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Quest Means Business

Congress Set To Pass Largest Aid Deal In U.S. History; U.K. Nurseries Face Uncertain Future Amid Coronavirus; Starbucks CEO: We Built Model To Follow recovery In China; ClassPass Offering Live-Streamed Workouts For Home; Americans Await The Congress To Pass The Biggest Stimulus Plan In History; Stocks Higher As U.S. Senate Prepares Vote On $2 Trillion Aid Bill; COVID 19 Cases, Deaths Rising In Europe. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 25, 2020 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:15]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Second day in a row, and there is a surge on Wall Street for what you see. These are the

markets.

Look at it. Strong rally that's underway. We will get underneath the skin of this rally, and why.

The deal is done. It's one of the main reasons. Now, Americans await the Congress to pass the biggest stimulus plan in history -- Senate and House.

Germany's own plan advances through the German Parliament. Compare each country, how it is looking after its workers.

And business leaders are looking to China for signs of when things will get back to normal. Starbucks, for example, reopening most of its stores.

But we are live in New York on Wednesday, March 25th. I'm Richard Quest. And yes, I mean business.

It is the largest emergency package in U.S. history, and due to the size of the country, probably the largest the world has ever seen. Tonight,

Washington looks set to pass this package. Democrats and Republicans struck the deal in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday. The goal, of

course is obvious, to put whatever resources they can to rescue the U.S. economy from the tremendous downward pressures brought on by the pandemic.

Wall Street is rallying. Speaking to CNN, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he doesn't know if this historic stimulus plan is big enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is this enough? Is this going to be enough?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We don't know. We don't know. One of the two awful things about this crisis, are one, that we don't know how long it's

going to last and who is affected. We still don't exactly know.

We should be willing and able to come back in a bipartisan way and do more if we need it. And I believe we'll probably have to do that one way or

another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, Julia is with me to go through the bill beforehand. Let's go. This is what we know so far, Julia, $500 billion for distressed companies

and that includes $50 billion for the airlines.

There's an oversight board that was at the Democrats insistence, $350 billion for small businesses, $250 billion in cash for individuals. That's

the checks around $1,200.00 for most middle income Americans, and then companies are barred from receiving any aid that makes a certain sense, and

then of course, there's unemployment. Unemployment continues for a lot longer than then it would have been.

So Julia, what grabs you about that lot?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: It's all about workers. In the end, it's about getting cash into workers' hands. It is about

extending unemployment benefits, giving them a boost, too, for those that do lose their jobs, just to keep them afloat for this two, three, four-

month period, whatever it is.

On the corporate side, again, ties and conditions attached to that money to try and make them keep workers on board throughout this period, too. So

they've done their best here, Richard, I think as well to push money out to individual states in the United States to the healthcare sector as well.

Simply it's about an investment in survival for the next two to three months.

QUEST: Right, but are their equity stakes? What's the devil in this detail? Have we seen enough to know where it all lies?

CHATTERLEY: You know, I do wonder because you and I were talking just before the show began about the airlines and to what extent perhaps they

could borrow against this money to scale up the amount that we're talking about, and I can't help but look at that $500 billion for the corporate

sector, and think, you know, you could probably get some great leverage.

You take a pot of money, you borrow against it. I could imagine that totaling trillions of dollars, add that to the Federal Reserve, and then

we're kind of talking war like spending.

QUEST: Okay. Now in terms of ordinary workers, the damage is going to be there, but Wall Street, maybe mistakenly, they seem to say that this bill,

it creates an underpinning to the economy. And it says that the government is not going to be asleep or switch -- or whatever that phrase is.

CHATTERLEY: Sleep at the wheel.

QUEST: Yes, that's it.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, yes. And I agree with that. I mean, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, you know, you can use them as an example, too.

What they've done in the last month is more than they did in a whole year in the financial crisis. Perhaps this was a little bit slow, but oh, boy,

it's a lot of legislation.

And I think perhaps they took heart from what Chuck Schumer said there. He was like, look, I don't know if this is enough, but we have to and we are

all willing to come back in a bipartisan way with a few squeaks perhaps to do more.

So there's a lot in there and for Bernanke of course as well saying, you know, this is going to be okay.

[15:05:09]

QUEST: Is this a false rally that we're watching?

CHATTERLEY: I'm so cautious. I know you feel differently. And I'm smiling as I say it. But, you know, there are numerous crises here. The health

crisis is the underlying component here. And I do think if we come out of this economic sleep too early, oh, boy, we could get it royally wrong.

So I do think from a leadership perspective, from a market perspective, there's still risks out there.

QUEST: We'll follow them closely. You will as well. Thank you, Julia. Julia Chatterley is with "First Move." Thank you.

Now investors have their eyes on Capitol Hill. Comments from the former Fed chair Ben Bernanke are helping. He is predicting a fairly quick rebound

data this year.

Look at the Dow. That's why -- and by the way, that's what happened just after 10 o'clock, where you see the market was down. It had given back the

gains of the stimulus. Bernanke makes those comments. Everything looks hunky-dory.

Now the stimulus numbers are eye popping and the largest aid package in history with the Governor of New York, the state hit hardest argues the aid

is a fraction of what's needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It would really be terrible for the State of New York. The $2 trillion bill. What does it mean for New York State

government? That means $3.8 billion. $3.8 billion sounds like a lot of money.

Rob, you're the budget director. He can talk you through the numbers, but we're looking at a shortfall -- revenue shortfall of $9 billion, $10

billion, $15 billion. That is a drop in the bucket as to need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Joining me now, Jeffrey Sachs, Economics Professor and Director of Columbia University's Center for Sustainable Development.

Jeffrey, good to see you. I hope you and the family are all keeping well during all of this.

JEFFREY SACHS, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: We're fine.

QUEST: Let's talk -- the bill that's gone through or is going through, are you satisfied that it's doing enough for the real economy, not just the

Wall Street or the big business?

SACHS: I think we have to understand what we're really trying to do right now or should be trying to do, and that is to save lives and stop the

transmission of the virus.

So unlike all previous economic experience, we are deliberately shutting down a lot of the economy right now. It's silly to be calling this a

Stimulus Bill. We're not trying to stimulate the economy. We're trying to shut down for a period of time, probably, I would say, two months, if we're

good at it, so that we can reopen the economy with the level of viral transmission dramatically reduced and then controlled in less costly ways.

Now this bill, it is a hodgepodge. It's not focused on the public health dimension. It doesn't ask what do the states and cities need on the front

line?

The Governor said ventilators, ventilators. Well, Congress didn't talk about actually fighting the epidemic. The first thoughts were, what about

the airlines? That's actually not the real issue right now.

The real issue is stopping the transmission and then being able to get out of this crisis in a short period of time through proper public health

management, which the United States lacked, and still lacks.

We don't have the systems of containment, testing, contact tracing, isolation of those who are infected or test positive even though they don't

have symptoms. All of these things, Richard are basic public health management, but we're talking about stimulus. So it's weird -- part of this

we need.

QUEST: Okay, so even if we take the terminology and call it a savior package or whatever, but it's not an either or is it? I mean, you have to

save the airlines. You have to save the airlines or at least the biggest businesses because they do A, employ vast numbers of people and B, they are

the backbone of the infrastructure of the economy.

So we accept it's not either or, I'm just wondering from you, do you think it's enough?

SACHS: I think that it is wrongly allocated. $2 trillion is enough. But as Governor Cuomo said, he is governor of a state with half of the infection

of the United States right now, the world's epicenter of the pandemic.

And no, 3.7 billion is an absurdly low amount for a $2 trillion bill. Why is it like that? It's because the President and the Congress don't

understand what they're doing in actually fighting the epidemic.

[15:10:15]

SACHS: And another very basic economic point. It's not like 2008, where the prices has to linger for years and years and years. If we do this

right, we stop the transmission of the virus within a short period of time, and we're able to get back maybe not to totally normal economic life, but

basically normal.

QUEST: Jeffrey, I just want to finish if I may, because whatever we do in the developed countries, there are these resources, Central Banks that can

borrow and that can print without overly inflating economies.

But if I look at the developing world, particularly Sub Saharan Africa, where this is only just getting going, where doctors in Zimbabwe I'm

reading have just gone on strike in protest against not having enough PPE - - personal protection -- how worried are you for Africa?

SACHS: I'm worried for the whole world. You have 1.3 billion people in India locked down with no prior preparation at all for this. So you're

right. The situation is dramatic.

And the equivalent at the global level is the International Monetary Fund. The Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva led -- and I think brilliantly a

massive emergency relief, $60 billion in the first instance and already 80 countries have applied for this. So it's going to have to be vastly larger

than that.

We need in other words at the global level, what is happening in the United States with the $2 trillion package right now. The IMF and the major

Central Banks need to get together to provide liquidity for fighting the pandemic in all of the low income countries that won't have the resources

themselves to do it.

And we have to help and support this multilateral system, including the World Health Organization and other emergency operations so that this can

be done in places that can't appropriate $2 trillion, like we're doing in the U.S.

QUEST: We'll follow this up, Jeffrey. Thank you for taking time this morning. Good to hear that you and the family are well. Thank you.

Now, the rescue package that we're talking about will come as a welcome relief to executives at the helm of many struggling businesses. Dow is the

biggest gainer by far. It is up roughly 30 percent and that's on another 30 percent that it was up yesterday.

Bearing in mind the Dow, it traded at its lows last week of 96 and 93. And now it's up 160 odd.

Last week, FedEx pulled its earning guidance for the 2020. The stock is up two percent today and down 20 percent for the year today.

Raj Subramaniam is the President and Chief Operating Officer at FedEx. He joins me now. Raj, good to see you, sir. I appreciate you giving me time

today.

Over the last weekend and the last few days, FedEx has been very much involved in the U.S. in the emergency provision of transport for various

specimens and samples and things like that, aren't you? You're in the thick of it.

RAJ SUBRAMANIAM, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, FEDEX: Yes, thank you, Richard. It's great to be on the show. I have got to say, at the very

front is to thank the 475,000 team members of FedEx around the world. We are on the front lines of this battle, and we are moving critical shipments

around the world.

Of course, we are leveraging our network and our trucks, but most importantly, our human beings -- our people -- who have really gone above

and beyond the call of duty here.

We have moved a lot of test specimens. We have moved medical equipment. We are moved medicines. It's just -- it's an ongoing effort. And we are very

proud to play a part here.

QUEST: How long -- well, not how long -- from what you're seeing at the moment, are you managing to keep your network together? Are you managing to

deliver most of the things that should be delivered at the time when they're supposed to be delivered?

SUBRAMANIAM: Yes, the short answer to that question is yes. Our network is an operation. We have been operating around the world ever since the

coronavirus started up here in the scene.

Just last week, for example, in China, we operated 246 flights in and out of China. The manufacturing has come back to roughly 90 percent or so. So

yes, we are operating and as the local authorities love, and we are considered an essential service around the world.

QUEST: The idea that the U.S. economy could open up sooner rather than later. Without getting into the politics of it. We'll let's put that --

let's leave that to others.

But the concept of opening up sooner rather than later, from your experience in China and elsewhere in Hong Kong, and in South Korea, what do

you think? Is this realistic?

[15:15:18]

SUBRAMANIAM: It's very hard for me to speculate how the demand is going to come back in the United States. It's really anybody's guess at this point.

What we have -- what we know is what happened in China, just like you said, so early in January as the virus started to take hold in China, and there

was quarantines, you know, of course, the demand went away.

And the manufacturing started to come back late in February and early in March, and now it's roughly in 90 percent. There's no way of telling well,

that's what's going to happen in any other part of the world.

QUEST: How concerned are you -- I mean, the stimulus package or the Savior Package as we might call it is very large and considerable, but once things

get going again, there's going to be a vast swathe of damage in the U.S. and in the European economy.

Companies that will fail, small restaurants that won't be sending -- and things like that. I'm not talking so much about your own business of

delivery. But in terms of the economy, is it your feeling -- because you are a bellwether, FedEx like others is a bellwether. Is it your feeling

that the recovery will be slow?

SUBRAMANIAM: Well, you know, it's very -- again, very difficult to say our expectation and hope is that as we get past the suppression stage of the

virus that the economy comes back, and then we have a strong recovery.

But this is again, on a day by day basis, we are monitoring the situation, and it's very hard to prognosticate what comes next.

QUEST: Raj, thank you, and thank God for FedEx for your planes, your truck drivers. I mean, you're the backbone of helping much of us stay safe. Sir,

thank you so much.

SUBRAMANIAM: No, we are -- thank you.

QUEST: No, go ahead. You were going to say --

SUBRAMANIAM: I was just going to say we are on the frontlines of this battle and I am very grateful to the FedEx team members around the world

who are battling it out every single day.

QUEST: Good to have yourself. We'll talk more once the recovery gets underway. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Now, oil prices are stuck in mid-year lows as countries go into lock down around the world. I'll discuss with the CEO of energy giant, Enel after the

break. It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:05]

QUEST: We're seeing alarming numbers coming out of Europe. France has become the fifth country to report more than a thousand deaths. Italy's

death toll is the highest in the world with more than 7,500 fatalities. There is some hope. The country is reporting a slight decline in new cases.

In Spain, the death toll jump past China's overnight and health officials are expecting to see more infections in the coming days.

Scott McLean is in Madrid. We've seen ice rinks being used as morgues. The country is on lockdown, and it has been for some weeks. But is it having

any effect?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the $64,000.00 question here, Richard. A couple of days ago, a regional official has said that he

expected that today would be the peak and then after this, the number of cases would start going down.

One of the top health officials said a couple of days ago that well, he thought that in a few days, it would start going down. Today, though he is

saying that he expects the number of deaths and cases to continue to climb, which is raising questions about just how much good this state wide

lockdown is doing.

The number of deaths has now surpassed China up to 3,400, just more than 700 in just the last 24 hours alone. The number of confirmed cases is

growing at a higher rate than it is in Italy. So they're still not on the backside of this just yet. They're hoping that that happens soon.

Today is the two-week anniversary of when they closed the schools, which is why there was some hope that today would be the peak. But Saturday

obviously marks two weeks since this whole country was under lockdown.

QUEST: How can a country a fraction of the size and population have more deaths than China with its billion population?

MCLEAN: I just asked that question to Spain's Foreign Minister, Richard and frankly she doesn't have the answer either. She suggested that perhaps

in other countries like China, they are maybe not counting the full breadth of the deaths that are related to the coronavirus. They may be counting

them as something else. That was her suggestion.

But she said, look, we don't know the answer to that at this point. Obviously, you could speculate that maybe it comes down to demographics or

what have you.

But her point was that look, right now, we're just laser focused on getting a handle on this. They have asked NATO for help. The Spanish military has

asked NATO for helps in terms of getting supplies. They've just made a deal with China to purchase some half a billion dollars' worth of supplies, but

that is one of their biggest problems is the infection rate amongst healthcare workers.

Of all the confirmed cases, Richard, more than one in every eight is a healthcare worker and they say that they simply do not have the protective

equipment that they need.

QUEST: Thank you. Scott McLean is in Madrid. I appreciate that. Now, amid all the lockdown and huge disruptions, oil prices stuck obviously at the

lower levels.

Crude is hovering around $25.00 a barrel and the S&P is warning, prices could fall further, $10.00 amid a slowing economy and a price war between

Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Francesco Starace is the Chief Executive of Enel, the Italian energy giant. First of all, sir, thank you for joining me. I hope you and your family,

and I hope that your company, your workers are weathering the storm with safety.

FRANCESCO STARACE, CEO AND GENERAL MANAGER, ENEL: Yes, we have, of course worried about that from the beginning. And they are all now have started

working from home, not only Italy, but everywhere we are present.

We are present in Spain and the U.S. and everywhere in Latin America. So we're all in this moment, regardless of which country we sit in and whether

there is or not a lockdown in remote working conditions.

QUEST: This -- let's talk about the oil industry. I mean, Saudi and Russia and their constant feud over gaining market share. What do you make of it?

Bearing in mind we really are talking about a pandemic here and these two countries are still squabbling it out.

STARACE: Yes, this was going on before the coronavirus thing came up. And I think it's a question of Saudi Arabia establishing for good, some kind of

supremacy or leadership in the domain of oil and I think they have proven that they can do that whenever they have a chance.

And this is a case in which they have demonstrated they have still strong pricing power. I think that's a method.

QUEST: Do you fear -- do you fear a drop of say $10.00 a barrel? Is that realistic? Bearing in mind, you know, the slowdown that's taking place? A

large part of the world is still to deal with coronavirus. Is it realistic we could see it forced to that level?

STARACE: I'm not an expert in oil prices, so I will never venture to make --- to say a speculation on that. But you know, we've seen wide swings on

oil prices in the ups and the downs in the past years, so why not? I mean, it's something that can happen. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

Probably, it will last for a while and then back up.

[15:25:13]

STARACE: So all oil is like that, and then you know, thank God, we're totally recovering from that kind of up and down. It is not healthy for

economy, I think, in general.

QUEST: In your home market in Italy, of course in the home country. The situation is desperate. It is rapidly going to turn that way in other

countries, too, and as the head of a large organization, how worried are you now?

STARACE: I am less worried than I was before because we have secured the operation of the company in a very robust way across all the geographies,

so we know what this is all about.

We know that it takes a couple of months of lockdown to get over with the situation. The earlier the lockdown happens, and then the more drastic it

is, the better.

And that's it. You know, it's a very stupid issue that keeps repeating itself over and over. And I think in Italy, this will be mostly over

between now and the end of April, probably a little later in Spain and so forth.

And so it's a question of this virus is migrating through the globe, and every time, it's the same story. The earlier and the more drastic the

measure, the lighter and the faster the response. It's very simple.

And now we know about this. It's not the end of the world. It is just a question of discipline and doing it.

QUEST: Thank you, sir. Putting it simply, not a question, just discipline and doing it. And as we discovered, it's simple, but not easy as they say.

Thank you, sir.

STARACE: Yes. Thank you, too.

QUEST: Good to see you. The U.S. Congress is preparing to pass a record setting stimulus package. How does it stack up against the U.K., Germany,

the E.U. and what everybody else has done?

We'll talk about it after the break. Very glad you're with me. It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: I'm Richard Quest. A lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment, as we get to it and before that, this is

CNN, and here, on this network, the facts always come first. The news headlines.

The World Health Organization is warning countries not to ease social distancing measures to combat the virus too early. In New York, the hardest

hit state, U.S. governor and the U.S. -- the Governor Andrew Cuomo says those measures have been effective, and to stop them too soon, would be a

mistake. It is reporting a slight decrease in new virus cases for the fourth day. The World Health Organization says some regions in Italy are

close to the peak of new cases, but the battle isn't over yet. The country's death toll remains the highest in the world, took more than 7,500

people.

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the virus. He's also -- his office says he's only displaying mild symptoms as

he self-isolates in Scotland. At 71, his staff is keeping a close eye on his health.

As the U.S. Congress prepares to vote on the largest aid deal in history, three Republican Senators say they won't fast track it until some issues

are fixed. They argue the bill is written could incentivize job losses. And despite the objections, there's no indication the bill won't pass. The

White House says President Trump's looking forward to signing it. Joining me now is Mervyn King, he was the Bank of England's Governor from 2003 to

2013. Mervyn, again, good to have you, sir. Thank you. And the measures that you're seeing being taken now from the central banks, are you -- are

you satisfied that they're doing all that they should?

MERVYN KING, FORMER GOVERNOR, BANK OF ENGLAND (via Skype): Well, Richard, good evening to you from Britain. And yes, I do think the central banks are

doing everything which they could. And they do have the ability to expand their operations very quickly, and they will undoubtedly do so if they feel

it's necessary. The really important measures now are those required to be taken by government. And there, of course, you've just explained that in

the U.S. Congress is not entirely sure whether this will go through, it's taken some time to do it. But in most countries, governments have stepped

in, and my guess is, they will end up doing more than they have already done.

QUEST: The former head of the Fed who you know obviously very well, Ben Bernanke, he said today, in terms of a recovery because that is the issue

people are talking about. He says, if there's not too much damage done to the workforce, and however long that might be with the shutdown, we could

see a fairly quick rebound. Do you -- do you go along with that thought that the rebound when it comes could be stronger than perhaps first

thought?

KING: Yes, I agree with Ben Bernanke on this. But of course, the key thing is the point that he made, which is governments have to step in to ensure

the businesses, large and small, and especially the self-employed, do not disappear before we get to the point when the epidemic comes to an end, and

we see the recovery. And that's why government action to support businesses of all kinds is so necessary at this point.

QUEST: Do you see any similarities here with what you faced in Britain and in during the great financial crisis?

KING: Well, there are two similarities, but I think the differences are bigger. The similarities are that it's a global crisis, and also that the

development of the crisis depends on people's behavior. It's not something -- not one can easily speculate about. We haven't seen this before. We

don't really know how people respond to the measures that have been taken. And so, just as we saw bank runs develop in the financial crisis, where

people started to think that it was better for them to get their money out, rather than leave it in the banks. So today, people are buying food in the

shops on a scale which makes it difficult for the rest of us to find what we really need.

QUEST: The government's spending. And to some extent, they -- you know what Christine Lagarde always used to tell me and I've put -- repair the roof

while the sun shines, she always said. Well, I wonder, we didn't -- many countries didn't repair their roofs. So, they're going into this crisis.

Yes, by all means, they're going to do whatever it takes, but they weren't in great financial shape, to begin with, and they're going to be in much

worse. Only Germany seems to have learned that lesson.

[15:35:11]

KING: I don't think it's entirely fair. The United Kingdom certainly learned it. And the measures taken to hold down the level of national debt

during the last 10 years, put the U.K. in a position where it is now possible to respond almost without limit to do what is necessary to contain

this disaster that's hit us all. So, you're right that some countries are in a very difficult position. And they are primarily, I think, the emerging

market economies. And many of those will find that the world is a pretty lonely place at present. I don't think the rest of the world is going to

step in and do a great deal to help them.

QUEST: Now, which brings me to the G20. The G20 is never robust except during 2008, 2009 both in London and in Washington. So far, they don't seem

to have -- the view seems to be that they haven't grasped this. They haven't really got to grips with this. Do you share that?

KING: Not entirely. I think the difficulty is to see what is the role of the G20 in this situation, over and above the role of national governments.

There are two big decisions which only governments can take and only national governments can take. The first is the extent of the measures to

contain the virus by introducing lockdowns and so on. That is something for national governments. And I think it's very important to recognize that we

need a bit of humility here about how much we know about the virus. We don't know anywhere near enough to make accurate predictions or forecasts.

And the second thing that only governments can do is to provide compensation to those businesses whose earnings and takings are collapsing

from one day to the next. And that does require intervention in the form of compensation, as well as extending credit. Governments have to back that.

And that's not something which the G20 can do collectively.

QUEST: As we know this is going to end. The old phrase, this too shall pass is most certainly true. But governor, I do wonder what worries you most

about the long tail of this crisis?

KING: What worries me most at present is that, despite the various measures being taken, no one really has thought, or come up with an answer to the

question of what is the exit route from this? It's clear that an exit route would be a combination of the development of a vaccine and the spread of

immunity in a sufficiently large proportion of the population who had the virus and got over it mean, and mean that it would no longer be so likely

to cause a large second or third wave of infections.

But we're a long way from that, and I think the deepest concern now is that even if we contain the severity of cases and managed to reduce (AUDIO GAP)

of our health services that we do not yet know, how we're going to get from that point to a situation where we can say, the epidemic is over, and we

can then see a rapid economic recovery.

QUEST: Lord King, thank you, sir. I appreciate you joining me tonight. Keep well, and thank you for taking the time.

KING: Yes, thank you, Richard.

QUEST: Thank you. In the United Kingdom, the coronavirus poses a critical threat to child care providers. A lockdown has forced thousands of

nurseries to shut their doors except for children of essential workers. Nurseries often rely on parent fees for funding. Without that money, many

say they'll never be able to reopen. You'll be well aware on this program every night, the voices of the crisis, the businesses, big and small,

having to make impossible decisions about everything from staffing to delivery. And we've talked about restaurants, we've talked about -- well,

Libby Wilson, this is the Oakwood nurseries. And she's been forced to close her business in recent weeks -- Oakwood nurseries. Libby joins me now.

And this is -- we forget. I'll be honest, I think about -- I think about restaurants, some bars and the places I might go to. But this is showing us

this very deep route into the economy. How are you coping love?

LIBBY WILSON, DIRECTOR, OAKWOOD NURSERIES (via Skype): Oh, well, I'm not. I'm a small to medium-sized business. I've got, what, 20 girls work for me.

I look after about 100 families, about 120 children. And we were told last Wednesday to shut our doors and that was that.

QUEST: So, if you -- if you then have to let your staff go, and obviously, you have no income coming in and you have the rent or mortgage on the

property, how are you going to balance it? Are you going to take advantage of the British government's plan, for example, to pay wages or to help with

grants?

[15:40:08]

WILSON: Yes, I am. They've been -- they've got a wage scheme called the coronavirus job retention scheme. And I will have to take advantage of

that. Now, that seems like a wonderful scheme. And it is. But being a business owner, you have to be pragmatic and being a government, you've got

to be pragmatic. It isn't all that it's cracked up to be. They want us to look after the key worker children, for example, the doctors, the nurses,

the police force. And if I open my doors to look up to those children, I can't access the wage scheme. And if I opened my doors to those children, I

would make a massive loss.

QUEST: I see. I hadn't realize. So, you're caught between -- so, they won't sort of pay -- basically, they won't pay you to keep -- those wages but

even though you're bringing in fewer children, is that right?

WILSON: That's right. I -- there's about 10 percent of the workforce in the U.K. that would classify as key worker or all the children are vulnerable,

they're in care, et cetera. And I have one of my settings, I've got 70 children enrolled, and I've got seven children that are key workers -- or

parents are key workers.

QUEST: Right. Got it.

WILSON: If I help those children, I would make a loss of about 1,000 pounds a month.

QUEST: Is it keeping you up at night?

WILSON: Yes, it is. Very much so.

QUEST: I'm not laughing when I say that, but I just know that, at the end of the day with these sort of crises, you know, we can talk about it for

hours and hours, Libby, but at the end of the day, it's when you put your head on the pillow, and you're suddenly there -- and you -- and you wake up

in the morning and the problem is still there. How are you coping?

WILSON: Well, I mean, the government is -- I believe it's looking after the big boys. And you had Lord King on before he was talking about the big

loans that are out there, they're for the big boys. I think it was Napoleon that said that Britain is a nation of shopkeepers. And we are, we're all

thousands, tens of thousands of small businesses up and down the country. And it's us that are going to struggle.

QUEST: Libby, when it's over, we'll talk again. Show me some pictures of the nursery in full throttle. I've no doubt you're going to weather this

storm in one shape or another. Thank you, Libby, good to talk to you.

WILSON: Thank you. Good bye.

QUEST: Thank you. Now, oh, now talking about small companies, big companies, Starbucks has recently opened most of its stores in China. The

coffee giant is planning to use its experience as a roadmap in the U.S. and elsewhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:22]

QUEST: As governments in the West impose strict lockdown measures on their citizens, there are encouraging signs of recovery in the country where the

outbreak began. China is lifting travel restrictions for some 60 million people in Hubei province. Business is slowly getting back on track, too.

The world's largest coffee chain, Starbucks, has now reopened nearly all of its stores. And the CEO says the closure lasted about 60 days, 40 to -- 45

to 60 days. Vanessa Yurkevich joins me to (INAUDIBLE) So, what did they learn from this process?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (via Skype): Hi there, Richard. What they learned that there really is no roadmap for how to

navigate a pandemic, but having gone through this, the company says that they've gone through this in China. And what they realized is that if they

map out in different regions throughout China, where places need to close, and then how fast they can open, they're trying to take that information

that they learned in China and then transpose it to other places like Europe and the United States, to really understand how long some of their

stores are going to have to be closed. Here in the United States, stores are closed.

They're only doing delivery and take out, but the thing is that they're able to pay their employees right now. I was listening to your previous

guests, small business owner who said that she can't afford to keep her business going. Starbucks being a large corporation can afford to pay their

employees for the next 30 days, Richard, whether they are or are not working during this very troubling time, Richard.

QUEST: And what Starbucks said -- what have they learned about the whole process? And I'm impressed when I hear that number of stores are open. But

that might be my ignorance because or naivete, I should say, because here in the States, we're just really getting into the bowels and the depths of

the crisis.

YURKEVICH: Exactly. You know, I think nine weeks from closing the stores to reopening some of the stores in Starbucks, 95 percent of the stores is

pretty quick. They've also opened stores in Wuhan, which is where many think that the coronavirus originated. But we're so -- we're so much at the

beginning of this crisis here in the United States.

And what Starbucks is trying to understand is if what is happening in the United States and Europe is moving at the same rate as China, they're

trying to look at the data that they got from China and trying to understand if they are looking at a 45 to 60-day timeline, as you

mentioned. But this is -- this is moving so quickly, and there's still so much unknown, but right now, Starbucks, really trying to keep their stores

closed, not move too quickly and get ahead of themselves and put people at risk, Richard.

QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you. Now, demand for home workouts is skyrocketing. As millions of around the world are ordered to stay indoors.

We'll talk to the Chief Executive ClassPass about what they're doing to help people stay fit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:54]

QUEST: So, keeping fit in these difficult times. The fitness platform ClassPass is trying a video-based approach to get its customers sweating

again. The CEO Fritz Lanman joins me from St. Louis, Missouri. First of all, I hope and trust that you and your family are well, sir, but -- So,

what's the idea here? You sign up and you use some of your ClassPass credits for online videos, is it going to work?

FRITZ LANMAN, CEO, CLASSPASS (via Skype): We think so. We have over 500 partners now offering live classes through the platform. And it's a great

experience, you know, in a world where you can't go to class in the real world, this is as good as it gets. You know, with your favorite

instructors, and hopefully some of the same members of the community there in the class with you, virtually.

QUEST: And I -- and I suppose you have to use, of course, you have to do it where there's no equipment or there's no -- I mean, it's just literally

people in their living room in a short and a T-shirt.

LANMAN: It's whatever the instructor decides they want to do. So, some classes have weights or yoga mats, others, just you and your -- and your

body and you can do a full-body workout, or a yoga class or mat Pilates or it's whatever the instructor wants to do, the customer can then decide if

they want to take a class that requires equipment if they still have access to that.

QUEST: And to the extent that the money that you receive or the ClassPass that are used up, you're not taking any commission are you?

LANMAN: Correct. This is a pay as you go. So, there's no recurrent subscription like our normal product. And we're giving 100 percent of the

proceeds, at least through June 1st, directly to the studios and the gyms and the wellness providers, doing these classes, doing these coaching

sessions, because right now, we're just worried about helping keep them in business.

QUEST: How's the response been? What can you tell me?

LANMAN: The response from the partner side has been tremendous, right? They're all scrambling, waiting to see what government relief packages are

going to come through to help keep them alive, help keep their people employed. And so, a lot of them have been looking to do video, getting

their own Zoom accounts, doing stuff on Instagram or Facebook. And now, we've given them a way to actually charge for it and to schedule it, and

give them access to a multi-million person audience. So, they've loved it. It's just gone out today. So the consumer response has been good, but it's

still kind of early on.

QUEST: It's early on. But I think what it's telling me is that because I'm a bit of a fitness fanatic myself, and not being able to work out during

this crisis, I understand the reasons why, and I understand all of that. But this is -- this is hitting into something that we want to do, isn't it?

LANMAN: Absolutely. You know, we try not to be prescriptive as to whether consumers should work out on video or audio workouts in the park or at the

gym or be in a class physically. We just want to give them the choice and the flexibility and then they can choose. And so, we think most people will

mix and match between some, you know, audio workouts, once they can go to class some back at the gym, back in classes. But then, you can augment it

with this video stuff. So, we hope this video stuff is actually here to stay.

QUEST: Good to see you, sir. Thank you. Good to talk to you. Now, Fritz was obviously speaking to me from his home, as most of our guests have, Lord

King was speaking to me from home. In fact, everybody is just about working from home, WFH. So, what's your best tip? We're doing a special program

this weekend about working from home. What is your best tip? You can either e-mail me or send me a video, you know to do the video and send it to me

either at Richard.quest@cnn.com. Send me the video of your best tip or post it on your social account and use the #questwfh. We'll pick it up from

Instagram, from TikTok, from Twitter, all the usual ones. We'd like some videos of you -- your best tip and your worst tip. How about that? And we

will talk about that at this weekend on our special program, "WFH: THE NEW REALITY."

Now, before we do go, we need to update you on what has happened. The last few minutes on Wall Street? Whoa, whoa, whoa, what happened? Look at that.

[15:55:06]

The last -- the last 20 minutes, the gains, we were up to 1,000 points during the course of this hour, and then it slipped away for seemingly some

unknown reason. And maybe just the clothes and people have decided they don't want to go long overnight.

So, that's why, but -- and now it's coming back up again. So, we are betwixt in between. We've given up a lot of the gains of the day, but we

are having two consecutive days of triple-digit gains. Boeing is 23 percent. It's given back 7 percent of what it's done. And Walgreens is the

biggest loser, interestingly. Walgreens, Walmart, P&G, they are the ones that gain when things are bad.

The fact that the stim and 3M know all of this, the fact that the stimulus package is coming in. And that's improving the situation. That, of course,

gives people much room -- more room for hope (INAUDIBLE) That's the market for today. It is a gain of over three percent. The best of the day has

gone, but airlines are up sharply too, as a -- as a result.

Working From Home, Quest, WFH leave you today with the market. I'm Richard Quest, whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable.

We'll be with you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. This afternoon, the World Health Organization Director General warned that

the time to act against the coronavirus was actually one month ago. But this is a second opportunity and opportunity quote, which we should not

squander and do everything to suppress and control this virus unquote. This hour, the number of deaths in the US is now more than 800.

To give you some perspective on how fast the death toll is accelerating yesterday at this time, there have been 646 deaths. The cases of course

confirmed cases also continuing to spike growing about 11,000 just in the last 24 hours, now we have close to 62,000 people infected in the U.S.

confirmed, in fact, that it's real number is assuredly more than that.

One hospital system in New York has seen a tenfold increase in coronavirus patients in the past week. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the

hospitalizations across the state are surpassing predicted numbers so far and at the peak of this crisis there.

END