Apr 19, 2026 · QQQ/SPY Market Review · 10 headlines
U.S. equity markets were closed, so QQQ and SPY carried Friday's regular closes without a new session move. Early reports of progress in U.S.-Iran talks gave way to a U.S. threat of escalation, the seizure of an Iranian cargo ship, Tehran's rejection of another negotiation round, and a retaliation warning. Waller's stagflation warning, Google's proposed Marvell chip collaboration, Tesla's two-city Robotaxi rollout, and the opening of tariff-refund claims broadened the weekend policy and technology picture.
Published
Initial reports described progress but a large gap over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump later threatened severe infrastructure strikes, and U.S. forces subsequently fired on and seized an Iranian cargo ship as Tehran rejected another negotiation round and vowed retaliation.
Fed Governor Waller warned that a prolonged U.S.-Iran war could produce stagflation and make rate cuts difficult. Germany's March PPI rose 2.5% month over month versus a 1.4% estimate and a -0.5% prior reading, while U.S. tariff-refund claims opened through the CBP portal.
Google was reported to be discussing two custom inference chips with Marvell, including a memory-processing unit and an inference-optimized TPU, with planned production close to 2 million units. BlackBerry's QNX also expanded its NVIDIA edge-AI safety collaboration.
Tesla launched Robotaxi service in Dallas and Houston. A Morgan Stanley analyst described the additions as tangible progress and said the rollout could accelerate broader FSD development.
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