CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Higher, Warren Buffett On Iran War, Consumer Confidence Ticks Higher 3/31/26

Episode Date: March 31, 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 Edinger. CNBC stocks are sharply higher this afternoon as of 1 p.m. Eastern time on an unconfirmed headline that the president of Iran is open to ending the war if some guarantees are met. Investors like that idea. The Dow up 891 points, almost 2%. The S&P 500 index up 150 points. That's 2.3%. the NASDAQ up 671 points.

That's more than 3%. InVIDIA shares are soaring up 4.5% this afternoon. Here's what it sounded like when the Dow popped 1,000 points. It's CNBC Scott Wapner interrupting. Riddholz-Weltz, Josh Brown. Look, there's the Dow, which is up now better

than 1,000 points. Forgive me. But there's a headline that's moved. And apparently from Iran's president who says, we're ready to end the war but want guarantees. So as that has moved from another news organization, and we continue to, you know, try and get you more information on it, it has undoubtedly factored into the trade at this moment. Billionaire Warren Buffett gave CNBC a lengthy live interview today, and he had this to say about the war with Iran.

He spoke with CNBC's Becky Quick. So if you were the president today or if you were advising the president today, what would you say about going after the enriched uranium in Iran? I would say that one way or another in the next 100 years, maybe it's 200 years, who knows, but one way or another, something will happen that cause it to be used. Oil prices setting new records today, Brent, on pace for its biggest monthly surge in history at $119 a barrel. U.S. crude hit $106 a barrel today, sitting now just below $105 a barrel this afternoon. Americans are now paying $4 gas. A dollar more for a gallon than a month ago. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular is actually just under $4.2.

Hershey Shears are down for March, but still they're up 15% year to date. The CEO of the chocolate company tells CNBC it hasn't raised chocolate and snack prices as high as it could. And it's hoping not to have to raise prices very quickly again. We took a huge impact in 25 and 24 with the price of cocoa. We were very patient with the pricing that we passed on to consumers. In fact, we didn't pass all that pricing on. So that when we come through this as Coco comes down, it takes pressure off pricing. Hershey's CEO, Kurt Tanner on CNBC.

Mercedes-Benz USA's CEO, Adam Chamberlain, wants to sell 400,000 cars in the U.S. this year. And while more than half of those are imported and tariffed, Mercedes wants to keep prices as low as possible. Since tariffs have been launched, we've only increased our prices by 1.3 percent, significantly less than inflation. We've been laser focused on growing our overall volume, and to do that, you have to be super competitive at the point of sale. But that comes at the expense of margins, which we're going to be in pressure. So it takes a hit on us as a company. I believe the bigger goal is to grow our volume and recover that margin through volume. The CEO of Mercedes USA there with CNBC's Phil Leboat, the Mercedes plant that's in Vance, Alabama.

Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Until 37 years ago, when we created CNBC, there was really no daily window into the world of free market capitalism for the average citizen. So when we think about the 250th anniversary of this country, CNBC should be celebrated as critical to what makes America great.