CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Mixed, Winning Week For Stocks, Flu Hurting US Productivity 2/14/25

Episode Date: February 14, 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 Ettinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Tuesday morning after a break for the Monday President's Day holiday. After Friday's mixed day for stocks, the Dow down 165 points, led lower by shares of Procter & Gamble, which tanked almost 5%. The S&P 500 index so close to a record high but closed down about a half a point on Friday. The Nasdaq was up 81 points. Nvidia shares were up 2.5% on Friday. Stocks are coming off a winning week and a pretty strong start to 2025.

It's such a strong start to the year. By the way, the S&P is up just about 4% year to date already. We're six weeks into it or so. If you do see some choppiness, if you have some give back in the latter part of february thereafter you shouldn't consider it abnormal in other words just take it in stride cnbc's mike santoli some investors are bracing for what's called seasonality probably see more volatility i mean to think this year was going to be the only year without bad news without probably a 10 percent peak to trough correction we think it makes sense.

Just prepare probably for more volatility. Honestly, the first half of a post-election year, that's usually when you get it. Carson Group's Ryan Dietrich on CNBC. President's Day weekend is the unofficial start to the spring home buying season, and there might be a few more homes on the market where you live to look at. But it's still a hard time for many to buy a home. The average rate on the 30-year fix jumped to 7.13%, according to Mortgage News Daily.

That's the highest rate in nearly a month. It's the President's Day weekend, which is kind of the unofficial start of the spring housing market. As for homebuyers, mortgage demand dropped again last week. It's pricey and lean out there and not very good. CNBC's Diana Olick. Home supply is up about 25% over last year, though not all of the homes on the market are new listings.

Many are just ones that have been sitting there for a while, not selling over the holidays or because they're just priced too high. Retailers had a rotten January. We got the official retail sales numbers for last month on Friday, heading into the holiday weekend. Consumers pulled back from that strong holiday spending. What's on sale for President's Day? Consumer advocate Clark Howard says furniture, mattresses, and winter clothing all should be on discount. The flu has swept the nation and it's taking productivity down with it.

We're having a spike in flu that's pretty severe, probably the worst flu season that we've seen since 2002. It appears to be H1N1 and H3N2, so a mix of both of those. The flu vaccine seems to be more protective against H1N1. Hospitalizations are starting to go up. The national average is about 8%. In the South, it's about 10%. So we are having a pretty bad flu season, the second spike in flu.

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb on CNBC. It is a big travel week for families. Lots of schools are closed the whole week in different parts of the country for the president's week holiday or winter break. And those who are driving for a little getaway are enduring a hit to the wallet. Prices at the pump rose higher heading into the long holiday weekend. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular gas now up to $3.16. That's up almost 10 cents a gallon over the past month. On Tuesday's watch list, after the President's Day Monday holiday, earnings are coming from HomeBuilder, Toll Brothers, Devon Energy, Occidental Petroleum, and Bumble. And then later in the week, we're going to get big box retailer earnings, including from Walmart.

Tuesday, we get the latest on how home builders are feeling about the economy and their business. And Capital One and Discover Financial hold separate special meetings of stockholders to vote on their proposed merger. I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Earnings season, the quarterly numbers as they break. The scorecard for the American economy. Earnings season on CNBC.