New York, May 26, 2026, 10:05 EDT
Invesco QQQ Trust moved higher in early trading Tuesday in New York, with investors picking up the Nasdaq-100 ETF as AI-related demand returned and there were some hopes for progress on a U.S.-Iran agreement. QQQ was last seen at $727.04, up roughly 1.3%. Nvidia added around 0.8%.
QQQ isn’t what most investors would call a broad market play. The ETF follows the Nasdaq-100 Index, so people buying shares get exposure to the 100 biggest non-financial companies on Nasdaq. The fund and the index get a quarterly rebalance and an annual reconstitution, according to Invesco.
Wall Street is still trying to figure out the tug of war between strong AI earnings and concerns that fighting around Iran could keep oil prices and inflation high. U.S. stocks opened up on Tuesday, Reuters said, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.94% at the open. Optimism around AI companies pushed aside worries about the Middle East, even after new U.S. strikes on Iran.
QQQ was up 1.17% in premarket trading Tuesday, according to TipRanks, as traders watched for signs of progress on a potential U.S.-Iran deal. This came despite the U.S. saying it launched “self defense” strikes in southern Iran. TipRanks also noted QQQ climbed 1% in the last five sessions and is up about 38% for the year. TipRanks
Nvidia is still the stock driving this move. The company last week posted first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $81.6 billion, up 85% from the same period last year. Data-center sales came in at $75.2 billion, a 92% jump. CEO Jensen Huang said, “Agentic AI has arrived,” meaning AI can now handle tasks with little prompting from people. NVIDIA Newsroom
Foreign Policy Journal reported on May 24 that QQQ finished at $717.54 on May 22, adding to a three-day run as Nvidia earnings boosted the tech sector. The story noted Nvidia held roughly 9% of QQQ, while Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet made up a combined 22%.
The concentration isn’t a sideshow. It’s central. Last week, 24/7 Wall St. said the market-cap-heavy QQQ has outperformed the Direxion Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares, or QQQE, over more than one period, with the biggest tech stocks driving much of the outperformance over smaller Nasdaq-100 names.
The pattern didn’t change Tuesday. QQQE added roughly 1.1%, still behind QQQ, while the VanEck Semiconductor ETF jumped over 3%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF tacked on about 0.6%. The moves again showed chips and big tech out front, not a broad move for all sectors.
But the trade comes with clear risks. Reuters reported Tuesday that Iran said the U.S. broke a ceasefire after new strikes in Hormozgan province. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters a deal may still take “a few days.” Brent crude climbed nearly 3% after the strikes, according to Reuters, which also noted vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to just a few dozen, from about 125 to 140 before. Reuters
Markets are already trading like “a full Iran breakthrough already exists,” Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management wrote, pointing out that hard parts of the talks haven’t been settled. That poses a risk for QQQ—oil prices could bounce, rates might go up, or Nvidia could stumble. The heavy concentration that’s lifted the fund could drag it down just as fast. apnews.com
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