CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Mixed, Producer Inflation Nearly Tripled, Federal Gas Tax May Stay 5/13/26

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

The CNBC Business News Update with Jessica Ettinger features market numbers & news with CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business names. Updated throughout the business day. Visit https://www.cnbc.com/ for more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Jessica Eddinger. CNBC, we have mixed markets on Wall Street this afternoon after a super hot inflation number at the wholesale level. The Dow down 157 points. Home Depot shares leading it lower. They're down 3% as mortgage rates are higher. The S&P 500 index up 37 points. The NASDAQ now up 288 points. More than 1% InVIDIA shares are up almost 3% this afternoon as chip stocks and memories. stocks, tech stocks hold up. Companies who shares have hit fresh all-time highs today include Apple, analog devices, Cisco, data dog, on semiconductor, Texas instruments, and Nvidia. President Trump now in China. To meet with China's president Xi Jinping, Trump says trade, not Iran, is a priority. Well, I think the Trump she meeting is going to be probably not a massive event. As long as we don't see some sort of escalation in terms of tariffs,

and as long as we don't hear any sort of saber-rattling about Taiwan, I suspect this summit is going to go fairly smoothly, and markets will be just fine coming through this. Piper Sandler's Craig Johnson on CNBC. The rate on the 10-year Treasury hit its highest since last summer, as bond yields are higher today. Mortgage rates loosely follow that 10-year. Mortgage rates are up today.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed home, loan above 6.5% at 6.56% according to Mortgage News Daily. April, inflation at the wholesale level came in almost three times higher than expected in the PPI, the producer price index. The U.S. war with Iran has stopped about 20% of the world's oil from flowing through the strait of Hormuz, sending energy prices soaring, and that's affecting a lot of other things. Producer price index for the month of April year over year. these are hot. We're expecting 4.8, 4.9, depending who you talk to. 6% up 6%. CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's CNBC Senior Economics Reporter Steve Leesman.

I'm trying to look for something good in this. It looks like a lot of it was energy, transportation and warehousing up 6.4%. When I look at the spectrum of inflation right now, I kind of want to say Houston, we have a problem. U.S. crude oil, still above $101 a barrel today. AAA says, the national average for a gallon of regular ticked back up to $4.51 today. Americans are dealing with a $1.50 average increase in each gallon of gas now in this third month of the war. And it looks like there's little support in Congress to suspend the federal gas tax, which is 18 cents a gallon. President Trump noted it could provide a little relief for consumers.

Trump's pitch to get rid of that federal gas tax. It's really getting that lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill. partly because that could impact infrastructure. The gas tax funds things like highways, roads, bridges, and suspending it for six months is estimated to cost as much as $21 billion. That's according to an analysis by the committee for a responsible federal budget. We've had some of our colleagues who've come out in support of temporarily repealing the gas tax, but obviously that is implications for the highway trust fund. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, several Republican senators said, that to really get the price of gas down, the straight of Hormuz just needs to be reopened.

That's CNBC's Emily Wilkins in Washington. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro. Go to CNBC.com slash get pro now.