CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Lower, "True-Flation" Is A Thing, Existing Home Sales Disappoint In January 2/12/26

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger. CNBC, a sell-off on Wall Street this afternoon. Some investors are dumping some of the software stocks again. The Dow is down 540 points, more than 1%. Cisco Systems shares lower by 12%, and it is dragging the Dow down. The S&P 500 index down 80 points, more than 1%. The NASDAQ down 368 points. That's 1.5%. shares of invidia have turned into the red this afternoon down four-tenths of one percent.

Investors on hold for the latest on inflation coming out 8.30 Eastern tomorrow morning, the Consumer Price Index for January, the CPI. It's expected to be around 2.5 percent for January in December. Headline inflation was up 2.7 percent year over year. The Fed's target is a flat 2 percent. But the White House is pointing out an alternative inflation number called Truflation. 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 truflation. It's a new way to measure inflation that's making the rounds. And they have thousands of inputs on real-time prices. 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. Sales down 4.4% from January of last year. And it is the slowest sales pace since December 2020.

It is taking longer to sell a home. 46 days versus 41 in January of last year. 31% of sales were to first-time buyers up from 28% a year ago. 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 than 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. That's a few thousand higher than expected. 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. The 26 NBA All-Star weekend begins. New in theaters, Warner Brothers R-rated Wuthering Heights, Amazon MGM's Crime 101, and Sony's animated family film Goat. It's also Friday the 13th and Galentine's Day, plus the start of the long President's Day holiday weekend. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Ambition. It's got America written all over it. CNBC live ambitiously.

Thank you.