CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks End Day Lower But Month Higher, Iran War in Focus, FTC Sues Amazon

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored by CNBC's Jill Schneider. 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 Jill Schneider, CNBC. Wall Street once again turned its focus to the war in Iran. With fighting resuming for the first time in a month, that sent stocks lower and oil prices higher. The major indexes finished the day lower, but held on to their gains to finish August in the green. The Dow dropped 374 points, nearly three quarters of a percent. The S&P 500 dropped 25 points, about a third of a percent, and the NASDAQ was lower by 31 points. Again, all three indexes, hosting gains for the month, the NASDAF finishing August with a nearly 4% gain. UBS Global Wealth Management America's head of equities, David Lefkowitz, tells CNBC he believes the bull market is intact.

Everything that we're tracking says we're going to continue to see very good earnings growth. Not only do you have the AI infrastructure story, you now have a cyclical improvement in manufacturing, in industrials, in financials, so those earnings are coming through at a faster clip. And the consumer, yes, bifurcated, K-shaped, whatever you want to call it, but still resilient because the labor market is still pretty healthy. The Federal Trade Commission Monday sued Amazon, alleging the e-commerce giant secretly and systematically overcharged advertisers on its platform by manipulating its pricing and auction systems. The lawsuit, which was joined by 22 state attorneys general, argues that Amazon may have reaped more than $20 billion from

advertisers by using hidden surcharges, dating back to a change, its auction rules that took effect in 2019. Shares of Amazon slid two and a half percent. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is in Asheville, North Carolina, where he's gathered for the G20 meetings. CNBC's Sarah Eisen asked Bessent if he'd be okay with the Federal Reserve boosting interest rates at its September meeting. It is my belief that we've seen a supply shock, and traditionally you don't raise it until

a supply shock unless you see second or third order. effects. And we are seeing the core inflation has remained the very, very restrained. Apollo chief economist Torsten Slocke telling CNBC he believes the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at its meeting in September and that it won't stop there. If they do hike in September, that's very, very rare that they only hike once. Then it must be like three, four hikes that are coming in the pipeline. And then markets will begin to price that. Remember, at the beginning of the year, everyone was expecting cuts. But now the dot plot is saying that we, of course, are expecting hikes.

So if they do start to hike with the market is pricing at the moment, then I do think that that will come with several more hikes also. Jill Schneider, CNBC.