Equal-weight S&P 500 exposure outperformed large technology and semiconductor funds in the week ended October 16, 2026, but did not reach a new price high. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, or RSP, closed Friday at $214.09, down 0.42% for the session but up 0.49% for the week. Its closing price remained 3.90% below its August 14 close.
Key Takeaways
- RSP gained for the week while SPY, QQQ and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF declined.
- The equal-weight fund nearly erased SPY’s year-to-date price-return lead without reaching its August high.
- Early earnings beats were frequent but small, with only 9% of S&P 500 companies having reported.
Table of Contents
- Equal-weight S&P 500 gains were weekly, not a new high
- SPY’s year-to-date lead narrowed to 0.17 percentage point
- Early earnings beats were frequent but modest
- Conclusion
Equal-weight S&P 500 gains were weekly, not a new high
RSP fell $0.91 from Thursday’s $215.00 close. Its Friday intraday high of $216.295 also remained below $222.77, the August 14 closing price and the highest close in the available Nasdaq historical series, which begins October 1, 2025.
The weekly comparison told a different story. From the October 9 close, RSP advanced while the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, or SPY, declined 1.97%. The Invesco QQQ Trust fell 5.52%, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, or SMH, lost 10.53%.
Equal weighting reduces the influence of the largest companies compared with a market-capitalization-weighted portfolio. The week’s divergence therefore showed stronger relative performance outside the biggest stocks, not a new absolute price record for the equal-weight fund.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| RSP — equal-weight S&P 500 | October 16 close: $214.09; price change from October 9: +0.49%. |
| SPY — capitalization-weighted S&P 500 | October 16 close: $763.25; price change from October 9: −1.97%. |
| QQQ — Invesco QQQ Trust | October 16 close: $709.80; price change from October 9: −5.52%. |
| SMH — VanEck Semiconductor ETF | October 16 close: $539.79; price change from October 9: −10.53%. |
SPY’s year-to-date lead narrowed to 0.17 percentage point
By October 16, SPY’s price return from December 31, 2025, was 11.93%, compared with 11.76% for RSP. The gap had narrowed sharply from October 7, when the corresponding gains were 13.98% and 9.94%—a difference of 4.04 percentage points.
Those figures are ETF price returns, not total returns including distributions. They show that equal weight almost caught up during the selloff in technology and semiconductor funds, while SPY still retained a small year-to-date advantage.
Relative performance and absolute price levels answer different questions. RSP could close the remaining performance gap through smaller losses than SPY without recovering its own August closing high.
Early earnings beats were frequent but modest
FactSet’s October 16 earnings-season update showed that 84% of S&P 500 companies reporting third-quarter results had beaten earnings-per-share estimates. That exceeded the five-year average of 78%, but only 9% of index constituents—roughly 45 companies—had reported.
The size of those beats was less impressive than their frequency. Aggregate earnings exceeded estimates by 2.6%, compared with a five-year average of 7.5% and a ten-year average of 8.0%. FactSet cautioned that these historical averages cover full reporting seasons, unlike the small current sample.
Blended third-quarter earnings growth, combining reported results with estimates for companies yet to report, slipped to 29.0% from 29.4% a week earlier. FactSet identified downward revisions in Health Care as the largest contributor to the weekly reduction, partly offset by upward revisions in Energy.
The earnings figures therefore did not describe a uniformly stronger season: more companies than usual cleared estimates, but by smaller amounts, while the overall growth estimate declined. They also do not establish a cause for the week’s ETF price movements.
Conclusion
The week ended October 16 brought a substantial relative improvement for equal weight, not a new RSP price high. The next confirmed earnings test was the week of October 19, when 79 S&P 500 companies were scheduled to report, broadening the sample behind the early beat rate and growth estimates.
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