CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, Home Builder Sentiment Tanks, Retail Sales Disappoint In May 6/17/25

Episode Date: June 17, 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 is in the red this afternoon. Although the major averages are off their earlier lows, investors are still worried about the Israel-Iran conflict. They're dealing with weak retail sales numbers too. The Dow is down 48 points off its earlier low. It's being led lower by shares of Merck, which are down more than 2% the S&P 500 index down 15. The NASDAQ is down 53 points, a third of a percent. Nvidia shares have ever so slightly turned

higher this afternoon. Companies whose shares have hit fresh all time highs today include Olive Garden, Parent Darden, Restaurants Cardinal Health and Raytheon, which is now called RTX. Home builder sentiment neared its pandemic low as economic uncertainty plagues consumers and people are hesitating when it comes to buying a newly constructed home.

Home builder sentiment in June dropped two points from May to 32 on the NIHB index. This index has only seen a lower reading twice since the Great Recession back in 2012. Now the builders cite high mortgage rates, tariffs, and overall economic uncertainty. Builders are cutting prices 37 percent in the June survey said they did. That's the highest share since NAHB started tracking this three years ago. CNBC's Diana Olek. Consumers really pulled back their spending last month after front-loading purchases back in March to get ahead of the Trump tariffs. Retail sales for the month of May coming in at minus, minus nine tenths of a percent, almost down one percent. This is much more

aggressive to the downside than we were expecting. That's CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman with more. You have this real strong action by consumers pulling forward purchases ahead of essentially the tariffs. They were trying to beat the tariffs. Now the Fed is in day one of a two-day meeting on interest rates that retail sales miss not expected to change much of anything. The pull forward effect is probably showing up in the numbers, which means that the committee

is likely to just take this as one month's numbers, wait some more time. And I doubt we're going to see coming out of it in the statement or in Palace Press Conference any major change in messaging. That's former Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart on CNBC. Silver, at its highest price in more than 13 years today, $37.33 an ounce. Silver's very different from gold, which is mostly a store of value. Silver is used in all types of manufacturing. It's a great conductor of electricity.

Silver is in your smartphone, your electric car, and your laptop, among many more things. JetBlue will cut more flights and other costs on weaker travel demand. It also says it's likely to lose money this year, calling break-even unlikely. The Amazon Prime Day sale in July will be four money this year calling break even unlikely. The Amazon Prime Day sale in July will be four days this year. A 96 hour event that starts at 3 a.m. eastern on Tuesday, July 8th and run through Friday the 11th. Amazon will roll out themed deal drops the change every day and will end when stock runs out. Jessica Edinger CNBC.