Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P 500 Futures Drop Following Drone Strike On UAE Nuclear Plant—Regeneron

May 18, 2026
stock-market-today:-dow-jones,-s&p-500-futures-drop-following-drone-strike-on-uae-nuclear-plant—regeneron

U.S. stock futures fell on Monday following Friday’s sharp declines. This comes as a drone strike triggered a fire near the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant.

UAE officials confirmed no radiation leak or injuries occurred, Reuters reported. Earlier last week, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social and said that Iran must act “FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them.”

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.08, and the two-year bond was at 4.60%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 99.2% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during June’s meeting.

Index Performance (+/-)
Dow Jones -0.62%
S&P 500 -0.31%
Nasdaq 100 -0.08%
Russell 2000 -0.32%

Stocks In Focus

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

  • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) tumbled 11.92% in premarket on Monday after its Phase 3 trials for metastatic melanoma did not achieve statistical significance.
  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that REGN maintains a strong price trend in the long term, but a weak trend in the short and medium terms, with a moderate quality ranking.

UnitedHealth Group

  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that UNH maintains a strong price trend in the long, medium, and short terms, with a poor growth score.

Strategy

  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MSTR maintains a weak price trend in the long term but a strong trend in the short and medium terms.

NextNRG

  • NextNRG Inc. (NASDAQ:NXXT) surged 91.16% as its first-quarter revenue increased 29% year-over-year to $21.1 million, while gross profit more than tripled.
  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NXXT maintains a weak price trend in the short, medium, and long terms.

ServiceNow

  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NOW maintains a weak price trend in the long, medium, and short terms, with a solid growth score.

Cues From Last Session

Materials, utilities, and consumer discretionary sectors suffered the heaviest losses on Friday as most S&P 500 groups ended in the red, while energy shares defied the downward trend to close higher.

Insights From Analysts

Mohamed El-Erian observes that the U.S. economy and financial markets are “navigating an increasingly complex and divergent landscape.” Although equity markets have largely brushed off recent bond volatility to focus on corporate earnings and AI, El-Erian highlights factors that threaten to undermine this “impressive stock market surge.”

For the broader economy, persistent inflation and higher interest rates present severe challenges. He warns that “the longer and larger the global inflation hit, the greater the risk of demand destruction.” Furthermore, the incoming leadership at the Federal Reserve faces intensifying “risks to economic growth” amid a challenging macro climate.

Regarding the stock market, El-Erian cautions that “stocks could face cross-asset contamination from continued bond market volatility” seen in vulnerable economies.

Moving forward, he stresses the importance of monitoring specific transmission channels, particularly the “yield-equity transmission.” Investors must watch “whether these structurally higher rates will finally begin to weigh more heavily on equity valuations and corporate credit spreads.”

Ultimately, El-Erian views these compounding macro headwinds as significant risks to sustained market and economic growth.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on this week.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.96% to hover around $101.99 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.24% to hover around $4,550.74 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $5,595.46 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.14% lower at the 99.1500 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin was trading 1.46% lower at $76,888.56 per coin, as per the last 24 hours.

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, as India’s Nifty 50 and South Korea’s Kospi indices rose. While Australia’s ASX 200, Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s CSI 300, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices fell. European markets were mostly lower in early trade.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

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