CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, Markets On Pace For Losing Week, Existing Home Sales Hit Record Average Price For January 2/21/25

Episode Date: February 21, 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. Stocks are lower this afternoon. The major average is all poised for a losing week. The Dow down 370 points, eight-tenths of a percent. Still being led lower by shares of UnitedHealth, which are now down 9%. The S&P 500 index down 34 points this afternoon. That's a little more than a half percent. The Nasdaq also lower, down 14 That's a little more than a half percent.

The Nasdaq also lower, down 146 points, three quarters of one percent. NVIDIA shares were higher earlier. They are lower now by a half percent. Companies whose shares did hit fresh record highs today include Fox Corporation, Ticketmaster, Parent Live Nation, Columbia Sportswear, and Dillard's. United Health shares, as we told you, are tanking. And it's on a Wall Street Journal report that says the Department of Justice is investigating its Medicare billing practices. United is a different animal because they have a provider or a doctor business as well as an insurance business, whereas most of the other companies do not. So the allegations here basically pertain to that doctor network overcharging patients

for various procedures they may or may not need. And that's enabling the company to go out there and get more money for the government for those procedures, whatever they may be. But we'll see as more details emerge here. Mizzou host Jared Schultz on CNBC. People who bought an existing home in January paid record prices. The median price of a home sold in January was $396,900, up 4.8% year over year. That is the highest price ever for January. Existing home sales in January fell 4.9 percent month to month. That is a much steeper decline than the street was expecting. CNBC's Diana Olick. Coinbase says the Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to end an

enforcement case against the crypto exchange. Take us behind the scenes about how the SEC and this administration ultimately decided to end the enforcement action. I think what they realized is that they were going to lose badly. And I have to give a lot of credit actually to this new administration that's come in. And I think they're in the process of reforming the SEC and trying to clean up some of these actions where the SEC really painted outside the bounds of the law in the past. I hope that they'll dismiss all the bogus cases, frankly, and it'll be a domino effect for the rest of the industry. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. Bitcoin higher, hovering around $99,000. EV maker Rivian beat Wall Street's fourth quarter expectations but expects lower deliveries in 2025. Still, Rivian made its first ever gross profit in the last quarter. Tesla with

another recall, this time for more than 375,000 vehicles because of a power steering issue. A judge siding with the Trump administration ruling against a union effort to block mass federal job cuts. Citigroup, the latest company to drop diversity, equity, and inclusion, citing pressure from the Trump administration. Wendy's has teamed up with the Girl Scouts to introduce Thin Mint Frosties. They're on menus today. The Grapefruit League season begins this afternoon. Yankees hosting the Rays in Tampa.

New in theaters this weekend, Neon's horror film, The Monkey. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. The CNBC.