For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – November 4, 2026– Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Nasdaq 100 Index QQQ, CoreWeave CRWV, SanDisk SNDK, Marvell MRVL, Arm Holdings ARM and Micron MU.
Q4 QQQ Roadmap: Navigating AI Turbulence & Market Headwinds
2026 Stock Market Review
Here is a roadmap of what has occurred with the Nasdaq 100 Index in 2026.
Overall, there are 3 major takeaways:
1) The market continues to climb the proverbial wall of worry. If I had told you oil and rates are where they are, and the market has held up this well, few would have believed me.
2) The market and the economy depend heavily AI. The slightest concern of AI infrastructure spending slowing sends stocks crashing.
3) Market indices don’t tell the full story.
Tech Destruction
Last year, investors complained that tech was holding up the market; now the narrative has flipped. QQQ just suffered its worst 3-day decline since “Liberation Day.” Meanwhile U.S. tech momentum, or the lack of it, has been worse than the dot-com bust
What is Holding Back the Equity Market?
· Inflation/Higher Interest Rates
· AI Political Headwinds
· AI Funding/Debt Fears
· Gravity/Profit Taking
Below I explain why the market will overcome these hurdles in the coming months:
Inflation & Higher Rates
Higher energy prices have led to inflation concerns and higher interest rates. That said, geopolitical energy shocks are often short-lived. Tuesday, energy prices fell sharply after Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported progress toward a US–Iran agreement involving nuclear concessions and frozen funds.
The latest projections lean heavily toward 3 to 4 rate hikes (25 bps increments) over the path extending into mid-to-late 2027. According to BlueKurtic Market Insights (@BlueKurtic), the data shows that equities can perform well during rate-hiking cycles, especially if the pace is measured. This looks like a non-cyclical hike, with no more than 2-3 hikes. This scenario usually hasn’t been bad for stocks. The last non-cyclical hike was in 1997, and the S&P 500 gained 40% over the next year, outperforming longer hiking cycles.
Midterm Election Impact: Gridlock is Good
According to a Reuters Poll, only a third of Americans approve of the fast pace of data-center construction. In my view, the stock market has been pricing in a Democratic “Blue Wave” for a few months now, and that is part of why we have seen carnage in AI stocks. Nevertheless, the stock market during periods of divided government has “typically exceeded returns achieved when one political party controls the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives.”
