Late recovery leaves QQQ 0.43 points ahead of SPY

QQQ opened 0.76% above the prior close and finished up 0.51%, while SPY moved from a 0.55% opening gain to a 0.08% advance. QQQ led by 0.43 percentage points. Both funds faded after the open and reached afternoon lows before recovering late in the session. Weekly initial jobless claims exceeded the forecast, OpenAI released GPT-5, and Federal Reserve and tariff commentary remained in focus. A banking-regulation order arrived alongside the late advance, while the after-hours nomination of Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board was followed by little change.