CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, Dow Falls 400 Points, Unemployment Rate Hits Post-Pandemic High, Instagram TV On The Way 12/16/25

Episode Date: December 16, 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 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. The unemployment rate went up in November. Wall Street is down this afternoon. The down now down 406 points, 8 tenths of a percent. IBM shares leading it lower. They're down almost two and a half percent. The S&P 500 index down 52 points. That's three quarters of a percent. The NASDAQ down 118 points, a half a percent. shares of invidia barely in the green, they're up one-tenth of one percent. There are companies today whose shares have hit fresh all-time highs. Expedia, raw stores, T.J. Max and Marshall's parent, the T.J.X. Companies, Delta Airlines, and Chubb. A lackluster jobs report for November, the U.S. created 64,000 new jobs last month. That was actually better than expected, but the unemployment rate moved to its highest in more than four years. years. The unemployment rate, and this, of course, is what everybody's been waiting for,

did indeed move up to 4.6%. 4.6% would be the hottest going back to July of 21. CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's the Manhattan Institute's Alison Schrager on CNBC. We keep getting these reports where you sort of have a, you know, labor market and, you know, still sort of worrying inflation. When you hear fed officials, they seem to still still think that inflation is going to magically go back to 2%. And I think this is just another data point that suggests that's just not magically happening. One investor says the labor market rolling over means the Fed would continue to cut interest rates, and that turns out would boost stocks. On labor, you know, labor undeniably is weakening. You know, the unemployment rate has basically

tipped up to 4.6%, which is a post-pandemic high. I think there's a green light for cuts, you know, maybe not at the pace of which we've seen them, but I think we're going to see them in 26. Goldman Sachs, Ashok Veridon on CNBC. Oil hit its lowest price in four years, which means prices at the pump for drivers could keep ticking lower, but shares of Exxon, Chevron, and Shell, those are all lower, too. Facebook parent meta getting into the TV business with its Instagram, social media platform, Instagram TV. Instagram is launching its first Instagram for TV app taking on YouTube. Instagram for TV will autoplay reels customized based on users' likes. Now, while META says the Apple launch without ads, it will eventually add them.

This follows YouTube success on TV. It announced in January it had more viewing on TVs than on mobile devices. And viewing on the bigger screen is more valuable for advertisers. In fact, ads on connected TVs can cost two to three times as much as ads on mobile devices. And that's because of the fact that over 90% of people, complete watching connected TV ads rather than skipping them. CNBC's Julia Borsden. Ford moving away from electric vehicles and toward hybrids, which are more popular. It's clear.

The market for electric vehicles is just not going to develop as quickly as many originally thought, let's say, five years ago. Ford has got to make the pivot, and it's paying a hefty price to do this, but they're making the pivot towards more hybrids. and if you are going to have EVs, they're going to either be smaller or they're going to be extended-range EVs. CNBC's Phil LeBoe. On Wednesday's watch list, we get earnings from General Mills and Micron. Volkswagen closes a plant Wednesday in Germany. It's the first time it's ever closed a German plant in the history of that company. The powerball jackpot for Wednesday night. $1.25 billion.

Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Consumer News and Business Channel, CNBC, we're happy we have your attention, and we promise to work hard to keep it.