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Quest Means Business

Powell: We Will Stay The Course Until The Job Is Done; Euro Area Inflation Falls For The First Time In 17 Months; Lionel Messi`s Argentina Taking On Poland; China Announces Changes After Nationwide Zero COVID Protests; Dubai Benefits From World Cup Tourism; E.U. Warns Musk Twitter Must Enforce Rules On Content. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired November 30, 2022 - 15:00:00   ET

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

[15:00:11]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": The markets on Wall Street with an hour left to trade, the market is up on the

Fed Chair`s comment in a speech. But the significance besides the fact it`s up one and a bit is if you look at how the day had gone before. So, clearly

this is one of those examples where we can definitively say that the Fed Chair`s comments has buoyed the market. We need to understand whether

that`s a justification or justified rise, but that`s still to come.

The markets as you look at them, and the main events, as we have more ground to cover, says Jerome Powell, warning investors that slowing rate

hikes do not mean that the inflation fight is over.

The EU is warning Elon Musk, Twitter must follow its content moderation rules.

And from Dubai to Doha, and back, look at that. The FlyDubai Chief Executive tonight joins me to talk about the surge in shuttle flights,

taking fans to the World Cup.

I`ve made it back to New York. It is Wednesday, it is November the 30th. I`m Richard Quest and in New York, I mean business.

Good evening.

Tonight, Jay Powell has given his strongest signal yet that the error of jumbo rate rises may be ending. Speaking in the last hour, the Fed Chair

signaled more moderate hikes are on the horizon. Still, he did warn that they will continue to raise rates until the job is done.

The Fed Chair is speaking in Washington and said there is a long way to go against inflation. Warning demand will likely continue to slow --

restrictive rates is how they put it. The latest data shows the US economy grew faster than initially thought in Q3 and Powell said what may be coming

next at the next Fed meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, US FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting. Given our

progress in tightening policy, the timing of that moderation is far less significant than the questions of how much further we will need to raise

rates to control inflation and the length of time it will be necessary to hold policy at a restrictive level.

It is likely that restoring price stability will require holding policy at a restrictive level for some time. History cautions strongly against

prematurely loosening policy, and I`ll close by saying that we will stay the course until the job is done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: It is this aspect of history and learning the lessons that Jay Powell is pointing out, particularly from events five decades ago. It was

the 1970s, the first half of the 70s when inflation, as you can see on the chart seemed to be subsiding, but by the end of that decade, it had

returned with a vengeance after the Middle East energy shock.

Paul Volcker was at the head of the Fed and responded by nearly doubling interest rates from their peak earlier -- they`ve been around eight

percent. Now this swift move triggered high unemployment and two recessions over three years. But Paul Volcker did not budge. He kept rates elevated

until it was clear inflation was going down. You see it clearly on the chart, and he said, a repeat -- Jay Powell today said a repeat of that era

would make the Fed`s job difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Are we going into a situation a little bit like the 70s where there will be repeated ongoing repeat shocks, which would tend to put more

upward pressure on inflation over time? We don`t really know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Marc Stewart is with me. This honesty of "we don`t really know" at one point -- in one sense, it is troubling when we are expecting certainty;

on another side. I suppose it`s quite comforting. They`re not sort of trying to bamboozle us.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think Jay Powell is in many ways channeling his inner Paul Volcker, as you kind of hinted to, Richard.

I think at the end of the day, Jay Powell has made it very clear, his decisions are going to be based off of data and information and he has a

lot of data and information to digest, especially with the upcoming meeting in December.

He is obviously going to look at the labor market, which has been a big contributor to inflation. He`s going to look at the Consumer Price Index,

which is released just a day before the Fed`s meeting in December. He is being very cautionary, as we have heard through his language, saying we

have more ground to cover, we have a long way to go.

Let`s take a listen to Jay Powell and here is some insight about why he thinks this approach, these things he brought up at today`s speech really

do make sense.

[15:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: We`re tightening the stance of policy in order to slow growth in aggregate demand. Slowing demand growth should allow supply to catch up

with demand and restore the balance that will yield stable prices over time.

Restoring that balance is likely to require a sustained period of below trend growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: One thing that consumers and perhaps the Fed Chair find a bit concerning is that we have seen these massive rate hikes and yet demand is

still strong. We were talking about GDP, data today shows that consumers are still spending very much with consumer spending very high a big part of

today`s GDP.

QUEST: Whichever way we slice this cake, Marc, his comment. The truth is that the path ahead for inflation remains highly uncertain.

Now, why would the market rally? Yes, he sort of said we`re going to do you know, we`re not going to do 75 basis points, but it`s sort of he giveth and

taketh, because whilst he gives us with that, he is basically saying rates aren`t coming down either.

STEWART: Right. Rates aren`t coming down. In fact, I was looking at an analysis this morning by Deutsche Bank, it was suggesting that perhaps the

next rate hike would be 50 basis points, but what the Fed chair is providing today is two things. One, some optimism that these massive rate

hikes might quell a bit. And second of all, a little bit more of a roadmap as to what the future will hold, a little bit more of a flight plan.

It doesn`t answer everything, and it doesn`t necessarily say that rates are going to go down to even a quarter percent, but it is some indication of

where we`re heading.

QUEST: Just look at that chart on the screen at the moment. Keep it there for a moment, please. I mean, the steps that have had to be taken in such

short order shows the resilience of the inflation involved. We talked about sticky inflation, embedded inflation, systemic inflation, all those sorts

of words. But here, you know, PCE as the Fed Chair admitted is more than double the target.

STEWART: People still have money to spend; not everyone, but a certain amount of the population has money to spend. People are still working,

they`re working for higher wages.

Something else which we saw this week, too, especially with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, people are also using their credit cards, that may hurt

us moving forward, but there is still money to be spent and that`s why it`s so hard to quell this demand.

QUEST: And we will watch that closely. Marc, thank you.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Eurozone inflation slowed for the first time in 17 months. Consumer prices are up 10 percent year-on-year, but

however, that was a surprise to the downside, it was 10.6 percent in October, and it`s a slight relief to the ECB, which has raised rates three

times this year.

Richard Davies is the former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers at the UK Treasury, now Director of Economics Observatory with me now.

We`ll do first of all of Europe, and then I`ll sort of bring the two transatlantic together. If you look at that number, it`s very similar in a

sense. You can take hope from the latest ECB number, but one would be foolish to say that the battle against inflation is won.

RICHARD DAVIES, DIRECTOR, ECONOMIC OBSERVATORY: Yes, I think that`s absolutely right. Clearly, it`s coming down a little bit, but way, way

higher than we`ve seen for a long time. And importantly, you were talking in the previous section, I think rightly so about the 1970s.

There is this concern that because workers are seeing a real pay terms decrease, we`re seeing an increase in union activity, where you see

increasing tensions in the workplace with people aiming to bid up their wages completely understandably. When that happens, it can be much harder

to get inflation out of the system, because every firm is facing a higher payroll, and they`re going to tend to push that back out in next year`s

prices.

So I wouldn`t read too much into this little kind of chink down that we`ve seen, just in the latest data point.

QUEST: Do you believe we have much further to go in the rate hiking cycle on both sides of the Atlantic? And, you know, even once they`ve paused

rates at these elevated levels, are they restrictive enough?

DAVIES: I think Powell`s thinking of it today, right, I think the era of what has now been called jumbo rate rises. You`ve got them there on the

screen, these big jumps is over for the moment. And that`s for the simple reason, actually, that monetary policy takes quite a long time to impact

the economy.

So I was an economist at the Bank of England for a good time and there in the UK, it is thought that it will take around 12 to 18 months, maybe even

two years for some of the effects of a rate hike to affect the real economy.

So you have to do this with an eye to the future and understanding how it is affecting not just demand today, but future demand and so they need to

kind of suck it and see a little bit and hold with these higher rates.

[15:10:10]

DAVIES: So, what I think we`re going to see is what the market is expecting, and what the Central Bankers are signaling in smaller nudges,

sort of 25 basis points and less of this fifty, seven-five percent basis point shifts that we`ve been seeing.

QUEST: Which assumes that at some point, and we`re not there yet, according to what Jay Powell was saying today, at some point, you have to

see meaningful cuts in rates, sorry, cuts in inflation. You have to see inflation coming down in a meaningful fashion. When would you expect to see

that?

DAVIES: I think we`ll see that next year, midway through next year and for the simple reason, it is always kind of difficult to explain. But I

hope, viewers can understand the basic intuition of this jargon that economists talk about, which is so-called base effects.

So essentially, what happens when prices go, a big jump in prices, let`s say more or less 10 percent that we`ve seen. We`ve got this 10 percent

inflation rate.

As long as prices don`t keep going up and keep going up and keep going up, once we`ve got a year away from that step up in prices, we get this

automatic thing called a base effect where the inflation rate will come down because it was more than a year ago, and we only look at prices over

the course of a year.

So we`re going to see these big reductions, I think in inflation midway through next year, as things like the big jumps that we saw because of war

in Ukraine, and because of the global supply chain shocks as those come out of the system. That was the supply side inflation that will come out.

The question and it goes back to your discussion of the Fed is what`s going on, on the demand side and has Central Bank activity tamped down demand to

quell that inflation as well?

QUEST: How much of a problem is it that there is still large levels of savings from the pandemic that is making it obviously more difficult as

most people to still have money to spend, certainly, we see it in travel and tourism. I was at the WTTC this week.

But it makes it difficult because consumers can dip into savings to continue to spend even though interest rates are higher.

DAVIES: Yes. is more difficult, and that is why I think we are seeing so much focus and so much effort being put in and really that was the element.

I would say, of your last segment on the Fed and what we would call people that follow Central Banks we call kind of expectations management, because

what the Central Banks are trying to do is to explain to people that they are going to be committed to getting inflation down, and they`re going to

hold steady with that.

And if you can get some of that into the ether, into people`s expectations, into the expectations of firms that are setting prices, then you can

actually get almost like a free lunch as a Central Banker and this was something that they didn`t have in the 1970s because expectations got out

of control there for what inflation was going to be and that can help you bring inflation down. So, that`s what they`re looking to do.

QUEST: Grateful for you tonight. We`ll talk more about it as we go through the various rate cycles. I`m grateful. Thank you.

Some sad news I need to bring you, Christine McVie, member of the legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac has died. She was 79 years old. She played the

guitar and she wrote many of the group`s most famous hits. The band has released a statement describing her as truly one of a kind special and

talented beyond measure.

I`ll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:32]

QUEST: The world could be getting its last glimpse of one of football`s greatest players on the biggest stage. This is likely to be Leonel Messi`s

last World Cup. The 35-year-old is on the field for Argentina, which is taking on Poland. They sit second in Group C after a shock defeat at the

hands of Saudi Arabia in their opening match.

Now, this is a complicated bit, of course. If they lose tonight and Saudi Arabia beat Mexico, again that is taking place now, Argentina will be out.

Patrick Snell is in Atlanta and joins me now.

What is the likelihood of that scenario?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi there, Richard.

Yes, fascinating scenarios unfolding as we speak at this hour because the two scenarios you just mentioned, well let`s just say everything is still

up for grabs.

Here is the very latest and I want to hone right in on that Poland- Argentina game. Argentina`s Albiceleste one nil up. Mexico currently two nil up in that game against Saudi Arabia. So a Saudi Arabia victory at this

hour looking very unlikely, but there was high drama just before halftime in the Argentina game when Messi wins the penalty, and then although it was

a little controversial, but he did win the penalty on a foul from Wojciech Szczesny, the Juventus goalkeeper who plays for Poland.

But Szczesny redeeming himself by denying Messi, Richard, from the penalty spot with a really outstanding save, one of the best saves -- probably the

best save I`ve seen at this year`s World Cup so far that kept his team in the game, but just seconds into the start of the second half, it is Alexis

McAllister putting Argentina ahead, the youngster who plays in Brighton in the Premier League, Argentina, one nil up as we speak, Mexico two nil up --

Richard.

QUEST: So, just go back to one of the matches at the moment, if can see the graphic o the matches at the moment. If this follows through, I`m just

looking at my earlier script. So if they win, and Saudi Arabia doesn`t -- or it loses, then Argentina goes through.

SNELL: Here is the bottom line, as it stands, at this hour at this very second, Richard, the top two in the group, Poland and Argentina would

advance, which would mean heartbreak, of course for Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

Actually, we`ve been tossing up things as we`re on right here, thanks to producer, Sam. If Mexico score two more, and they win by at least two goals

and the result of the score line stance in the other game, Mexico`s El Tricolor would sensationally be advancing as well to the round of 16,

though they need at least two more goals in that one.

Anyway, so that is the latest, Richard. It is ever changing though.

QUEST: I sort of always loved this first round because it is the mathematics as much as the football. You know, and one`s ability to move

forward depends on other people`s mistakes or other teams` mistakes.

Patrick Snell, very grateful. Thank you, sir. So, when we have a final result on that, we`ll come back. Lovely. Thank you.

Qatar`s Energy Minister says his country won`t let politics affect business. Qatar struck a deal to supply Germany with LNG that will help it

wean itself off Russian energy supplies.

Speaking to Becky Anderson earlier, Saad Al Kaabi said his nation is stepping up its role in the global energy market.

[15:20:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAD BIN SHERIDA AL KAABI, QATARI ENERGY MINISTER: We have been planning for supply to Europe before the Ukraine. What the Ukraine war has done is

basically, it has turned some like the Germans that didn`t want any LNG imports to having zero LNG terminals to going to about five in the very

near future. So, it`s really the change, if you will, in import requirements in Germany that is changing.

Our plan has always been to serve Europe and Asia, and we look in probably ten years from now to be probably 50 percent in Europe, 50 percent Asia

market mix. It could be skewed to 60/40, either way, depending on how deals work out.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That is a significant change that which you currently have, of course.

AL KAABI: Not really because if you look at what we serve as a market today, we have a terminal in Italy. We`re serving Rovigo Terminal in Italy.

We`re serving the UK with 20 percent of the gas that go -- LNG going into the UK is from Qatar, so we`ve already been in Europe. We`re just

expanding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Returning to the top story, the US dollar is falling at the moment after Jerome Powell`s speech. Obviously, this is on the question of higher

interest rates. The Fed Chair suggested the pace of increases could slow that market that they had been hoping for, now it seems to be getting the

message.

It sent other currencies higher against the dollar, the pound and the euro, both up around one percent. Look at that, the pound is over $1.20 at the

moment.

How many currencies do you have in your wallet? I was just looking because I`ve just been traveling as you know. Well, there are the euros, and then

we`ve got some Swiss francs, then there`s always these currencies that I`ve always got leftover from a trip. So, I just sort of keep them.

For example, the Chinese yuan, the Seychelles rupee, and so on -- you get the idea. Well, who handles all this money now when we travel?

The currency exchange firm, Travelex says its third quarter revenue was down 17 percent from two years ago. That`s perhaps understandable, bearing

in mind, the way we continue -- traveling is just getting underway. It is hope for a company that`s been through a rough couple of years. A major

cyberattack, the pandemic -- it all pushed Travelex into insolvency, restructuring and cutting more than a thousand jobs.

And now the company faces tighter competition with digital banking and low fee options, giving travelers more options than ever. Technology seems to

be the key.

Richard Wazacz is with me, the CEO of Travelex with me from London.

Sir, good to see you.

RICHARD WAZACZ, CEO, TRAVELEX: Good evening.

QUEST: The company is turning round slow, but sure. But I ask, turning around towards what?

WAZACZ: So we`ve seen the first thing is, you know, as you pointed out, we`re very much a function of how people travel around the world. So we`re

seeing global travel returning to what we saw before the pandemic, which is fueling the recovery of our company.

In terms of what the world is going to look like, I think the talk about the world moving to digital and people giving up on physical cash

completely, is -- it`s not going to happen for a long, long time. In fact, we don`t think the use of cash for travel money requirements and travel

money needs of customers, it hasn`t reached its peak yet.

So, what we`re seeing specifically in emerging markets is that though the use of cash is slowly declining, and very slowly, the amount of people

traveling, the percentage of people traveling is going up massively. So, the overall volume of international cash is getting bigger.

QUEST: Right. But that`s just moving -- that`s just getting new customers to do the same thing. What I`m interested also is, I mean, as between, for

example, your wholesale business, delivering cash to currency to companies, to institutions, and to Central Banks versus the consumers, people like me

sort of getting some cash in their hand, how does it balance out for the future?

WAZACZ: So if we look at retail, absolutely, we need to start and we will be developing a much more omni-channel approach, offering customers both

the digital and the physical solution.

A lot of people in the world still want a physical solution, still want to touch cash. If you travel in the Middle East, which I did recently, and

you`ll see the most people want to change cash for cash still. So the usage of ATMs to do FX exchange is still very reliable, I believe, because people

have a preference of physical cash.

However, we do need to start bringing in digital solutions, solutions to let people self-serve. So when they turn up at the airport in the same way,

when you go to a supermarket or you go to a check in, you can do it yourself nowadays. We need to let people start self-serving themselves and

allowing themselves to choose how they want to be dealt with.

Secondly, you`re absolutely right. Digital solutions are coming in. People want a prepaid card or virtual wallets, but we have to remember that the

neo banks and the digital solutions, they are focusing on a particular cohort of customers, which may be not early adopters, but are still

technology savvy adopters.

[15:25:10]

WAZACZ: People find money difficult. A lot of people are unsure about money, they are uncertain. They want a human touch, helping them, guiding

them answering questions, reassuring them, telling them how much they need for where they`re going, what sort of mix they need.

So we believe that that human touch coupled with technology is the way to serve a huge portion of the market.

QUEST: Where do you stand on dynamic currency conversion? This, what I think is -- it`s not a scam, it`s perfectly legal, it`s just not very nice,

where, you know, you pay three and a half percent to have a guaranteed exchange rate when you, I, and everybody else knows the whole thing is

going through major Forex exchanges anyway.

WAZACZ: So you`re actually right. The dynamic currency conversion, you know, the principle that a customer can choose to either take money in

their own currency or in the local currency, and absolutely frequently customers, you know, advise to take money in their local currency in the

local currency where they are.

But a lot of people, again, it comes back to comfort and confidence, and a lot of people value convenience and certainty, knowing exactly what is

going to be on their bill when they get home. So, I think, you know, the point here is that dynamic currency conversion has a place to play, but it

has to be transparent and we have to make sure that customers understand that the certainty that they are getting comes potentially at a small

premium.

But I think there is a place for it, and we have to accept that not all customers are comfortable about dealing with foreign currency and they get

a lot of uncertainty and this is a way to give them that certainty that they`re craving.

QUEST: Richard, this is fascinating. Next time, we`re in London, let`s meet up at one of your Travelex places and maybe we can talk more about

this because they obviously, it`s a story that really affects all of us who are traveling great deals.

Thank you, sir. I`m grateful.

WAZACZ: Love to do that. Thank you very much.

QUEST: Thank you.

Now the markets, I need to trade the markets because they are in a bit of a tear at the moment. Look at that, 557, the impressive part is the way they

turned round and you and I can discuss until the cows come home what Jay Powell said, but I would argue that there is nothing that strong in the

Powell speech other than it`ll be half of 50 basis points, not 75. We are probably done with the big jumbo rises.

Does that justify a 1.6 percent rise in the Dow? That`s something that we can perhaps talk about later.

Lockdowns relief in China, major protests against the COVID restrictions, and now, perhaps to alleviate those protests, some cities are doing away

with lockdowns.

It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Hello, I`m Richard Quest. There`s more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.

You`ll hear that China says it is entering a new stage in its response to their pandemic.

What does that mean in real life?

The E.U. is warning Elon Musk to step up the content moderation on Twitter or face a ban. We`ll get to those stories only after the news. This is CNN.

Here, the news always comes first.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST (voice-over): Spanish officials say the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid received a letter bomb on Wednesday. A security officer was slightly hurt

after he opened it. Officials say the letter was addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain. Ukraine`s foreign ministry says it`s ramped up embassy

security worldwide.

U.S. House lawmakers have passed a labor agreement between railroads and their workers and it aims to prevent a crippling strike. The bill would

provide pay increases and sick leave. It now moves to the Senate.

House Democrats have picked caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries to replace Nancy Pelosi as their leader. The New Yorker will be the first Black person to

lead either majority party in Congress.

An ISIS spokesman has announced the killing of the group`s leader, Abu al- Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. Abu Omar al-Muhajer did not elaborate on the date or circumstances of al-Qurashi`s death other than to say on Wednesday

that the Iraqi had "died in battle."

And Chinese state media has announced the death of the country`s former leader Jiang Zemin from leukemia at the age of 96. He`s credited for

paving the way for China to emerge as a modern superpower. The current president XI Jinping said the nation deeply mourns his death.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Let`s stay in China. Top officials say the country is entering a new stage in its pandemic response. It follows some COVID lockdowns that

are being lifted. It`s in the wake of protests against the severe restrictions, which included major cities like Shanghai and the

manufacturing hub, Guangzhou. They`re now relaxing the rules.

The zero policy continues to impact people and businesses across the country. Disruptions at Foxconn`s campus have left some workers empty-

handed. Of course, it cost Apple $1 billion in sales. CNN`s Ivan Watson reports from Hong Kong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Remarkable scenes of confrontations in the streets of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on

Tuesday night. Police in hazmat suits clashing with locals.

All the more striking that the following day the city officials announced they would be lifting some of the lockdowns, the COVID lockdowns, that have

made people there so angry in the first place.

We are hearing similar easing of COVID restrictions in Shanghai where lockdowns were lifted. In Beijing, some of the mandatory testing imposed on

the population has been eased, suggesting that the Chinese authorities are taking a two-pronged approach to dealing with unprecedented protests

resulting from its strict COVID regulations.

WATSON (voice-over): China`s police state strikes back, flooding the streets of Beijing and Shanghai with police. An unmistakable show of force

after a weekend of unprecedented protests in at least 15 cities across the country.

In the eastern city of Hangzhou Monday night, people arrest people in the central square. And an eyewitness tells CNN police search people`s phones

on the Shanghai subway, looking for apps that allow users to circumvent China`s strict internet censorship.

The Communist Party`s domestic security committee ordering officials to resolutely strike hard against infiltration and sabotage activities by

hostile forces as well as criminal activities that destabilize social order.

[15:35:00]

WATSON (voice-over): No compromise for peaceful protesters to voice their opinion. Meanwhile, health officials striking a slightly softer tone,

calling for shorter lockdowns in the Chinese government campaign to eradicate COVID-19.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We need to minimize the inconvenience to the general public because of the anti COVID-19 measures.

As for the high-risk regions., we must have rigorous control. At the same time we should spare no effort to provide services to meet people`s basic

living needs and medical needs.

WATSON (voice-over): A carrot and stick approach from different parts of the Chinese state after the biggest nationwide display of discontent that

this tightly controlled country has seen in a generation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: We have seen no mention of the protest in any of the Chinese state media. It is dominated right now by the death of the former Chinese leader

Jiang Zemin, who passed away at the age of 96 due to leukemia and additional health complications.

He is being heralded by the highest levels of the Chinese government, Xi Jinping expressing deep condolences.

One big question will be, how will the Chinese authorities at this tense moment react if Chinese people try to gather and hold vigils for this

former leader?

There is some historical precedent that this has led to an unrest back in 1989. We`ll have to watch this space very closely, even as China prepares

for a state funeral of its former leader -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: As we continue together tonight, an unexpected commute to the World Cup. Sometimes it`s taking daily to shuttle flights from the UAE to Qatar.

One of those airlines offering tips in a moment.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Qatar isn`t the only country taken to the World Cup by a long way. The UAE, particularly Dubai, has become a gateway to the tournament. Look

at the map there. You see how it is.

The flights from Dubai, the shuttle flights from Dubai to Qatar take no time at all. The low cost carrier flydubai has increased its services to

Qatar from three a day to more than 30 during the cup. It`s shuttling fans to and from the games on one-hour flights. Dubai is expecting 1 million

extra visitors during the competition.

[15:40:00]

QUEST: Ghaith Al Ghaith is with me, the CEO of flydubai. He joins me from Dubai.

Good to see you, sir. Good to see you again as always. Thank you. This is interesting.

When did you realize there was going to be this tremendous opportunity for you to be running these shuttle flights?

GHAITH AL GHAITH, CEO, FLYDUBAI: It`s actually quite an honor for us in the region to be hosting the World Cup what Qatar has achieved. By hosting

the World Cup in our region is a huge honor for all of us in the region. We are actually -- we were invited by the Qatar government and by Qatar Air

especially.

And here I would like to give a very big compliment for our friend because he has invited not only flydubai, almost all of the regional airlines to be

part of this --

(CROSSTALK)

GHAITH: -- the way we see this, it is what -- it is coming to our region and we can all contribute to the successes --

QUEST: Does it, OK, fine.

But does it make much economic sense, I mean flying people from one place to the next to watch a football match?

An important football match but in this area of environmentalism, I`m wondering how one justifies it?

GHAITH: People always choose the most convenient route to travel to where they are going. People coming here have come from so many different

countries. There`s lots of people from our region.

If you look at this testing of the number of people who bought tickets in the Emirates, we are number five worldwide the number of tickets who bought

-- it`s convenient for people to take a train and to take a car or to take -- in our region, we have lots of airlines. That`s how people travel.

QUEST: As we look to the future, after the World Cup, I know, of course, that you are working much more closely with your sister company Emirates.

Does that develop further?

Does that become much more of an integrated solution?

GHAITH: Absolutely, we (INAUDIBLE) like Dubai, it is actually created in Emirates. And we had the same ownership. (INAUDIBLE) is also the chairman

of Emirates. And now five years ago we started co-chairing and co- collaborating with Emirates.

We fly together with Emirates to 115 destinations. In flydubai, we have 113 destinations that we fly to and we fly from the same airport so it`s only

logical that we collaborate and share the network that we have together.

QUEST: I`m interested; I have just come, back as you know, from Saudi. I`ve been there twice the last couple of months for the WTTC. They are

about to start new airline. That`s in a different category from yourselves.

You`ve got all these point to point low cost carriers now growing very rapidly, state funded in many cases, growing rapidly in the region.

Is there enough business for you all?

GHAITH: Yes, there is, actually. In flydubai, since 2019, just before the COVID pandemic, we are actually now 79 percent, 79 percent larger than we

were before the pandemic. And we are still growing very fast.

Our region has not yet reached the stage where we are completely mature because we continue to grow. What is happening in Saudi Arabia, for

example, huge investments in infrastructure, opening up all of these exciting destinations.

And projects bringing more passengers. For example, liberating the visa for (INAUDIBLE) and now people come from all over the world. Our region,

(INAUDIBLE) you`re almost like one of us.

[15:45:00]

GHAITH: You know that we have not received reached the full potential. Airlines have always played an important part of this region on the map. I

think more airlines would be even better for us.

QUEST: We`ll meet again hopefully when I`m Dubai. Thank you, sir, I`m grateful.

I`ve just mentioned, I`ve returned from the WTTC, that`s the World Tourism and Travel Council`s summit in Saudi Arabia. It`s the body that represents

all the travel companies. During my visit the head of the organization said travel tourism is not the global polluter that some might suggest.

In fact, the WTTC have come up with their own new barometer of exactly how much and how many emissions are being put out. Julia Simpson said the

industry can do more to reduce emissions based on studies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA SIMPSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WTTC: What we`ve discovered is some people saying our global greenhouse gas emissions are about 11-12 percent;

they`re actually 8.1 percent.

Some of that is within our control but we need government to help us on other things.

QUEST: How much can the industry control itself?

SIMPSON: I would say it is about 60-40.

QUEST: Is the industry in danger?

SIMPSON: I would say it has been unfair. Because aviation, since the 1970s, has been looking at its environmental footprint. The trouble is,

nobody has created a complete alternative to aviation fuel but they are getting there.

QUEST: Right but the. Industry travel and tourism, is the whipping boy in the sense. We`ve got aviation, number two we`ve got cruise lines. Number

three got tour, buses big, hotels. So it is very difficult for you to get that message across.

Is it?

Not

SIMPSON: Well, I actually think that all of those things are an essential part of the way that we live our lives today. I mean, people don`t now just

go on holidays, they even go on a holiday and then they work.

We are much more global citizens. And I think COVID-19 showed us, it is not in our innate nature to be cooped up. It is a natural human desire to

travel. You have to remember, it`s not all about holidays. This is family reunions, business.

So people travel for many other reasons. But aviation is getting there. If we can get more sustainable aviation fuel and we need governments to really

prioritize that, then we will be making a big dent in the carbon impact of aviation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Julia Simpson, the CEO of the WTCC. Coming up after the, break the E.U. is warning Elon Musk that he has to rein in the content on Twitter or

he will face the consequences.

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[15:50:00]

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QUEST: Elon Musk`s facility could be banned if it doesn`t stick to the rules. The E.U. central services chief told Elon Musk he can`t let

disinformation run free. The rules seem to run counter to Musk`s approach as the Twitter boss. Both parties agreed on a E.U. stress test, at Twitter

HQ next year. Clare Duffy is in New York.

He gets no choice here, does, he Musk?

Because the E.U. will ban or regulate or do whatever it needs to do.

But how much of a real threat is this to Twitter?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: That is right, Richard. It feels like this week what is really coming into focus is the sort of guidelines and

safety rails that still exist for Twitter. And that can still hold Musk accountable. The E.U. is absolutely one of them.

It would be a huge risk to Twitter if the E.U. did threaten to ban Twitter in its (INAUDIBLE). He brought up the fast that Musk will have to have more

transparent user policies. As you, said bolster content moderation.

One of the things that stood out to me is that all of this will require significant AI but also human resources. And this comes after, we know Musk

has laid off and pushed out so many Twitter employees.

QUEST: So if we assume that Musk knows all of this and that Musk knows, I mean he knows the regulations, he knows how the E.U. works.

What is his game?

DUFFY: It is hard to know, honestly. It feels like Musk is very much in the state of trying to figure everything out, still. And the company put

out a statement today where they sort of emphasized the fact that none of Twitter`s policy changed but their enforcement is going to change.

They are going to focus more on deboosting content that violates its rules. They could be experimenting a lot more with new policies and changes to the

platform and making changes rather quickly.

And so, you have to imagine that this is also going to happen when this stress test happens.

Musk is going to say, how far can we push things without being outside the bounds of these laws?

QUEST: Clare, one other point, I decided last week to actually read a lot of Elon Musk`s tweets because, quite often, one just sees one incendiary

tweet. But when you look at them all and you see the context in many of them, they don`t seem nearly as bad as when you sort of, here, Musk tweeted

this.

He does quite frequently develop an argument through his tweets toward his eventual point of view.

DUFFY: It`s true. And he tweets about all kinds of things. It`s not just Twitter, he tweets about Tesla, SpaceX, other things that are happening in

the world. And I think you are right. He does seem to be sort of trying to test out certainly what Twitter users think about his actions on the

platform.

It is clear that he cares about that, he doesn`t want people leaving the platform. He needs many more people to join if it`s going to work. And so,

it seems like he is trying to use his platform and his comments on there in order to better understand how Twitter users feel about his actions on the

platform.

QUEST: Clare, good to see. You think. You

(SPORTS)

[15:55:00]

QUEST: Well, Fed chair Jerome Powell said that future rate increases might be (INAUDIBLE). The markets and how they`ve responded, the Dow is. Up look

at that. Every time I turn around, it puts on a bit more weight. I don`t think we will have 2 percent but you never know, Richard. I`ve been wrong

most times; 653 points.

It is the best of the day, by far. And the market is on a tear. And you can see that was exactly the spiking. The triple stack and the Nasdaq up 4

percent, which is a rollicking good session, whichever way you look at it.

Investors are not looking forward to central banks` rate decision, that takes place in two weeks. I will have a "Profitable Moment" for you after

the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, live, from New York.

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QUEST: Tonight`s "Profitable Moment," when you travel, how do you pay for?

Things do you use good old-fashioned cash?

In which case you might be going somewhere like Travelex.

Do you just use your cards or, these days is it just on the phone with Apple Pay or Google Pay?

The way we are doing it is in so many different ways. But you still are going to need cash. I discovered this on the latest trip. I was in Vienna,

it`s amazing the number of places in Vienna that certainly don`t take digital in terms of using your phone or don`t take cards. Taxis only wanted

money.

They wanted cash time and again, which means that whilst we might want to move toward digital technology, I think Travelex has a point in saying that

at the end of the day there are many travelers who only feel comfortable when they have cash. And that means exchanging money.

But that brings me to my important point, dynamic currency conversion, where you get to choose, do you pay in your home currency or the local

currency?

Here is my tip: don`t ever choose your home currency. Always go for the local currency unless you really, really want the security of knowing

exactly the rate you will have paid. Always go for the local currency.

Why?

Because it is going to be transferred through the international banking system anyway and the rate is going to be roughly right and there is no

reason to pay up to 4 percent premium just to have that moderate certainty.

Right, got that off my chest. And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. I`m Richard Quest in New York. We remember, don`t take the home currency. And I

hope it`s profitable. And we should make 7 percent coming down.

END