CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, S&P 500 Index On Pace For Longest Weekly Losing Streak In A Year, Super Micro Shares Tank 3/20/26

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger. CNBC. Major average is all in the red this afternoon on Wall Street. The S&P 500 index, not only on pace for its fourth losing week in a row, it would be the longest losing streak for that index in a year. The Dow is down 187 points, 4 tenths of a percent. Honeywell shares leading it lower this afternoon down 2.5%. The S&P 500 index down 48 points.

That's three quarters of a percent. the NASDAQ falling 226 points. That's 1%. Shares of Nvidia down 1.5% this afternoon. Investors focused on the price of oil. U.S. crude started this morning around $94 a barrel this afternoon. It's up to more than $97 a barrel. Exxon and Chevron shares each hitting record highs today on this down day for the major averages. Fed Governor Christopher Waller tells CNBC the duration of the war with Iran. is important to the economy. It continues on for, you know, months on end. At what point do the consumers start backing off?

I mean, they're looking at their gas tank. They're looking at the price and they're seeing how much is going into their car versus going into other things. And that starts affecting consumers' outlooks on the economy as well. So all these things could end up tipping the, now I don't want to say into a recession, but suddenly a much more weakening of the economy than we thought. Waller says the Fed should be cautious about its interest rate decisions right now,

but rate cuts are possible later. in the year. Barkley's Airlines analyst Brandon Oglensky tells CNBC Americans are still spending, especially for travel. As the airlines right now, I mean, their bookings are up double digits. So if the consumer's concerned, they're definitely

not necessarily showing that right now. Prices at the pump went up another three cents a gallon overnight. AAA says the national average, now $3.91 a gallon, nine states in Washington, D.C. now have that crucial $4 a

gallon gas. Kepler oil analyst Matt Smith tells CNBC that the White House is saying a lot of things to try to bring down oil prices. Prices at the pump high. We're at $3.90 on the gallon on the national average there. Diesel prices are at $5.15 on the national average. No multi-year highs here. And so every single day we're getting out of the administration some type of rhetoric to try and keep oil prices in check here. And so whether it is a Jones Act waiver, whether it is with ethanol, E-15 gasoline being able to be used during the summer, whether it's an SPR release, whether it is unsanctioning Iranian crude, we're getting these headlines every day. Pinterest calling for a ban on social media for kids 15 and younger.

The CEO writes on LinkedIn that as a parent, I believe we need to be honest. Social media as it exists today is not safe for kids. Super micro shares tanking about 25% workers charged with smuggling invidia chips to China. billions of dollars in Nvidia chips headed to China. That is the alleged scheme federal prosecutors just laid out charging three people tied to server maker Super Micro, including co-founder and board member Walla Liya, with conspiring to illegally divert AI service to China in violation of US export control. Super Micro builds high-performance servers that include Nvidia chips.

The scheme supposedly ran from 2024 to 2025 routing servers through a Southeast Asian middlemen, repackaging them in underpackaging them. mark boxes and then shipping them to China. CNBC's Christina Partsenevolous. New in theaters, Amazon MGM's Project Hail Mary. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Get exclusive reporting and data on high net worth investors, family offices, and alternative investments from the foremost authority on private wealth, Robert Frank.

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