CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Higher, Micron Soars On Chip Demand, Inflation Cooler Than Expected For November 12/18/25

Episode Date: December 18, 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 and reported by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger. 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, Wall Street, is popping this morning on cooler than expected inflation for November. If the Fed cannot worry about inflation and then turn its attention to the weakening job market, it might keep cutting interest rates, investors like that. The Dow is up 350 points out of the gate. Shears of Home Depot leading it higher, they're up more than 2% this morning. The S&P 500 index up 63 points, just about 1%. The NASDAQ's up 306 points.

That's 1.3%. Major averages, all in the red for the week still, though. Shears of NVIDIA are higher this morning. They're up 1.5%. The delayed CPI Consumer Price Index showed inflation rose again last month, but not as drastically as feared. Oh, maybe coming in a little bit better than expected. 2.7%, a little light here.

Year over year, 7, X Food and Energy Core, 26. So four-tenths off, that is a very good number here. CNBC Senior Economics reporter Steve Leesman, here's what cost a lot more. The big rise in like gas services up 9.1%, electricity up 6.9%, shelter up 3% year-over-year. Now 2.7% inflation is still nowhere near the Fed's target of a return to 2% inflation, which was what the U.S. enjoyed before the pandemic. But better than the 3.1,

economists expected for last month, although the devil may be in the details. It's frustrating because they haven't even posted the information that I would need to parse all of this, given the confusing way they've displayed the information. But the important number is the year-over-year change in the prices of core goods. And that was 1.4%. And that may not sound like a lot, but this is a category that in normal times has negative inflation all the time. And this is where we're seeing tariffs. Brookings institutions Wendy Edelberg on CNBC. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, remaining in the same range as the past few years. Continuing claims, though, rose to 1.9 million again. The number of people still collecting benefits week

after week. That's a hint that it's taking people longer to find the next job. Chipotle, launching a new protein-focused menu, including meat in a cup. Eli Lilly says it's working on an obesity pill that helps patients to maintain their weight loss after they come off Zepbound or Novo Nordisk's similar shot called Wagovi. The pill is in late stage trial. It has to be taken every day. The powerball jackpot up again. No winner last night. Saturday night's drawing will be $1.5 billion. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro, 24-7 access to market-moving news and interview. with three global live streams, subscriber-only content, plus exclusive live events.

This is my first time at the Stock Exchange, and it's been awesome. To be on the floor, I just can't believe I'm here. Become a CNBC Pro. Go to cnbc.com slash get pro now.