CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Higher, Unemployment Rate Dropped in December, No SCOTUS Ruling On Tariff Legality Today 1/9/26

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Jobs Friday, no ruling coming today on whether President Trump's tariffs are legal. The expectation was the Supreme Court might have an answer this morning. The major averages popped at the open. They are modestly higher still. The Dow up 41 points. The S&P 500 index up 18. The NASDAQ is up 63 points. While fewer jobs were created last month, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4%. It was a mixed December employment report. The unemployment rate, 4.4, 4.4. We're expecting it to go down from 4.6 to 4.5. And if we look at the labor force participation rate, and we really want that to expand a bit, it didn't. Unfortunately, our last look was a bit better.

That's CNBC's Rick Santelli. Here's New Veen. Sarah Malick on CNBC. What we're seeing is labor markets are just normalizing at a healthy rate. And if we can continue on this path, and I think that we can because government payrolls will have less of an impact on the negative side in 2026. Then that tells us that the economy is fine. We have fourth border earning season right in front of us with expectations of 8% year over your earnings growth. That's a sign of a healthy market.

And another take from Yale law professor Natasha Sarin on CNBC. seeing signs that the labor market is continuing to cool and that is the case with the 50,000 number. And what you also know, and we also saw that in the Joltz data that we saw earlier this week, is that we are continuing to be in this sort of like low hire, low fire economy. And even with a relatively low unemployment rate, you aren't seeing hiring in the economy. And I think that has to do with the fact that there's just a lot of uncertainty right now. You're not exactly sure if you're a firm or if you're an employee, whether or not it makes sense to kind of take the leap because you're not sure whether jobs are going to be there to support you.

President Trump says he's canceled, a second attack that was planned on Venezuela. After the first captured former President Maduro, President Trump meeting with oil CEOs at the White House today, but says names like ExxonMobil and Chevron will invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela. He's also said they could be reimbursed by the government. Nuclear power making a comeback shares of two companies building. nuclear power plants are soaring today, Vistra and Oclo. Shares of each jumping more than 15% in early trading after making deals to power AI ambitions for Facebook parent meta. Today is payday for many Americans. Many taking a little bit more home. After new IRS tax

bracket changes that came with the new year, the two lowest tax brackets were widened by about 4% higher ones by about 2%. The bipartisan policy center tells CNBC this means a couple of dollars more per paycheck for average workers. When tax brackets increase, you can earn a little more before reaching the next income tax bracket rate. Gambling companies with high hopes tonight for the Peach Bowl, Oregon and Indiana in Atlanta. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Do you want to be on CNBC's Disruptor 50 list? Is your startup shadowy Boundaries, Shaking Up Industries, go to CNBC.com slash disruptors to apply before February 23rd.