Alphabet debuts on Dow with an A-grade showing

Hello, this is Hui Jie writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

Alphabet has learned a new set of letters: D-O-W. The Google parent made its debut on the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday, helping send the blue-chip index above 52,000 and earning an A-grade showing from investors.

Elsewhere, politics also are on the radar as the Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a split scorecard on executive power, Iran talks remain stuck in a start-stop pattern.

Read on!

The alphabet is one of the first things you learn as a child. But Alphabet, the company, will be the name that people learn when they now look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Dow surged beyond the 52,000 mark on Monday stateside as the company joined the 30-stock index. Alphabet jumped 4% on Monday as the company replaced Verizon.

However, history does seem to have some warnings for the new kid on the block. Recent Dow additions have also struggled after joining the index: Nvidia, Salesforce and Apple all traded lower 60 days after entering the Dow.

Turning to the political front, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump does not have the authority to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank for now.

Last August, Trump had attempted to remove Cook from her position, claiming she committed mortgage fraud, which Cook adamantly denied.

However, the Court also expanded Trump’s presidential powers via a decision in a different case, affirming Trump’s firing of Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.

Overseas, the start-stop pattern of the Iran war lingers, with the U.S. President saying that fresh talks will take place in Qatar, after the U.S. and Iran exchanged a series of strikes over the weekend that threatened to derail negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.

Oil prices were little changed, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures slipping to $70.16 a barrel and international benchmark Brent was up marginally at $73.15.

The mild reaction was met with warnings from strategists, who said this may reflect an overly optimistic stance from markets, which are underestimating the scale of persistent supply-side challenges.

In Asia today, investors will focus on key manufacturing activity coming out of China, with purchasing managers index numbers for June released later today.

Trump bought as much as $5 million in Axon stock before ICE sought $220 million Taser deal

President Donald Trump bought as much as $5 million in shares of Axon Enterprise — maker of Tasers, body cameras and policing software — two weeks before Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought a five-year, $220 million contract that experts told CNBC appeared tailored to the company’s weapons.

On Feb. 10, Trump…