CNBC Business News Update - Markets Midday: Dow, S&P 500 Rally To Record Highs, Fed May Pause Rate Cuts, Microsoft Under Government Scrutiny

Episode Date: November 29, 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. NASDAQ up 147 points, or three-quarters of a percent. The Dow and S&P are also wrapping up their best monthly performance since last November. The market closes three hours early today at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The Fed's interest rate cuts this year are among the factors that have helped drive the market higher, but Gennady Goldberg, head of U.S. rate strategy at TD Securities, says the new year may look a bit different. We do expect one more cut in December, but I think by the time we get into January, they're going to want to pause. They've already been sending signals that, you know, they're going to slow down. And I think between the kind of the desire to pause because of the macro data and potentially the desire to pause around the tariffs as well to

see their impact, we expect basically a pause in the first half of next year and then a resumption of cuts in the second half. Microsoft chairs are slightly higher, despite word from sources that the company is coming under government scrutiny. The FTC is opening a wide-ranging probe into Microsoft, looking at whether the company is violating antitrust law in a number of different aspects. It's software licensing, it's cloud computing, cybersecurity programs, and AI products. And one focus here is whether Microsoft uses its licensing terms and its market power to keep customers sort of locked in to its Azure cloud service and then to prevent them from moving their data elsewhere. That's CNBC Washington correspondent Megan Casella. Today's rally has driven several well-known stocks to all-time highs, including retail giant Walmart, Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants, and Wall Street bellwether Goldman Sachs. Peter Schach now, CNBC.