Stocks close out Q2, Nike earnings, egg prices and more in Morning Squawk

Happy Wednesday. While consumer sentiment is near record lows, at least one group appears to be feeling better about their jobs: shift workers.

Stock futures are mixed this morning after a winning day on Wall Street.

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

Nike reported stronger-than-expected results for the fiscal fourth quarter. But the athletic retailer posted a 12% sales drop in the closely watched China market, leading shares down 3% in extended trading.

Total revenue ticked down 1% from the same quarter a year prior. While revenue for North America rose 3%, it still came up short of Wall Street’s consensus forecast.

On the other hand, the Oregon-based company said its gross margin grew by nearly 9% in the quarter. As CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan notes, that was driven in part by an expected tariff refund after the Supreme Court struck down many of President Donald Trump’s levies.

In an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen yesterday, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack called the demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure “insatiable.” And she warned that it could drive up inflation.

Hammack said during the European Central Bank Conference in Sintra, Portugal, that inflation has been “too high” for the past five years. As a result, she said the Fed may need to raise interest rates.

Don’t miss Eisen’s panel with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem at 9 a.m. ET. Watch live on CNBC and CNBC+.

Amazon announced yesterday that it’s investing $1 billion into a new Forward Deployed Engineering team for the Web Services business. As CNBC’s Ashley Capoot notes, Amazon is considered the first hyperscaler to unveil this type of group.

A forward deployed engineer is embeded within a business with the goal of accelerating technical transformation and dispatching AI. While Palantir coined the FDE title more than a decade ago, the job got increasingly popular among software vendors aiming to bring their talent into client facilities.

Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin said it would not rebuild a launchpad where one of its rockets exploded. Instead, the startup will focus on a redesign with the goal of a return to flying this year.

Major egg producers settled a price inflation probe with the Justice Department and several state attorneys general. As part of the deal, the companies agreed to donate around 53 million eggs to food banks and related nonprofits.

The DOJ and states alleged that Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch “illegally coordinated” for almost three years to raise a daily price index for the food. The proposed settlements would prevent the companies from “coordinated” price manipulation in the future by adding antitrust compliance programs and compliance officers. The settlements still require federal judge approval.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are taking a look at the role of private equity in youth sports. Here’s what Rep. Kevin Kiley, chair of the House Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee, said during a hearing on the matter yesterday:

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Kif Leswing, Samantha Subin, Sam Meredith, Laya Neelakandan, Jeff Cox, Ashley Capoot, Annie Palmer, Greg Iacurci and Garrett Downs contributed to this report.

Luke Fountain assisted in the production of this newsletter. Melodie Warner edited this edition.