GoKawiilThis is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox. Happy Wednesday. If you're a fan of commercial real estate, or Netflix's "Owning Manhattan" (or both), check out Ryan Serhant's sitdown with CNBC's Diana Olick. Stock futures are around flat this morning. The three major indexes finished yesterday's session little changed. Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Digital footprint
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez, not pictured, speak with the media after attending a meeting, marking the highest-level U.S. visit focused on energy policy to the OPEC nation in nearly three decades, as Washington conducts its first on-the-ground assessment of the oil industry it aims to help rebuild, in Caracas, Venezuela, February 11, 2026. Leonardo Fernandez Viloria | Reuters
Yesterday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright shared — and then deleted — a post on X saying that the U.S. Navy escorted a tanker through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices tanked amid hopes of the crude trade normalizing. The problem: The escort didn't happen. Here's what to know: Shortly after the post was deleted, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that "the U.S. Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time." She said she had not talked to Wright about the post.
An Energy Department spokesperson later said the posted video was "incorrectly captioned" by staff.
U.S. and Brent crude prices ended yesterday down more than 11%, paring some of their losses after it became clear Wright's post was inaccurate.
Oil prices are rising this morning after the United Kingdom said three ships were struck off Iran's coast — one in the Strait of Hormuz.
All eyes are on the International Energy Agency as the group considers releasing oil from its reserves.
Stock futures, meanwhile, are little changed as investors await February's consumer price index report due in at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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