SpaceX ends its losing streak, oil prices jump, the Fed’s AI red flags and more in Morning Squawk

SpaceX shares rose 3% yesterday, snapping a seven-day losing streak. The Elon-Musk-led rocket company’s gains on Tuesday came after it announced it will release its debut earnings report on Aug. 4, setting the stage for the expiration of a major share lock-up period.

Here’s what to know:

• SpaceX investors will be able to sell at least 20% of their locked-up shares on Aug. 6, the second trading day following its first earnings report.
• Short sellers’ bets against SpaceX now account for nearly a third of its publicly tradable shares.
• SpaceX shares are down more than 23% from its debut closing price. The S&P 500 has ticked about 1% higher over the same period.
• CNBC’s Hugh Son reported yesterday that Goldman Sachs has created a platform for its wealthy clients and family offices looking to invest in companies like SpaceX before they list on the public market.
• Coming up after the bell today: All eyes will be on earnings reports from Tesla, Musk’s other public company, as well as Alphabet.

Brent crude futures topped $95 per barrel this morning following an 11th consecutive night of U.S. strikes on Iran. Both the international benchmark and U.S. oil prices are nearly 4% higher in early trading.

Speaking to reporters in the Philippines today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. “would love to reach a diplomatic settlement” with Iran, but added that Tehran doesn’t seem to be “serious” about a deal with the U.S.

The jump in oil prices is weighing on stocks before the bell. All three major averages are lower in pre-market trading. Follow live market updates here.

Canada may not be the only country about to face new U.S. tariffs. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signaled yesterday that President Donald Trump could soon impose another round of duties, telling CNBC that “we expect to see some action soon.”

Greer said he could not give a specific timeline, noting that he would need to brief Congress and others. His comments followed a report that the White House could unveil new levies as soon as this week.

As CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Megan Cassella note, the White House has been pushing to keep Trump’s tariffs alive through other measures after the Supreme Court struck down many of the duties. Temporary tariffs Trump imposed after the court’s ruling are set to expire on Friday.

In April, the Federal Reserve held an extraordinary meeting to warn banks about cybersecurity risks tied to Anthropic’s Mythos Preview artificial intelligence model. Then, the central bank went months without access to it.

As CNBC’s Matt Peterson and Ashley Capoot write, the Fed’s lack of access to the model — which Anthropic said was skilled at identifying software weaknesses and security vulnerabilities — left the central bank susceptible. The Fed still had not received access to the advanced model as of July 15.

Meanwhile, Anthropic and its rival OpenAI are ramping up their lobbying spending. The two AI firms spent a record of more than $3 million combined on federal lobbying in the second quarter — a 23% increase from the first three months of the year.

Several well-known companies are teaming up on a skilled trades workforce initiative in hopes of combating the growing shortage of tradespeople such as technicians and builders.

As CNBC’s Jessica Dickler reports, Google, BlackRock, Carhartt and Ford are all involved in the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades. The initiative, announced yesterday, will work with labor unions and trade associations as well as invest in apprenticeship programs, according to a press release.

In other career news, a new survey found more than 70% of healthcare students are using betting and prediction markets at least a couple times per week. Around two-thirds of these students said they believe the platforms can help fund their education, but less than half reported positive gains.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Hugh Son, Kevin Breuninger, Chloe Taylor, Spencer Kimball, Megan Cassella, Jessica Dickler, Ananya Chetia, Gabriel Cortes and Paxton Honerkamp contributed to this report.

Luke Fountain assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.