CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Mixed, House Votes Against Trump Canada Tariffs, Slightly More People Applied For Unemployment Benefits Last Week 2/12/26

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

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 Ettinger. CNBC, Wall Street mixed out of the gate this morning. We've got the Dow up 184 points being led higher by shares of Walmart, which are up more than 2% this morning, the S&P 500 index, up 13 points. It's the NASDAQ that's in the red, down 15 points. Shares of Nvidia are higher. They popped up 1% out of the gate. The House overturned President Trump's tariffs on Canadian goods,

coming into the U.S. A number of Republicans voted against the tariffs. But even if this bill passes the Senate, the president would likely veto it. More people applied for unemployment benefits than expected last week, but the number came in at just about the pre-pandemic weekly average.

The number of people still collecting unemployment checks, though, ticked higher, suggesting it might be taking some people longer to find that next job. Initial jobless claims come in at 227,000. That's a few thousand higher than expected. It's the highest going back to the first week in December. It did move up a bit, so we're on a little bit on the higher side from the low 200s.

These numbers are well-behaved, but we do see a little gyration going on. CNBC's Rick Santelli, American Airlines flight attendants, picketing the company's Fort Worth, Texas headquarters, as CEO Robert Isam tries to calm frustrated employees, their calls for him to step down. McDonald's brought in more consumers for promotions and values. you meals in the last quarter. McDonald's shares, we're ticking lower this morning. Americans are feeling a greater financial strain and the gap between the wealthy and lower

income people is not only widening, the gap between the wealthy and the middle is widening. As middle income people start to struggle, here's Bank of America economist David Tinsley on CNBC. We're increasingly seeing a divergence between a higher and middle income households in terms of their spending growth. In fact, it's the largest differential since about the early part of 2022. And CNBC's Sharon Epperson says the New York Fed's new household debt and income report points right to growing middle income debt issues. Mortgage debt, consumer loan debt, that is something that is weighing more heavily, perhaps even than auto loans and credit card debt and everything on consumers overall. So that is definitely an issue. If you spent a little less

last month after the holiday month of December, you're not alone. Consumers taking a spending break in January after a strong December with the CNBC NRF retail monitor rising a week 0.2% after a strong December. The monitor is powered by real credit card data from Affinity Solutions shows weather could have played a factor here. Believe it or not, guys, it was a warmer than normal first half of the month, but then we had the big storm in the deep chill in the second half. CNBC's Steve Leesman. In the Olympics in Italy, American snowboarder Chloe Kim, going for a third consecutive half-pipe gold medal.

The U.S. plays its first men's hockey game against Latvia. CNBC parent Versant is carrying NBC sports-produced Olympic coverage on its networks, including USA Network and CNBC. I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC. Ambition. It's got America written all over it. CNBC. ambitiously.