The largest exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in technology-related stocks was set to rally Wednesday amid quarterly earnings from Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL), Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC) and others.
PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ) was up nearly 2% in preopen trade.
Intel after Tuesday’s closing bell said first-quarter profit climbed nearly 30% from the year-earlier period. The stock was up more than 6% in premarket trading Wednesday.
Also reporting quarterly results late Tuesday were IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Yahoo (NasdaqGS: YHOO). IBM weakened in after-hours action Tuesday, while Yahoo shares jumped as profit beat consensus. Yahoo’s second-quarter guidance “was slightly better than anticipated, despite management postponing search revenue improvements until year end,” said Evercore Partners analysts.
Apple was scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Wednesday. The stock is the largest holding in the $23.6 billion PowerShares QQQ at more than 20%, although its weighting is set to decline on an index rebalancing.
Apple’s new iPhone will begin shipping in September, Reuters reported Wednesday.
PowerShares QQQ also includes Intel and Yahoo in its portfolio.
“Investors craving a large helping of large-cap growth stocks with a strong tilt toward the technology sector can consider PowerShares QQQ , which is one of the three most actively traded ETFs on the market,” Robert Goldsborough wrote in a recent Morningstar analyst report on the fund.
“Because the tech sector dominates this fund and accounts for so much of its assets, it’s really the performance of large-cap technology that determines the fortunes of this fund,” he added.
PowerShares QQQ is up about 4% this year, trailing he S&P 500 by a slight margin.
PowerShares QQQ
