5 things to know before markets open on Monday

good morning. Today is the Boston Marathon, and I’m especially inspired by this runner who ran this year’s race after being paralyzed.

Stock futures are falling this morning. The three major indexes ended the week on a strong note.

Here are five important things investors need to know to start their trading day.

Investors are back on the defensive after President Donald Trump said yesterday that the United States had attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. The development put a damper on last week’s optimism that the Iran war could be nearing an end, which helped push stock indexes to record highs.

Here’s what you need to know:

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said that the battleship Spruance had intercepted the ship Towska, which was attempting to break through the US blockade of an Iranian port. He said the U.S. Marines currently “have custody of the ship.” Early Sunday morning, Iranian state media reported that Iran would not participate in the second round of peace talks, hours after President Trump said U.S. representatives would return to Pakistan for further negotiations. Oil prices are rising this morning as traders worry that the seizure will reignite tensions in the Middle East and put downward pressure on stock futures. S&P500 The number of deaths exceeded 7,100 for the first time after Iran announced the resumption of commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. But by Saturday, Iran had once again closed the main shipping route, citing the U.S. naval blockade. Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned yesterday that gas prices could rise above $3 a gallon into next year, a bad omen for consumers already feeling the pinch of higher costs. Follow us here for live market updates.

Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s pick to be the next Federal Reserve Chairman, is scheduled to head to the Capitol tomorrow for his Senate confirmation hearing, where he is likely to be asked questions about his ties to Silicon Valley.

As CNBC’s Matt Peterson and Steve Reisman report, Warsh’s connections to technology leaders include: Palantir CEO Alex Karp said: paypal Co-founder Peter Thiel and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen will be the closest people to the technology world to lead the central bank. His work managing venture capital investments in technology for investor Stanley Druckenmiller also makes him one of the wealthiest Fed chairs in history.

Given Mr. Warsh’s history, a key question this week may be how much access the tech giants will have to the Fed under his leadership. Warsh is known for his free market and anti-regulation views, as well as his belief that artificial intelligence has the potential to reshape the economy and, by extension, monetary policy.

A tale of dual fortunes for America’s mom-and-pop car dealerships As CNBC’s Michael Weiland writes, more giant dealerships are springing up as smaller competitors struggle.

The top 150 dealers accounted for 27% of all retail and fleet new car sales last year, up from 21.2% about a decade ago, according to data from trade publications. The group also jointly owned a quarter of the dealership, thankfully less than 20%.

Wall Street has also been affected by consolidation trends. dealer stock Risu Motors and autonation The market capitalization is over $6 billion.

Hottest AI startup Cursor is in talks for a $2 billion funding round, people familiar with the matter told CNBC yesterday. Excluding investments, the company is valued at more than $50 million.

Andreessen Horowitz is expected to co-lead this round. Nvidia Thrive Capital also plans to participate, according to people familiar with the matter. As CNBC’s Deirdre Botha and Jonathan Bunyan report, such a funding round would be emblematic of the venture capital industry’s enthusiasm for software startups focused on AI coding agents.

Nvidia has won the hearts of AI fans, but it’s losing its luster with another group: gamers.

Gaming used to be Nvidia’s bread and butter, but it no longer feels like a priority as Nvidia focuses on higher-margin data center chips rather than lower-margin gaming products. The data center business currently accounts for more than 90% of Nvidia’s revenue.

“I understand that they’re trying to go after it, and it breaks my heart,” Greg Miller, co-founder and host of the video game podcast Kinda Funny Games Daily, told CNBC. “Dance with the people who brought you here. Gamers brought you here.”

Here’s what we’re monitoring this week:

—CNBC’s Garrett Downs, Spencer Kimball, Azhar Shukri, Terry Cullen, Fred Imbert, Sean Conlon, Matt Peterson, Steve Reisman, Michael Weiland, Deirdre Botha, Jonathan Bunyan and Katie Tarasoff contributed to this report.

Davis Giangiulio helped produce this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this version.