Feb 19, 2026 · QQQ/SPY Market Review · 45 headlines
QQQ and SPY opened 0.51% and 0.34% below their previous closes and reached session lows of 0.76% and 0.63% below those baselines around 14:21. Both recovered after the regular session and ended down 0.24% and 0.13%, leaving SPY ahead by 0.11 percentage points. Better-than-expected initial jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing data, Iran tensions, private-credit redemption limits and fresh AI investment reports formed the main news backdrop.
Published
Both ETFs opened below their previous closes and fell to session lows around 14:21. Gains after the regular session narrowed the losses to 0.24% for QQQ and 0.13% for SPY by 04:00 ET, with SPY ahead by 0.11 percentage points.
Initial jobless claims were 206,000 versus the 225,000 forecast and a 229,000 prior reading. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index was 16.3 versus the 7.5 estimate, adding a firmer macro signal before the regular open.
Reports said the U.S. had expanded Middle East air deployments to their largest level since 2003 and that strike options had been presented to President Trump. Later, Blue Owl halted quarterly redemptions at one private-credit fund, adding a separate financial-risk signal.
The Financial Times report that Nvidia was close to finalizing a $30 billion investment in OpenAI added a concrete late-session AI financing development. Samsung's effort to command higher HBM4 pricing and Meta's $135 billion AI spending plan reinforced the broader capital-intensity theme.
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