CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower, Nasdaq Briefly In Correction Territory, Mortgage Rates Pop Over 6.5 Percent 3/20/26

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Monday morning after a day in the red on Friday and another losing week for stocks. With President Trump saying Friday, he doesn't want to do a ceasefire with Iran for the war. The Dow down 443 points, 1% on Friday. IBM shares led the Dow lower. They were down 3%. The S&P 500 indexed down 100 points. That was 1.5%. The NASDAQ fell 443 points, a solid, 2%. Shares of NVIDIA on Friday were down more than 3%. The S&P 500 index now coming

off its worst week since last October and also it's on its longest weekly losing streak in a year. The NASDAQ briefly entered correction territory on Friday. Companies who shares at fresh all-time highs Friday include Exxon and Chevron. Oil prices

topping $98 a barrel for U.S. crude heading into the weekend when it comes to the strength of the U.S. which holds up the U.S. economy. Fed Governor Christopher Waller tells CNBC it's all about how long the war lasts. It continues on for, you know, months on end at what point do the consumers start backing off? I mean, they're looking at their gas tank. They're looking at the price and they're seeing how much is going into their car versus going into other things. And that starts affecting consumers' outlooks on the economy as well. So all these things could end up tipping the,

now I don't want to say into a recession, but suddenly a much more weakening of the economy than we for a lot. But Barclays, airlines analyst Brandon Oglensky, tells CNBC that people are still spending, especially to travel. As the airlines right now, I mean, their bookings are up double digits. So if the consumer's concerned, they're definitely not necessarily showing that right now. Before the weekend, Americans were paying on average about a dollar a gallon more for regular gas at the pump than a month ago. That's $18 more for every fill-up for the average SUV in the US with an 18 gallon tank. If someone fills up every week, that's about 80 bucks a month if the gas price increase lasts. Kepler oil analyst Matt Smith tells CNBC the U.S. is in much better shape

than other countries. So we're starting to hear about energy conservation, you know, dialing back on mobility in Asia. It's the trucking side of things. It's the driving around. It's the flying. It's everything. There are signs that a big chunk of Americans are hurting financially and higher gas prices are not going to help. As Meredith Whitney advisory groups, Meredith Whitney tells CNBC. It is clear for the bottom 60% of households that they're worse off than they were two years ago. You see real strain in that group. They're barely living paycheck to paycheck. So the massive growth in earn wage access, that's exploding. So if you work at Walmart and you can't wait two weeks to get your paycheck, you'll pay a fee to access the pay that you've gotten for three days. Mortgage rates back up over

six and a half percent heading into the first weekend of spring, the first weekend of the famous spring home selling market. This spring is clearly a buyer's market, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy for all buyers. And that's because mortgage rates are rising when we thought they'd be falling now. And concern over the economy is very real. The average rate on the 30-year fixed jumped to 6.53 percent, according to Mortgage News Daily. Barely a month ago, it was dipping into the 5% range. But the war with Iran turned that around. CNBC's Diana Oleg.

On the coming week's watch list, all eyes on the war and oil prices and prices at the pump. Major League Baseball teams with Netflix for opening night on Wednesday. And we get the latest on consumer sentiment. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. The all-new morning call. I'm Morgan Brennan, and this is your morning call. 5 a.m. Eastern CNBC.

Thank you.