A trading floor manager works on the floor of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, May 4, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Monday night after the major averages suffered declines amid growing concerns that conflict in the Middle East could escalate once more.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were trading around the flatline, as were futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Stocks fell across the board on Monday, with the blue-chip Dow falling 557.37 points, or 1.13%. The S&P 500 lost 0.41%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.19%.
The losses came after the United Arab Emirates said on Monday that Iran launched drones and missiles against it, putting an already fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran on even shakier ground.
The U.S. reportedly said that it had sunk Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz. Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. Central Command, said on Monday afternoon that American forces had eliminated six small Iranian boats that were attempting to interfere with commercial shipping. However, Iranian state media denied that the boats had been sunk.
Oil prices rose in Monday’s regular session. In extended trading, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1% to $105.39.
Despite this ramp up in Middle East tensions and Monday’s losses, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s Dan Skelly still sees reason to stay optimistic.
“You’ve seen this pattern before where — last year in April, with Liberation Day — big sell-off, big recovery. Now with the war in the Middle East, it’s almost like the market is treating geopolitics and some of these domestic policy shocks like pop-up ads along a longer, winding narrative centered on AI, the economy and resilient earnings,” the firm’s head of market research and strategy said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Monday afternoon. He added that companies have been posting strong earnings reports thus far.
Pfizer, DuPont, PayPal, HSBC, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Marathon Petroleum, Duke Energy and Shopify are among the companies reporting earnings before Tuesday’s opening bell. On the economic front, traders will be watching for a report on the U.S. trade deficit and the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
