SOTS 2nd Hour: Netflix-Warner Deal Details, Fmr. DOJ Antitrust Chief Kanter, & A Data Deluge w/Goldman's Chief Economist 12/5/25

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Carl Quintanilla (1:00)

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.

Sara Eisen (1:15)

Good Friday morning, welcome back to Squawk on the Street. I'm Sara Eisen with Carl Quintanilla and Michael Santoli, live from Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. David Faber has the morning off. Coming up this hour, Goldman Sach's Chief Economist Jan Hatzius is with us as we get a fresh read on inflation any second now ahead of the big Fed decision next week, plus the deal rocking the media world. Netflix officially says it is buying Warner Brothers film and streaming assets, but will it pass regulatory scrutiny? That's the question. We'll discuss that angle and why. The movie theater industry is opposing the deal.

Carl Quintanilla (1:47)

Meantime, watching the markets here, about nine points shy of a closing high on the S&P would be around 68.90. Busy day for data. As Sara said, we're getting some PCE numbers, income spending, and of course, Umich. Let's get to Rick Santoli. Hey, Rick.

Rick Santoli (2:04)

Yes, a litany of data. Let's start at the beginning. September personal income comes in a bit stronger than expected, up four-tenths, following at least up till now an unrevised four-tenths. If you look at the spending side, up three-tenths, as expected, half in the rear view mirror, which was up six-tenths. Up three-tenths actually is the lightest going back to May when it was unchanged. If we look at personal spending on the real side, accounting for inflation, it is a goose egg. Zero, zero and zero would be the lightest going back to minus one-tenth in May.

Let's look at the price, PCE price index on a month-over-month basis. This of course is the money ball. Up three-tenths as expected, same as last look. If we look at year-over-year, it's up 2.8, exactly as expected, one-tenth warmer than the rear view mirror. 2.8 would be the warmest since March of last year. And now if we go core, month-over-month PCE comes in at two-tenths as expected, equals last month. And if we look at year-over-year, it's up 2.8 on core, which equals expectations, one-tenth lighter than the rear view mirror. Now let's look at Michigan. These are preliminary December numbers, preliminary December numbers. 53.3, that's a nice beat. 53.3 would be the best since October, when it was 53.6. If we look at the current conditions, 50.7, that's a miss. 50.7's a miss. That follows a 51.1, and 50.7, well, 50.7 would be very close to the all-time low, which was our last look at 51.1.

Now if we look at expectations, 55, that's nice. Now that's what we expect down the road. That's a much stronger number than we were looking for. 55 would be the best number since August, when it was 55.9. Now the inflation numbers, they have been way on the high side of late. They are coming down. 4.5 last month now becomes 4.1. That would be the lightest. The second lightest of the year, the D lightest was 3.3 in January. And the last number, 5 to 10 year inflation, comes in at 3.2, much lighter than 3.4, both in the rear view mirror and the windshield. 3.2 equals the start of the year to find a lower number. You're in D's of last year, which means it is the lowest number of this year. Or actually, let me take that back. It equals the lowest number this year, which was January, to find a lower number. You're in D's of last year. We see interest rates. They wiggled around a bit, but they're very close to where they were. 411 is a 10 That's up one on this session, up 10 on the week. Sara and the gang, back to you.

Sara Eisen (4:53)

Okay, Rick Santoli, that was a lot of good information. Thank you very much. Our Rick Santoli pretty much in line on the PCE, which I think is the headline for inflation, because that's what the Fed pays attention to. We know that it's elevated above their 2% target, and this just confirms, you know, the 2.8%, for instance. It's hotter than they want, but it's coming in line with expectations. I think the surprise would be if we saw some sort of big spike up and then they would say, uh-oh, do we need to maybe not be cutting interest rates? Also good news that Rick reported in the inflation and expectations of the University of Michigan sentiment, and we did expect that overall sentiment number to go up. Remember, last time it was reported, it was government shutdown related, it was the lowest level since June 2022, so no surprise, we went from 51 to, what did he say, 53, a little over that. But otherwise, you know, the income and the spending numbers coming in line, it doesn't change the narrative.