Iran strikes, Lindsey Graham, Apple takes OpenAI to court and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Monday. I spent the weekend on an overnight trail race in Vermont. Even if you stayed home, you likely still felt inflation’s pinch.

Stock futures are lower this morning. The S&P 500 is coming off a winning week.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Stock futures are sliding this morning after the U.S. and Iran traded air strikes over the weekend. U.S. Central Command said last night that American forces hit dozens of targets “to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Here’s what to know:

• As CNBC’s Spencer Kimball writes, disagreement over control of the critical sea lane is partially the result of a lack of defined shipping routes in the U.S.-Iran deal signed last month.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard on Saturday said it had closed the strait “until further notice,” though the U.S. military denied that claim. In an interview with NBC News aired yesterday, President Donald Trump said that the strait was open.
• Oil prices jumped to start this week following the renewed fighting over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
• The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are both coming off their fourth winning week in the last five, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped its longest weekly positive streak since 2024.
• Follow live market updates here.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died Saturday following a “brief and sudden illness,” according to his office. The longtime Republican lawmaker and loyal Trump ally was 71.

A preliminary report found his death was the result of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a statement from his office said. Graham’s death was unexpected. He had just returned from a trip to Ukraine.

As CNBC’s Garrett Downs writes, the death of Graham — who was known to work across the aisle on policy issues — could now cause challenges for several Republican priorities in Congress. Rep. Nancy Mace and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster are among the names being floated to fill Graham’s seat.

Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, alleging that the artificial intelligence startup stole trade secrets as part of its effort to develop its own hardware products. The iPhone maker said in a legal filing that OpenAI had been “stealing” information “at every level.”

As CNBC’s Kif Leswing and and MacKenzie Sigalos note, the lawsuit a shocking twist given the two firms inked a partnership in 2024. The companies have appeared less cordial, however, after OpenAI last year announced its plans to enter the hardware industry.

Following the lawsuit, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revived his public feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, referring to him as “Scam Altman” in an X post. Altman responded by crediting his company’s latest AI model release as the reason Musk is “obsessed with me again.”

Over the last year, Amazon conducted its largest wave of layoffs in the company’s history. As CNBC’s Annie Palmer reports, it hasn’t been easy for some of the impacted workers to land on their feet.

The let-go Amazon employees entered a tech labor market that’s grown increasingly tight. Industry layoffs in May hit their highest level since 2024, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The consulting firm said in a report last week that, for the fourth month in a row, AI was the primary reason companies gave for cuts.

“I always had this thought of, ‘I have Amazon on my resume, this prestigious thing,'” Dorian Smith, who was laid off by Amazon in January, said. “But when this layoff happened, it was like, ‘OK, big deal, so do 30,000 other people.'”

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to encourage home building, open financing and cap purchasing by big investors. However, experts told CNBC that homebuyers shouldn’t expect prices to come down immediately. Here’s what to know about the legislation.