SPY, QQQ Push Toward Records as Tech and Comm Services Lead

SPY and QQQ are building on Thursday's record close, extending gains into Friday's session as tech and communication services carry the tape. The S&P 500 closed at a fresh record on Thursday after an intraday all-time high of 7,816.70, and SPY, the S&P 500 ETF, is adding another 0.70% today to $777.88 while QQQ is up 1.16% to $732.07, according to Yahoo Finance intraday data.

The options market is not treating today's record-high tape as a moment for caution. Thursday's CBOE total put/call ratio came in at 0.79, with the equity-only reading at a low 0.59, meaning call buyers outnumbered put buyers by a wide margin. That kind of positioning tends to show up when a market is grinding higher without much fear of a pullback, and it lines up with a VIX that closed at 14.63, still well off its 52-week high near 35.30.

Sector leadership is concentrated rather than broad today. Technology, tracked by XLK, is up 1.01%, and communication services, tracked by XLC, leads the tape at 2.07%. Energy (XLE) and industrials (XLI) are roughly flat, up 0.05% and down 0.05% respectively. That split keeps the rally's engine narrow: two sectors doing most of the work while the rest of the market holds steady rather than joining in.

Applied Materials reports after today's close, and this morning's retail sales print lands before the bell. Either one could confirm tech's leadership into next week or give the market a reason to pause at these levels.

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