CNBC Business News Update - Market Open: Stocks Slide After Holiday, Jobless Claims Edge Lower, Holiday Retail Sales Rise More Than Expected

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

The latest in business, financial, and market news and how it impacts your money, reported by CNBC's Peter Schacknow

I'm Peter Schach, now CNBC. Stocks have opened lower as the markets return from the Christmas holiday, putting a recent win streak in jeopardy. The Dow falling 142 points at 43,155, the S&P 500 losing a quarter percent or 16 points, the Nasdaq down 49 points or a quarter percent. That follows the best day for the S&P 500 since early November on Tuesday, when we had a shortened trading session. First-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 1,000 to 219,000 last week, according to new Labor Department figures. However, continuing claims rose to 1.91

million, the highest since 2018 if the pandemic period is excluded. We're watching shares of Netflix today after the streaming service carried its first-ever NFL games yesterday. Veteran media executive Tom Rogers says it's just another step in the company's evolution and a sharp contrast to several years ago when many were questioning Netflix's future. They have become the broadest reach global media network, by far the most valuable media company in the world. They are still able, I think, to have catalysts like this if the subscriber sign-up number is

as good as I think it will be. The big question is sports as a catalyst generally for the media industry. How deep is Netflix going to get in? Holiday season retail sales rose 3.8 percent this year, according to new figures from MasterCard. That was more than expected and above last year's 3.1 percent increase. Automaker Toyota says its global production fell for a 10th straight month in November, even as sales were rising. Production was down 6.2 percent from November of 2023. Shares of another automaker, Honda, are up 4 percent in early trading, following up on a Tuesday rally, which came after Honda announced it was entering merger talks with rival Japanese automaker, Nissan.

Peter Schach now, CNBC.