Bulls started Monday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures, but it was the bears who finished it, grinding a comfortable early lead all the way down to a scratch.

Growing optimism around Hormuz seemed to help with an initial uplift from the bulls to the psychological 7500 area. Unfortunately for them, the premarket high of 7524.75 was as far as they would get.

The regular session commenced above the 7500 level, but profit-takers and other sellers were immediately testing support there. Once it started to falter, and once reports of China building its own advanced chipmaking tools began circulating in earnest, bids gave way. A steady selloff of more than 70 handles lasted through the first hour until support came in just above last week’s low. Bulls tried for a recovery, barely clawing back into the green before bears hit back. From there it turned into a series of back-and-forth swings, with resistance holding near unchanged and support somewhat holding around the early low.

The floor was pushed slightly lower to 7416.25 in the afternoon, forming a double-bottom with Thursday’s low. From there, bulls began building a base of bids that would end up holding. A push into the final hour saw bulls barely grasp onto green territory, and the action ended up settling there. The session concluded below the day’s midpoint at 7448.25, gaining 0.75 handles.

Tomorrow, market participants can look forward to June’s advanced trade balance and inventories at 8:30 AM ET, along with another load of earnings reports in the morning and evening.

Among the top components of the index, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) emerged as the biggest gainer. The tech giant advanced by $7.48 or 2.34% to close at $326.57 for the day.

For those keeping track, that performance was over 117 times better than the cash index’s scratch advance of 0.02%.

Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA). For the day, the chip designer declined by $10.33 or 4.99% to close at $196.51.