Feb 17, 2026 · QQQ/SPY Market Review · 65 headlines
QQQ opened 0.80% below the previous close and ended down 0.30%, while SPY improved from a 0.38% opening decline to essentially flat, leaving QQQ 0.31 percentage points behind. U.S. manufacturing data and Fed rate-path remarks shared the day with AI regulation, an Nvidia-Meta chip agreement and Iran-Hormuz risk.
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QQQ and SPY opened 0.80% and 0.38% below their previous closes, then recovered from intraday lows of 1.35% and 0.76% below those closes. Both reached session highs around 15:42 before after-hours weakness left QQQ down 0.30% and SPY essentially flat.
The February Empire State Manufacturing Index was 7.1, above the 6.98 estimate but below the prior 7.7. Goolsbee said services inflation was not tame and called 3% a rough neutral-rate estimate, while Daly said roughly 75 basis points remained before policy reached neutral.
Spain was reported to be investigating X, Meta and TikTok over AI-generated child sexual abuse material. After the close, Nvidia and Meta announced a multi-year partnership under which Meta will deploy millions of Nvidia chips.
Iran announced a live missile drill in the Strait of Hormuz as a new round of nuclear talks began. Later reports said the strait was shut for several hours, keeping oil and shipping risk in focus.
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