Thursday brought a reality check for the S&P 500 index futures, as traders grappled either with digesting Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech from the day prior or growing jitters ahead of Friday’s quad witch expiration.

By early morning, most of Wednesday’s hard-fought gains had evaporated, with the premarket low clocking in at 5682.50. This level was fiercely defended by the bulls right off the opening bell.

After the bell, a relentless bid soon propelled the index futures nearly straight up into positive territory. The rally peaked at a new day’s high of 5765.25, forming a double top just below Wednesday’s 5770.50 high. But with the quad witch looming, the index steadily leaked its morning gains and slid back into the red.

In the final two hours, bulls held the opening print but couldn’t reclaim much ground. The session closed below the day’s midpoint at 5712.75, dropping 17 handles and leaving a cautious tone heading into Friday.

Among the index’s top components, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) stood out as the biggest gainer, still riding momentum from its GTC conference. The chip designer rose $1.01, or 0.86%, to close at $118.53. 

That gain outpaced the cash index’s 0.29% decline by over a full percent.

On the downside, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) emerged as the day’s biggest loser among top components. The chip designer fell $4.44, or 2.28%, to close at $190.54, erasing most of Wednesday’s advance in one session.