CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Soar, Dow Pops 700 Points On Lower Inflation, Government Shutdown Looms 12/20/24

Episode Date: December 20, 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 by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC. The stock rebound that didn't happen yesterday after Wednesday's massive sell-off? Well, it's happening today on Wall Street. The Dow soaring 739 points, being led higher by shares of Goldman Sachs, up 3%. The S&P 500 index, it's up 97 points, 1.5%. The NASDAQ, it's up 328 points, also 1.5% this afternoon. After several months of higher inflation, we got a lower number in December in the PCE, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Report, 2.4%, lower than expected.

Coming into the Christmas season, and it's nice to get a number that's better than expected and I've been feeling that we're still on path to get to two percent and at least for this new month you don't want to make too much out of any one month but I'm hopeful that this suggests that the couple of months of firming were more of a bump than a change in path. Chicago Fed President Austin Goolsbee on CNBC. Investors are on D.C. shutdown watch today as the president-elect and Elon Musk fight with Congress over a government funding bill. And this could just be the start. Think of what it says for next year. I think this will eventually get solved.

But I think it really foreshadows how difficult it's going to be to pass any sort of extension of tax relief. And I think markets have just assumed that's going to happen. But what you're watching happening right now inside the Republican conference, I think should give a lot of investors concern about how that's going to go next year. Former chief of staff to Mike Pence, Mark Short on CNBC. Wall Street is buzzing about an article today on day trading in the Wall Street Journal, all about young men, even teens, addicted to betting on stocks like they bet on sports. When I read that article about these people being addicted, it's devastating because what happens is that it's the zero-day

options, which, by the way, you see the options trading today. These are people who are debilitated. They believe that long-term means you got to hold it to the afternoon. These people, I feel bad for them because they're losing fortunes. They don't know what they're doing. And I have data from Robinhood. It's terrible. CNBC's Mad Money host, Jim Kramer. Nike shares struggling after last night's quarterly results and earnings call. Nike reporting better than expected numbers for its most recent quarter. CFO Matthew Hill on the earnings call, though, reining in a bit of that investor optimism. He predicted sales would fall double digits in the current quarter. Also, new CEO Elliot Hill warned of some short-term pain for the company and for the stock.

CNBC's Frank Holland. The holiday travel period is here. For the next two weeks, U.S. airports will be busy. Airlines say they're ready, barring any bad weather to mess up flights, but that's already started with snow in the upper Midwest. Today is the 10th busiest shopping day of the year ahead of tomorrow's Super Saturday, which is the second busiest shopping day of the year ahead of tomorrow's Super Saturday, which is the second busiest shopping day of the year after Black Friday.

New in theaters, A24's Baby Girl, Disney's Mufasa the Lion King, and Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The Mega Millions jackpot tonight is a whopping $825 million. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Inside Wealth, an exclusive newsletter for a select audience. Inside family offices, how the wealthy become ultra wealthy. Robert Frank's high net worth perspective. Join the list at cnbc.com slash inside wealth.