U.S.-Iran hostilities escalate, Oracle's fundraising plans, $100,000 colleges and more in Morning Squawk

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Stock futures are rising this morning after all three major indexes dropped more than 1% yesterday.

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

U.S. Central Command said last night that the U.S. struck multiple targets in Iran at the direction of President Donald Trump, who earlier in the day told reporters that the U.S. would be attacking Tehran "very hard." Those comments sent the stock market tumbling in Wednesday's session, resulting in the Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst day of the year.

Here's what to know:

Consumer prices rose at their highest annual rate in three years last month, according to a government index released yesterday. Energy and airfare were among the areas that saw the biggest jumps on the year.

But Trump brushed off the data, saying "I love the inflation" and that it would "come down like a rock" after the Iran war ends. As CNBC's Matt Peterson writes, Trump's surprising comments may be good news for newly minted Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh.

Market watchers will get more inflation data at 8:30 a.m. ET with the release of May's producer price index, which tracks wholesaler inflation. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the headline number to rise 0.7% on the month.

Oracle exceeded Wall Street's expectations on both lines for the fourth fiscal quarter and upped its profit outlook yesterday. But the stock tumbled 8% in extended trading after the software company said it needs to raise money for its artificial intelligence buildout.

Oracle said it plans to bring in an additional $20 billion of equity and debt, on top of the tens of billions of dollars it has already raised in the 2026 fiscal year. As CNBC's Jordan Novet notes, the fundraising plans heightened investor concern over whether there's enough AI demand to justify that much new capital.

With its move overnight, Oracle's stock is at risk of falling into the red for the year. Shares were up about 3% in 2026 as of Wednesday's close, trailing the S&P 500's roughly 6% gain in the same period.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to halt SpaceX's takeoff. The Massachusetts Democrat on Wednesday called on regulators to delay the company's IPO scheduled for tomorrow over concerns about its valuation and corporate governance.

In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Warren said there could be "inaccurate or misleading" accounting and valuation tied SpaceX's recent acquisition of xAI, another company led by Elon Musk. Warren also said Musk has "uniquely unchecked" power as SpaceX's majority shareholder.

Perpetual futures traders are signaling that the stock could be in for a double-digit move higher on its first trading day. Options for SpaceX will begin trading next week.

— CNBC's Luke Fountain, Garrett Downs, Lim Hui Jie, Sean Conlon, Spencer Kimball, Kevin Breuninger, Jeff Cox, Matt Peterson, Jordan Novet, Tanaya Macheel, Tyler Bailey, Samantha Subin and Jessica Dickler contributed to this report.

CJ Haddad assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.