CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Mixed, July Retail Sales Rise Less Than Expected, Buffett's Berkshire Builds Stake In UnitedHealth 8/15/25

Episode Date: August 15, 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 Ender, CNBC. Wall Street mixed this morning out of the gate after a weaker than expected, but still solid retail sales numbers for July. The Dow is up 182 points. United Health shares leading it higher. We'll tell you why in just a moment. They're up more than 10% this morning. The S&P 500 index is in the red, down 7, pulling back from a record high. The NASDAQ down 80 points. That's four-tenths of one percent. InVIDIA shares are pulling back one-and-a-quarter percent this morning. Stocks are on pace, though, for a winning week, investors shaking off a string of higher inflation reports. Investors are also watching the Trump-Pooten meeting, which is scheduled for today in Alaska. After a revised nine-tenths of a percent increase in June, retail sales rose only a half percent in July. And when you take out auto sales, they were up only three-tenths of

percent. As American consumers start to pull back their spending? I don't know how much this is going to be inflation. How much you have sort of tariff inflation in here? And the big question, who's paying the tariffs? If import prices are up, it means that they're not paying it overseas. And I would look at one particular category. Finished goods. Prices for major finished good import categories were mostly up in July. So at least in the data, we cannot find the idea that foreign exporters are absorbing this price, at least not now. CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman. Higher inflation means the Fed may not be cutting interest rates at its next meeting next month.

Voting member of the Fed, Austin Goolsby on CNBC. In the last CPI and now PPI, we put in a note of unease, I'd say, the inflation kicking up and kicking up in categories that are not the services inflation, look to be turning up. So I feel like we still need another one at least to figure out if we're still on the golden path. Watch Intel shares today. They popped after Bloomberg reported. The Trump administration is in talks to buy a stake in the company to help fund factories. Intel is building in Ohio. President Trump and Republicans need the state of Ohio to hang on to house power in the midterms in a year and a half.

United Health shares are popping today. On pace for the best day in five years, courtesy of Warren Buffett. In a regulatory filing, Berkshire Hathaway disclosing, it's bought 5 million shares in that company as of June 30th. Total value, $1.6 billion. So maybe it's gotten so bad from the stock standpoint that it finally looks so good to somebody like Warren Buffett. It's an extraordinary move for this stock as a result of Buffett and Berkshire. CNBC's Scott Wapner. Target shares were lower. On an analyst downgrade as the chain falls farther behind its peers in retail. Gold is pacing for its worst week since mid-May. The English Premier League is kicking off today. The NFL has another round of preseason games tonight. Stand up to cancer tonight, the fundraising special across most TV channels and networks. New in theaters, Sony's drama East of Wall. A24's drama highest to live. lowest in Universal's action comedy nobody too. Universal's a sister company to CNBC. Jessica

Eddinger, CNBC. September 16th, CNBC teams up with two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant and Boardroom for Game Plan. Exploring the business of sports, music, and entertainment. Register now at CNBC Events.com slash game plan.