It was a rocky Monday session in the S&P 500 index futures, with geopolitical reports swinging favor between bulls and bears throughout the day.

Overnight action stayed fairly muted, with bulls holding support above last week’s low until reports surfaced that the US would accept the lifting of Iran oil sanctions. Bulls ran with the news and pushed the index futures comfortably into the green. Resistance formed near the 7450 area before the open. The regular session opened with fresh volatility, but bulls countered aggressively and surged to 7454.25, just past the premarket high. Bears soon seized control, and once support gave way at Friday’s close, a choppy decline followed. Posts by a CNBC correspondent later added that the earlier US sanctions lift story was false, giving bears extra fuel. 

Just before the final hour, bears briefly broke below the premarket low to 7373.50. Then a fresh afternoon Trump post about delaying the planned US assault on Iran helped spark a rocky rally that nearly brought the index back to green. The session concluded with late buying above the day’s midpoint at 7425.75, losing just 6.50 handles.

Tomorrow, market participants can look forward to some minor macro data in the morning along with a slew of earnings reports before and after the close.

Among the top components of the index, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) emerged as the biggest gainer. The retail giant advanced by $1.89 or 1.44% to close at $133.34 for the day. 

That performance was still over one percent better than the cash index’s decline of 0.07 percent.

Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). For the day, the AI/EV company declined by $12.25 or 2.90% to close at $409.99.