CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Higher, S&P 500 Index And Nasdaq Hit Fresh Intraday Records, Crypto Bills Pass Congress 7/18/25

Episode Date: July 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 by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger CNBC Wall Street is mixed. The Dow is down 11 points out of the gate. American Express shares leading at lower. They're down two and a half percent. But the S&P 500 index has hit a fresh intraday record high this morning. It's up 13 points. The NASDAQ is up 71 points, a third of a percent. Nvidia shares are up a half percent this morning. The House has passed a series of crypto bills designed to legitimize the cryptocurrency industry. One of those bills, which passed the Senate on Wednesday, looks to regulate stable coins with guardrails and new consumer protections.

That bill now heading to the president's desk, while the other two are headed to the Senate for debate. This is the FT reports. The president's also preparing to sign a new executive order as soon as this week, opening the $9 trillion U.S. retirement market to crypto and other alternative asset classes. That's CNBC's Frank Holland.

Chevron completed its purchase of Hess after it beat Exxon in a key dispute over oil assets in Guyana. I can just tell you it didn't have to be this way. This took a long time. It's unfortunate that ESSA's shareholders and employees have been put through this for nearly two years on something where in our view,

the outcome was never in doubt. This was plain reading of a contract. Chevron CEO Mike Worth on CNBC. Oil is on pace for its third weekly gain after prices eased when Middle East tensions eased. Gas could soon tick higher but AAA says prices at the pump are actually down three cents over the past four weeks. The national average for a gallon of regular sitting at $3.15. Oil traders are

watching possible severe weather along the Gulf Coast and that could impact oil prices. Netflix reported strong quarterly results last night after the closing bell, but shares are struggling. CNBC's Arjun Karpal has some reasons why. Investors weren't as enthusiastic. I think there's three reasons for that. First, the guidance raise was primarily due, they said, to the weaker U.S. dollar versus some of that underlying strength of the business. I think second, the company also flagged a lower operating margin in the second half of the year. And just finally, the stock has run up some 40% this year already and there's questions

over the valuations. Management bullish on the earnings call flagging big upcoming shows later this year, including the Stranger Things finale, as well as continued focus on live events such as the WWE, boxing and the NFL. Amazon cutting more jobs in its cloud computing unit in the past three years, the company has slashed nearly 30,000 jobs, struggling British fashion brand Burberry doing better in the US where sales rose 4% in the last quarter. Over the same period a year ago. American consumers make up about a fifth of Burberry's business. New in theaters today, A24's dark comedy, Eddington, Paramount's Smurfs and Sony's

I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel. The Open Championship round two is on at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Jessica Edinger, CNBC.