CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Mixed & Little Changed, Retail Sales Tank In January, Valentine's Chocolate More Expensive 2/14/25

Episode Date: February 14, 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, little changed and mixed out of the gate this morning as investors take a pause from a strong week and they're trying to digest the tariff dance that's happening in Washington, D.C. The Dow's up 14 points, being led higher by shares of Chevron, which are up almost 2%. The S&P 500 index up four points. The Nasdaq is down three points out of the gate this morning. NVIDIA shares ticking higher, up almost half a percent out of the open. It's such a strong start to the year. By the way, the S&P is up just about 4% year to date already. We're six weeks into it or so. And so it's got a pretty good head start. If you do see some choppiness, if you have some giveback

in the latter part of February or thereafter, you shouldn't consider it abnormal. In other words, just take it in stride because we're kind of due for something like that. Doesn't mean it's going to come. CNBC's Mike Santoli. Bad retail sales numbers today for January. After two months of healthy gains during the bustling holiday season, cold weather being blamed for keeping more consumers indoors and not in stores, especially denting car sales. Retail sales down nine tenths of one percent last month from December, a much bigger drop than economists expected and the biggest decline since last January. Inflation has gone up since Election Day.

The Wall Street Journal's chief economics commentator argues it wasn't caused by President Trump, but it is now President Trump's problem. The reason I think it's a problem for him, nonetheless, is because it casts a shadow over everything he wants to do in the next few years. He wants to raise tariffs, and we know those are on the margin inflationary. He wants to cut taxes. If they're not fully paid for, that also could add inflation pressure. And so these agenda items are pushing inflation away from the Fed's target. That's really the core of the issue. The Wall Street Journal's Greg Ip on CNBC. Major airlines offering waivers today to get passengers to change their flights without fees heading into this big President's Week travel period. Lots of public

schools are off as storms across the country force flight delays and cancellations. The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend is starting in San Francisco. Tonight is the celebrity basketball game. A million lining the streets of Philadelphia today for the Eagles Super Bowl championship parade. New in theaters this weekend, IFC's drama Armand, Sony's family film Paddington in Peru, Disney's superhero film Captain America Brave New World. You're paying a lot more for eggs, coffee, and for those heart-shaped boxes of chocolate on this Valentine's Day. It's Valentine's Day, but soaring cocoa prices could put a dampener on the day, with research suggesting consumers must pay 10 to 20 percent more for chocolate this year. CNBC's Juliana Teitelbaum. I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Earnings season, the quarterly numbers as they break. The scorecard for the American economy.

Earnings season on CNBC.