CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, Renovation Case To Fire Fed Chair, Delta Airlines Lowers Forecast For the Year 7/16/25

Episode Date: July 16, 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 Ettinger CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning after a headline-driven whipsaw day on Wall Street with President Trump telling Republican lawmakers he's getting ready to fire Fed Chair Jay Powell before denying that the president wants interest rates lowered to pay for the tax cuts that were just passed by Congress. The Dow was up 231 points a half percent. Johnson & Johnson shares leading it higher. They were up 6%. The S&P 500 index up 19. The NASDAQ was up 52 points.

Nvidia shares finished up 3 tenths of 1%. The NASDAQ closed at a fresh record high on Wednesday. President Trump hinting that a case may be being built to try to fire Fed Chair Jay Powell over a building renovation that's been going on for years and no one's ever complained about. Some market whipsawing after the president sought to make it clear he's not currently planning to fire the Fed chair. Completely ruling out the idea of firing Jerome Powell? I don't rule out anything but I think it's highly

unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud. I mean it's possible this fraud involved with the 2.5, 2.7 billion dollar renovation. He's raising the possibility there of fraud being a probable cause for the firing. CNBC's Megan Casella in Washington. Here's CNBC's Sarah Eisen and Carl Quintanilla on the case of the building renovation. I mean the renovation, the claim is, and we heard this from the OMB director, we've heard this from Bill Pulte, the housing administrator and the Trump administration, that they spent $2.5 billion renovating the Fed building, which is outrageous. First of all, you know, this is a building that hadn't been renovated since the 1930s.

We can argue about it. I don't know how much marble is in there. You pointed out it's not taxpayer dollars. No, I mean, the Fed has its own, right, income that it makes from fees and banks. It's unclear whether that would classify as cause for firing the Fed share. Investors were rattled Wednesday by the idea

that the president would try to fire the independent chairman of the Fed. That has been sacred ground, and you need the checks and balances in government and that's one of the critical ones. So somebody who just wants to cut rates to support their tax bill and number two to help all their friends around the country right similar to what that's being done with private equity is just a mistake. Bottom line is I don't think it would be a good thing for the market. The pledge any of these people can have to make are to cut rates regardless of

what the market's telling you. But to me, it's clear that he's going to try and do something. Short Hills Capitals, Stephen Weiss on CNBC. Inflation at the wholesale level came in unchanged for June after consumer inflation popped higher. I wouldn't say there's like a five alarm fire on inflation, but we do see tariffs pass through on the good side. And then what we're seeing on the services side is evidence of weak demand in particular travel prices have been a huge weak spot this year as demand falls from foreign visitors as

well as domestic travel is just is just weak. Consumers are just cautious. Macro policy perspectives. President Julia Coronado on CNBC Delta Airlines out with quarterly results after the closing bell. It has lowered its forecast for the year, saying the world is less certain on Thursday's watch list. Earnings are coming from Travelers, Abbott Labs, GE Aerospace, Novartis, PepsiCo, U.S. Bank Corp, Taiwan Semi, and Netflix. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. We get retail sales numbers

for June. And it's Disneyland California's 70th birthday. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Breaking earnings news. This week on CNBC and streaming on CNBC Plus.