CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Mixed, April Inflation Higher Than Expected, Gasoline Of All Types - Prices Up 28% Last Month 5/12/26

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

CNBC Business News Update with Jessica Ettinger - market numbers and news featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business names. Visit https://www.cnbc.com/ for more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Wednesday morning after a mixed day for the major averages. Inflation came in higher than expected for April. The Dow was up Tuesday, 56 points, led higher by shares of United Health, up 3%. The S&P 500 index and the NASDAQ fell from record highs. The S&P was down 11 points. The NASDAQ fell 185 points. shares of invidia popped into the green hit a record high on Tuesday morning, pulled back into the red, but finished higher by about a half a percent. Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs Tuesday include Apple, Cisco F5 networks, Assurance, and Lumentum, to name a few. Inflation went in the wrong direction again last month. April CPI Consumer Price Index year over year came in hotter than expected, 3.8. percent. All eyes on the U.S. consumer. On the one hand, they're having to deal with higher

energy prices, but on the other hand, you know, they had bigger tax refunds. Cushinging them for now, the thing that we're worried about is that tax-related stimulus that wears off this summer. That's when we see weakness on the consumer side. It just means less money to spend in other areas going into the summer travel season, lodging, airfares, maybe driving less. Pimco economist Tiffany Wilding on CNBC. Where did prices rise the most in the CPI report? Gasoline of all types, up 28% last month. Airfares up nearly 21%. Tobacco up 7.5%. Fruits and vegetables up 6.1%. Truck to stores using diesel fuel, which of course soared. Now where did prices fall? There were a couple of areas. Used car and truck prices were down by about 2%. dairy product prices dropped about a half a percent last month. Moody's economist Mark Zandi tells CNBC Americans may soon feel that price increases are outpacing their raises. Workers who got 3% raises this year are underwater with inflation at 3.8%. Up till now, the growth in incomes

have outpaced the rate of inflation. So the so-called real income or real wage growth has been positive. People's purchasing power, you know, broadly speaking. But that's now changing, you know, with inflation in three and a half to four percent. And some alarming new data on how Americans are doing with their debt. More people are struggling to make payments. This is first quarter data from the New York Fed. Look at the 90-plus day delinquencies. Overall, a nine-year high.

Credit cards at a 15-year high above 13 percent and not been there since the wake of the great financial crisis. All the loans at an all-time high for the series for delinquencies. And the series goes back to 2003. mortgages eight-year high and student loans, a seven-year-high. Mortgage debt, auto loan, student loans, they were all flat in terms of their volume or up just modestly. Credit card balances actually fell. CNBC Senior Economics reporter Steve Leesman.

Mortgage rates popped on Tuesday back above 6.5% for a 30-year fixed home loan, according to Mortgage News Daily. On Wednesday's watch list, we get a read on inflation at the wholesale level. the PPI producer price index will be out. Cisco reports quarterly results. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Week nights. There are plenty of people who get too enthusiastic right about now.

Every time there's a rally, they think that anything they buy goes higher, they actually think they're geniuses. They lost all this, but they're too cocky. Mad money, weeknight six Eastern, and streaming on CNBC Plus.