Nasdaq 100 Index Today: QQQ Drops as U.S.-China Tensions Escalate, Core PCE Falls

The Nasdaq 100 (NDX) is taking a hit on Friday despite the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index showing a monthly drop and coming in line with the consensus estimate. That’s due to rising tensions between the U.S. and China as the two sides work to settle a trade deal.

Aprils Core PCE tallied in at 2.5% year-over-year, falling from 2.7% in March. Core PCE is the Fed’s preferred gauge for inflation and strips out volatile food and energy prices from the regular PCE index. The index represents the prices that consumers spend on goods and services.

Despite the easing core PCE, tensions are rising between the U.S. and China. This morning, President Trump said that China has “TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US” in a heated Truth Social post. In response, the world’s second-largest economy pressed the U.S. to stop its “discriminatory restrictions” on trade and end unfair export practices on the semiconductor industry, among others.

Afterwards, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. was planning on targeting subsidiaries of Chinese companies included in the Entity List with sanctions. The restrictions could arrive as early as next month with further sanctions likely to follow, said sources familiar with the situation.

The Nasdaq 100 is down by 0.99% at the time of writing.

Which Stocks are Moving the Nasdaq 100?

A quick look at TipRank’s Nasdaq 100 Heatmap will show the specific stocks responsible for the index’s decline today.

The Magnificent 7 isn’t having a magnificent Friday with losses led by Nvidia (NVDA) at -3.54%. The semiconductor leader is likely falling given the escalation in U.S.-China tensions. Other chip companies, like Broadcom (AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Arm Holdings (ARM) are also in the red.

Rising tensions are likely the culprit behind the drop in Tesla (TSLA) and Apple (AAPL) as well given that both companies have a major presence in China. On the other hand, Costco (COST) is up by nearly 4% after the wholesaler reported its fiscal third quarter earnings.

QQQ Stock Moves Lower with the Nasdaq 100

The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to track the movement of the Nasdaq 100. As a result, QQQ is falling in correlation with the Nasdaq 100 today.

Still, Wall Street believes that QQQ stock has room to run. During the past three months, analysts have issued an average QQQ price target of $575.58 for the stocks within the index, implying upside of 11.74% from current prices. The 102 stocks in QQQ carry 86 buy ratings, 16 hold ratings, and zero sell ratings.