CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Higher, Weak ADP Jobs Data May Mean A Fed Interest Rate Cut, Car Dealer Sentiment Tanks 12/3/25

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning. After a winning Wednesday for the major averages, the doubt was up 408 points, 8 tenths of a percent, led higher by shares of United Health, which were up four and a half percent. The S&P 500 index was up 20 points. The NASDAQ was up 40 points. Shares of NVIDIA were down about 1% on Wednesday. Companies who shares hit fresh all-time highs Wednesday include, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, General Motors, Marriott, Walmart, and Apple. This is an elf rally right now on the way to a Santa Claus type of rally. They're in the workshop right now, and then ultimately delivery happens later. So tailwinds coming in the first quarter of next year. Really between February and April, you might see some good tax refunds on the consumer side. Consumers are already resilient. Boomers are spending.

They're the biggest growth area, masking over some weakness in some other areas. That's Merrill and Bank of America private banks Chris Heise on CNBC. Markets shook off some new weak job data from ADP and saw it as a reason for the Fed to cut interest rates next week. Private employers shed jobs again in November as the labor market slowdown continues. Payrolls were down 32,000 led by steep small business job cuts. This is a mom and pop story because if you look at where the losses came in, it was for firms with headcount under 50. They are going to have a hiring freeze. They may not hire a teenager or two in the bakery over the holiday season.

They're going to make these small changes that add up to a lot because 44% of U.S. workers work in these mom and pop firms. ADP chief economist Neela Richardson on CNBC. People who are staying in their current jobs are getting smaller raises in the new data, too. Salesforce out with strong quarterly results after the closing bell Wednesday, shares. popped higher in after hours trading. Silver hit a fresh intraday all-time high on Wednesday. Natural gas hit a three-year high Wednesday, which can hit consumers who heat their homes or run their stoves or dryers with it. It's because of cold weather and because of AI. You know, we are entering the highest demand time of the year for natural gas. And so we have seen gas prices, you know,

get to $5 per MNVTU. We do see the winter, you know, colder than and maybe normal. Yeah, demand is strong. And now we see AI and the race for build out of data centers and data center capacity. It's going to have to largely lean on natural gas. William's CEO, Chad Zamoran on CNBC. Car dealers down on their business with new car prices at record highs. Dealer sentiment for the third quarter, it's not good. In fact, they are seeing slowing traffic. It is the lowest dealer sentiment on consumers buying new vehicles since 2020. That's CNBC's Phil Lebeau with data from Cox Automotive. You think dealers want to tell you that if you want a new car,

you're going to have to take a seven-year loan just to make the payment work in your budget. A seven-year loan is 84 months. But people are actually taking eight-year car loans, too. Well, we have definitely seen growth in the 84-month loans, and we continue to see some growth in loans that are above 84 months, you know, 85-plus, even loans above 96 months. That's experienced, Maloney. Linda Zabritsky on CNBC. On Thursday's watch list, earnings are coming from Kroger,

Jack Daniels maker, Brown Foreman, Dollar General, and Alta Beauty. And we find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC.