CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, S&P 500 Index & Nasdaq Hit New Highs, Inflation Came In Slightly Better Than Expected 8/12/25

Episode Date: August 12, 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 Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Wednesday morning after a record-setting day on Wall Street. Tuesday, inflation came in better than expected amid tariff worries. And investors are hopeful it could give the Fed the green light to cut interest rates. The Dow rose 483 points. More than 1%. United Health shares led it higher. They were up 3.5%. The S&P 500 index up 72 points. That was more than 1%. The NASDAQ was up 296 points, 1.3%. The SNP 500 and the NASDAQ each hit fresh record highs on Tuesday. InVIDIA shares were up about a half percent. Consumer prices rose last month, but as expected, amid tariff worries in the new CPI Consumer Price Index report. But the core numbers were going up. Core excludes volatile food and energy. Year over year numbers. 2.7, that's the headline. That's one-tenth cooler than we are expecting. And here's what I was looking at, 3.1% on the year-over-year core. Definitely hotter than expected. So if I look at the data on the month-over-month basis, it's exactly as expected. If I look at the year-over-year, obviously we got a little bit warm on the core.

CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's CNBC's senior economics reporter, Steve Leesman. Places where there are tariffs, there are price increases. Furniture and betting up 0.9%. Household furnishings up 0.7% after being up 1%. These are things that used to be up 1% in a year. So they are there, but what you have, you have an offset in energy. That's been helpful.

What did consumers pay more for last month? If you want to know where poor went up this month, month. I mean, it was some of these services, rent, for instance, owner's equivalent, rental prices, higher. Airfare saw a big jump, but a rebound. And that's not tariffs. It was low in the last few months. I mentioned dental care. That was like a record and monthly surge for dental care. I'm not sure what's going on there. Auto insurance, medical care. Could they be cause for concern for the Fed? Absolutely. That we're not seeing dissolution. When you go headline 23, 24, 27, 27, that is not working your way back to Target.

Airline stocks popped Tuesday on higher airfares last month and word that Spirit Airlines needs some cash to survive. American Alaska Delta United, the CPI data for July showed average airfares up 4% compared to a decline in June. Frontier up 30% today. 30%. Why? Because Spirit Airlines issued a going concern warning. If Spirit goes under, which is a possibility, you could see. Frontier, pick up greater market share, Sun Country, Allegiant, JetBlue.

They also have had a nice day as well. CNBC's Phil Leboe. KFC will bring back potato wedges after five years next week, along with the return of hot and spicy wings. On Wednesday's watch list, earnings are coming from Cisco and Red Robin. The Little League World Series begins in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with 20 teams. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. CNBC is the network for ambitious people.

Thank you.