CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Higher, Mortgage Rates Hit 3 Year Low, Fewer Jobs Created In December Than Expected 1/9/26

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. It's a jobs Friday. Markets are higher. Investors are hoping that the smaller than expected job gains for last month might push the Fed to cut interest rates at its meeting later this month. Major averages all higher and heading for a winning week. The Dow this afternoon up 254 points. Home Depot shares leading it higher. They're up 3.5%. The S&P 500 index up 47 points. The NASDAX up 191 points. Shares of invidia unchanged after being higher earlier. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the legality of President Trump's tariffs. Many thought that was coming today. It may be next week. Mortgage rates have dropped to their lowest in three years since the Biden administration with the average rate on a 30-year fixed home loan at 5.99% today, according to Mortgage News Daily, prediums Stephen Scher tells CNBC. That helps, but it's not everything. for would-be home buyers. Right now, to own a home relative to rent a home, like for like, is about 40% more expensive. And it's not only because of mortgage rates. It's because of insurance. It's because of property taxes. There's a whole slew of inputs that run into this. Mortgage is a big issue, okay? Make no mistake. But it's one of many that need to be dealt with. Sure's company, Pretium, is one of the largest single-family renter operators in the U.S. President

and Trump wants to ban companies like Pretium from buying up homes and renting them out. While fewer jobs were created last month, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4%. It was a mixed December employment report. The unemployment rate, 4.4, 4.4. We're expecting it to go down from 4.6 to 4.5. And if we look at the labor force participation rate, and we really want that to expand bit. It didn't. Unfortunately, our last look was a bit better. That's CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's Newveen's Sarah Malick on CNBC. What we're seeing is labor markets are just normalizing

at a healthy rate. And if we can continue on this path, and I think that we can because government payrolls will have less of an impact on the negative side in 2026. Then that tells us that the economy is fine. We have fourth quarter earning season right in front of us. And another take from Yale law Professor Natasha Sarin on CNBC. You're definitely seeing signs that the labor market is continuing to cool. We also saw that in the Joltz data that we saw earlier this week, is that we are continuing to be in this sort of like low hire, low-fire economy. And even with a relatively low unemployment rate, you aren't seeing hiring in the economy.

And I think that has to do with the fact that there's just a lot of uncertainty right now. You're not exactly sure if you're a firm or if you're an employee, whether or not it makes sense to kind of take the leap because you're not sure whether jobs are going to be there to support you. Today is payday for many Americans. Many taking a little bit more home. After new IRS tax bracket changes that came with the new year, the two lowest tax brackets were widened by about 4 percent, higher ones by about 2 percent, the bipartisan policy center tells CNBC. This means a couple of dollars more per paycheck for average workers. When tax brackets increase, you can earn a little more before reaching the next income tax bracket.

rate. Gambling companies with high hopes tonight for the Peach Bowl, Oregon and Indiana in Atlanta. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Do you want to be on CNBC's Disruptor 50 list? Is your startup shattering boundaries, shaking up industries? Go to CNBC.com slash disruptors to apply before February 23rd.