S&P 500’s all-time high, investigators visit the Fed, Allbirds’ rebrand and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Thursday. I’m back after a long weekend in California and at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, where I saw music tourism play out first-hand.

Stock futures are slightly higher this morning. The three major indexes are coming off a mixed day.

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

Everyone from politicians to business leaders are trying to assess the economic impacts of the Iran war. But investors still seem to be looking past the conflict and toward a peace deal, with two major stock market indexes rising to records yesterday.

Here’s what to know:

• The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite jumped to all-time highs in Wednesday’s session, with the latter posting its 11th straight winning day.
• Oil prices remain a key factor in the war’s economic disruption, which could be felt particularly acutely in Europe. The executive director of the International Energy Agency said this morning that Europe could run out of jet fuel in six weeks.
• At least nine oil tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz this week, but tanker traffic on Tuesday was still 90% lower than it was the day before the war began.
• The war has resulted in as much as $58 billion worth of damage to energy infrastructure, according to an estimate from consulting firm Rystad.
• World Bank President Ajay Banga warned yesterday that economic upheaval will remain for months, even after the Strait of Hormuz passageway is reopened.
• Follow live market updates here.

PepsiCo‘s first quarter earnings report this morning delivered an earnings and revenue beat. But the company’s strong performance wasn’t driven by its iconic beverages: It was fueled by its snacks.

The company’s food business in North America saw an increase in volume for the first time in two years after it cut prices on items such as Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos in February. Pepsi’s North American beverage business, meanwhile, saw volume drop 2.5%.

Don’t miss Pepsi CEO Ramon Laguarta on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” today at 10:15 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC or CNBC+ here.

Investigators from U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro’s office visited a Federal Reserve construction site on Tuesday, according to a note from a Fed attorney viewed by CNBC. The investigators arrived without advanced notice and requested a tour, Robert Hur, the attorney, said.

As CNBC’s Matt Peterson reports, Pirro is facing mounting pressure to show her office’s controversial probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has teeth. A judge last month blocked prosecutors’ effort to subpoena the Fed as part of the investigation, which focuses on the central bank’s ongoing renovation.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, threatened to fire Powell if he stays on as a governor after his stint as chair is up. While Powell’s term leading the Fed expires next month, his term on the Board of Governors lasts for two more years.

We’ve written about Amazon workers on strike before. But yesterday, it was Amazon sellers who protested the e-commerce giant’s policies.

Hundreds of large Amazon sellers boycotted its advertising platform in protest of recent changes, including a 3.5% fuel surcharge the sellers say is squeezing their bottom lines. The 24-hour boycott was organized by Million Dollar Sellers, a community accounting for about $14 billion in revenue.

Seller Michael Patrón summed up sellers’ sentiment in a X post, writing: “We’re running out of f—ing margin.”

Allbirds is making a major pivot. The struggling shoe brand said yesterday that it’s shifting its focus to artificial intelligence and will be renamed NewBird AI.

The firm announced a deal to raise as much as $50 million in funding that’s expected to close in the second quarter of this year. The surprising news comes after Allbirds closed all of its full-priced stores earlier this year and said last month it would sell its intellectual property and assets.

The news sent the penny stock soaring nearly than 600% to just under $17 per share in yesterday’s session. But shares pulled back by more than 20% before the bell this morning.

The S&P 500 wasn’t the only thing hitting records yesterday. Live cattle futures notched all-time highs this week — a bad omen for shoppers looking forward to grilling hot dogs or hamburgers this summer.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lisa Kailai Han, Jeff Cox, Sawdah Bhaimiya, Kevin Breuninger, Spencer Kimball, Amelia Lucas, Matt Peterson, Annie Palmer, Lola Murti and Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.

Davis Giangiulio assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.