CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Rally, Unemployment Rate Holds Steady At 4.2%, Mortgage Rates Go Up 5/2/25

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC Wall Street rallying this afternoon after a better than expected April jobs report. The S and P 500 index is on a streak. This has been the how long have we been up? This is like the longest Biden speak ever. Be careful what you wish for Mr President. Yeah, we are going for nine straight gains, which by the way would give us it's basically the best rally since 2020 CN CNBC's Carl Quintanilla and Jim Kramer. The Dow up 590 points this afternoon, almost one and a half percent. Nvidia shares leading it higher, they're up by three percent. The S&P 500 index higher by 91 points, that's one and a half percent. The Nasdaq is up 318 points, 1.8%. The U.S. added a more than expected 177,000 jobs

in April. Federal workers down by 9,000. That's something that we think is going to come down the road. A lot of these folks were given severance pay so they don't qualify, plus some of the courts put the jobs back. Manufacturing was 1000 health care and social assistance up by 58,000 This has been a perennial source of job growth The other thing that's out there is travel and leisure up by 24,000 that could also be effective We've had negative reports there. Well retail was down as well, but warehousing and transportation up by 29,000 It could have been they were hiring

lots of folks in order to handle all the stuff that was coming in ahead of time. Look, embrace it, love it. It's better than expected, but there are things in here that make you wonder, can they last? CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman with the Labor Department revised the March numbers down by more than 40,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held steady for April at 4.2%. ExxonMobil shares have turned around. They've ticked into the green this morning. The company reported better than expected quarterly results, but the CEO says there is a lot of uncertainty. There was a lot of supply in the market, which depressed prices when this imbalance between demand and supply as we've gone and headed into the second quarter, you know, all the uncertainty that's out there

today, the questions around how the tariffs are going to impact economic growth around the world is leading to a lot of speculation and uncertainty around where demand goes. That then puts concerns and pressure on the demand side of the equation. And of course, OPEC has talked about increasing supply. And so when you have lower demand and higher supply, you're gonna get a drop in prices. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods on CNBC. Mortgage rates ticked higher today

after bond yields popped on the jobs number. The average rate on a 30 year fixed home loan this afternoon is now 6.86%, edging back towards 7%. Just as would be home buyers had to open houses over the weekend during this spring home buying season. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway holds its investors meeting tomorrow in Omaha, Nebraska. Tens of thousands of people are pouring into the city for the event. The 94 year old Oracle of Omaha will speak every year. It's called the Woodstock

for Investors and a master class on investing CNBC will air the event live. Jessica Edinger CNBC.