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Quest Means Business
Trump to Speak as Oprah Considers White House Run; Apple Shareholders' Fears Over iPhone Addiction; Days of Chaos at JFK Airport; Tech World Gathers for Consumer Electronic Show 2018; Bitcoin Price Drops in Cryptocurrency Rout
Aired January 08, 2018 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Closing bell ringing on Wall Street, no records on the Dow, but there are records on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
composite which have both traded quite strongly during the course of the day. The Dow was up -- there we go. A good, strong gavel. A new trading
week. Essentially all major markets are closed. It is Monday, it's January the 8th.
Tonight, the battle of the billionaires, Donald Trump is due to speak any minute. And Orpah Winfrey is thinking of taking on the Donald in 2020.
Time to look up, Apple investors are worried about children's iPhone addictions. And chaos at Kennedy. One of the world's busiest and biggest
airports suffers the weekend from hell.
I'm Richard Quest live from in the world's financial capitol, New York City, where, yes, I mean business.
Good evening, we have a busy hour together, when we are expecting President Trump, who is due to speak any minute now, you can see the stage, you can
see the auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. It is his first major policy speech of the year. Now it is an agricultural conference that he's
speaking to. But this will be the first major speech since Michael Wolff's book where his questions about president Trump's fitness to govern. When
the speech begins, we will bring it to you live and in its entirety.
The story we are following today, look at that, two of them, Orpah Winfrey, she has the star power. She certainly has the money, and now America wants
to know if she has the ambition to take on President Trump in 2020. Sources are telling CNN that Ms. Winfrey is actively thinking about a run
for the White House. The Trump administration says it would welcome a challenge from Orpah or anyone else. Speculation has reached fever pitch
after her speech at the Golden Globes, it sounded suspiciously like a campaign kickoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, FOUNDER OF OWN: So, I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon. And when that new day
finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight and some pretty phenomenal men,
fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say me too again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now before everybody gets carried away at the whole prospect, let's remember Orpah Winfrey has no governing and no military experience. No
history as a candidate for any majority party as Donald Trump proved in 2016, that no military or governance, well, that's no barrier. What she
has of course is brand recognition, wealth and influence. A magazine -- OK, this is what she's got, let's just look at it. She has a magazine, and
cable channel with her name on it. And she has appearances on TV and in movies. And just take a look.
[16:05:00] So not only Winfrey, OWN network, 60 minutes, Weight Watchers. Look at the effect on Weight Watchers shares. She bought a 10 percent
stake in 2015. Today that stake is up some 12 percent. Why, one's not clear should the prospects of Orpah running for president push one of the
companies she's watching. Brian Stelter will help understand and explain for us in a minute.
Now the president does have a leg up in terms of personal wealth, 3.1 billion, that's Donald Trump's, to Oprah Winfrey's 2.8 billion, according
to Forbes. It's important to know that these numbers come from Forbes. And remember, Donald Trump's numbers have always been highly suspect and
questionable. But this number is believed to be accurate. So, 3.1, to 2.8. CNN's senior media correspondent is Brian Stelter. He joins me now.
Good to see you, sir.
BRIAN STELTER, CNNMONEY SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too.
QUEST: What do you make of it? What are you hearing?
STELTER: I am hearing that her friends are urging her to take this seriously. To really think about running, going up against President Trump
in 2020. And probably most important, she is actively thinking about it. It doesn't mean she's made up her mind, doesn't mean she'll actually run,
but she's taking this seriously. By the way, she's probably not the only celebrity who will do so. We're going to see a crowded Democratic field.
Maybe other Hollywood celebrities, maybe businessmen as well, Mark Cuban. But Orpah Winfrey certainly would help to clear the field because she just
has so much star power.
QUEST: She also has huge amounts of acumen, doesn't she? In the sense that she's run a business. Obviously, her famous talk show ran for years.
But there's a network, there's all the other things that she's done. But she doesn't have any governing experience, and she has no military
experience and like the president himself, has no policy experience.
STELTER: And one of her friends acknowledged that to me and said, you know what she does? She has the ability to bring in the smartest people around
her. It's kind of similar to the argument that Donald Trump made on the campaign trail. He said I hire the smartest people. I hire the best
people. And that was the same argument I was hearing from one of her associates today.
QUEST: Now as our media -- senior media editor -- give me an assessment. You know, Donald Trump is a businessman, built -- according to him some of
the best buildings in the world, and a huge fortune. Went bankrupt several times on the way. Orpah Winfrey has managed her brand and build her own
network in her own rite. But if you had to say media wise?
STELTER: Well, I would say Donald Trump was the figure known for, you're fired, right? He was known for "The Apprentice" on television, known for
the tabloid coverage about his love life. Not known as someone people loved and adored. Oprah, the first thing that comes to mind is love. She
has millions of fans of talk show, now for her cable channel OWN, who adore her. Who go buy her products. Who read the books she recommends. She has
a kind of connection to the audience that Trump probably wishes he had.
QUEST: Brian, just humor me. If you'll be as kind.
STELTER: OK.
QUEST: So, let's say she runs, and would be pretty hard to beat, you know, the sheer star power alone and the loveliness of the woman.
STELTER: OK.
QUEST: But what would you make of a presidential campaign of a real estate reality star versus a chat show Weight Watchers spokesman?
STELTER: It feels in some ways like natural progression of television. What I mean is, a nation, the United States, that invents television and is
obsessed with television, growing up on television, voters care about TV. Some of them might stream Orpah's shows, but really, this is a country that
cares so much about celebrity and star power and maybe we're seeing the natural end point of that.
QUEST: If you were a betting man -- and I will not hold you to this -- will she, or won't she?
STELTER: I have believed for the last year that she is going to run for president.
QUEST: You get a ding.
STELTER: But no one will remember this if I'm wrong, right? This tape will disappear.
QUEST: Good to see you. Tape, just shows his age. Tape. Thank you, good to see you.
STELTER: You too.
QUEST: Breaking news to bring you, CNN is learning new details about how lawyers for Donald Trump are anticipating a request for the president to
sit down for an interview with the special counsel Robert Mueller. Sources say President Trump's lawyers have been preparing for such a request and
they hope it will happen soon. Our Justice Department in the United States is Pamela Brown. Now, this sets everything alight a little bit more,
doesn't it? The prospect of Mueller wanting to speak to Donald Trump, but do we have any thoughts of what it would be about?
[16:10:00] PAMELA BROWN, CNN U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We don't, I mean we know this Robert Mueller's team has been looking at possible obstruction
of justice and the firing of James Comey, the former FBI director and the circumstances surrounding that. So presumably, that would be a focus in
any possible interview. But right now, the lawyers for the president are trying to define what the parameters might look like to limit the scope of
the interview. We're told that the matter of a potential interview was broached in a previous meeting between Mueller's team and the president's
lawyers.
But the sources we spoke with insist that there hasn't been any substantive discussions or active negotiations about what a potential interview may
look like. The expectation is that those kinds of discussions will happen during a future meeting with both sides. But the expectation has been,
Richard, that Mueller's team will not wrap up its investigation until it is able to interview the president or get some sort of testimony or answers
from the president on questions that they have. And so, the president's lawyers have been preparing for this possibility for months now, given just
the fact that the team wouldn't not interview the president. But now it's becoming much more of a reality and it's probably going to happen sooner
rather than later, given where things are in the investigation -- Richard.
QUEST: And the parameters that you are rightly saying, it's the parameters, isn't it? Because he can't say no. He has to actually go.
There is precedent for these investigators interviewing the president and he can't say no, and yet at the same time, there's the question of
executive privilege. This is another minefield.
BROWN: Potentially. And you're right. I mean to far we're told that they haven't invoked executive privilege. And, look, I mean if you look at
history, President Clinton at the time he was under investigation and his team tied to fight it, then they were subpoenaed, and the president had to
testify before a grand jury where your lawyer isn't present. They're trying to avoid something like that playing out. So, what they want to try
too is negotiate something. And they're looking at past situations where, for example, Ronald Reagan actually provided written answers to questions
given to him by the investigators. So, they're looking at that as a potential option, but basically at the end, it's going to a negotiation
where both sides are satisfied.
QUEST: All right, Pamela, thank you. Stay with me for a second, we're just going to go to Nashville, it looks as though President Trump is about
to speak. Yes, he is. Thanks, Pamela, we can let you go while we listen to President Donald Trump who's speaking in Nashville, Tennessee.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. Oh, you're so lucky, you people know real estate because they have all these
rooms all over this beautiful building are packed, but you're here with us, right? And I say packed with our people, so, it's great. But thank you
very much Secretary Purdue for the kind introduction, there could be no better person to be our secretary of agriculture. A man known, trusted and
respected by your industry that's for sure.
I'm thrilled to be back in the amazing state of Tennessee. Here as the state slogan goes, we see America at its absolute best, and you're doing
well. You're doing a lot better since November 8, I might add. At the same time, it's true of the people gathered here today, in our nation's
former and, you know that, our nation's farmers are just the most incredible people and we are doing a job for you, you're seeing it like
nobody else. Regulation, death tax, so much, you're a big beneficiary and you're really producing like nobody else. So, I just want to thank you for
that.
And that's why I'm so honored to be the first president to address the American Farm Bureau in more than 25 years. What happened? Where are
they? What happened? What happened? Where are they? And you know, this is your 99th year, so I was very disappointed to hear that. You
understand, 100 is so much cooler, I have to be honest. So, I'll be back, I think, next year, I'll come back. We'll come back. I want to thank
Governor Haslam and Mrs. Haslam, wonderful people for joining us, along with members of the Tennessee congressional delegation. And I sort of have
this beautiful list that I wrote. Some of us came in on Air Force One and they are great people and they're fighting for you. In addition to the
governor and your great secretary, Senator Bob Corker. And they're out here someplace.
[16:15:00] Bob? Senator Lamar Alexander is here. Senator Pat Roberts. Thank you, Pat. Oh, does he love the farmers, Pat. Does he love those
farmers, right, Pat? Stand up, Pat. Do you love the farmers, Pat? Yes. He'll come in. We're talking about a different subject, as he what about
the farmers? That's good. That's why they love you. Representative Diane Black. Terrific woman. Representative Marsha Blackburn. Marsha.
Representative Scott DesJarlais, I love that name. Thank you, Scott. Right from the beginning.
Representative Chuck Fleischman. Representative David Kustoff. Thank you, David. Representative Phil Roe. I talk about Zippy, so I don't have to
mention Zippy Duvall, I talk about him in the spring. Tom Nassif, where's Tom? Tom, thank you, Tom. And Mark Norris, state senate majority leader,
so I've done my job now, all right. OK. I've done my job. Did I do a good job? Did I leave out anybody? I hope not. There is always trouble
when you do that. You left out one person, it's like for the rest of your life, they never speak to you. So, it's always very dangerous. Thank you
very much.
I'm also thrilled to see one of my good friends and early supporters and that is Tom and I just said presidency or Tom Nassif. I also want to thank
the American --
QUEST: So, there we just going to pause and take away from the president for a moment. We are monitoring what president Trump is saying, and the
moment if he does turn to any issues, particularly obviously about the book we'll come back to him immediately. So, we are monitoring that.
As we do so, please join me in the QUEST MEANS BUSINESS trading post. Come over here. You can see what we've got. We have the Dow Jones which fell
during the day. All three major markets its intraday highs, it was choppy trading. But I think we've got two versus one. So, green lights are the
order of the day. You have the S&P 500 -- allow me to do my duty now. You have the S&P 500. And you have the Nasdaq, both at record highs. So,
that's how we give those two.
No record closes in Europe, with only the FTSE showing them. So that gives you an idea of the markets as they traded. Some of the biggest
shareholders in Apple are now urging the company to combat smartphone addiction. Researchers are warning excessive use may damage children's
well-being, cutting sleep time, hampering ability to concentrate on school. It could have dire mental effects. It can have risk of depression, even
links to suicide have been found. And Dr. Michael Rich is part of the campaign. He's the founding director of the center on media and children's
health at Boston Children's Hospital. Good to see you, sir. Thank you. Everybody has jumped on this this survey this morning, and for good reason
and for good advice. How serious is this problem?
DR. MICHAEL RICH, BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: It's more serious than we would like to believe in the sense that I think what's happening is that
children are using these devices in ways that they're neurodevelopment doesn't allow them to use fully safely in the sense of self-regulation and
impulse control. I think that what this is, is a situation where we're early on the process, and we're seeking for Apple and other tech giants to
come together with the research and improve their product. We're not criticizing their product. We're not saying that they shouldn't be selling
it, but that, let's look at a second bottom line here, the outcomes to the users.
QUEST: So, whose responsibility is this? On one hand, of course, the phone makers and of course, it's not or any of the others. They make the
product. Arguably it's parents that have to be responsible for children's use of the product, in the same way as you wouldn't give a child a set of
steak knives to play with.
[16:20:08] RICH: Absolutely. But the parents also need the information and the guidance as well as the tools to parent effectively in the digital
space. And so, no one is saying the parents are off the hook here. We're all responsible for this. And the idea behind this effort is to have all
of the stakeholders with all of their different expertise come together around the table, roll up our sleeves and solve a problem that people feel
is there, and people are concerned about. But we still haven't taken the data we have collected and used it to improve the product.
QUEST: Give us an idea of the sort of potential solutions, short of saying to children, put it down, limit the number of hours per day, the sort of
things we used to say and see with television.
RICH: Well, I think that there are certainly are technical solutions where the telephone or the smartphone really, which is a multifactor --
multiplatform can be technically set up so that it is appropriate for that age group. So, it is developmentally optimal. What a 4-year-old does and
what a 40-year-old does, what they're capable of is very, very different. So, let's use the technology and put it together with what we know about
brain development, about child development, about child health and let's create a product that is like air bags or safety belts in cars. We're not
saying the product itself is dangerous. What we're saying is we can make it safer.
QUEST: Right. But ultimately does that involve fewer hours being spent using it? Are you talking about different apps, different cognitive
methods by which the child interacts with the phone?
RICH: I think it's both. It's not just how long we use these devices or that we use them. It's what we use them for and when we use them. So,
when it is impeding sleep, when it is being done instead of homework or sitting down around the dinner table with your family and connecting with
each other. Then it's a problem. So, it is both the amount of time that it's being used, when it's used and also what they're doing with it.
QUEST: Dr. Rich you've certainly opened a can of worms as I'm sure you're aware with this research. But it's a debate that sounds like it's very
needed. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Come back again and we'll talk more about this, we need to hear more.
When we come back on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, here in New York we're used to the snow. Questions are being asked as to why one of the city's main
airports was reduced to this at the weekend. Baggage chaos, passenger stuck, flights suspended. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, at the airport.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:25:04] QUEST: Welcome back if you take a blizzard and you add a flood and you put them both at one of the world's busiest airports and this is
what you get. Yes, literally, hundreds of planes with nowhere to go. Thousands of passengers stranded and right now, Kennedy Airport is still
warning of more delays to go. So, join me at the super screen as we put into context what all these planes mean.
Four days on from the winter storm which hit New York freezing aircraft and runways and forcing JFK to close. This is on Thursday, this is what it
looked like on Thursday. A fairly miserable existence as the snow arrived. By Saturday and you are really seeing gridlock on the tarmac. There's a
shortage of gates for incoming and outgoing aircraft. And inside the terminal, passengers struggling to rebook. And it's just a list of
cancellations.
And then as we go on to Sunday afternoon, the luggage just piles up, thousands upon thousands more. And then right in the middle of it, a pipe
feeding the sprinkler system broke. It flooded the floors in terminal 4 and forced staff and passengers to evacuate that part of the airport. Look
at it. It looks more like a river and a lake than an airport.
And the worst affected terminal in all of this, it was indeed this one, terminal 4. Major arrival point for international travelers, incoming
flights were diverted for several hours and the backlog was chaotic. But it's important to realize that all the terminals were affected and indeed,
many of the runways were -- and taxiways were simply not passable because of the way the airports had been managed. The Port Authority executive
director said what happened here is unacceptable and travelers deserve better. Mary Schiavo joins me. She's the former inspector general of the
U.S. Department of Transportation, good to see you, Mary, good to see you.
MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: You too, Richard.
QUEST: All right, not look, on my map of Kennedy, how -- I saw a great tweet over the weekend that said this wasn't just bad weather, this was
incompetence. Kennedy shouldn't have fallen over in quite such a way or should it?
SCHIAVO: Well, no, this was a combination of incompetence, infrastructure and literally too many flights, it was a volume problem. Stuffing too many
planes and passengers into too small of a capacity. And so, it got so bad, one of the things that had to happen, instead of the airport themselves
saying, you know, we can't take anymore, divert, divert. They actually asked the FAA to get involved and call airlines and tell them please don't
send any more traffic our way. And that's unacceptable because they are responsible for the safety of the people in their airports just as the
airlines are for the people on their planes. And so, while they had a perfect storm, the ever-increasing volume added to it. And the other
problem with JFK, each of these little terminals at JFK kind of act like their own little city. And so, they don't share the traffic, share the
baggage, et cetera. Because as you know, the airlines lease their own gates.
QUEST: OK. But surely the busiest airports in the word should be -- America's gateway -- should be able to handle this considerably better than
it did. And surely there needs to be a way that says to airlines -- I had some friends flying from Taiwan, flying back there. That plane never
should have left Taiwan to come here.
SCHIAVO: Well, that's absolutely right. But when we deregulated, of course, we left those decisions up to the airlines. They get to decide
whether they're going to cancel the flight or if they're going to take off and then the visions of the air craft on the air traffic control radar were
quite amazing. All of these planes headed to JFK when it was overflowing, we leave those decisions to the airlines unless the airport is closed. And
so that's why the airport then actually then resorted to asking the FAA to help, which is a very interesting turn of events. But airlines are allowed
to keep stuffing them into the system until in the case of JFK, it broke. And then JFK has the problem of very, very antiquated infrastructure. It
just is not up to date to modern standards.
QUEST: So, LaGuardia is undergoing a billion-dollar refit. [16:30:00] Kennedy has had a lot of money spent on it. Some of the terminals that
we're looking at here, that terminal 4 is pretty new, terminal 1 is pretty new. American has spent a lot on terminal 8. But if I understand what
you're saying, what they have spent is not enough, it's consumer facing, and maybe they haven't got into the bowels of it and got it done properly.
SCHIAVO: Well, that's right and they're still trying to handle a huge volume, I think 60 million passengers a year, half of those are
international. And there's just too many people per square inch, to put it in rather basic terms. And so, in some cases no amount of infrastructure
spending can fix it. But here, obviously, the water pipe was an infrastructure problem.
QUEST: Mary, you have a nice collection of planes behind you, and here I've got a similar sort of generous collection of planes here as well.
Good to see you as always. As we continue tonight on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. The fight for equal pay steps up again, Hollywood stars and journalists are
speaking out after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:33:24] QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment, when we'll be live at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas where self-driving cars are the talk of the town. And another Monday manic day for bitcoin, the cryptocurrency prices are tanking
across the board. As we continue this is CNN and on this network the facts always come first.
In less than four hours, North and South Korea will face -- will hold face- to-face talks for the first time in more than two years. Among the discussions is North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics.
Another tragedy for migrants trying to escape Libya, 64 Libyans are presumed dead after their rubber boat sank off the Libyan coast. There
were 160 people on the dinghy when it went down, the Italian Coast Guard said it rescued 86 people, it is believed the migrants were trying to make
their way to Europe.
A 28-year-old man has admitted on Monday to bombing the team bus of the German football club, Borussia Dortmund last April. He says he did it as
part of a money-making scheme and did not intend to hurt or kill anyone. One player and one police officer were injured in the blast the head of a
champions league match. The man could face life in prison.
[16:35:00] The BBC is facing suggestions that it may have broken the law on equal pay and the suggestion comes from one of its own employees. The
chairman for the British Parliament committee on women has called for an investigation after the BBC's China editor Carrie Gracie resigned from her
post in Beijing in protest.
The BBC is not the only one in the spotlight. At Sunday's Golden Globes, several actresses called out the E! Network. It's presenter Catt Sadler
quit last month in a row over unequal pay. It is something the actress Debra Messing mentioned when interviewed by E!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA MESSING, ACTRESS: I was so shocked to find out that E! doesn't believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I
miss Catt Sadler and, so we stand with her, and that is something that can change tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Talk about changing tomorrow, there's a country that's making a change today. Iceland has introduced a law that forces employers to prove
they're paying men and women equally for the same work. The executive manager of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association joins us now via skype.
Good to see you, thank you.
BRYNHILDUR HEIDAR-OG OMARSDOTTIR, EXECUTIVE MANAGER, ICELANDIC WOMEN'S RIGHTS ASSOCIATION: Thank you.
QUEST: There has been a law of equal pay since the 1960s in Iceland. So, this new law last year, really is about proving that you're doing it?
OMARSDOTTIR: Absolutely, absolutely. And this law is based on a standard that was developed and created here in Iceland called the equal pay
standard and it was introduced in 2012, and it was meant to help companies to actually restructure their pay management system to make sure that men
and women were being paid equally for work of equal value. And dozens of companies had already undergone this standard voluntarily, but last year,
the parliament decided that the change wasn't happening fast enough and decided to implement, to propose a bill requiring all companies with 25
employees or more to implement the standard, and a law was passed, and it took effect earlier this year and we could not be more delighted.
QUEST: When we talk about equal pay or parity of pay, how does one account for experience, for different tasks? I mean if we take the Carrie Gracie
BBC example that has been talked about. She as compared herself and she was clearly much less that her male counterpart. The opposite argument
being that they had been more experienced in those senior roles for longer than she had. So just having the same title per se does not mean you get
equal pay, would you agree on that?
OMARSDOTTIR: Well, the equal pay standard that companies are using to quantify or value these work, the standard does two things, number one, it
basically places a value on a job to a company and then secondly, it's reflected -- it allows leeway, and looks at the individual who is
performing the job, what is the background, the relevant work experience of an individual and sort of like corrects so the standard is not a black and
white, it does allow for leeway.
QUEST: Why do you think, this is something that all these years after equal pay legislation in most developed countries, why do you think the pay
gender gap still exists?
OMARSDOTTIR: It exists because we live in a society which is male dominant, we live in a world where men make up the majority of governments
where men make up the majority of people running companies. And the loss to society has been and is incalculable, all the women's voices that are
not being heard, the stories that are not being told, women's wisdom that is not being utilized in creating new technologies and ways of living and
this is something that can only change when we all together say enough is enough so that's why I'm delighted about what's happening around the world
with women coming out publicly and coming together and demanding change.
QUEST: What is fascinating about this is that what it does show is that, you know, the law itself is not enough. There has to be rules and
regulations on the execution of the law until arguably a self-fulfilling mechanism is in place.
[16:40:00] OMARSDOTTIR: Absolutely. And the best part of the Icelandic law is that it basically -- it moves the burden of proof away from the
employee to the employer. Because what has been going on in Iceland and what's been happening around the rest of the world, most countries around
the world have equal pay laws on the books, but this places the burden of proof on the employee. Who needs to first figure out whether she or he is
being paid fairly and then sue the company. But we have basically put the onus on the companies themselves, that they need, to show, definitively
that they are actually providing a fair and equitable or paying fair and equitable to the workers, on both genders and all backgrounds.
QUEST: Good to see you, thank you for joining us, much appreciated.
OMARSDOTTIR: Thank for having me.
QUEST: as we continue tonight on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, cryptocurrencies are crashing, bitcoin is down 7 percent on the day and it's not the worst
affected, we'll show you after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: It was mostly green for some markets, but deep red in the world of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell 7 percent, which paled in comparison to the
fall of the ripple that fell 25 percent by one measure. Only Ethereum managed to gain.
Let's go to Claire Sebastian. Ripple is down 7 percent. Why? What was going on here?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is according to a website called Coin Market Cap which is one of the most prominent when it comes to
measuring the price of cryptocurrencies. This was down largely due to an adjustment on how they collect their data. By a sudden move overnight Coin
Market Cap eliminated some of the major South Korean exchanges from its data aggregator. Now they are known to trade at a premium, when it comes
to somebody's cryptocurrencies, partly because they're so popular in South Korea, and partly also because it's difficult to get foreign the foreign
currency out of that country. That is why they are so popular.
And that led to the prices falling and then sparked some panic selling on this currency market. And this market is cyclical, so people are taking
profits, this has been a great run particularly for ripple in the last few weeks. So, it is kind of a combination of those factors really sparked by
the date of adjustment.
QUEST: In the last few months of last year, we saw bitcoin rocket up and down, to the high point was $18,000, $17,000, whatever it was. What is it
going to take for these cryptos to sort of reach an equilibrium or to reach a less volatile trading stance?
SEBASTIAN: That's a question that many people are asking at the moment.
QUEST: Because they're not valid currencies as long as they behave more like junk bonds.
SEBASTIAN: No. But in a sense, their volatility is what makes them so popular among speculators, just look at the U.S. market as an example at
the moment. Volatility has been so low for the last year and of course investors love volatility because that is where you make your most money.
I think regulation is one of the things the people around the world are grappling with at the moment.
[16:45:00] Just today we saw South Korea inspect six of its banks that are involved in cryptocurrency services to see if they are in compliance with
money laundering standards.
QUEST: But they're not going away, any of us that thought somehow that this might be a we are doing wonderful little thing that was going to
disappear off the face of the earth.
SEBASTIAN: No, and the extraordinary thing is when you see these precipitous falls today the response on Twitter, I was just reading on Coin
Market Cap's move were things like calling it unprofessional saying shouldn't you issue an apology for those people panic selling ripple.
Think that is a measure there is no real-world impact when we see a fall on these cryptocurrencies, even if it is on one website Coin Market Cap.
QUEST: Clare, good thank you, keep watching, sometimes you have your work cut out for you, thank you.
You can now download our show as a podcast, it's available from all the main providers, you can listen to cnn.com/podcast.
Now the new, the shiny, and the weird and wonderful. No, not Samuel Burke. He will be with us live in Las Vegas testing the latest gadgets at the
world's biggest tech show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The world's biggest tech show Consumer Electronics Show is under way in Las Vegas. Not surprisingly, Samuel, autonomous, I can't even say
the word, you put me right, those things that drive themselves. That's what people are really talking about in a big way.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Autonomous cars, self-driving cars, whatever you want to call them, Richard, what we're realizing is it's
not just about the self-driving car, it's about the bigger ecosystem, cars preparing for a future, cities, rather, preparing for a future, where
stoplights might speak to the cars that are running 24 hours a day. So, it is about the partnerships or people are building
likely partnership between Lyft in this self-driving car.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Autonomous driving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the future.
BURKE: I almost died doing a self-driving car. So, these first few seconds are a little nerve-racking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will notice two consoles here. This one is the Aptiv view, of how the vehicle perceives the world around it. And here is
the Lyft console, and this is sort of a light weight experience for the passenger, in the beginning, it's more about making sure that the
passengers are aware of where we're going at a high level, and why the vehicle makes the decisions that it's making, but eventually we'll get to a
point where it will be the interface for passengers to get a little more of those creature comforts, like heat and air conditioning, and other things
that you might ask a driver to do if you're in a Lyft.
[16:20:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Changing lanes.
BURKE: Seeing the pedestrians in the crosswalks in that screen before I'm actually seeing them with my own eyes. We picked up this ride through the
Lyft app, but the technology is actually Aptiv. So, are you guys kind of agnostic about the technology? Will you partner with multiple companies?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The platform is definitely a strategy of collaboration, and so we already have seven partners already signed up for the platform.
And this is our second public pilot.
BURKE: Do you envision a scenario where Lyft drivers will have employment because their backup drivers for these self-driving cars?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, ride share accounts for a relatively small percentage of total miles driven in the United States and as we scale this
technology we will be able to start addressing many more of these miles. However, there is a lot of these rides that actually require a person. We
started in partnerships with a lot of companies that help get elderly to their doctors' appointments for instance.
BURKE: I have been in a lot of self-driving cars and a lot of places. I would have to say that was one of the most boring rides I have ever had,
but I think that's a complement in the self-driving world. That was pretty much like being stuck in traffic in any metropolitan city, except just a
guy's hands hovering under the wheel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: So, I remember the last time you were in a self-driving vehicle, you nearly sort of had a conniption and had to be removed. But the reality
is this is a normal car on a normal street under normal conditions?
BURKE: Every year I come here, I'm a little less hysterical. A little calmer each time. But that was the first time I have been in a self-
driving car, yes, Richard. I want you to notice there I think the most important thing, yes, it is a normal car, a normal street, a guy there just
in case, but it's that partnership that really matters, a lot of us won't be owning cars in the future, so it's all about getting together and dating
each other on these self-driving car companies.
QUEST: Samuel on QUEST EXPRESS you took us down Market with your underwear, but there's been an enormous amount of interesting about your
underwear.
BURKE: I will do you one up. And I will hold up my new bra, Richard. We're all adults here so we can speak candidly. You saw before with smart
underwear, this is the same thing but for our female friends, the smart bra may sound ridiculous on the surface, but you can do all types of things,
whether it's this bra or the underwear from a company called Skiin, it can read your heart rate, your temperature, your steps, your calories, adjust
your posture.
So inside of here are sensors, dear reading what is going on just like a wearable on your wrist, but if you're like me, and you don't want to word
on your wrist. And then there's this here, $349 for eight pairs of these, it will give you two of these devices and one wireless charger. Sounds
funny on the surface, but the CEO who created this had a serious reason for doing it, his elderly father was sick, and he wanted to know his vital
signs at all times. So, I can see the screen used for the elderly, being used for athletes and I never thought I would be holding bra and underwear
on your program, Richard.
QUEST: No, neither did I. Samuel Burke, thank you.
Blackberry will be using its technology in autonomous vehicles. Following last week's announcement, it's going to collaborate with Baidu. Today
blackberry said NVIDIA will use its software to develop self-driving platforms.
Joining me from CES, the blackberry chief executive, John Chen said it would take more than just cars to continue blackberry's dramatic
turnaround.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN CHEN, CEO, CES: We also need to branch out into other areas, in addition to cars like medical equipment, and so our job is to secure
anything that talks to the Internet or through the internet so. That's what we need to do. Continue to push on that and expand the market, a huge
market.
QUEST: You and I have talked about cyber security in the past, whether it be the wannabe or more recently wanting to fix the flaws in Intel chips.
That flaw has not been nefariously taken on board yet, so nobody's gained from it. Where do you believe we are in the cyber warfare defense?
CHEN: I think this is a cat and mouse game as you and I spoke about in the past. There's never really a completely secure system, unless you lock it
down and you don't talk to each other, don't talk to anybody. Nor should we be afraid of that. So, what we ought to do is continue to get ahead of
the so-called bad people try to gain and exploit default.
[16:25:00] There are many techniques one can do to deal with that. We have our own set and we have been successful with it.
QUEST: Do you see any future for blackberry to move back towards more consumer facing products in the future? I know obviously you've done deals
so you're using different operating systems, but you do the security if you like, the backend security. But as the days of the blackberry as you know
I was a but lover of it, are they over as such?
CHEN: No, I wouldn't say that, I would say where we are today is forming a really new strategy and the base for the company, I'm very pleased with
where things are but I would never say never, but just like you said, three years ago when you and I spoke, we thought the company was at its dying
breath and it's not today. You can't say anything for sure, let's wait.
QUEST: John Chen CEO of blackberry from CES. We will have CES all this week.
As for the markets mixed in Europe. Take a look at the numbers and you'll see exactly, two down, two up. London and Xetra Zurich both reached record
highs, but both were known on Monday, the DAX was higher, and CAC 40 they were higher. And growing confidence in the euro zone according to the
commission, Germany Daimler sales surged to nine percent following a demand in China for Mercedes.
The U.S. markets, we had two records, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, both went to a record, no records on the Dow. It did break, try and break through
once or twice but closed down at the close. We'll have our Profitable Moment after the
break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment, when I first heard the story this morning about the iPhone and the warnings against it, I thought, oh,
another load of nonsense for do gooders looking to spoil the party. The more, I heard about it and I listened carefully to the doctor who did the
research on tonight's program, the more I realized there's something about this. This is not about the old argument that the television, don't let
them watch too much, it will dull the brain. This is about the fact that using these machines the way they are being used by children is actually
changing their learning abilities putting them at a disadvantage, they're not getting cognitive development that they would otherwise.
So, I started to think that there was something actually in this, and the telco between parents and schools and the manufacturers between apps and
phones, there has to be some sort of restrictions, some sort makes it better rather than hinders. Oh, yes, it sounded like a whole load of hocus
pocus nonsense, but I think they're on to something here. I'm Richard Quest in New York, whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's
profitable. We'll do it again tomorrow.
END
END
