CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Lower, War Headlines Cause Stock And Oil Volatility, Newly Built Home Sales Plunge 3/19/26

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger. CNBC, Wall Street opens Friday morning after late-day volatility on Thursday. Some traders saw headlines about the war with Iran being over soon. And stocks, which had been lower, started climbing. But a closer look at comments made by Israel's president then sent stocks heading back into the red. By the close, the Dow finished down 203 points. It was led lower by shares of Boeing, which were down 2.3%. The S&P 500 index was down 18 points. The NASDAQ fell 61 points.

Invidia shares on Thursday down 1%. Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs Thursday include energy names Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66, and Valero. Investors don't necessarily want to sell out of the market in case the war ends and stocks shoot higher. We touched at the lows today just about the fourth quarter low in the S&P 500. That goes back to November. But people don't want to get too far away from the faint prospect that you might get a de-escalatory move. It's going to have this market twitch higher. That's CNBC's Mike Santoli.

Stocks swung Thursday with the price of U.S. crude oil, which topped $100 a barrel at lunchtime Eastern on Thursday. But then came back down to around $94 a barrel about four hours later. Gold down about 10 percent so far this week. its worst weekly pullback since 1983 after a month's long run-up. Silver is pacing for its worst week since January. Prices at the pump went up another four cents a gallon Thursday. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular is sitting at $3.88. Drivers are paying 96 more for a gallon of gas than they were a month ago. Thursday, another state entered the $4 gas club. It was Illinois, which makes seven states. Economists see $4 gas as a psychological milestone for consumers.

Idaho, Florida, and Michigan are getting very close to $4 gas. Moody's analytics, economist Mark Zandi, tells CNBC that the U.S. is a consumer economy, and they really get hurt by higher gas prices. The impact of higher gasoline prices, higher diesel prices, which translates into higher grocery prices, anything you get delivered at your doorstep from Amazon is going to cost. a more that has a very significant effect on the collective psyche there nothing is more pernicious on people's perceptions of their own finances and the economy's performance then cost of a gallon regular unleaded home builders saw newly built home sales

plunge in January a huge miss on January new home sales 587,000 seasonally adjusted annualized rate Street was looking for 719,000 the home price was 400,000 thousand dollars. These contracts were signed in January. So it's people out shopping when mortgage rates were actually lower than they are today. So it would not have been a mortgage rate issue. Mortgage rates are now much higher because of the war with Iran. So this drop in January, you could blame some of it on the weather, but that's just a huge. We don't see that kind of 17 and a half percent drop month to month for new home sales. That's CNDC's Diana Oleg. On Friday's watch list, earnings are coming from Carnival Cruces.

And round one of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament continues. It's also round one for the NCAA women's tournament. New in theaters, Amazon MGM's Project Hail Mary. And it's the first day of spring. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Get invested. Join the club. Jim teaches you how to be the best steward of your own money. It's worth every petting.

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