US-Iran headlines once again helped sway the action on Monday, with the S&P 500 index futures opening on a positive note before bears seized control and sold every rally that appeared.

Overnight, bulls worked their way up into the 7500’s. Morning reports of mediators proposing a 10-day cessation of strikes between Iran and the US handed the index futures an early lift, but that advance was mostly sold off before the regular session got underway. Following the opening bell, bulls took back over and rallied straight up to a fresh high of 7552. After a couple of tests at that high, resistance held and sellers cashed in, selling the rip.

Support was found near the psychological 7500 level, coinciding with Friday’s close, and bulls mounted a choppy recovery. That recovery didn’t make much progress, and an afternoon post by Trump poking the Iran bear seemed to give sellers a bit of fodder, sending the index futures back to test support once again. Reports of an Iranian missile striking US troop housing in Jordan were enough to hand control to the bears for the penultimate hour of the session. Support at Friday’s close was broken and that level flipped into resistance in the final hour, with sellers carving out a low of 7476.75. The session concluded near the day’s low at 7484.25, losing 13.50 handles.

Tomorrow, market participants can look forward to another load of earnings reports before the open and after the close as the full earnings week continues.

Among the top components of the index, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) emerged as the biggest gainer. The tech giant advanced by $8.47 or 2.15% to close at $402.29 for the day.

That performance was over 2% better than the cash index’s decline of 0.16%.

Conversely, the biggest loser ended up being Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). For the day, the AI/EV company declined by $11.27 or 2.96% to close at $369.57.