CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Higher, More Private Job Hiring In January, Disney Says "Bundle" Is Working 2/5/25

Episode Date: February 5, 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's in the green this afternoon, although a couple of major averages have been hovering around the flat line. The Dow is up 117 points, a quarter percent, led higher this afternoon by shares of Amgen, now popping 5%. The S&P 500 index up 10 points.

The Nasdaq is up eight points. Gold hit a fresh record high of $2,901 an ounce. Gold is seen as a hedge against uncertainty. Companies hired more people than expected in January. ADP says 183,000 new jobs were added. The government's big January jobs report will be out Friday morning. That does include government hiring. What was the big surprise in the private payroll numbers? Well, it may be related to the Trump crackdown on immigration. Construction.

We're still in need of residential construction. So I'm surprised to see that construction jobs were so short, only 3,000 this month. I really think it's tied to a labor shortage, not a shortage in demand. And so if we're going to see that support for housing, and remember, housing feeds into inflation if we don't have enough housing supply, then we really need to see more job gains in construction to support that industry. ADP economist Neela Richardson on CNBC. Mortgage demand dropped again last week. Mortgage rates hovering around 7%. It's a troubling sign for the real estate business, which is gearing up for the usually busy spring home buying season. Disney beat quarterly profit

estimates and the Disney Plus streaming service lost fewer subscribers than Disney thought. But people are still moving to the bundle. The bundle with Hulu is working quite well. As you know, in December, we added the ESPN tile and that's off to a great start. So I think consumers are looking at it and saying this is really a platform that we need to have in our household. Despite the pricing, we think we're delivering enough value there as well as consumers want to stick with us. Disney Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston on CNBC. Apple shares were lower as China reportedly considers an investigation into the Apple App Store practices. Apple does big business in China, but its iPhone sales have fallen behind Chinese-made models in recent quarters.

Alphabet shares were tanking. The parent of YouTube and Google missed revenue estimates in the last quarter. HR software company Workday slashing almost 2,000 jobs. It's moving to AI. Struggling cosmetics giant Estee Lauder slashing 7,000 jobs. And General Motors cutting more than 1 a thousand people at its discontinued cruise robo-taxi business. Ferrari shares zoomed higher on strong quarterly results. It's selling more expensive models like the new F80 that cost three million dollars per car and it's making more per car from personalization and customized paint colors or customized seat leathers. Ferrari is now worth more than Ford and GM combined with a market cap of $87 billion. Now, the cheapest Ferrari starts at around $350,000.

CNBC's Robert Frank. Americans may soon be paying more for toys. Mattel is considering raising prices for Barbie and Hot Wheels toys to offset the cost of President Trump's tariffs. Mattel's CEO says the company will first try to make its supply chain more efficient or relocate some production before deciding whether to pass on the added cost to customers. Mattel sources about 40 percent of its products from China. CNBC's Mike Santoli. Fire aid organizers estimate that the concert last week in L.A. raised more than $100 million for wildfire relief.

This is according to ABC. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. CNBC. Live ambitiously.