Stocks Trade Lower After Pre-Market Rally

A chart of the S&P 500 futures tells the story of Monday's open. In the overnight session, S&P futures fell sharply when they opened at 6 EST last night. The heavily traded contracts put in a low of 1,264 early in the electronic session, but rallied sharply this morning before the stock market open. Once the trading day began, however, investors used the strength to sell and a green open quickly turned red. The sell-off found a near-term bottom around the 1,270 area in futures, and the market has since begun rising again. Nevertheless, the major U.S. equity averages are still trading down slightly, with the Nasdaq holding around the flatline. At last check, the S&P had lost roughly 3 points to 1,275 and the Dow was down 8 points to 12,111.