CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Mixed, February Retail Sales Mixed, Canadians Cancel Flights To USA 3/17/25

Episode Date: March 17, 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 Ebinger CNBC Wall Street is mixed this afternoon after a mixed February retail sales report. The Dow and the green up 192 points but it is up a half percent being led higher by shares of Walmart which are up a little more than 2 percent. The S&P 500 index up six points. The NASDAQ is down 74 points, almost a half percent. Nvidia shares are lower today, down two percent this afternoon, and Tesla shares are tanking six percent. Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs today include Progressive, Allstate,

Con Ed, and Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares. Retail sales ticked higher in February. Shoppers are still spending, maybe not enough, but they are spending. The measure of the health of the US consumer is highly watched by investors, especially since the latest consumer sentiment numbers tanked. Our February read retail sales up two tenths on headline. That's a real disappointment up two tenths. Many were expecting a better bounce. And if we look at X odd, hold on, hold on. Minus nine tenths now becomes minus 1.2,

which equals where we were in November of 22 to find a bigger negative month over month change here in July of 21. CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman. Let's start off with the most important piece, which is gas station sales down 1% discretionary items like sporting goods and hobbies down four tents, department stores down 1.7 clothing down down six tents. Those do not speak to

being very robust in terms of the consumer. And experts say to zoom out. Look, we ended the year with the economy in solid shape, with the consumer in really good shape, but things are going to slow down this year. This is just a lot of noise month to month. We're just going to be slower this year than we were last year. That's Morgan Stanley economist Seth Carpenter on CNBC. The Trump tariff agenda is starting

to hurt American businesses. More Canadians are buying goods made in their country as by Canadian sweeps that population and airlines are starting to reduce flights to the U.S. from Canada as demand drops. Gold holding around that record $3,000 an ounce level today. It hit that Friday. People are trying to figure out how to sell their own gold jewelry and other items around the house over the weekend. ETF buyers have now come into the space, and that has been driven by many of these macro factors.

The geopolitical risks, the uncertainty around tariffs, what that might mean for inflation and global growth. And all of these factors have come together to really boost gold and hit that $3,000 level. Standard Charter, Suki Cooper on CNBC. PepsiCo buying soda brand Poppy for $1.6 billion. Teen fashion retailer Forever 21 is filed for bankruptcy. The chain has struggled against bigger rivals like H&M and online rivals like Temu and Sheehan. Swedish buy now pay later company Klarna plucked a lucrative partnership with Walmart away from a firm.

On Friday Klarna filed to go public in the US. Klarna shares are popping today while a firm has been sliding. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Tonight, Kramer Talks Tech on the road. From San Francisco, Mad Money out west. Tonight 6 Eastern, CNBC.