CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower, Investors Spooked by Weak Economic Data, Amazon Revenue Disappoints, Apple Sales Rise 8/1/24

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

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.

I'm Jessica Edinger. CNBC Wall Street opens Friday morning after a sell-off for stocks to start August trading. Investors spooked by weaker-than-expected economic data and some jobs information, too, ahead of the big July employment report out Friday morning. So we've got a couple things at play here. We definitely have fears about the economy. That's why bond yields are down. That's why stocks are down a lot. CNBC's Scott Wapner. On Thursday, the Dow plunged 494 points. That was 1.2%. The S&P 500 index was down 75 points, down 1.3%. The Nasdaq was down 405 points, 2.3%.

Now leading the Dow lower on Thursday, shares of Boeing, which plunged 6.5%. Intel shares were down more than 5%. It says it's cutting 15% of its workers by the end of the year. Heading into a jobs Friday, the Labor Department's July employment report out at 8.30 a.m. Eastern. Expectations are low as the job market returns to pre-pandemic normal after soaring for the last couple of years. The jobs number is going to be weak. This is, you know, in any kind of soft landing, it's not like you're landing on a downed pillow. You know, I mean, it kind of bounces around a little bit.

This is the middle of summer. Federated Hermes Chief Investment officer Steve Off on CNBC. Two of the Meg 7 companies reported quarterly results after the closing bell Thursday. Amazon with a mixed quarter. Its cloud unit grew more than expected, but shares were down as much as 5% in after hours trading. Look, Amazon is a lot less profitable than people think. You know, I mentioned Facebook's generated $60 billion in free cash flow over the last five years. Amazon has burned or lost $125 billion in free cash flow over the last five years. Most people think it's a really profitable business. It's not. New constructs David Treanor on CNBC.

Apple shares ticked higher after hours on better than expected quarterly results, better sales, and it's sitting on a pile of cash. Apple has $153 billion on the sideline. One of the good things about Apple is it does have this huge install base, 2 billion devices, about a billion unique customers. And so it does have a consumer-like characteristic. I would view it more as a quality compounder rather than an outright growth stock. Bernstein's Tim Sekinagi on CNBC. Mortgage rates just hit their lowest since before last Christmas, 6.6% now for a 30-year fixed home loan, according to Mortgage News Daily. A bright spot on Thursday, Shake Shack shares were up 16% on a down day on strong sales in the last quarter. Kohl's betting on Babies R Us. It's trying to attract some families and bigger spending. Kohl's is opening 200 Babies R Us shops inside Kohl's

locations across the U.S., the store within a store. Applebee's got riblets. It's bringing back all-you-can-eat boneless wings, riblets, and double-crunched shrimp. $16, and all-you-can-eat fries are included. On Friday's watch list, it's a jobs Friday. That employment report comes out. We also get factory orders for June, earnings from ExxonMobil, new in theaters, Columbia's family movie, Harold and the Purple Crayon,

and Warner Brothers PG-13 thriller, Trap. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. When you're at your very top speed, it feels like you can run forever. And then there's this one moment where everybody else starts to die, and you're like, I'm not about to die. I'm about to get faster.

The Olympics from Paris on NBC and Peacock.