CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Higher, Microsoft Up 9% On Strong Quarterly Results, Jobless Claims Pop 5/1/25

Episode Date: May 1, 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 by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC, Wall Street's higher to start May trading on strong quarterly results from Facebook, parent meta and Microsoft. The Dow up 224.5% being led higher by shares of Microsoft, which are up 9% this morning. The S&P 500 index is up 49 points. That's nine tenths of 1%. The Nasdaq higher by 277 points, one and a half percent. The NASDAQ 500 index is up 49 points. That's nine tenths of 1%. The NASDAQ higher by 277 points, 1.5%. Nvidia shares are popping up 3.5% this morning, too. April is in the books. It was the third straight losing month for the major averages.

Investors are eyeing the jobless claims number. More people than expected applied for unemployment benefits last week. They surged. 241,000. That's a pretty big jump. And continuing claims, once again, they surpassed 1.9 million. That will be the highest level going back to November of 21. Many economists would agree that this is one of the best real-time barometers,

if you will, of the labor market. So to see a jump both in continuing and initial claims is something to pay attention to. CNBC's Rick Santelli. Continuing claims hint that it's harder for people to find the next job. They keep collecting benefits. The government's big April employment report will be out tomorrow morning. Now one explanation for the jump in weekly claims last week may be the timing of the spring recess for public schools, especially in New York. Support workers in schools in New York State can actually claim benefits for the spring break week. McDonald's same store sales dropped the most in five years in the last quarter. It's more evidence that consumers may be clamping down on their spending even as fast food chains

aggressively try to bring customers in with promotions and value meals. Shake Shack also turned in worse than expected sales in the last quarter. Tesla shares lower on a Wall Street Journal report that the EV makers board has opened a search up for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk. General Motors out with a new forecast for this year as the company tries to navigate tariffs which it now says will cost it $4 to $5 billion this year. We are working to offset that. We wanted to be very transparent with what the impact was

with the current policy that's in position. Absolutely, we can make changes. We've already increased production and added additional people in our Fort Wayne assembly plant. So on an annualized basis, we'll be building about 50,000 more trucks. That's General Motors CEO, Mary Barra on CNBC, and we asked her about raising vehicle prices

to cover tariff costs. Right now, as we look going forward, we think the pricing environment is gonna be much where it is right now. International travel to the US dropped in March, according to the Commerce Department, as visitors just decide to go somewhere else. Certainly Canada drives out our leading travel partner. That Canadian snowbird

travel of December, January, February, a lot of that was concluded by the time the Canadians kind of reached their point of peak frustration. We'll see what happens again this fall. Asia was enormous, right? Asia was huge for the United States. It's down more than 30%. It's about 200 billion that these international travelers spend. That's down more than 30%. It's about 200 billion that these international travelers spend. That's bigger than all of our agricultural exports combined. That's the U.S. Travel Association's CEO Jeff Freeman on CNBC.

We've got real issues when it comes to attracting these visitors. What we need though is the plan. We've got the World Cup coming up in 14 months. We've got America 250 next year. We've got the Olympics coming up in LA. What's the plan to really unlock that opportunity rather than be in this situation we're in where they're just choosing to go spend their money elsewhere? And it's not just international travel that's down. Domestic demand is too. The major airlines have already started reducing flights and lowering some airfares to try to fill seats. Jessica Edinger, CNBC.