CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, Fed Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged, Slow Housing Market Forecast 3/19/25

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

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 Ebinger CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning for the first day of spring trading after a day in the green for stocks on the prospect that interest rate cuts may still be coming this year. The Dow is up 383 points Wednesday, almost 1% led higher by shares of Boeing, which were up almost 7%. The S&P 500 index up 60 points, that was 1%. The NASDAQ was up 246 points, that was 1.4%. Nvidia shares were up almost 2%. And Tesla shares were up four and a half percent. The Fed held interest rates steady at its March meeting as expected, but Fed Chair Jay Powell said two interest rate cuts

could come this year. Investors like rate cuts. It makes money cheaper to borrow and boosts corporate profits. Powell noted that they'll wait and see if the Trump tariffs drive up inflation before making any moves. And even though the economy's been good,

consumer sentiment has been tanking because Americans just don't like where prices are. Grocery bill is about about past inflation really. I think that is the fundamental fact and has been for a long time a couple years why people are unhappy with the economy. It's not that the economy is not growing. It's not that inflation is really high. It's not that unemployment is high. It's none of those things and you know it's it's a pretty good economy but people are unhappy because of the price level. Fed chair Jay Powell in the Q&A after the rate announcement. Meantime CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman on a first ever recession watch that's been issued by a long time

highly regarded economic forecasting organization. The UCLA Anderson forecast for the first time since it was founded in 1952 issued what it called a recession watch, warning that the combination of the president's policies, if fully enacted, could cause an economic contraction. This is a forecast that administration officials from the president on down have not specifically ruled out. UCLA Anderson's forecast says that Trump policies, if fully enacted, promise a recession. Zillow says home prices will rise only eight-tenths of a percent over the next 12 months. That's much slower than past increases.

Zillow economists say this will be the third year of suppressed existing home sales because of higher mortgage rates and still high home prices. More Americans are trading inside their 401ks to try to preserve gains with the S&P 500 index down 3.5% already this year. But CNBC's Sharon Epperson spoke with Sunwell's Winnie Sun about this. Now, some investors probably should rebalance their portfolios after two years of strong stock market gains. But financial advisors say first you need a plan. Don't make large movements in your 401k unless you know why exactly that you're doing that. And the answer can't just be because I'm nervous. It has to be like, well,

I'm going to need this money in the next six months or 12 months. She says you should have a plan for funding an emergency like a job loss with ample cash reserves, as well as investing for future goals like retirement. So that way you have the ability to pivot. On Thursday's watch list, the first day of spring trading, earnings are coming from Accenture, Olive Garden, Parent Darden Restaurants, FedEx, Nike, Lenar and Micron. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week and we get the latest existing home sales numbers. Major League Baseball has its traditional opening day. 28 of the 30 teams playing, two teams just played in Tokyo. The NCAA March Madness Men's first round games begin. Dairy Queen

handing out free small soft serve vanilla cones on Thursday for the first day of spring. Jessica Edinger, CNBC.