CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Kick Off Week With Gains, Odds of Government Shutdown Rise, Surge In Sales of Electric Vehicles

Episode Date: September 29, 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 Jill Schneider. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Jill Schneider, CNBC. Stocks kicked off the week with gains as Wall Street tried to regain its footing after a week in which the AI trade lost some steam. The Dow rose nearly 69 points. The S&P 500 was up 17. The NASDAQ jumped 107. Shares of Nvidia rose 2% today. It was the biggest gainer for the Dow, followed by Caterpillar and Disney. Shares of Etsy and Shopify soared after OpenAI announced instant checkout, a feature that will allow chat GPT users to buy products through the AI chat bot. The feature will work initially with Etsy and then eventually add more than a million merchants via Shopify.

Wall Street Watchers say the likelihood of a government shutdown is climbing. Prediction markets are pricing in about a 70% chance that the federal government will shut down on Wednesday, reflecting growing skepticism that lawmakers will strike a last-minute deal to keep agencies funded. Those odds rose after the Labor Department said it will not release Friday's key jobs report in the case of a shutdown. Auto dealers across the country have been seeing a surge in sales of electric vehicles in recent weeks.

That's because the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expires Tuesday. Former Tesla President John McNeil says, although sales of EVs may slow down initially after the expiration, his confident sales will bounce back. Demand is continuing to increase around the world. When I land in Tel Aviv, I see a lot of EVs, a lot of Chinese EVs. When I land in Mexico City, I see a lot of EVs and a lot of Chinese EVVs. And certainly when you land in China, you see almost every car is an EV, but same thing in Norway. And the reason for that is these cars are a lot less energy cost, a lot less maintenance cost, and they're super fun to drive.

McNeil is now CEO of DVX Ventures. It may feel like summer just ended, but retailers are looking ahead to the holidays. MasterCard Economics Institute chief economist Michelle Meyer recently released a forecast for the holiday season. She expects retail sales to grow by 3.6%. I do think it will feel different than last year, though. When we look at holiday spend last year, we ended up with 4.1% holiday spend, really driven by volume. There was just a lot of movement of goods, in part because we had so much disinflation or even deflation, a lot of those categories last year for holiday spend. This year is a little different.

There's a lot more pricing. There are a lot more hurdles to work around as a consumer, but we think the consumer will be engaged. Jill Schneider, CNBC. Empower your team with group access to the next. number one name and business news. Get CNBC global live streams, real-time data, and the latest from industry experts. Learn more about CNBC corporate and group subscriptions at CNBC.com slash group subscriptions.