The S&P 500 index futures opened Thursday at the session high and spent the entire day in the red, closing near the low despite a valiant dip-buying effort from bulls.

Overnight, index futures started virtually at the day’s high of 6769.50 before bears took control and pushed nearly to the psychological 6700 level. Bulls began buying the dip mid-night, meeting resistance just below the overnight high before surrendering to sellers. The downward trend resumed pre-open and carried into the regular session with choppier action. After an initial post-open dip, index futures settled into chop around the 6700 area for most of the day.

Bears didn’t press to new lows until the final half hour, closing virtually at the day’s low. The session ended at 6677.50, down 102 handles, with the low extended to 6671.75 just after the close.

Friday brings January’s PCE index and other macro data at 8:30 AM ET with no notable earnings on deck.

Among the top components of the index, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) stood out as the biggest gainer, rising $1.84 or 1.49% to close at $125.33.

That performance was over three percent better than the cash index’s 1.52% decline.

Flipping its role from Wednesday, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest loser, dropping $12.81 or 3.14% to close at $395.01.