The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) reached an all-time high on Wednesday trading as high as $187.93 before closing at $187.15.
The Invesco QQQ ETF first hit the markets on March 10, 1999 and has provided a long-standing contribution to investors and provided many with exposure to some of the most innovative companies to rise up over the years.
After 20 years, QQQ is now the fifth largest U.S.-listed ETF with $73.9 billion in assets under management as of April 17, 2019, was the second most traded ETF in the U.S. based on average daily volume as of the end of 2018 and boasts one of the longest performance histories available for an ETF.
It hit its all-time high despite U.S. markets and stock ETFs remaining stuck in range bound trading for most of Wednesday as the political pressures that dragged on the healthcare sector offset positive corporate earnings and upbeat economic data.
On Wednesday, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) was up 0.4%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) was unchanged and SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY) was 0.2% lower.
Among the worst performing areas of the market, the healthcare sector experienced one if its worst percentage drops in four months as politicians on both sides of the aisle in Congress ramped up regulatory pressures, Reuters reports.
“The fear among healthcare stock owners is some move to ‘Medicare for all,’” Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel, told Reuters. “The movement towards something like that seems unstoppable.”
The political risk offset any upbeat earnings from a broad range of sectors.
“People are more aware of how fast a downturn can happen,” Joanne Hill, chief adviser for research and strategy at Cboe Vest Financial, told the Wall Street Journal. “Investors are cognizant of risk because they saw what happened” late last year.
With the first quarter earnings season in full swing, analysts now anticipate S&P 500 profits to have dropped 1.8% year-over-year, according to Refinitiv data, marking the first earnings decline since 2016.
Related: QQQ ETF Celebrates 20-Years of Excellence
Many have already warned that the earnings season will not be as strong as years past, but it was not as bad as many expected.
“It can be an OK earnings season,” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, told the WSJ. “The fear was this was going to be a disaster from the onset.”
Of the 54 S&P 500 companies that have posted first quarter results so far, 79.6% have beaten expectations, compared with the 65% average beat rate going back to 1994.
“This has turned into a decent earnings season,” Tuz added. “Revenues have been OK and you haven’t heard guidance that things are getting softer.”
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