CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower on Worries No Interest Rate Cuts Are Coming Yet, Nvidia with Strong Results, Chevy Equinox EV Coming At Just 35K 5/22/24

Episode Date: May 22, 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 had a down day Wednesday. Opens Thursday morning, though, with some optimism from NVIDIA. Here's how it happened. Stocks were lower on Wednesday after the Fed meeting minutes came out and showed they're still worried about inflation. Investors don't think any interest rate cuts are coming anytime soon. So the Dow fell 201 points.

The S&P 500 index down 14. The Nasdaq was down 31. After the closing bell, after hours, NVIDIA out with strong quarterly results. A 262% jump in sales in the quarter and its shares were higher in after hours trading. That means shares could be higher overall in the markets on Thursday. We'll see. Plus, NVIDIA, with shares pushing $1,000 apiece, has a stock split coming. Also announcing a 10-for-1 forward stock split of common stock to make ownership more accessible to employees and investors. The split will be effective through an amendment. As of the close on Thursday, June 6th, they'll get nine additional shares of common stock. So again, 10 for one Ford stock split at the close on June 6th.

CNBC's Christina Partsenevelis. Existing home sales unexpectedly dropped last month, even with a boom in new supply of homes on the market for sale. Inventory rose 9% month to month and was up 16% from the year before. Still, though, just a three and a half month supply because the overall numbers are still very low. One note, though, supply of homes priced over $1 million, up 40% year over year, which is why that segment of the market is the most active. Tight supply is keeping pressure on prices. The median price of an existing home sold in April was $407,600,

up 5.7% year over year. And that's yet another record high price for the month of April. I feel like I say that every month. CNBC's Diana Olick. Target shares tanked 8% Wednesday after mixed quarterly results. Shoppers are shunning high prices there. Ultimately, the shopper is just pushing back. It's come to a point that prices for a lot of these core commodity goods and sectors like grocery are just too high. And the shopper is retreating to value-based retailers where Walmart and Costco seem to be more price competitive. And that's exactly why you saw that Target announcement earlier this week

of lowering prices on those 5,000 goods. Forrester Sucharita Kodaly on CNBC. A new all-electric Chevy Equinox starting at $35,000. It's being shipped to dealers now as GM delivers to consumers what they want, more affordable EVs. This is cars have gotten so expensive. The average age of a vehicle on U.S. roads right now is more than 12 years old. 12.6 years, according to S&P Global Mobility. They've never been higher than this. Three things are driving this. First of all, the reliability of vehicles built after 2000. It's not uncommon now to see a 2011, let's say RAV4 that's out on the road and still running very well. You've also got new vehicle prices close to a record high,

add in high financing costs, high insurance costs. And a lot of people are saying, you know what? I'm good with what I'm driving right now. CNBC's Phil LeBeau. On Thursday's watch list, earnings coming from BJ's Wholesale and Ralph Lauren. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. NOAA announces its 2024 Atlantic hurricane season outlook. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. The Investing Club. We're not about trading. We're about investing.

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