CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Higher, Oil Prices Pulled Back, Bitcoin At Its Highest Since Early February 3/16/26

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

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 and reported by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Jessica Eddinger. CNBC, Wall Street higher this afternoon. Crude oil back below the $100 barrel mark. And investors are happy about that. The Dow up 367. That's off its earlier highs. Sales Force shares leading it higher up 2.5% this afternoon. The S&P 500 index is up 62 points, almost 1%. The NASDAQ up 265 points. That's about 1.5%. The major averages, however, all lower for the month and for the year. Oil prices have fallen as President Trump is pressuring allies to help protect tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. As of noon eastern, a barrel of U.S. crude, WTI, West Texas Intermediate, about $95. Here's MCC Global Enterprise's CEO Michelle Caruso Cabrera on CNBC. A week ago, it was at 100, so it's lower than it was a week ago. So the market's telling you that they don't think this is a long-term situation. Why do they think that?

First of all, there hasn't been actual real destruction of any important energy infrastructure, right? That would lead to permanent supply disruption. Number two, when it comes to the very strict military objectives that the U.S. has had, which is destroy the Navy, destroy their ability with ballistic missiles, destroy their drone capacity, the U.S. and Israel have actually been extremely effective. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says the U.S. is allowing Iranian tankers through the Strait of Hormuz without attacking them to help boost the global oil supply and ease the price of oil. We are seeing more and more the fuel ships start to go through. The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we've let that happen to supply the rest of the world. We've seen Indian ships go out now, so the Indians who rely very heavily on Gulf oil. Chinese ships have gone out. So that and that should start ramping up. Prices at the pump did go

up again over the weekend for U.S. drivers, though. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular is now $3.72, about an extra 80 cents a gallon since before the U.S. first attacked Iran a little more than two weeks ago. For the average SUV with an 18 to 20 gallon tank, that's about an extra $14 for every fill-up. that consumers are facing. But Treasury Secretary Scott Besson told CNBC's Brian Sullivan, the U.S. war in the Middle East is not becoming an oil crisis. The world is really worried about shortages and also the inflationary effect here and abroad. Yep, Brent, can we just be clear here? It's two weeks. It's two weeks. And, you know, I know the media likes to move things along.

We see this headlines. And that's part of the Iranian strategy. And it's very unfortunate that because of a dislike for President Trump, not to you, but a lot of mainstream media are trying to speed this up, trying to make it into some crisis that it's not. President Trump may delay his summit with China's President Xi in Beijing later this month to stay in Washington for the Iran war. Cotton futures popping higher as fertilizer supplies are stalled out in the Middle East because of the war. This could impact the price of clothing down the road. Invidia's annual GPU technology conference is on today. the keynote is CEO Jensen Wong, full coverage here at CNBC.

Warner Brothers won battle after another, won best picture at the Academy Awards last night. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. CNBC Cures, defying rare disease, premieres Thursday, 7 Eastern.