CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower, Bank Stocks Under Pressure, Oil At Highest Since Last October 1/14/26

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

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. 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 Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning after a losing Wednesday for the major stock averages, but the markets closed well off their lows. And in fact, the Russell 2000 small caps. That index was higher. The Dow fell 42 points. Amazon shares let that lower. They were down 2%. The S&P 500 index down 37 points. And the NASDAQ lost 238 points, 1%. Shares of index. V-Vidia down one and a half percent on Wednesday. Companies who shares at fresh all-time highs Wednesday include Walmart, Exxon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Johnson and Johnson. Right now there is fear and concern. When you hear the type of rhetoric from Washington about caps on oil prices, drug prices, credit card, interest rates, what's going to happen with defense stocks, buying in their shares, do tech companies have to give revenue? or profit to the government for making a deal to sell chips in China, whatever.

OREAS assets carry Firestone on CNBC. Bank earnings were mixed. Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo shares all lower Wednesday. Some investors are worried bank profit will be hit. After President Trump called for a 10% cap on credit card interest for 12 months. Many banks are charging people carrying balances more than twice that. Here's B of A CEO Brian Moynihan on CNBC. If you cap the rate we can charge, then we have to pull the credit back dramatically because we can't have any charge us, frankly.

The credit availability will shrink. But if outright cap will move credit away from people who deserve it most and potentially move them back into payday lenders and things like that. Gold and silver hit fresh all-time highs Wednesday, silver topping $90 an ounce for the first time. Oil closed at its highest since before Halloween on Wednesday. Wednesday. You could see prices at the pump tick higher. Investors were worried about Iran oil disruption because of unrest there, but $2 quickly came off the price of a barrel as soon as President Trump said Iran agreed not to execute protesters, easing fears that the U.S. would launch an attack. When mortgage rates dipped below 6 percent last week for the first time in three years, people

jumped to apply for home loans. Applications for a mortgage to buy a home increased 16. percent for the week and were 13 percent higher than the same week a year ago. The increase there was probably driven more just by people returning from the holidays, easing home prices, and more inventory available for sale. CNBC's Diana Oleg and Surh and Surhant, real estate CEO Ryan Surhant tells CNBC the real estate market is heating up, even though rates are now back above 6% for a 30-year fixed home loan. If you want to sell your home anytime soon, you might want to get going on that. It's busy. It's thawing. It feels like spring and it's only January, the market's moving from what I like to say, frozen to functional.

Refinances are up. You know, that's that's the, that's a big, big number for us. But home purchase applications are up a lot. People are actually coming out of the market, which means that people weren't stuck. They were just waiting. So, so it's a good time. It's a good time to be in the market. Consumers did some spending in November, gearing up for Thanksgiving in the holidays, but the core measure of retail sales came in weaker than the same time last year. On Thursday's watch list, we get more earnings. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Black Rock, and Taiwan semi. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week,

and the Muhammad Ali stamp goes on sale. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Breaking earnings news. Market reaction this week on CNBC and streaming on CNBC Plus.