Nasdaq-100 Suffers Worst Week in 18 Months

The Nasdaq-100 fell approximately 5.5% in the week ending Oct. 16, with the Invesco QQQ Trust tracking a similar drop, according to YahooStocks0. The decline marked the worst weekly performance for the index since the week ending April 4, 2025, when it lost nearly 10%.

Sector Pressures and Drivers

Chip stocks drove much of the downward movement. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF dropped around 10% during the week, representing its largest weekly decline since April 2025. Additional pressure stemmed from declines in artificial intelligence-linked equities, investor concerns regarding tech sector borrowing for capital expenditures, hotter-than-expected inflation metrics, and oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel.

Historical Context Following Sharp Declines

Data compiled since the inception of the Invesco QQQ Trust in 1999 indicates mixed historical outcomes following sharp weekly pullbacks. When filtering for the first week with a loss of 4% or more in any 30-day window since 2010, the fund traded higher a year later in 25 out of 26 qualifying instances, posting a median gain of roughly 22%.

However, expanding the dataset back to 1999 reveals more vulnerability. Out of 71 qualifying weeks across the entire history, 47 were followed by gains over the subsequent 12 months, largely due to the severe losses recorded during the dot-com bust between 2000 and 2002.

Key facts

• The Nasdaq-100 fell about 5.5% in the week ending Oct. 16.
• The Invesco QQQ Trust traded near $724, down about 5% from its record close of $760 on Oct. 6.
• The VanEck Semiconductor ETF dropped around 10% during the same weekly period.
• Since 2010, QQQ rose a year after 25 of 26 qualifying sharp weekly drops, with a median gain near 22%.