CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, Dow 38th Record High Close Of '24, GM Invests In EV Battery Raw Materials, Smokey CheezIts 10/16/24

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

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 Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning after a winning day for stocks and the Dow notched its 38th record high close of the year. The Dow soaring 337 points, eight tenths of a percent to close at 43,077. It was led higher by shares of Cisco, which were up more than 4%. The S&P 500 index up 27 points, a half percent. And the NASDAQ up 51 points. That was a third of 1%. I've never seen a market that's doing so well that nobody talks about and everybody's afraid of. And again, path of least resistance is what I always believe in.

And the path of least resistance, in my opinion, continues higher because there's absolutely zero FOMO on the upside right now. IG North America's JJ Kinahan on CNBC. GM will invest more than a half billion dollars in a joint venture to mine EV battery raw materials in the U.S., betting the future on electric. Amazon is betting the future on nuclear power. Here in Virginia, which is home to nearly half of all the data centers in the U.S., Amazon Web Services just signed an agreement with Dominion Energy, the state's utility company, to explore the development of an SMR, that is a small module nuclear reactor. We see the need for gigawatts of power in the coming years, and there's not going to be enough wind and solar

projects to be able to meet the needs and so nuclear is a great opportunity. Also the technology is really advancing to a place with SMRs. It's going to be safe, easy to manufacture. AWS CEO Matt Garman, SMRs are an advanced kind of nuclear reactor with a smaller physical footprint allowing them to be built closer to the grid. They also have faster build times than traditional reactors. CNBC's Diana Olick. The South Florida housing market. Some say it's imploding. The Florida dream may be fading. Florida seeing a big jump in inventory of unsold homes and that was even before the hurricanes Helene and Milton. Listings in Coral Gables and Del Rey Beach up 70 percent in September.

West Palm Beach, Wellington, Fort Lauderdale seeing over 60 percent increases in inventory. Prices, not surprisingly, they've started falling as well. In Miami, prices are down 12 percent. That is the biggest drop of any major housing market in the country. Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa all seeing price drops of 5 percent or more. Then you have those insurance costs causing even wealthy buyers to look elsewhere. CNBC's Robert Frank. Novavax shares dropped Wednesday after the FDA put a hold on new combo drugs,

flu and COVID, in one shot. Ulta Beauty spooked investors by talking about headwinds in the beauty industry and shares fell. It says people are back to the pre-pandemic normal for buying makeup and there's more competition for Ulta out there. Kelanova, the snack food company, spun off from Kellogg's, getting creative with Cheez-Its. Brand Eating says new smoky flavors will be in grocery stores next month. Smoked Gouda and smoked cheddar Cheez-Its. On Thursday's watch list, earnings are coming from a biggie, Netflix, plus Travelers, Taiwan Semi, and Blackstone. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. We get September retail sales numbers. That's a read on the U.S. consumer.

Perhaps impacted by Hurricane Helene. We also get the latest on industrial production. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Earnings season. When the CEOs have a big announcement, they come here first. A wild hour of earnings. Earnings season. Special coverage all this month on CNBC.