CNBC Business News Update - Market MIdday: Stocks Lower, Software Sells Off Again, New Inflation Data Out Friday Morning 2/12/26

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Friday morning after a sell-off Thursday in lots of software names, but it was even broader. The Dow fell 669 points. That was 1.3%. Cisco let it lower. Those shares were down 12%. The S&P 500 indexed down 108 points. That was 1.5%. And the NASDAQ fell 469 points, a full 2%. shares of Nvidia lost 1.5%. The Dow on pace for its worst week since November. It's a manic market. It's not in many cases being driven by fundamentals. I think it's rotation. I think those rotations then build on themselves because there's price signals that quant funds and others use to chase short-term momentum. And the carnage beneath the surface is so much worse than what we're seeing at the index level. That's Wolf researches Chris Senniak on C.

Apple shares had their worst day since last April down 5% Thursday. Amazon notched its eighth down day in a row. It lost another 2% on Thursday. Investors are on hold for the latest on inflation Friday morning, the CPI, the Consumer Price Index for January. Inflation is expected to have risen at a 2.5% pace last month. December headline inflation was 2.7% year over year. the Fed's target is a flat just 2%. But the White House is pointing out an alternative inflation number.

It's called trueflation. There's this new measure out there that's got mentioned by the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent last week on his testimony before Senate Finance Committee. And that is trueflation. It's a new way to measure inflation. That's making the rounds. And a lot of people are citing it, especially the administration, because it's under 1%. That's the whole notion of affordability, right, and how that's weighing on consumers, but also what the Fed does. CNBC's Sarah Eisen. Disappointing existing home sales last month just when the real estate industry was hoping for a strong start to the spring home buying season. Sales last month dropped 8.4%. That is a huge miss. The street was looking for about half of that drop, and it is the slowest sales pace since December 2023.

It is taking longer to sell a home, 46 days. versus 41 in January of last year. Prices in the positive territory. The median for January was $396,800 on the highest January price on record. CNBC's Diana Oleg. Soybean futures hit a two and a half month high today as a thaw with China may see some sales pick up again for American farmers. Another move to help Republicans win in the midterm elections in November to hold Republican power in Washington. More people applied for unemployment benefits then expected last week, but the number came in at just about the pre-pandemic weekly average. The number of people still collecting unemployment checks, though, ticked higher,

suggesting it might be taking some people longer to find that next job. Initial jobless claims come in at $227,000. It's the highest going back to the first week in December. It did move up a bit, so we're on a little bit on the higher side from the low 200s. These numbers are well-behaved, but we do see a little gyration going on. CNBC's Rick Santelli. On Friday's watch list, we do get that CPI inflation number for January. We get earnings from advance auto parts, Moderna and Wendy's. New in theaters, Warner Brothers R-rated Wuthering Heights,

Amazon MGM's Crime 101, and Sony's animated family film Goat. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Ambition. It's got America ridden all. over it. CNBC live ambitiously.