SPY and QQQ Today: October 12, 2026 Recap, the Quiet Day Before CPI Week
Monday, October 12 looked like a day off if you only glanced at SPY. The S&P 500 fund opened at 778.78, touched a high of 779.40 and a low of 777.05, and settled at 778.10. Friday’s close was 778.57, so the change was -0.47, or -0.06%. The full range was 2.35 points, the narrowest of the last six sessions.
QQQ told a different story. It opened at 749.69, hit a high of 749.79 and a low of 744.85, then closed at 746.04. Friday’s close was 751.27, which makes the change -5.23, or -0.70%. The open sat within 0.10 of the day’s high, and the close landed 3.65 below the open, about 24% of the way up a 4.94 range. That close is the lowest since October 1, when QQQ finished at 742.03.
So SPY gave up 0.06% and QQQ gave up 0.70%. The Nasdaq-100 fund fell far more than the broad index. I am not going to guess at the reason, because the numbers do not tell me one. I just want you to notice the gap.
What was on the calendar
The calendar listed a bank holiday for Columbus Day. The bond market was closed, while U.S. stock exchanges stayed open. Fed speaker Hammack was scheduled for 12:10pm. That is all I will say about either item, since I am only reading you the schedule.
Why a quiet index can hide a lot
If you only watch SPY, a 0.06% day feels like nothing happened. If you hold QQQ, or copy a trade that lives in QQQ, your day had a very different shape. A 0.70% drop on a fund like that is a real move for anyone sized aggressively.
Days like this one show you how a position actually feels. If a 0.70% decline had you checking your phone every ten minutes, that is useful information, and it costs nothing to collect on a Monday.
Decide on the quiet day, not on CPI morning
Here is the look-ahead, in Eastern Time. Forecasts and previous readings are the only things I am passing along, and none of this is a prediction.
Tuesday, October 13: NFIB Small Business Index at 6:00am (forecast 98.1, previous 98.7). ADP Weekly Employment Change at 8:15am (previous 23.8K). Existing Home Sales at 10:00am (forecast 3.95M, previous 3.98M). Waller speaks at 3:45am, Barkin at 1:00pm, Collins at 4:00pm.
Wednesday, October 14: at 8:30am, CPI m/m (forecast 0.6%, previous 0.4%), CPI y/y (forecast 3.6%, previous 3.4%), and Core CPI m/m (forecast 0.2%, previous 0.3%). The Beige Book follows at 2:00pm.
Thursday, October 15: at 8:30am, PPI, retail sales, the Philadelphia Fed, jobless claims and more.
That is a full run of releases. The worst time to work out how much you can afford to lose is the minute a number hits and the screen starts moving. Decisions made in that moment tend to be made by adrenaline. Decisions made on a quiet Monday are made by you.
What to have written down by Tuesday night
I keep this short on purpose. Before Wednesday, put three things on paper or in a note on your phone.
First, your max loss per trade, as a dollar amount and not a feeling. If your account is $10,000 and you decide a single trade can cost you 1%, that is $100, and your position size works backward from where your stop sits. The math is boring, which is exactly why it works.
Second, which alerts you intend to follow this week. You do not have to take every one. Pick the ones that fit your size and your schedule, and say so in advance.
Third, when you will not trade. Maybe that is the first few minutes after the 8:30am releases. Maybe it is the whole day. A rule to sit out is still a rule, and it is the one people skip most often.
Where copied alerts with a defined stop fit
On a morning with a big print, the hardest part of trading is the guesswork. Where to get out, how big to go, whether to add. When you copy an alert that arrives with an entry and a stop already attached, a chunk of that guesswork is gone before the market opens. You still choose the size, and you still decide whether to take it. But the exit is not something you invent while your heart rate is up.
One honest line: copied trades can lose. A stop limits the damage on a trade, but it does not stop a trade from being wrong, and fast markets can fill you at a worse price than the level you set. Size every position as if it might hit the stop, because some of them will.
The takeaway from a 0.06% day
SPY barely moved and QQQ dropped 0.70%. Nothing about that tells me what Wednesday looks like, and I will not pretend otherwise. It does tell me I have tonight and tomorrow to get my numbers written down.
Do that while the market is quiet. When the data lands, you will already know what you are going to do.
This is a recap of published prices and scheduled events, not a forecast and not financial advice. Trading involves risk, and you can lose money.
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