CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Mixed, Defense Names Soar, October Trade Deficit Smallest Since 2009 1/8/26

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC, Wall Street Mix. We've got the Dow up 195 points now. Home Depot shares leading it higher. They're up almost 3% in late morning trading. The S&P 500 index in the green up three. The NASDAQ falling 116 points this morning. Shares of Nvidia, a drag. They're down more than 1%.

One industry that's popping is defense today. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, RtX. and Northrop Grumman, major defense names jumping on President Trump's call for a 50% increase in the Pentagon's budget. Defense stocks today jumping on the president's call for a $1.5 trillion military budget, and that would mark a 50% increase from this year's Pentagon budget. It would be almost 5% of GDP, which we really haven't done since the early 90s. That's CNBC's Carl Kintanaia. Here's the American Enterprise Institute's James Pethagucas on CNBC.

On increasing the Pentagon's budget by 50%, is that fiscally sustainable, given the U.S. is at a very high level of debt right now. I mean, the tariffs aren't going to pay for this. The tariffs are been paying for things about five times over, and they're not going to bring in as much money. Oh, and by the way, the Supreme Court might be about to throw out those tariffs or a good chunk of them. So, like, where that money's going to come from is really kind of a sketchy at this point. And is this like a good idea? Checking shares of Lockheed Martin, they're up 7% RTX, Raytheon, up 5% Northrop Grumman, soaring up 10% in morning trading. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week.

It was a holiday shortened week. Productivity soared in the third quarter of last year in the first look numbers. Productivity, the secret salve of the U.S. economy, what Greenspan called the special sauce. Well, this is the third quarter preliminary. There will be changes, 4.9%. And a really solid number. So 4.9, wow, you have to go a long way back to find a higher number. We have to go all the way back to the third quarter of 2020.

Productivity's great. That's CNBC's Rick Santelli. The October trade deficit. The smallest since 2009 for the U.S. As tariffs pushed up costs and may have killed demand for a lot of import. products. Real estate agents telling CNBC the housing market is starting to balance out. Of the agents surveyed by CNBC last quarter, 37% called the market balanced, up from just 30% in the third quarter of last year. Warner Brothers Discovery has high hopes for The Pit,

season two, premiering on HBO Max today. And the college football playoff semifinals kick off tonight. Miami and Old Miss play in the Fiesta Bowl. Betting platforms, even prediction markets all poised to benefit. Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Straight from the CEOs. You have to go into wartime mode. Valuable insights. When you have happier employees, you get happier guests.

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