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Amazon's losing streak, Berkshire's new position, the 'boomcession' and more in Morning Squawk

February 18, 2026
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Amazon's losing streak, Berkshire's new position, the 'boomcession' and more in Morning Squawk

This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Happy Wednesday. I've been craving birria since reading about the Mike's Red Tacos new franchising plan.

Stock futures are higher this morning. The three major indexes all ended yesterday's session little changed.

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

Amazon broke a major losing streak yesterday, but the damage was done. The e-commerce giant lost hundreds of billions of dollars in market cap over the last two weeks.

Here's what happened:

Berkshire Hathaway said in a regulatory filling released yesterday that it whittled down its Apple stake in the fourth quarter. Notably, that was the last quarter with famed value investor Warren Buffett at Berkshire's helm.

The Omaha-based conglomerate also said it created a stake in the New York Times. Shares of the media company jumped more than 3% in extended trading following news of Berkshire's position.

Meanwhile, Leon Cooperman's Omega built a large position in Rocket Companies, and Bill Ackman's Pershing Square and Baupost Group's Seth Klarman both said they bought shares of Amazon.

Grab your popcorn: The latest update in the race to buy Warner Bros. Discovery dropped yesterday.

WBD said it would restart deal talks with Paramount Skydance thanks to a seven-day waiver from Netflix. The conversation would focus on "deficiencies" in Paramount's offer and allow the media firm to make its best and last bid, WBD said.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told CNBC's Julia Boorstin yesterday that the streamer approved the waiver to ensure WBD shareholders could be confident in its $27.75 per share, all-cash offer. "Paramount had been making a ton of noise, flooding the zone with confusion for shareholders," Sarandos said. "We've given the opportunity to get those shareholders exactly what they deserve, which is complete clarity and certainty."

CNBC's Morning Squawk recaps the biggest stories investors should know before the stock market opens, every weekday morning.

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Meta announced yesterday that it is expanding its deal with Nvidia to use millions of its artificial intelligence chips for a data center build-out. The social media company also said it will use Nvidia's products to support networking technology and AI features on WhatsApp.

As CNBC's Katie Tarasov reports, the new agreement is only the latest step in the Big Tech giants' long-term partnership: Meta has used Nvidia's graphics processing units, or GPUs, for at least a decade. Financial terms of Tuesday's deal were not disclosed.

Meanwhile, in another sign of AI-built apps' boom, cloud infrastructure startup Render said yesterday that it raised $100 million in funding at a $1.5 billion valuation. CEO Anurag Goel told CNBC that more than 4.5 million developers use Render's tools, and that its revenue growth exceeds 100%.

Consumer spending is strong, yet debt is at all-time highs. Economic output is surging, but many people feel terrible financially. A post-pandemic recession never materialized, but most Americans believe the country is in one.

Welcome to the "boomcession," a portmanteau of the words "boom" and "recession."

The term encapsulates the feeling among many Americans that the economic engine they help feed is not pushing them forward. It can also help explain the continued disconnect between solid GDP data and sour consumer sentiment readings.

"Late Show" host Stephen Colbert ripped CBS and its parent company Paramount Skydance in his show last night, after the network denied blocking the comedian from airing his interview with U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico.

CNBC's Annie Palmer, Sean Conlon, Sarah Min, Sara Salinas, Lillian Rizzo, Jordan Novet, Katie Tarasov, Dan Mangan and Sarah Whitten contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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David Kim

David Kim

Business Correspondent

Analyzing market trends and corporate strategies. detailed insights into the business world.