CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, Trump Announces New Tariffs Then Holds Off On Them, January Retail Sales On Tap 2/13/25

Episode Date: February 13, 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 Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Friday morning after stocks rallied into the close on Thursday. This when President Trump held off on implementing new tariffs he was announcing. The Dow was up 342 points, three quarters of a percent, led higher by shares of NVIDIA, which were up 3%. The S&P 500 index up 63 points, more than 1%, and the Nasdaq was up 295 points. That was 1.5%. Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs on Thursday include Walmart, Visa, Facebook parent Meta, Netflix, T-Mobile, Hilton, Costco, and grocery chain Kroger. Some investors say you might want to buckle up now, though,

if you're going to keep looking at your investments. February historically isn't that great of a month. OK, that's fine. Post-election years, it's the worst month on average. But here we are, you know, doing pretty darn good. We're like eight or nine points away on the S&P from a new high. Right about now, right about Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day, everybody. The reality, again, just be open to the idea next couple weeks might be a little choppy, perfectly normal. It's just important to know that. The Carson Group's Ryan Dietrich on CNBC. President Trump held off on implementing new tariffs while signing an action calling for reciprocal tariffs on goods, but it happens after a study is done. So essentially, they haven't happened yet. Another tariff announcement that was short on detail,

and there weren't, you know, immediate new tariffs implemented, and so markets breathed a sigh of relief once that news was out of the way, and it was kind of off to the races. A lot of the tariffs so far, you know, they have not actually gone into effect, if they ever do. Vital knowledge is Adam Crisafulli on CNBC. Now, the president spoke with reporters in the Oval Office. Whatever they charge us, we're charging them. So it works out very well. It's a beautiful, simple system. And we don't have to worry about charging too much or too little.

CNBC's Eamon Javers was there. The president gave us an hour in the Oval Office, small group of reporters in there as he signed this new presidential memorandum. I asked the president whether he'd spoken to any CEOs about these tariffs. He said all the CEOs that he's talked to love the tariffs and think that this is a tremendous idea. Of course, we know there are other CEOs out there who've been very critical of this. Defense stocks saw their shares drop after the president said that Pentagon spending could be cut in half. Inflation on the minds of investors and CNBC spoke with the National Economic Council director in President Trump's first term. Higher prices and less purchasing power drove people to the polls and got him elected and got

him a mandate. They won the Senate. They won the House. So how does he get inflation down from here when some of the policies he's talking about could be inflationary? Look, this is an interesting discussion. Number one, look, energy is important. The administration has talked about lowering energy costs. That will take some time. Now, look, prices aren't going to fall out of bed. We can go down 10 percent from here. It's not just oil, Gary. You know, it's housing. It's auto insurance. So we've got to start with energy. That's IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohen with CNBC's Sarah Eisen. On Friday's watch list, it's busy.

Earnings from AMC Networks and Moderna. We get the latest on retail sales and new industrial production numbers. The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend starts in San Francisco. The Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Concert is Friday night on Peacock, which is a sister company to CNBC. A million people expected to line the streets of Philadelphia Friday for the Eagles Super Bowl championship parade. Friday is also Valentine's Day. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.

Team values continuing to soar. The countdown is on. CNBC Sport official NBA team valuations revealed Friday in Squawk Box.