5 Things To Know: February 23, 2026
Speakers
Andrew Ross Sorkin — Host
— CNBC Squawk Box host
Joe Kernen — Host
— CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor
Summary
- Macro Policy Shift: The Supreme Court ruled reciprocal tariffs illegal; the President is pivoting to a 15% global tax for the next 150 days.
- Defense AI Pivot: The Pentagon is aggressively pursuing unrestricted use of Anthropic's Claude AI, signaling a potential shift away from or diversification beyond OpenAI, with Microsoft explicitly noted as integrating Claude.
- Energy Upgrade: Goldman Sachs raised year-end oil forecasts by $6/barrel, targeting $60 Brent and $56 WTI.
- AI Model Leadership: A consensus is forming among hosts that Anthropic's Claude has surpassed ChatGPT in quality, with specific complaints about ChatGPT's "woke" bias and lack of intelligence.
Trade Ideas
Defense Secretary Hegseth is meeting Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to demand "unrestricted" use of Claude AI for the military. Sorkin explicitly states, "Claude is the best model currently out there." Microsoft is now using Claude (despite its OpenAI stake) and holds the Pentagon contract. If the Pentagon forces Anthropic to allow military use, it unlocks massive government revenue streams and validates Claude as the superior enterprise/defense model over GPT. LONG. Microsoft benefits from model agnosticism/integration; Anthropic gains institutional entrenchment. Anthropic could refuse the Pentagon's terms on ethical grounds, leading to a contract breach.
Goldman Sachs raised its end-of-year projections for Brent and WTI by $6 a barrel (Targeting $60 Brent / $56 WTI). An upward revision of $6/barrel indicates a structural tightening in the market or improved demand expectations that the market had previously underpriced. LONG. Follow the analyst upgrade momentum. The absolute price targets ($60/$56) are historically low, suggesting the "raise" is relative to a very bearish baseline; supply disruptions (Iran) are assumed to be zero.
Joe Kernen states he is "looking for a new chatbot" because ChatGPT is "pretty woke" and "it's not intelligence... they can't make the simplest leap." High-profile user dissatisfaction and churn indicate the "first mover" advantage is eroding. With Sorkin confirming Claude is technically superior, OpenAI faces a retention crisis among power users. AVOID. Sentiment is shifting to competitors. OpenAI releases a significantly improved model (GPT-5 equivalent) that recaptures the lead.
Up Next
This CNBC video, published February 23, 2026, features Andrew Ross Sorkin, Joe Kernen discussing ANTHROPIC, MSFT, WTI, OPENAI. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Joe Kernen · Tickers: ANTHROPIC, MSFT, WTI, OPENAI