CNBC Business News Update - *BREAKING* DOJ To Close Criminal Probe Of Fed Chair Powell 4/24/26

Episode Date: April 24, 2026

CNBC Business News Update with Jessica Ettinger - market numbers and news featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business names. Visit https://www.cnbc.com/ for more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Jessica Eddinger. CNBC. Wall Street remains mixed. As CNBC reports, the Department of Justice is dropping its investigation of Fed Chair J Powell, allowing President Trump's pick for that job to be confirmed. The Dow down 160 points led lower by shares of Merck, which are down a little more than 2% in late morning trading. The S&P 500 index, up 28. The NASDAQ up 236 points, just about 1%. The DOJ clearing its case against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which Republican Senator Tom Tillis called bogus. President Trump had pressured Powell repeatedly to lower interest rates. Powell's term is up May 15th. Now, Tillis threatened to block confirmation of the president's pick for the new chair. Kevin Warsh, until the DOJ made this move.

It's a big move. We've all been waiting to see if this would come down. and it looks like they have made the decision to drop the Powell probe just in time. We were really running out of time on the Senate clock for Kevin Warsh to be able to get confirmed. Now that we're done well ahead of Chair Powell's May 15th end of his term, it looks like Kevin Warsh will likely sail through. So we're waiting to hear from Senator Tillis if he is actually going to block, drop his objections. But it's progress for Warsh. CNBC's senior economics writer Matt Peterson.

Warsh said in his Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing this week, he's not going to be President Trump's sock puppet and would take economic conditions into effect before lowering interest rates. Consumer confidence ticked slightly higher in the final April numbers, but still very close to the lowest level ever as Americans are inflation weary. Here's CNBC's Rick Santelli. 47.6 was our mid-month read on headline. Some shocking news within there, some historic lows. That was the lowest ever going back to the 70s, which my database does. It rises to 49.8, but it's only the best since March the month before these numbers were released.

Intel shares up more than 20 percent this morning on strong quarterly results as the chipmaker shows signs of growth. U.S. crude oil is down a little bit today around $95 a barrel for WTI, as Oppenheimer's John Stoltzvist tells CNBC, investors are learning a lot of lessons with commodities like oil right now. What this situation has caused is a recognition among investors that oil is still the bridge to carry forth the road to alternative energy, and the dependence upon fossil fuel is significant. It remains the chief lubricant of global. grows around the world. Procter and Gamble shares up almost 4% today. It says sales grew in the last quarter. Job cuts piling up, Nike cutting 1,400 people in the second round of cuts there this year. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta announced thousands of cuts. Microsoft reportedly eyeing

volunteer buyouts to let people leave before it has to cut thousands. Spirit Airlines could become a government-owned airline, as President Trump says he's thinking about having the U.S. buy it. Spirit is in bankruptcy and close to liquidation. New in theaters this weekend, A24's thriller, Mother Mary, IFC's thriller, over your dead body, and Lionsgate's Michael Jackson's story, Michael. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Breaking earnings news, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Alphabet, Amazon,

all next week on CNBC and streaming on CNBC Plus.