CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, S&P 500 and Nasdaq at Record Highs, Pixar Job Cuts, Apt Rents Falling 5/21/24

Episode Date: May 21, 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 Wednesday morning after a winning day for stocks and fresh record highs for the S&P 500 index and the NASDAQ. The Dow was in the green, up 66 points. It's sitting just below 40,000. The S&P 500 index up 13 points at 5321. That was a quarter percent. The NASDAQ was up 37 points, and that was also about a quarter percent. Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs on Tuesday include Walmart, Boston Scientific, Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft. Investors are bracing for an earnings report Wednesday

after the closing bell that could move the markets. We'll hear from NVIDIA. We kind of all know if tech goes, the market goes. And look, all eyes are on NVIDIA because of that concentration and also because of what it means for that AI wave. RBC's Amy Wu Silverman on CNBC. Pixar Animation cutting 14% of its staff in Hollywood, about 175 people. Disney is scaling back on content. Microsoft's Build Conference in Seattle is all about AI. This is a flood of AI announcements coming out of Microsoft's Build Developer Conference here in Seattle. As for OpenAI, Microsoft is going to start offering access to GPT-4.0. That's, of course, the latest version OpenAI showed off last

week. And a new partnership with Cognition. That's a buzzy AI startup backed by Peter Thiel. It's only a few months old and it already has a $2 billion private valuation. It makes an assistant called Devin that does all of the coding for you, not just a helper. Someone like you or me can just tell it what you want to make in natural language and the rest is coded automatically. CNBC's Steve Kovach. Multifamily rents. These are apartments in April dropped below where they were last year.

According to Apartment List, rents cooled as more apartments were built and came online and vacancy rates rose. But people renting single family homes were paying more. The latest data from March, that's according to CoreLogic, although in overbuilt areas like Austin, Texas, rental home prices are cooling. Macy's turnaround plan seems to be showing some early progress, and the retailer beat earnings estimates for the last quarter. Macy's, the namesake, is actually the weakest of the three brands. We're continuing to see Bloomingdale's and Blue Mercury do better,

and that's why Macy's recently announced it's going to be closing about 150 stores. What Macy's is trying to point to is signs of momentum with stores it's investing in. So it's keeping 350 of its namesake stores open, and it says the first 50 stores it's invested in are doing better. CNBC's Melissa Repko. The Department of Energy will release a million barrels of gasoline to reduce prices at the pump ahead of the 4th of July in the U.S. And as Middle East unrest threatens oil and gas prices. Cheese It fans heading to the new Cheese Inn pop-up diner.

It was opened this week by parent company Kelanova. The snack food company spun off from Kellogg's. And for one week only in Woodstock, New York. a few hours north of New York City, it closes Sunday. On Wednesday's watch list, we get earnings from NVIDIA after the bell. We also hear from Target and TJ Maxx and Marshall's parent TJX companies. We get existing home sales numbers for April. The Fed releases the minutes from its last meeting. We find out how many people applied for mortgages last week. And Amazon holds its annual shareholder meeting. Jessica Ettinger,

CNBC. Wednesday, May 22nd. Join CNBC's Financial Advisor Summit. Economic experts focusing on market growth and risk. Register now at cnbcevents.com slash FA.