Oil reserves, tariff investigations, airline fuel prices and more in Morning Squawk

The member states of the International Energy Agency yesterday agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from its reserves, the largest release from the agency’s emergency stockpile ever. The move did little to help oil prices, though: Crude prices rose about 5% overnight, with Brent crude briefly hitting the $100 per barrel mark.

Here’s what to know:

• The IEA did not provide a timeline for the reserves release, which agency chief Fatih Birol said is aimed at addressing the immediate effects of supply disruptions amid the Iran war.
• President Donald Trump said later on Wednesday that the U.S. would tap its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to lower energy costs.
• The U.S. will release 172 million barrels from its stockpile, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who said it would take about 120 days to deliver them all.
• But with the Strait of Hormuz still disrupted — three more ships were attacked in the Persian Gulf overnight — the announced IEA and U.S. releases failed to quell investor concerns and lower oil prices.
• The U.S. is hoping to get tanker traffic in the Strait moving again by providing insurance to ships transiting the passage. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation said yesterday that insurance giant Chubb will be the lead underwriter for the $20 billion program.
• Follow live market updates here.

Consumer prices in February rose 0.3% month over month and 2.4% from a year ago, in line with economists’ expectations, according to the consumer price index released yesterday.

Neither the headline nor core annual inflation rates budged last month — a sign that while inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s target, it’s also not getting worse.

Wednesday’s CPI report didn’t appear to move the stock market, as traders focused instead on oil prices. Indeed, the data was one of the last inflation reads investors will get before the effects of the Iran war kick in. As Joe Seydl, senior markets economist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, put it: The report is “a bit stale at this point.”

In an effort to replace the broad tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court last month, the Trump administration is launching new trade investigations into several U.S. trade partners.

The probes will be conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the U.S. to enact tariffs on goods from countries found to have participated in unfair trade practices. The list of trading partners facing these new investigations includes Mexico, China, the EU, Japan, India and Vietnam.

Earlier in the day, data released by the Treasury Department showed that the U.S. budget deficit topped $1 trillion for the fiscal year through February. That’s about 12% lower than the same time in 2025, a reflection of how increased tariff collections have boosted government revenue growth.

Google is selling a partial stake in its fiber unit, GFiber, the company said yesterday. The business will combine with Astound Broadband and become an independent provider, in which Google will still have a minority stake.

Launched in 2010, GFiber has been one of Google’s non-core assets in its “Other Bets” segment, which also houses Waymo and Isomorphic Labs. The fiber unit initially aimed to build ultra-fast fiber-optic broadband networks in the U.S., but planned expansions have since been canceled as Google concentrated its focus on select markets.

As CNBC’s Jennifer Elias notes, the spinout — which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter — comes as AI services increase the demand for high-capacity networks.

It’s not just drivers who could be in for some sticker shock thanks to rising oil prices. As CNBC’s Leslie Josephs reports, flyers will also see higher prices at the ticket counter.

Several global airlines have already said they are raising fares to cover increasing fuel costs, and United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby indicated his carrier will likely follow suit. Travel demand is staying strong, according to senior airline executives, meaning carriers could end up with more pricing power.

Transportation Security Administration agents, meanwhile, are set to miss their first full paychecks this week. Lawmakers failed to reach an agreement yesterday to end the now weeks-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

Tech companies such as Microsoft have made billion-dollar investments in AI infrastructure projects in the Middle East. Now, those buildout plans are facing uncertainty as data centers become targets in the Iran war.

— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball, Lee Ying Shan, Sam Meredith, Chloe Taylor, Matt Peterson, Pia Singh, Jeff Cox, Brandon Gomez, Greg Iacurci, Dan Mangan, Jennifer Elias, Leslie Josephs, Garrett Downs and Kai Nicol-Schwarz contributed to this report. Melodie Warner edited this edition.