CNBC Business News Update - Markets Open: Stocks Higher, Inflation Eased in June From A Year Ago, Dexcom Shares Plunge 7/26/24

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

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 and reported by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Inflation at 2.5% in June. Markets are soaring on Wall Street this morning. The Dow up 482 points, back above 40,000. It's up 1.25%. The S&P 500 index up 44 points, 0.8%. And the NASDAQ up 116 points. That's a little more than a half percent. The Fed's key inflation gauge rose two and a half percent in June from a year ago, right on the money for expectations. The personal consumption expenditures, PCE data, that's important for the Federal Reserve. It could help open the way for a widely anticipated September interest rate cut. We've made nice progress. You see that yields have moved lower on this.

That really is the tell here. CNBC's Rick Santelli. Southwest Airlines with an urgent and dramatic change to its business after a profit drop of 45% in the last quarter, ditching open seating next year, adding more expensive business class style front of the plane seating. But that may not be enough for investors who want to see the CEO fired. Activist investor turned Southwest shareholder Elliott Management calling out the airline's announced overhaul and plan to scrap its open seating boarding model and red-eye flights, calling it too little, too late. In a statement, Elliott adds the announced initiatives

by a quote failed leadership team are obvious attempts at self-preservation and are not credible. CNBC's Silvana Hanau. Bristol-Myers Squibb beat earnings estimates, raised its outlook. The company's cutting costs. It has some successful drugs, including the blockbuster blood thinner Eloquus. Dexcom shares plunging almost 40%. The company coming off disappointing quarterly results lowered its guidance. Dexcom makes continuous glucose monitors for patients with diabetes. The company says it's short a large number of new patients. Some believe GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes drugs may be making a dent. Corporations got a big tax cut under President Trump in 2017, but that loss sunsets next year. And people are talking about what a President Harris might do.

If Harris wins the White House in November, she's automatically going to become a key player in a tax battle that's set for next year as major provisions of that 2017 tax law will expire. Mark Gerson, a partner in Miller and Chevalier's tax department, said that Harris might not have time to develop her own in-depth tax plan. Given the short period of time, her focus on other issues, understandably. It may be, in fact, that she really kind of inherits the Biden $400,000 threshold, inherits the proposal of going for a 28% corporate rate as opposed to something higher. Democrats say they are planning to focus on areas like increasing taxes for corporations and the wealthy. CNBC's Emily Wilkins. The Summer Olympics in Paris

opening ceremony is set for about 2.30 Eastern, but arson attacks have incited travel chaos ahead of it. Olympic officials say the ceremony's still on, but at least three high-speed trains to Paris were disrupted, causing widespread delays affecting about 800,000 travelers. Meantime, in the U.S., sports betting companies are gearing up for the Olympics. With betting now legal in more than 40 U.S. states, the gambling apps are bracing for unprecedented wagering. New in theaters for the weekend, an anticipated blockbuster, Disney, Marvel's Deadpool and Wolverine. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.