CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Mixed, Consumer Confidence Hit 5 Month High, Amex Card Fees Jump In Last Quarter 7/18/25

Episode Date: July 18, 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 Wall Street is mixed this afternoon stocks on pace for a winning week the S&P 500 index and the NASDAQ each hit new intraday record highs today. The Dow is in the red it's down 158 points three tenths of a percent 3M shares leading it lower they're down more than 4% now. The S&P 500 index is unchanged. The NASDAQ's in the green by a point. Nvidia shares, which did hit a new record high earlier, they're down a half percent this afternoon. Other companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs today include Microsoft, Coach Parent, Tapestry, Royal Caribbean Southern Company, Charles Schwab, Coinbase, Emerson Electric, Fastenal, RTX, Raytheon, and Weld Tower. Americans are less worried about an immediate recession and higher inflation right now

in the new University of Michigan Sentiment Survey. A good data point on consumer confidence, highest confidence in five months. It jives with the story, which is less bad than feared. When it comes to earnings this week, it's been the story with the 30% market rebound from the April lows. So confidence improving and inflation expectations

coming down. CNBC's Sarah Eisen. American Express had a strong quarter. Consumers are paying those card fees. At McSeaf, Chris Duffel-Kayac telling me that their customers have been quote amazingly resilient in the second quarter. The company topped estimates for profit and revenue on a 20% jump in card fees. So it's been no secret that a fluent Americans haven't slowed down their spending.

There are however interesting trends within the AMEX data. Spending on goods and services has held up better than travel spending which has been slowing down since the start of the year. The biggest soft spot in travel was in airline spending, which was flat, so 0% growth from a year earlier. CNBC banking reporter Hugh Son. Chevron completed its purchase of Hess after it beat Exxon in a key dispute over oil assets in Guyana. I can just tell you it didn't have to be this way. This took a long time. It's unfortunate that ESSA's shareholders and employees have been put through this for nearly two years on something where in our view the outcome was never in doubt. This was plain reading of a contract.

Chevron CEO Mike Worth on CNBC. Netflix reported strong quarterly results last night after the closing bell, but shares are struggling. CNBC's Arjun Karpal has some reasons why. Investors weren't as enthusiastic. I think there's three reasons for that. First, the guidance raise was primarily due, they said, to the weaker U.S. dollar versus some of that underlying strength of the business. I think second, the company also flagged a lower operating margin in the second half of the year. And just finally, the stock has run up some 40% this year already and there's questions over the valuations.

Management bullish on the earnings call flagging big upcoming shows later this year, including the Stranger Things finale, as well as continued focus on live events such as the WWE, boxing, and the NFL. Amazon cutting more jobs in its cloud computing unit in the past three years. The company is slashed nearly 30,000 jobs. New in theaters today, a 24 is dark comedy.

Eddington Paramounts, Smurfs and Sony's. I know what you did last summer sequel. The Open Championship round two is on at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Jessica Edinger CNBC breaking earnings news Championship round two is on at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Jessica Edinger, CNBC.