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This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Monday. I spent the weekend mostly outdoors at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, but many others headed inside to catch the latest summer blockbuster. Stock futures are climbing this morning. The three major indexes are coming off a winning week. Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Salt air
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 30, 2026. Jeenah Moon | Reuters
2. No hugging matter
The Hugging Face website on a laptop arranged in New York, US, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Nvidia announced a partnership with Hugging Face, a popular developer of AI models and data sets, that will add a training service to its website that uses Nvidia DGX Cloud, allowing users to tap the chipmaker's servers to handle their workloads. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The risk of artificial intelligence expediting cyber attacks felt like a far-off threat. That changed last week. As CNBC's Samantha Subin reports, the OpenAI agent hack on Hugging Face demonstrated that the era of AI-agent-led hacks is already here. Cybersecurity experts are also particularly concerned by the evidence that AI agents will use extreme and unexpected measures to complete their tasks. As Zscaler information security chief Sam Curry put it: "Pandora's box is open." Don't miss Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" at 11 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC or CNBC+.
3. Sticky situation
Leopold Aschenbrenner Photo: Josh Edelson
Two years ago, Leopold Aschenbrenner's 165-page essay made him the talk of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. The near-collapse of his fund Situational Awareness last week put a less-desirable spotlight on the young manager. The fund peaked in value at around $45 billion in assets last month. But after the volatile semiconductor sector saw outsized hits in recent weeks, Aschenbrenner had to sell his leveraged stock bets to Ken Griffin's Citadel at a discount, sources told CNBC. The fund's holdings then stood at around $10 billion. Here's why Situational Awareness imploded, even in a relatively calm stock market.
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4. Small-ticket purchase
A Best Buy store in Pinole, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. Best Buy Co. is expected to release earnings figures on November 25. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Best Buy is known for its sprawling stores with aisles upon aisles of electronics. Incoming CEO Jason Bonfig wants the retailer to go smaller. Bonfig, who will succeed current CEO Corie Barry later this year, outlined his plans for new small-format storefronts in an interview with CNBC's Laya Neelakandan. While some of Best Buy's locations exceed 40,000 square feet, the smaller versions will range from 12,000 to 15,000 square feet. "What we're finding is that there are markets that we just can't be in with a traditional size Best Buy store, but they're markets that absolutely make sense for Best Buy from a reach perspective," Bonfig said. He stressed that the smaller stores would not replace its typical large-format locations.
Airplanes are parked at their gates at President Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 09, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images
As oil prices whipsawed, airfares in June soared more than 26% higher from the same time last year. Consumers shouldn't expect fares to come down anytime soon — even if fuel prices stabilize. Industry executives are betting that travelers will keep flying despite rising costs, CNBC's Leslie Josephs reports. Just look at Southwest : The average one-way ticket came in at $225.61 in the second quarter, up from $186.65 during the same period last year. Still, CEO Bob Jordan said the airline is "seeing really strong demand" in a recent CNBC interview.
The Daily Dividend
