Asia Markets Mostly Fall as Trump's Iran Warning Stokes Fresh Oil Supply Fears; Dow Drops 500 Points
18 May 2026
Today in Brief
Asia-Pacific markets fell Monday as Trump warned Iran to "get moving, FAST" on Truth Social, stoking fresh fears of Middle East escalation and pushing Brent crude above $111 and WTI above $107 per barrel. The Dow lost more than 500 points on Friday as tech slumped following the Trump-Xi summit, with the S&P 500 closing at 7,408.50. Gold slid below $4,550 after tumbling nearly 4% last week, while the Indian rupee hit a fresh record low of 96.20 against the US dollar.
Drone strikes targeted a nuclear facility in the UAE and Saudi Arabia intercepted three drones, further inflaming tensions. China's retail sales hit a 40-month low in April. Arm Holdings faces a US antitrust probe, NextEra is in talks to acquire Dominion Energy for ~$66 billion, consumers sued Amazon over tariff cost pass-throughs, and institutional investors piled into semiconductor stocks in Q1.
Asia Markets
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Asia-Pacific markets mostly fall as Trump's Iran warning stokes fresh oil supply fears
Asia-Pacific markets fell Monday as investors weighed renewed geopolitical tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran to "get moving, FAST," raising fears of further escalation in the Middle East and potential disruptions to global oil supplies. In a post on Truth Social, Trump on Sunday said "the Clock is Ticking" for Iran and warned there "won't be anything left" if action was not taken soon, adding that "TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!" He did not elaborate on the steps he wanted Iran to take or the consequences that could follow. Oil prices advanced more than 1%. International benchmark Brent crude futures for July gained 1.90% to trade at $111.34 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for June advanced 2.17% to $107.71 per barrel.
U.S. Markets
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Dow loses more than 500 points Friday as tech slumps and yields spike
Stocks fell on Friday, bogged down by losses in technology stocks and a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, after a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended and left traders worried about no major policy breakthroughs. The S&P 500 shed 1.24% to end at 7,408.50, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.54% to 26,225.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 537.29 points, or 1.07%, and closed at 49,526.17. Investors took profits in tech after the group saw sharp gains recently. Notably, Intel retreated more than 6%, while Advanced Micro Devices and Micron Technology lost 5.7% and 6.6%, respectively.
Commodities
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Gold traded below $4,550 an ounce on Monday after tumbling nearly 4% last week
Gold traded below $4,550 an ounce on Monday after tumbling nearly 4% last week, as mounting evidence that the Middle East-driven energy price shock is feeding into broader inflation pressures strengthened expectations for central bank policy tightening. The precious metal was also weighed down by strong gains in the US dollar and Treasury yields after hotter-than-expected US inflation data led investors to rule out any Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, while increasing speculation that policymakers could still raise rates before year-end.
Energy
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WTI crude futures rose above $107 per barrel on Monday, building on last week's gains
WTI crude futures rose above $107 per barrel on Monday, building on last week's gains as stalled US-Iran peace talks and the continued near-shutdown of the vital Strait of Hormuz kept global supply concerns elevated. President Donald Trump warned that Tehran is running out of time to reach an agreement with Washington, while Iranian media reports indicated the two sides remain deeply divided, with the US offering "no tangible concessions" during negotiations. Over the weekend, energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf also came under attack, including a nuclear facility in the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, the Trump administration allowed a waiver permitting Russian crude sales to expire despite India's appeal for an extension, adding further pressure to already constrained supplies.
Currencies
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INR vs USD: Indian rupee falls to fresh record low of 96.20 against US dollar in early trade
The Indian rupee dropped to a fresh record low of 96.20 against the benchmark US dollar after the opening bell on Monday, May 18, as the domestic currency was witnessing high pressure from the rising crude oil prices and mixed global cues driving the investors' sentiment. Indian rupee, after hitting a fresh record low level of 96.20, was trading around 96.012 as of 9:21 am (IST), compared to 95.97 against the US dollar at the previous market close, according to Investing.com data. According to a recent Reuters report, the Indian rupee has emerged as the worst performer among the Asian currencies so far in 2026. The domestic currency has lost more than 5% against the US dollar since the beginning of the US-Iran conflict.
Economy
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China's economy loses steam in April as retail sales hit 40-month low
China's economy stumbled in April with consumption, industrial output and investment growth missing expectations as the fallout from the Iran war dampened momentum in the world's second-largest economy. Retail sales grew 0.2% last month from a year ago, sharply missing economists' forecast for a 2% rise and slowing from 1.7% in March, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday. That marked the weakest growth since December 2022, according to Wind data, as China started to loosen its Covid curbs. China's industrial output jumped 4.1% in April from a year earlier, decelerating from 5.7% growth in March, and undershooting expectations for a 5.9% rise in a Reuters poll.
Geopolitics
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Trump warns Iran to 'get moving' or 'there won't be anything left'
President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened Iran to "get moving," or seemingly face new consequences. "For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!" Trump did not detail what exactly the consequences would be, nor what he expects Iran to do in order to avoid them. The U.S. and Iran have been at loggerheads in negotiations to end the war since a tenuous ceasefire was reached in early April. The U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports, while Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the conflict. But the apparent threat is not the first time Trump has menaced Tehran in stark terms on social media. Prior to the April ceasefire, he warned that a "whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," unless Iran capitulated to U.S. demands.
Diplomacy
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UAE and Saudi Arabia report drone incidents as Iran war deadlock drags on
A drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, officials there said on Sunday, while Saudi Arabia reported intercepting three drones, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran must act "fast" after efforts to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran appeared to have stalled. Emirati officials said they were investigating the source of the strike and that the UAE had the full right to respond to such "terrorist attacks." A diplomatic adviser to the UAE president said it represented a dangerous escalation, whether carried out by "the principal perpetrator" or one of its proxies. The UAE defense ministry said two other drones had been "successfully" dealt with, and that the drones had been launched from the "western border." It did not elaborate.
Technology
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Arm Holdings to face US antitrust probe over chip tech
Arm Holdings faces an antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the British chip designer's licensing of its semiconductor technology, part of global scrutiny of the business, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The FTC is investigating whether Arm is trying to illegally monopolize parts of the semiconductor market, the report said. It is looking to assess whether Arm will reject or downgrade the licensing agreements for its chip blueprints used to design central processing units, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. regulator notified Arm of the investigation this year and demanded the company preserve documents, according to Bloomberg. Arm declined to comment on any possible investigation.
Corporate
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NextEra to discuss paying about $76 per share for Dominion
U.S. power firm NextEra Energy is discussing a mostly stock deal for Dominion Energy that would value the smaller Virginia-based utility at about $76 per share, or around $66 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. A tie-up between the two would create one of the largest power companies in the United States by market value. The offer represents a premium of roughly 21% to Dominion's closing price on May 15, according to Reuters calculations. NextEra would exchange about 0.8 per share of its stock for each outstanding share of Dominion, in a deal that could be announced as soon as Monday, the Bloomberg report added. While NextEra plans to pay mostly stock, the deal would also include a small cash component, the report said, adding that NextEra shareholders would own about 75% of the combined company. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Politics
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Consumers sue Amazon for not refunding Trump tariff costs
Amazon.com Inc was sued on Friday by consumers seeking refunds for costs passed on to them in the form of higher prices as a result of tariffs the U.S. Supreme Court later concluded had been unlawfully imposed by President Donald Trump. Consumers in a proposed class action filed in federal court in Seattle alleged that the e-commerce giant collected hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful tariff costs by raising prices on imported goods before the Supreme Court had ruled. The U.S. Supreme Court in February concluded in a 6-3 decision that Trump overstepped his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose his sweeping tariffs. Thousands of companies have begun to seek billions of dollars in refunds from the government following the ruling.
Semiconductors
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Institutional investors flocked to establish new stakes in semiconductor firms in first quarter
Institutional investors took new positions in semiconductor stocks ranging from Intel to Micron during the first quarter of the year, positioning them to profit from a red-hot rally that extended into the second quarter, according to a Reuters overview of filings from some 6,600 hedge funds, pension funds, college funds and others with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nearly 5,000 of all those investors that had filed their quarterly 13-F filings by late afternoon Friday reported they were buyers of one or more of 17 semiconductor firms tracked by Reuters. One of the most aggressively purchased chipmakers was Micron, whose stock has soared 154% so far this year as demand has boomed for memory chips amidst the AI buildout.
