Iran negotiations, Berkshire’s stock purchases, Shein’s tariff troubles and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Monday. I ended up cooking all my meals this weekend, so I feel like I’ve been “moneymaxxing.”

Stock futures are mixed this morning. Wall Street is coming off a winning week.

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

Iran on Sunday denied engaging in direct negotiations with the U.S. about ending the war and opening the Strait of Hormuz, pouring cold water on hopes for an imminent deal between the two countries.

Here’s what to know:

• Iran reportedly issued demands for reopening the strait that include the U.S. lifting its naval blockade and sanctions and withdrawing U.S. troops from the region.
• President Donald Trump told Axios yesterday that the U.S. was “only semi-negotiating” Tehran, suggesting he would wait for economic pressures to mount in Iran.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had told CNBC last week that a deal seemed imminent. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had also indicated that an agreement could come last week.
• But even though no deal materialized, the three major indexes still recorded back-to-back winning weeks and saw their biggest weekly gains since April. CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger explains why markets keep rising when Trump teases a deal that doesn’t end up coming.
• Follow live market updates here.

Berkshire Hathaway reported a 16% jump in operating earnings in the second quarter, fueled by gains in its energy, railroad and manufacturing businesses that drowned out softness in its insurance arm.

As CNBC’s Yun Li notes, the main takeaway from the report is that CEO Greg Abel is putting the conglomerate’s huge cash hoard to work. Berkshire ended a 14-quarter streak of being a net seller of stocks, posting nearly $20 billion in net purchases during the three-month period.

Berkshire also bought back $4.5 billion worth of its stock. While that’s much more than the prior quarter, the figure was still less than some investors had estimated.

A new CNBC analysis of Trump’s annual financial disclosure found that the president raked in close to $60 million from foreign real-estate licensing last year, a nearly tenfold increase from 2023. Almost two-thirds of that came from projects in the Gulf.

Some developers licensing Trump’s name were simultaneously vying for U.S. investments or government approvals, CNBC’s Luke Fountain reports. Watchdogs have warned that these agreements can blur the line between Trump’s governmental role and his private dealings.

CNBC did not find evidence that the licensing deals swayed White House decisions or led to preferential treatment. The White House said that the “only special interest” directing Trump was “the best interest of the American people.”

Some House Democrats are asking leaders of artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Antrhopic to testify before Congress as a string of recent hacking incidents raise security concerns.

The group, led by Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, wrote in a letter shared with CNBC that Congress has “completely failed to respond to the threats posed by AI development.” They also warned that recent incidents “may be the canary in the coal mine” if companies continue to develop AI models without adequate regulation.

As Shein readies for its Hong Kong IPO, potential investors are getting a look at the harsh reality tariffs have brought for the fast-fashion retailer.

Shein’s first-quarter U.S. sales dropped 14% compared with a year ago. In documents connected to its IPO process, the company said softness in its U.S. sales stemmed from price hikes it implemented to mitigate the impacts of new tariffs.

The company cautioned that sales could also slide in Europe, its largest market, after the European Union recently changed its framework for duty-free shipping.

Here’s what we’re following this week:

• Tuesday: On Holding earnings (before the bell); Cava Group, CoreWeave and Super Micro earnings (after the bell)
• Wednesday: Cerebras earnings (after the bell); July consumer price index
• Thursday: July producer price index
• Friday: July retail sales data

— CNBC’s Garrett Downs, Kevin Breuninger, Azhar Sukri, Tanaya Macheel, Sean Conlon, Yun Li, Alex Crippen, Luke Fountain, Megan Cassella and Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.

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