CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, October Was A Winning Month, Investors Send Walmart And Peers Lower On SNAP Benefit Interruption Fears 10/31/25

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Monday morning with a winning Friday, a winning week, and a winning month of October in the books. And October can be a tricky month, but the gains were the treat. On Friday, the Dow was up 40 points, led higher by shares of Amazon, which were up 9.5%. The S&P 500 index was up 17 points. The NASDAQ was up 143 points. That was a half percent. Shares of Invidia, were in the red on Friday. They were down about two-tenths of one percent. Companies who shares hit fresh all-time highs on Friday include Amazon Apple and Palantir. Amazon shares were higher on stronger than expected quarterly results. It also sold the street. It's AI vision. Checking the major averages year to date. The Dow is up 11 percent. The S&P 500 index is up 16 percent. The NASDAQ is up 22% so far for 2025. I am very focused on the market's exhibited concerns about the underlying economy.

The consumer is getting pinched. I mean, if you look at the weekly, like Dallas Fed weekly activity indicator, it's still saying we have like a 2%ish plus or minus trend in the third and fourth quarter on GDP. Maybe that's right. Which is weird because the qualitative on Dallas Fed reads like we're in recession. Right. Well, but that's what it is, right? So it's companies that are trying to figure out if things look like they're getting tougher or easier from here.

CNBC's Mike Santoli and Carl Keentania. In the coming week, about a quarter of S&P 500 index companies will report quarterly results, including chipmakers' AMD, Qualcomm, and Arm. It's also a huge week for restaurants led by McDonald's. The government shutdown will officially become the longest in history on Tuesday. And it may come down to whether air traffic controllers decide. side to penalize flying Americans who can then scream to their lawmakers to end this thing. Let's not forget that the last long shutdown, which was in Trump's first term, ended on the afternoon of the morning that the air traffic controllers staged a sickout. They said enough,

we worked for a month without pay. We're not going to do that anymore. The shutdown ended forthwith. Former Biden economic advisor Jared Bernstein on CNBC. Investors sent shares of Walmart, Kroger, Dollar General, and Costco lower on the fear that SNAP food assistant benefits could be cut off or interrupted for more than 40 million Americans in the government shut down. Walmart is the retailer that is number one hit, right? They are the largest grocer in America. And Numerator found that more than 94% of snap shoppers have bought food there in the last year. And then Kroger is next. And then Costco, even though it requires that membership. And then Wolf Research, they estimate that Walmart sales related to SNAP are in the high single-digit range, but a dollar general and dollar tree are in the mid-single digits. So while the annual spend may not be as high at a dollar general or a dollar tree, they sort of over-index to a snap shopper.

CNBC's Courtney Reagan. Michael Jackson, topping the Forbes list of dead celebrity earners again this year, the estate taking in $105 million in the past 12 months. In theaters over the weekend, Netflix's most watched movie ever, K-pop Demon Hunters. On Monday's watch list, it's the first week of November trading. Earnings are coming Monday from On Semiconductor and Palantir. We also get some new numbers on car sales. Jessica Ettinger's CNBC. This December, CNBC opens its doors for an exclusive in-person experience at the iconic NASDAQ market side in New York City.

Fast Money Live, Trading the Holiday. December 11th. Get your tickets now at CNBC Events.com slash fast money.