New York, May 6, 2026, 06:48 EDT
Invesco QQQ Trust ETF climbed early Wednesday in premarket action, buoyed by a rally in Nasdaq futures following a bullish forecast from Advanced Micro Devices that energized the AI trade. QQQ last traded at $681.61, up roughly 1.3% versus its prior close. Nasdaq 100 futures showed gains ahead of the open.
This shift is significant: QQQ sits at the heart of how traders bet on the Nasdaq-100, tracking the 100 largest non-financial Nasdaq names. It’s an ETF—essentially a stock-like bundle of holdings—that hands investors instant access to heavyweight growth and tech players, skipping the hassle of picking individual shares.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both finished at fresh highs Tuesday, lifted by Intel and several other AI-related names. Investors set aside Middle East worries, zeroing in on earnings instead. The PHLX chip index surged 4.2% to an all-time high—up 55% for 2026, according to Reuters.
AMD lit things up after Tuesday’s bell, reporting that first-quarter revenue jumped 38% to $10.3 billion. The data-center unit, which is most exposed to AI infrastructure, surged 57% to $5.8 billion. CEO Lisa Su pointed to a pickup in AI infrastructure demand, adding that data center now leads AMD’s growth in both revenue and profit.
The news sparked a rally across chip stocks. AMD jumped almost 18% before the bell, with Intel, Arm Holdings, Qualcomm, Marvell, and Micron trading higher as well, Reuters reported. “AMD’s narrative is shifting into a broader compute play, not simply a GPU battle with Nvidia,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. Reuters
QQQ wasn’t the only one making moves. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust posted a gain of roughly 0.8%. Over in chips and tech, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF jumped 3.2%, and the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF advanced about 2.2%. That’s where buyers pushed hardest—semiconductors and tech outpaced the broader market. Invesco’s QQQM, the smaller Nasdaq-100 ETF, tracked QQQ’s shift almost tick for tick.
Macro conditions played a role too. According to Reuters, futures tracked higher as traders bet on a possible U.S.-Iran peace deal. Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, said Wall Street was “double down” on the expectation the conflict wouldn’t flare up again and disrupt the earnings-driven run. Reuters
Earnings are still the main driver behind the recent price movement. According to LSEG figures cited by Reuters, S&P 500 companies are heading for first-quarter profit growth of 28.2%—the biggest jump since late 2021. “Earnings had driven the move higher,” said Chris Fasciano, chief market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network. Deutsche Bank’s Binky Chadha described the underlying growth as “arguably the strongest in two decades,” once special factors are stripped out. Reuters
Nasdaq-100 products are facing more competition lately, but that’s not what’s behind Wednesday’s action. Back in April, BlackRock moved to launch an iShares Nasdaq-100 ETF with the ticker IQQ, going head-to-head with Invesco’s QQQ. QQQ was managing around $376 billion in assets at that point—ranking among the globe’s biggest ETFs, according to Reuters.
Still, there’s a concentration risk baked in. Invesco notes that QQQ’s volatility can outpace that of broader funds—especially with its tech tilt. If AI budgets shrink, Nvidia’s upcoming numbers underwhelm, or energy costs climb again thanks to Middle East turmoil, gains could come under pressure.
Right now, buyers are using QQQ as their go-to liquid stand-in for the AI earnings story. That strategy can run hot when markets are climbing. But it can just as quickly reverse course.
