at 6743.50 just above Monday’s high, before light profit-taking trimmed gains in the final minutes. The session closed near the day’s high at 6738.75, up 25.25 handles. For the month of September, that makes for a gain of 210.25 handles or 3.22%, and for the quarter, a rise of 433.50 handles or 6.88%.

Wednesday brings a preview of jobs data with September’s ADP employment report at 8:15 AM ET, alongside mid-morning manufacturing data.

Among top index components, Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) led as the biggest gainer, surging $36.49 or 5.02% to close at $763.00, driven by a sector-wide rally following the White House’s “TrumpRx” drug-buying site announcement.

That outperformed the cash index’s 0.38% gain by a lucky 13 times.

On the other hand, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) was the biggest loser, falling $9.02 or 1.21% to close at $734.38.