CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, Soft Labor Data, New Fortune 500 Ranking 6/4/24

Episode Date: June 4, 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 Ettinger, CNBC. We've got some soft labor data and stocks are lower on Wall Street this afternoon. Just modestly, the Dow down 24 points, the S&P 500 index down 17, the NASDAQ is down 52 points. The first thing you got to remember is the market was up nearly 5% last month. So no better that, you know, we need a little bit of the heat to come off the market, a little bit of a fear of a slowdown. But, you know, as much as you can point to things like the jolts that say, oh, the market's slowing, you know, I can point to a bunch of things that suggest, well, maybe that's not happening. Morgan Stanley's Andrew Slimmon on CNBC. Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs today include NVIDIA, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Walmart.

The JOLTS report came in softer than expected. That's job opportunity and labor turnover. It's count of jobs that are open in the U.S. Always two months in arrears. Definitely lighter than expected. We're expecting a number around 8.3 million. 8,059,000. And yields are moving lower because of the implications for the Fed and easing based on potentially a less tight labor market. CNBC's

Rick Santoli. U.S. crude oil now down to $72 a barrel, its lowest since the beginning of February. AAA says gas prices in the U.S. have plunged 15 cents a gallon in just the past month. Tesla shareholders, a little worried after CNBC reported that emails circulated inside AI chipmaker NVIDIA and seen by CNBC, show that Elon Musk told NVIDIA to prioritize chip deliveries to Twitter, now called X, as well as Musk's AI company, XAI, instead of Tesla. Raises those questions about Musk. He's the CEO of Tesla, but obviously controls completely privately held X and XAI. If you sort of deny a benefit for one company and confer it

on your private company, you know, is the board signed off on that? I don't know. All of this coming, of course, as there is a vote coming as well on his compensation package that was originally granted to him in 2018, but is being re-voted on. You know, we've got NVIDIA declining to comment, Musk and representatives for X and Tesla, apparently, according to the story, not responding to requests for comment. CNBC's David Faber. The Fortune 500 ranking is out for 2024. The top company, and it's based on revenue, is Walmart. 440 are run by white men, as diversity suffers at the top.

There's still 52 women running Fortune 500 companies. The last two years have been the first two years where there's ever been more than 10% of companies run by women. And then for black CEOs, it's dismal. It's only eight. Fortune's editor-in-chief, Alison Chantel on CNBC. The Small Business Administration's unveiling new credit lines of up to $5 million to fund small businesses. The new capital program's designed to make it easier for business owners to get money at lower interest rates than those quick cash commercial lenders. The Epoch Times chief financial officer charged in a multi-million dollar global money laundering scheme. The conservative news outlet executive was arrested, has pleaded not guilty, and was released on bond with travel restrictions. Instagram is testing non-skippable ads. You can't scroll past them until after they finish playing.

TechCrunch says the video ads are common on platforms like YouTube. Tonight's Mega Millions jackpot, more than a half billion at $560 million. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. I just love this game. So excited to share with the world. The Olympics from Paris starts July 26th on NBC and Peacock.