CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower, Microsoft & Tesla Results Disappoint, Shop New Cars With Incentives 1/29/25

Episode Date: January 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 Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Thursday morning after the Fed paused its interest rate cutting cycle and took a less confident view on inflation. Stocks were lower. The Dow down 136 points, led lower by shares of NVIDIA, which were down 4%. The S&P 500 index dropped 28 points. That was a half percent. The NASDAQ down 101 points.

That was also about a half a percent. The Fed held interest rates steady after cutting at the past three meetings. Inflation, though, has ticked higher for the past three months. The last CPI Consumer Price Index reading was 2.9 percent. Inflation down to 2 percent sustainably is what we're trying to achieve. And, you know, we want to see, you know, serial readings that suggest that we're making further progress on inflation. That's what we want to see. And consumers will pick that up, of course, in the things that they buy at the grocery store or at the store. Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell and President Biden's former lead economist is warning the Trump administration to be careful about inflation.

I'm most concerned about the kind of uncertainty that's generated by the policy lurching that we've seen over the past few days, along with potential inflationary effects from sweeping tariffs. Targeted tariffs can be potentially useful and effective. Sweeping tariffs, that can be very damaging economically. Former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Jared Bernstein on CNBC. Microsoft and Tesla shares lower in after-hours trading on disappointing quarterly results. Facebook parent Meta out with solid results, but its shares were ticking lower in extended trading. Trump media getting into banking, expanding into financial services, including cryptocurrencies.

The president owns more than half the company. Shares of Trump media popped 6% Wednesday. After a strong 2024 for car sales, if you're car shopping, experts tell CNBC incentives are back and they will help sell more cars this year as consumers have been hit hard by inflation. Group one owns dealerships nationwide, selling most major brands and customers are paying slightly less right now for new cars if they're taking advantage of incentives. There are some incentives out there more than we've seen in the last, certainly in the last two years. Group One automotive CEO Daryl Kenningham on CNBC hears what's selling right now. Customers are still showing a preference for large trucks and SUVs. Hybrid is still very strong and growing.

EV is declining a bit. The good thing is the EV inventories are now in line with what seemingly demand is, but it's in the low single digits generally in most of the country. The average new car payment last month, $756, according to Cox Automotive. On Thursday's watch list, earnings are coming from Apple and Amazon, plus Shell, Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, and Southwest Airlines, Comcast, MasterCard, Hoka, Sneakermaker, Deckerspillar, Northrop Grumman, and Southwest Airlines, Comcast, MasterCard, Hoka, Sneakermaker, Decker's Outdoor, and Samsung. We get the latest on U.S. economic growth. GDP

will be out, gross domestic product numbers. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. We get a read on the real estate market with the latest pending home sales numbers. The FireAid benefit concert in Los Angeles Thursday night, 10 p.m. Eastern. Raising money for wildfire relief. The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Golf begins in Pebble Beach, California. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Earnings season. The quarterly numbers as they break.

The scorecard for the American economy. Earnings season on CNBC.