CNBC Business News Update - Markets Midday: Stocks Having Best Day In 2 Weeks, Taser Maker Axon Among Market Leaders, GM Increased Dividend, New Home Sales Slide

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

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

I'm Peter Schack, now CNBC. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are having their best daily gains in about two weeks as the market tries to rebound from a recent slump. The Dow adding 130 points to 43,751. The S&P 500, 0.8% higher or 46 points. The NASDAQ 233 points to the upside, about 1.2%. The S&P and NASDAQ are both up for the first time in five days. Monica DiCenzo, head of the Global Income Opportunities Group at JPMorgan Securities,

says while caution is in order, it's not time to completely abandon the stock market. You never want to completely obviously sell down and de-risk your entire portfolio. If you did that during COVID, for example, you saw how quickly things can turn around. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't have some portfolio protection on. Many clients I work with still don't own enough fixed income because for so long it didn't make sense. Even though we're worried about inflation, fixed income still makes sense in a portfolio now. Rates are higher. Among stocks moving significantly today, Axon Enterprise is up more than 17 percent. The company best known as the maker of Taser devices is benefiting from an upbeat revenue forecast.

Intuit, maker of the popular TurboTax software program, is surging 14 percent on an upbeat earnings report and a prediction of growth during this year's tax season. And General Motors is up 5.5 percent after the automaker announced a $6 billion stock buyback and a 25 percent after the automaker announced a $6 billion stock buyback and a 25 percent dividend hike. New home sales fell 10 and a half percent in January as mortgage rates remained high. Economists had expected sales to drop just 3.9 percent. Peter Schacht now, CNBC. Inside Wealth, an exclusive newsletter for a select audience. Inside family offices,

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