CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, Dow Above 40,000 Again, Walmart Results Out Thursday 8/14/24

Episode Date: August 14, 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 and reported by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning. After a winning day for the markets on Wednesday, inflation for July came in as expected, moving in the right direction and below 3% for the first time in three years. The Dow up 242 points Wednesday, a half percent. The S&P 500 index was up 20 points.

That was three tenths of a percent. And theP 500 index was up 20 points. That was three-tenths of a percent. And the NASDAQ was up five points. By the way, the S&P 500 index is on a five-day winning streak, and the Dow is back above 40,000. 40,000 on the Dow, essentially back to the level from right before the jobs report. This is where we are. Look, it's a bull market. It always was. I'm just a little surprised at how quickly we've gotten back to this point. CNBC's Mike Santoli. Consumer price inflation fell below 3% for the first time in three years. And CPI consumer price index is sitting at 2.9%. After heading sideways for a few months, you can see that we now have this a couple months now where we've been declining. CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leisman, Wall Street's trying to game out whether the number will push the Fed to cut interest rates at its meeting next month.

The core CPI, that was a 0.17. So it rounded up to 0.2. So these are good numbers. If I'm Jay Powell, I'm cutting 50 in September. That would be consistent with the last three cutting cycles where they started with 50. In January of 01, September of 07, and then, of course, the pandemic. SMBC NICO Securities' Joe Livornia on CNBC. Cisco out with quarterly results.

After the closing bell on Wednesday, it says it's cutting 7% of its workforce. Privately held Mars, which makes M&Ms and Snickers, is buying Kelanova, which was just spun off from Kellogg's. It's a snack food business that makes Pringles, Pop-Tarts, and Cheez-Its. It's the biggest deal of the year at $36 billion. They're going to dominate a section of the market, which is the Kind Bar and Nutri-Green Bar, which is somewhere you want to be, because that is not a GOP one enemy. But they also are going to own the cracker aisle. CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer. Social Security, a key issue for voters this fall in a new CNBC All-America survey hitting the highest level of importance in the 11 years the poll's been taken.

More than two-thirds of those asked. 69% of Americans said a candidate's stance on the topic of Social Security would be a major factor in their vote. Back in March, former President Trump told CNBC he's open to cutting Social Security. There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft. Former President Trump on CNBC, his campaign now says Trump would protect Social Security. The Harris campaign says it would protect Social Security. On Thursday's watch list, earnings are coming from Walmart, Applied Materials and John Deere. We get retail sales numbers for July. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week July. We find out how many people

applied for unemployment benefits last week. And we find out how the home builders are feeling about their business. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. For me, Squawk Box is breakfast with the most interesting people in the world. Squawk Box, weekday mornings, 6 a.m. Eastern, CNBC.