Jul 17, 2026 · QQQ/SPY Market Review · 42 headlines
QQQ opened 2.05% below its previous close and recovered part of the decline to finish down 1.75% by 4:00 a.m. ET on July 18. SPY moved from an opening loss of 1.16% to a 1.09% decline, finishing 0.65 percentage points ahead. June housing starts were 1.427 million versus 1.310 million expected, while permits were 1.367 million versus 1.400 million expected. July consumer sentiment rose to 54.4 and one-year inflation expectations fell to 4.2%. Hammack said inflation remained too high and employment was near full. AI headlines included a potential $10 billion Meta-Anthropic computing deal and SpaceX talks with the Pentagon. U.S.-Iran military and shipping risks remained prominent.
Published Updated
Housing starts exceeded expectations while permits fell short. Industrial production growth slowed from the prior year, consumer sentiment beat expectations, and one-year inflation expectations eased to 4.2%. Hammack said inflation remained too high and the labor market was near full employment.
Apple was reported to be seeking AI chip acquisitions. Meta discussed leasing computing power to Anthropic in a potential $10 billion deal, while SpaceX was in talks to support the Pentagon's AI push. A separate report said U.S. officials were considering a watchdog for leading AI models.
U.S. forces said they destroyed an Iranian surveillance tower and sent more refueling aircraft to Israel. Iran said it fired a shore-to-sea missile toward a U.S. vessel, while U.S. Central Command announced more strikes. Iraq and Syria later agreed to revive an oil pipeline to reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.
Loading the full-day price curve…
