Thursday’s S&P 500 index futures session extended the three-day losing streak, with buy-the-dippers battling but failing to entirely reverse the slide amid all the fedspeak.

Overnight trading saw bulls briefly lift futures to 6705.25, but sellers took control early, setting a bearish tone. By the opening bell, a steady decline had futures near last Thursday’s low. The regular session opened with further selling, bottoming near 6630, where support emerged. Bulls mounted a comeback, possibly helped along by reports of a potential +50% increase in the South Korea-US trade agreement’s value, pushing index futures back to the session’s opening level and consolidating over lunch.

Post-lunch, reports of escalating Europe-Russia tensions seemed to dampen bulls’ resolve, with bears resuming the decline. After bouncing off a new daily low of 6624.25, buy-the-dippers sparked a modest rally in the final two hours, perhaps assisted indirectly by dovish fedspeak. The session closed near the day’s midpoint at 6659.75, down 32.50 handles.

Friday brings August’s PCE index data and additional fedspeak.

Among top index components, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) led as the biggest gainer, rising $4.56 or 1.81% to close at $256.87.

That outperformed the cash index’s 0.46% decline by a tidy two percent.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), reversing its Wednesday gain, was the biggest loser, dropping $19.40 or 4.38% to close at $423.39.