QQQ and SPY close more than 1% lower amid Iran-Israel escalation

QQQ ended 1.25% below its previous close and SPY fell 1.04%, leaving SPY ahead by 0.21 percentage points. Both opened sharply lower, then fell a further 0.32 and 0.39 percentage points during regular trading. Iran's withdrawal from U.S. nuclear talks, continuing nuclear plans, and later missile launches kept the Middle East in focus. University of Michigan consumer sentiment was 60.5 versus 53.5 expected and 52.2 prior, while one-year inflation expectations were 5.1% versus 6.4% expected and 6.60% prior. Meta invested $14.3 billion for 49% of Scale AI at a $29 billion valuation, and Google later planned to split from Scale AI.