CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Plunge, July Job Growth Disappoints, 30 Year Mortage Rate At Lowest Since April '23 8/2/24

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

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 and reported by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Ehinger, CNBC. Market is selling off this afternoon. Stocks have slightly recovered after a weaker than expected jobs report for July. The Dow down 826 points, 2%. It had been down 900. The S&P 500 index down 117, that's 2%. The Nasdaq plunging 433 points, which is 2.5%. About a third of the Dow's drop is because of Amazon. Its shares are plunging on disappointing quarterly results. The Labor Department says 114,000 new jobs were added last month.

The unemployment rate moved up to 4.3. That is the warmest it's been since October of 21. CNBC's Rick Santelli. The Labor Department notes that Hurricane Beryl knocked out power to more than two and a half million homes and businesses in Texas in early July, likely impacting the numbers. Not that there's a lot of firing or job loss going on. There's not a lot of hiring. This is a weak report. Used to be a pretty normal level, 114 we'd be pretty happy with. I think we're at this phase right now where the catch-up hiring, especially in the health and education sector and in the government sector, that at least in the month of July has come to an end. CNBC senior economics reporter Steve

Leesman. And here's Urban League president and economist Mark Morial on CNBC. We can't over interpret one month of jobs data. So while the jobs data is down, the growth rate in the second quarter was almost three percent because it's one month. And we've seen months down before over the last three years and then they bounce back. Investors worried about the chip trade being over. Intel shares plunging after weaker than expected earnings and revenue for the second quarter. It's really bad. Intel, I mean, the expectations were low headed into the quarter. The stock was down 42 percent year to date. But this was a disaster.

Not only was the quarter a disaster in terms of missing revenues, earnings, and gross margins, they're losing market share. They missed the AI cycle. It's going to take a long time for their new strategy to take hold. High Towers, Stephanie Link on CNBC. New in theaters, Columbia's family movie, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Warner Brothers' PG-13 thriller, Trap, both competing against week number two for the summer blockbuster, Disney Marvel's Deadpool and Wolverine.

Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. When you're at your very top speed, it feels like you can run forever. And then there's this one moment where everybody else starts to die. And you're like, I'm not about to die. I'm about to get faster. The Olympics from Paris on NBC and Peacock.