CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Higher, Nvidia Now Most Valuable Company In The World, Investors Like President Trump's Softer Tariff Tone 1/21/25

Episode Date: January 21, 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 Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street higher this afternoon as investors feel that President Trump's tone on tariffs has softened. The Dow is soaring 432 points, 1% being led higher by shares of 3M, which are up almost 5%. The S&P 500 index up 38 points, that's a half percent. And the Nasdaq is up 64 points. Companies whose shares have hit fresh all-time highs today include American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco, Google Parent, Alphabet, Hoka, Sneakermaker, Decker's Outdoor, Ralph Lauren, Discover, and Visa. And that's just to name a few. NVIDIA has surpassed Apple today to become the world's most valuable company. NVIDIA shares are up 3% this afternoon, while Apple has fallen 4% today. President Trump did not slap tariffs on

everything coming into the U.S. from China, Canada, and Mexico when he took office yesterday, but he has a warning, at least for Mexico and Canada. The president not giving any explicit orders on tariffs for China. But he did say he may impose duties on Mexico and Canada by February 1st. We're thinking in terms of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada because they're allowing vast numbers of people. Canada's a very bad abuser also. Vast numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in i think february 1st on his first day back in the white house he signed nearly 50 executive orders they included a pause on any action against tiktok for 75 days we're sending nearly 80

biden era orders including ones related to diversity immigration and climate cnbc's frank holland tiktok up and running today in the uS. after it went dark for a few hours over the weekend. The Chinese app sits on the phones of half the U.S. population. It was banned as a national security risk and the Supreme Court upheld the law. The president is toying with intensified tariffs on China to force the app's owner to sell it to a U.S. company or at least find a U.S. partner. As the new Trump administration works toward extending the 2017 tax cuts, many of which sunset at the end of this year, some lawmakers say that'll make the national debt issue worse. Well, I think it's hard for them to make the argument simultaneously that

they're concerned about the national debt and then to propose adding $4 trillion to the national debt through a tax cut. And this last tax cut, TCJA, they borrowed the money for it. Can you imagine borrowing $2.3 trillion to give a tax cut? When you look at the distribution tables, overwhelmingly, it went to people in the higher income brackets. The tax cuts have contributed mightily to the national debt. Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal, the lead Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee on CNBC, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Mark Schwartz, said tax cuts are going to be a long fight because not all Republicans are on board. I think expectations and markets are

Republican House, Republican Senate, Republican White House. This is going to get done quickly. It's not going to get done quickly. It is incredibly complicated. It's very tight margins in the House, and it's going to be a long, long year on the Hill trying to get this accomplished. Homebuilder D.R. Horton shares up on strong quarterly results. Georgia's poultry industry trying to handle an outbreak of bird flu. In a surprise at the quiet Martin Luther King weekend box office, Sony's female buddy comedy, One of Them Days, was number one in ticket sales. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.

CNBC's Big January continues with the World Economic Forum in Davos, plus Fast Money Live from Miami and the first Fed decision of the year. Start the year ahead of the game. CNBC.