Morning trough and broad rebound
Both ETFs opened near their previous closes and reached session lows around 10:31. They then recovered, with QQQ reaching a 1.07% session high around 12:05 and both finishing the day higher.
Feb 20, 2026 · QQQ/SPY Market Review · 38 headlines
From a 10:31 trough to broad gains, QQQ ends 0.87% higher and leads SPY
QQQ and SPY opened essentially flat, then fell to 0.50% and 0.37% below their previous closes around 10:31. Both recovered through the session and ended 0.87% and 0.75% higher by 04:00 ET, with QQQ ahead by 0.13 percentage points. Weaker fourth-quarter GDP, firmer core PCE inflation, a rapidly changing tariff regime and fresh AI-chip investment news formed the main backdrop.
Published
- QQQ
- +0.87%
- SPY
- +0.75%
- QQQ − SPY
- +0.13%
What shaped the session
Weak growth and firm inflation
Fourth-quarter GDP growth was 1.4%, below the 3.0% forecast and 4.4% prior reading. December core PCE inflation was 3.0% year over year versus 2.9% expected and 2.8% previously, while the monthly reading was 0.4% versus 0.3% expected.
Tariff regime rewritten
The Supreme Court overturned Trump's tariffs at 10:01. Later statements introduced a 10% global tariff on top of existing duties and said national-security tariffs would take full effect immediately, keeping trade policy central to the day's news flow.
AI-chip investment
Google was reported to be exploring a roughly $100 million investment in Fluidstack as it sought a broader market for its proprietary AI chips. The report added a concrete financing development to the day's semiconductor and AI themes.
Key news
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