Squawk on the Street SOTS 2nd Hour: OpenAI Makes History, Banks Tank, & LIVE: Zscaler, Autodesk CEOs 2/27/26
Feb 27, 2026
Dan Niles, veteran tech investor offering market perspective and stock picks. Max Kettner, HSBC chief multi-asset strategist explaining macro and asset-allocation views. They discuss OpenAI's record $110B financing, contrasting AI narratives with cyclical recovery calls. Also covers divergent software earnings reactions from Zscaler and Autodesk and pressure in financial stocks amid credit worries.
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Cyclical Recovery Is Underappreciated Relative To AI Noise
- Max Kettner sees a textbook cyclical recovery in manufacturing across open economies, arguing markets overemphasize AI narratives and underweight improving cyclical data.
- He cites strong PMI readings from Korea, Taiwan, Sweden and others as evidence of broad cyclical momentum.
Delinquencies Peaked And Are Trending Down
- Max notes aggregate delinquency metrics (high yield, private credit, bank loans) peaked and started to improve about 12–18 months ago, suggesting credit stress isn't broad-based.
- He points to falling credit card delinquencies and sequential real wage gains supporting consumer resilience.
Big Investors Structured Deals With Conditional Tranches
- Amazon will stage its $50 billion investment with an initial $15 billion and conditional $35 billion potentially tied to an IPO and AGI-related milestones.
- NVIDIA's $30 billion and SoftBank's $30 billion include chip and partnership caveats tied to GPU supply and model integrations.