The S&P 500 index futures appeared set for new all-time highs on Thursday but faced aggressive selling before a strong buy-the-dip recovery limited the damage.

Overnight trading held mostly in the green, buoyed by several Wednesday evening earnings reports. Index futures remained just below the premarket high of 7029.50 heading into the open. Once the bell rang, bids vanished and bears drove a sharp 110+ handle drop in the first hour and a half, testing the psychological 6900 level and printing the low at 6898.25.

With support holding, dip-buyers jumped in aggressively. The recovery, while choppy at times, continued steadily through the rest of the session. Buying intensified in the final minutes, pushing futures to test the next psychological level (7000) right before the close. The session ended in the upper half of the day’s range at 6992.75, down 14.50 handles or 0.20%.

Friday brings December PPI data at 8:30 AM ET and more earnings, mostly in the morning.

Among top index components, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) led as the biggest gainer after its Wednesday night earnings release delivered top- and bottom-line beats, raised guidance, which was followed by multiple analyst price target upgrades. The tech conglomerate surged $69.58 or 10.40% to close at $738.31.

For those who like easy math, that outperformed the cash index’s 0.20% decline by over 10 percent. 

On the other hand, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) was the biggest loser following its own Wednesday night report that featured a top- and bottom-line beat but disappointing guidance and several following price target cuts. The tech giant plunged $48.13 or 9.99% to close at $433.50.