CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Mixed, Treasury Secretary Says Economy Is Rolling A Bit, Walgreens Being Bought By Private Equity 3/7/25

Episode Date: March 7, 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, a disappointing jobs report and mixed markets this morning after yesterday's ugly day for stocks. It's the Dow that's in the red, down 70 points out of the gate. It is negative for the year, being led lower by shares of Home Depot, down 1.5%. The S&P 500 index, its head is above water, up three points, and the NASDAQ is up 46 points this morning. Checking shares of NVIDIA, they're in the green, up 1.8 percent. Fewer jobs were created in the U.S. last month than expected at 151,000.

The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.1 percent. For everybody, this is a, you know, so far so good relief kind of number but much more to come given the kinds of uncertainties and policy moves that we're waiting to see. Former Federal Reserve Vice Chair Roger Ferguson on CNBC. CNBC's senior economics reporter Steve Leesman says this is likely the calm before the employment storm as the solid labor market could soon crack. Whatever happened in the period leading up to the date, the cutoff date, which was the

12th, was okay. But didn't most of the government job cuts come after that? It's all after that. And what we're going to learn is the importance of this stability in Washington when it comes to policy to private sector hiring. We're going to learn and we're learning, I was talking to our next guest on this, Joe Livornia about this,

how much government spending matters inside, not just the government sector, but the private sector as well. And Treasury Secretary Scott Besant on CNBC today saying the economy is slowing and a detox period is coming. Starting to roll a bit, sure. And look, there's going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending to private

spending. The market and the economy have just become hooked. We've become addicted to this government spending and there's going to be a detox period. Here's a take on that from CNBC's Squawk on the Street hosts David Faber, Jim Kramer, and Carl Quintanilla. The detox period, the president calls it a disturbance, he calls it an adjustment. The prediction? Pain.

And when you have a prediction, pain, then you're going to get what we have, which is that everything's mixed, even when we get a number, a series of numbers that I actually liked, we can't keep the game. No, forecast calls for pain. Yes, forecast calls for pain. Broadcom shares jumping on strong quarterly results today. Gap shares soaring on its results. The brands appear to be in favor, like Old Navy and Ethlita. Walgreens shares popping after the drugstore chain said it struck a deal to be bought by

private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Its National Day of Unplugging and National Economic Blackout Day, a social media movement urging consumers to avoid shopping today with major retailers. Its Employee Appreciation Day and day and new in theaters Warner Brothers Mickey 17, Jessica Edinger CNBC.