Fed Meeting Kicks Off, Faber Report on TikTok, Exclusive: Rivian CEO 9/16/25

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Carl Quintanilla (0:46)

Market Moving Insight and Analysis. Join Jim Cramer, David Faber and me, Carl Quintanilla on the opening bell hour of CNBC Squawk on the Street. Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla with Sara Eisen and David Faber. We're at Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. Cramer has the morning off. Pre-market solid as the triple Qs go for a 10th straight game. That's the longest streak since 23 Fed meeting does begin with Stephen Myron and Lisa Cook. Retail sales were sturdy, although so were import prices, highest in about a year and a half. A roadmap begins with stocks continuing to hit these new record highs. The MAG-7 leading the charge with Alphabet and Tesla.

David Faber (1:23)

Retail sales did come in hotter than expected. As the Fed kicks off that two-day meeting, of course, the focus will be interest rates. It comes as an appeals court rules that Fed Governor Lisa Cook can continue to serve on the Fed Board.

Sara Eisen (1:36)

And Rivian breaking ground on a long-delayed $5 billion EV plan in Georgia. Founder and CEO will join us this hour.

Carl Quintanilla (1:44)

Let's get to the market this morning. S&P and Nasdaq both closing at new records again, powered by the MAG-7 names. Investors gearing up for this week's Fed meeting. Kicks off today with the Federal Appeals Court yesterday. Ruling that the president cannot fire Governor Cook before the Central Bank votes on rates. Also the Senate confirming the president's pick, Stephen Myron, to join the Fed Board of Governors. Myron will participate in this two-day meeting. Senate vote 47-47, VP breaks the tie. A lot of, actually, five senators did not vote, including I think some GOPers as well, Bernie Sanders.

Sara Eisen (2:18)

Yeah, Murkowski voted against him. They were worried about, I don't know why, but they're worried about the fact that he did not resign his post as the Council of Economic Advisers, although he is taking an unpaid leave. And this is only a position, this Fed governor position, that goes through January 31st. So it's very temporary. He has said if, for some reason, it gets extended beyond that, he'll leave as CEA chair. I think the point there is he doesn't want to go through three confirmation hearings in one year. He already did it as CEA chair. He's done it here as for Fed governor. And then if he leaves and then comes back, he'd have to do it again. But I guess some people thought that that was an infringement on Fed independence. The bottom line is, it doesn't change the fact that the Fed is set to cut interest rates this week. It might make it more interesting if he descends in favor of a bigger cut, more than 25, 50, or even 75, as the president has suggested. I mean, I always want to be inside the room when the Fed makes the decision. But this dynamic, having Lisa Cook with a vote, having Stephen Myron with a vote, I mean, that's got to be pretty awkward and pretty interesting. We'll also see Lisa Cook. I mean, she's historically been very dovish. She usually votes with the Fed chair. Fed chair, we assume, is going to vote for a cut. Will she vote for a cut or will she vote to hold? Because she's, you know, trying to fight for her position there and sort of against the president and what they're and what they're trying to do to get her out of there. Right.

Carl Quintanilla (3:43)

Besson on Squawk this morning did say that the plan is for Myron to return to the CEA when this is done. As for Cook, we mentioned the court decision comes after following reporting by the likes of Reuters and the FT and the Washington Post in the case of Reuters citing Michigan officials, property tax assessors who argued that she, there was no wrongdoing in declaring this house in Ann Arbor as a residence.

Sara Eisen (4:09)

Let's let it play out, right, in the courts. For now, she stays on the Fed and, look, she hasn't been charged with anything, so obviously the courts are going to play out at this point. But essentially the president is getting what he wants when it comes to interest rate policy with the Fed about to cut. It's the first cut in nine months, it's the first cut of the year, and it looks increasingly justified by the fact that the labor market has shown signs of deteriorating, many signs from job openings to rising unemployment rate, to slower job growth, to revisions over back a year, showing almost a million fewer jobs than we expected. And at the same time, while inflation is not at the 2% level and has firmed up a little bit here, it just hasn't spiked above 3%.