CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Higher, 3 Major Averages At New All Time Highs, Inflation Highest Since January, Jobless Claims Highest In 4 Years 9/11/25

Episode Date: September 11, 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 Eddinger, CNBC, record highs for stocks this afternoon on Wall Street. Investors are betting that higher inflation and a weakening job market will not derail that Fed interest rate cut they're counting on next week as the economy slows. The Dow up 584 points this afternoon, 1.5% United Health shares are leading it higher. They're up 3%. The S&P 500 index is up 52 points, 8 tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ is up 151 points now. That's 7 tenths of 1%. Looking at Nvidia shares this afternoon, they're up one-third of 1%.

Companies who shares have hit fresh all-time highs today? Ticketmaster Parent Live Nation. AutoZone, O'Reilly Auto, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Broadcom. analysts telling CNBC today it's a case of bad news is good news. Worse inflation, worse job market, but the Fed's going to cut interest rates in investors like that. Markets reacting to the hottest pace of consumer inflation on an annual basis since January, as Americans' wallets have been increasingly pinched. Here's CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman with the CPI Consumer Price Index numbers.

Up 0.4% versus an estimate of 0.3%. Year over year, headline, 2.9% right in line. X food and energy, 3.1% right in line. Food was up 0.5%. So some pressure there. Here's CNBC MedMoney host Jim Kramer now, who says there's a chance that producer price increases weren't as bad, and that may at some point trickle down to the consumer, which could ease inflation.

This is the high inflation number everyone's scared of, but the PPI was good, so maybe in the channel you're going to have some good things. Food at home, grocery prices had their biggest increase in August in several years, and on top of this, more people are losing their jobs. The highest rate of jobless claims in nearly four years. 263,000? Is that what I'm seeing on initial jobless claims? 263,000. That is the news. $160,000, where's that going to comp to? It equals where we were in June of 23 to find a higher number. You're back to October of 21. CNBC's Rick Santelli. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4%. Mortgage rates loosely follow that rate on the 10-year. We could see mortgages take another leg lower by this afternoon, making it slightly easier for would-be buyers.

This, of course, means that people with savings in high-yield accounts may be earning less on that money. Kroger shares were higher on mixed quarterly results. Chewy shares popped on an analyst upgrade, even after worse than expected quarterly results. Foreign investment in the U.S. could be impacted by the Trump immigration crackdown. The White House maintains that foreign investment is welcome as long as it creates jobs for Americans. South Korea's president is warning. Last week's immigration rate at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, in which more than 300 Korean nationals were detained, could have a, quote, significant impact on future direct investment into the U.S.

And this as a chartered plan carrying those workers is reportedly set to depart Georgia for South Korea as soon as today. CNBC's Silvana Hanow. Chairs of UPS and FedEx were falling as Bank of America downgraded the two shipping companies because President Trump ended the de minimis shipping tariff exemption, package volume has slowed dramatically. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Celebrating 30 years of Squawk Fox and streaming on CNBC Plus.