CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower, S&P 500 Index Touches New Record High Before Dropping, Target Rolls Back Diversity 1/24/25

Episode Date: January 24, 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 Monday morning after a lackluster Friday. The S&P 500 index opened at a fresh record high, touched a new one, and then pulled back. The major averages all in the red Friday, but it was the second winning week in a row for those. For the week, the Dow was up 2%, the S&P 500 index up 1.75%, and the Nasdaq was up more than 1.5%. This has been a Goldilocks setup for the beginning of year in markets. We have good, strong economic backdrop. Earnings are good.

There's not a lot of economic data to grapple with. There was really nothing getting in the way of a good market week this week. New York Life's Lauren Goodwin on CNBC, and investors are bracing for a big week ahead. If you look at all the tech, the Mag 7, Minus, and NVIDIA are all reporting the Super Bowl for earnings. So I think the stock market at, again, new all-time highs are hinged upon not just the revenue or the expectation, but it's the forward guidance. So next week is just a wild week for investors. I think you have to buck up the chinstrap. KKM Financial's Jeff Kilburg on CNBC. Target rolling back DEI initiatives.

While Costco shareholders voted to keep diversity programs, rejecting a push to review them. Facebook parent Meta, which also owns Instagram and its ex, formerly Twitter, and blue sky rival, which is called Threads, is now starting to test advertising. Retail store closures spiked last year. The most in four years and more are expected to close this year. CoreSite Research says Big Lots, Walgreens, Party City, 7-Eleven, Macy's, and the Container Store are among the chains closing locations. But the head of the National Retail Federation says this isn't really alarming at all. The bankruptcy numbers we saw last year are in

line with or slightly lower than where we were before the pandemic. And if you went back to 2008, 9, 10, the number of bankruptcies in those years was about 400 each year. So for context, we're about where we were before the pandemic. We're nowhere near where we were during the last recession. National Retail Federation CEO Matt Shea on CNBC. On Monday's watch list, we get earnings from Ryanair, SoFi, and Nucor. We get newly constructed home sales numbers for December. Grammy week would normally start, but events are canceled because of the L.A. wildfires. The awards, though, are still on for Sunday, February 2nd. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.

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