CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, Investors On Hold For Nvidia Results, Inventory Up But Existing Home Sales Still Fell Last Month 5/22/24

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

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.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street in the red this afternoon. Bond yields slightly higher. We've got the Dow down 84 points. The S&P 500 index, which opened at a record high this morning, down six points. The Nasdaq, which also opened at a record high this morning, is down four points. But companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs today include TJ Maxx and Marshalls parent TJX companies coming off of strong quarterly results. Plus Costco, Walmart, Boston Scientific, Analog Devices, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, too. Investors are waiting for an AI bellwether to report quarterly results, and that's NVIDIA. It's coming at 4 Eastern after the closing bell. I think you do want to be diversified from this.

Look, NVIDIA is beaten by 20% a quarter for the last four quarters on average. Expectations are very high, and having so much concentrated, not just an AI theme, but NVIDIA's one stock, may be a risk in many investors' portfolios. Schwab's Jeffrey Kleintop on CNBC. Existing home sales unexpectedly dropped last month,

even with a boom in new supply of homes on the market for sale. Inventory rose 9% month to month and was up 16% from the year before. Still, though, just a three and a half month supply because the overall numbers are still very low. One note, though, supply of homes priced over $1 million, up 40% year over year, which is why that segment of the market is the most active. Tight supply is keeping pressure on prices. The median price of an existing home sold in April was $407,600, up 5.7% year over year. And that's yet another record high price for the month of April.

I feel like I say that every month. CNBC's Diana Olick. Target shares tanking 7% in the lunch hour today on Wall Street. On mixed quarterly results as shoppers shun high grocery and other prices there. They're going elsewhere. Ultimately, the shopper is just pushing back. It's come to a point that prices for a lot of these core commodity goods and sectors like grocery are just too high.

And the shopper is retreating to value based retailers where Walmart and Costco seem to be more price competitive. And that's exactly why you saw that Target announcement earlier this week of lowering prices on those 5000 goods. Forrester's Sucharita Kodali on CNBC. Here's CNBC's Mad Money host, Jim Cramer. Walmart's really spread far afield from Target. Target is, to some degree, missing the mark. Maybe they have to up their game a bit. It just may not have such special merchandise

that it can compete against a really revitalized Walmart. America's roads are filled with aging cars more than 12 years old. 12.6 years according to S&P Global Mobility. They've never been higher than this. Three things are driving this. First of all, the reliability of vehicles built after 2000. It's not uncommon now to see a 2011, let's say, RAV4 that's out on the road and still running very well. You've also got new vehicle prices close to a record high, add in high financing costs, high insurance costs. And a lot of people are saying, you know what? I'm good with what I'm driving right now. CNBC's Phil LeBeau. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.

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