QQQ falls 0.63% as SPY leads amid rate, geopolitical and AI-deal updates

QQQ ended down 0.63% and SPY down 0.43%, leaving SPY ahead by 0.20 percentage points. Pending home sales beat estimates while the Treasury curve steepened to +65 basis points. China’s Taiwan drills and a series of AI deals and semiconductor licensing updates provided additional context through overnight trading.

Published Aug 26, 2026

QQQ: -0.63%
SPY: -0.43%
QQQ − SPY: -0.20%

What shaped the session

Macro crosscurrents

Pending home sales rose 3.3% versus a 1.0% estimate, while the 10-year/2-year Treasury spread reached +65 basis points near its widest since January 2022.

Geopolitical risk

Record-scale Chinese military drills around Taiwan and renewed U.S. warnings about Iran kept geopolitical risk prominent during the session.

AI dealmaking

Meta acquired AI-agent startup Manus, while SoftBank agreed to buy DigitalBridge for $4 billion at a 15% premium to expand its AI data-center platform.

Semiconductor policy

Samsung and SK Hynix obtained U.S. approval for 2026 chip-tool shipments to China under a new annual licensing framework, alongside TSMC N2 production news.

Key news

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