AI expansion and tariff measures accompany a 0.27% QQQ gain

QQQ finished 0.27% higher and SPY gained 0.08%, leaving QQQ ahead by 0.19 percentage points after both opened slightly lower. Trade policy stayed active as the EU prepared an $84 billion levy list while U.S. tariff negotiations remained open. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said inflation was still too high for easing. AI announcements included federal contracts capped at $200 million for each of four frontier labs, Meta's plan for a supercluster above 1 gigawatt, and Nvidia's H20 sales restart in China. Overnight data showed China's year-to-date Q2 GDP up 5.3% versus 5.1% expected and June industrial production up 6.8% versus 5.6% expected.