Stock Market Live May 18, 2026: S&P 500 (SPY) Red with Iran Conflict on Shaky Ground

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NextEra Energy Buying Dominion

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NextEra will buy Dominion in an all-stock deal that will unite two key players in a race to meet explosively growing demand from AI data centers. NextEra will own about 74.5% of the combined company. Dominion investors will own about 25.5%.

“Electricity demand is rising faster than it has in decades,” NextEra CEO John Ketchum said in a statement. “We are bringing NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy together because scale matters more than ever.”

As also noted in the press release:

“The combination will create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business, fortified by North America’s premier energy infrastructure platform and developer. The combined company will be more than 80% regulated, serve approximately 10 million utility customer accounts across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and own 110 gigawatts (GW) of generation across a broad mix of energy sources. The combined company will drive affordability in the long term by leveraging scale and operating and capital efficiencies as the company makes smart investments on behalf of its customers to meet growing power demand.”

Markets are coming under pressure again this morning.

S&P 500 futures are down about 0.2%, or by 14 points. The SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | SPY Price Prediction) is down 0.2%, or by $148. The Dow is down by 0.34%, or by 165 points. The Nasdaq is down by 0.07%, or by about 23 points. Oil is down about 34 cents, even with the ceasefire on shaky ground. Gold is up about $19 at $4,549. Bitcoin is down about $21 at $77,351.75.

Unfortunately, uncertainty over Iran is still wreaking havoc. Just yesterday, President Trump said Iran needs to “get moving” or there “won’t be anything left.” And unfortunately, peace negotiations are going absolutely nowhere.

Not helping, newer inflation data tells us the Federal Reserve won’t cut interest rates anytime soon. In fact, “The financial markets expect interest rates to remain higher for longer, notwithstanding President Trump’s demands that Kevin Warsh, newly instated as Fed chief, get rates down,” wrote Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, as quoted by CNBC. “But the macroeconomic backdrop no longer supports an easing bias, let alone a rate cut.”

All Eyes are on Nvidia Earnings 

On Wednesday, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) will post its next batch of earnings, which, according to analysts, could be explosive.

Analysts are looking for revenue to range from $70 billion to $78 billion, or about 60% year-over-year growth. EPS is expected to nearly double. And its data center segment is expected to drive significant growth, supported by heavy spending from hyperscale customers

Analysts at Bank of America also reiterated a buy rating on NVIDIA ahead of earnings, with a price target of $320 a share. The firm cited earnings, the Computex trade show, the Vera Rubin launch, and a potential second-half cash return.

In addition, Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating, noting that, “We expect NVDA CY26 FCF to approach $200B with cash return spread between buybacks and seeding emergent AI ecosystem. If half of FCF is used for dividends, the yield would be nearly 2.5%. Reiterate Outperform, $265 target,” as quoted by CNBC.

SpaceX IPO Nearing

As the SpaceX IPO gets closer, there have been a lot of questions about how to trade it now.

One way to gain exposure is through the First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (NYSEARCA: FPX). With an expense ratio of 0.61%, the ETF tracks newly public companies during their early trading period

Another option is the Renaissance IPO ETF (NYSEARCA: IPO). With a 0.6% expense ratio, the fund focuses on some of the largest and most liquid newly public U.S. companies.

More speculative investors may look at Destiny Tech 100 (NYSE: DXYZ). Shares have been fueled by excitement around its exposure to private “unicorn” companies, including SpaceX and other high-profile AI names.