Wednesday’s shortened S&P 500 index futures session extended the Santa Claus rally with another modest gain, keeping the holiday-week momentum intact in thin trading.

The quiet morning saw minimal movement until the regular session opened, with the low already marked at 6952.50. Buyers stepped in steadily with little overhead resistance, pushing the index futures higher toward December’s high in the front-month contract. The advance stalled just before noon as profit-takers and light selling capped further progress. The session high of 6988 printed over lunch, forming a double-top with December 11’s high.

Late selling trimmed some gains into the early close, but the index futures mostly held firm. The regular session finished in the upper half of the range at 6980, up 19 handles.

Friday brings a quiet day with no scheduled macro data or earnings.

Among top index components, Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) flipped its recent role and emerged as the biggest gainer. The retail giant rose $0.71 or 0.64% to close at $111.61.

That performance was slightly better than the cash index’s 0.35% advance.

Flipping its role as well, the biggest loser was NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA). For the day, the chip designer slipped $0.60 or 0.32% to close at $188.61.