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Quest Means Business

US Markets Set For Worst Day Since March 2023; Surging NVIDIA Surpasses Amazon In Market Cap; Israeli Official: IDF has Video Of Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar In Tunnel Under Khan Younis; CDC To Ease COVID-19 Isolation Guidance; Super Bowl Was Most Watched TV Event Since Moon Landing. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired February 13, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:29]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: There is an hour left to trade on Wall Street, and we've had such good gains in recent days and weeks that

when we see today's market, it does leave you a bit wondering what is going on? We are down 730, and the NASDAQ is also down. The big board is down.

They are all down, and its largely to do with inflationary numbers, which we'll get to in just a second. But that's the market and what you and I are

going to be talking about, signs of stubborn inflation dampen hope as an interest rate cut is coming soon, that's why the market is lower.

US authorities are reportedly going to drop the guidance people need to isolate for five days after testing positive for COVID.

And those Super Bowl ratings reaching into history, it is one large broadcast since the man landed on the moon. All will be explained.

Live from Dubai on Tuesday, February the 13th. I'm Richard Quest, in the UAE, as in London or New York, or indeed wherever you might be, I mean

business.

Good evening to you.

Markets in the United States are having their worst day in nearly a year, and it was because of that hot inflation report. The Dow off over 700 --

nearly 730 points. Its sharpest loss since March last year.

And look at the number, consumer prices rose 3.1 percent in the 12 months at the end of January, that was higher than had been expected, and there is

just one more headline inflation report before the next Fed meeting. The February CPI Index will be released on march the 12th, and the Fed will

then meet the following week.

The chair of the Fed, Jerome Powell, has strongly suggested that in March if things don't really change, it will hold rates steady. The next decision

after that goes until May. And again and again, Chair Powell has said, the FOMC needs to see evidence, more evidence that inflation is moving steadily

downwards before changing rates, and despite that caution, the markets have been on a tear. They simply don't believe it is true.

The major US averages are all at or near all-time highs before today's losses and investors have been hoping the Fed would cut rates in the near.

Now, it looks like they might have to last or wait just that little bit longer. Kristina Hooper is the chief global market strategist at Invesco.

She is with me.

Now, when you and I speak, I try desperately not to make one swallow into a summer over phrases or one magpie into a winter, but if you take this

number, it is pretty clear, the Fed couldn't cut in March.

KRISTINA HOOPER, CHIEF GLOBAL MARKET STRATEGIST, INVESCO: Richard, I agree with that, given what we've heard from the Fed, but that's okay. I don't

think there is a huge difference between March 19th and May 1st, which is the following Fed meeting. I think it is much more important to see the

level of cuts in 2024 than whether the cuts start in March or May.

QUEST: But the issue becomes not just the cuts, but -- well, obviously, when I said, "but" whether or not these, I would say stubborn rates mean

the Fed simply pushes it way down the track because at these current rates, will it come to two percent on its own?

HOOPER: Well, if we were to strip out shelter and it was really one component of shelter that was problematic, but if we were to strip that out

and we looked at just core CPI X shelter, it is running at about two percent annualized for the for the past six months. That is not a terrible

number. In fact, it is at the Fed's target.

So I think it is important to take a step back and not read overreact to this CPI print. It's not what markets had expected, but it is not terrible.

[15:05:03]

QUEST: No, but don't we need to a certain -- I understand the significance of core versus headline versus PPI, all the Fed's preferred measure. But

shelter is 30 to 40 percent of people's costs, and you have to see shelter come down because otherwise, if that -- or at least stabilize because that

arguably more than anything else will feed into the wage cycle.

HOOPER: Well, shelter tends to lag about 18 months home prices, so we would anticipate that shelter would come down this year. But you're absolutely

right. We have to recognize that there are going to be components of inflation that are stickier than others, but that doesn't mean that we are

not very much in the midst of a strong disinflationary trend and that will continue.

Now of course, the Fed is very nervous about getting to that two percent target so they are going to err on the side of caution, but I still believe

they are going to be satisfied with the data they see between now and the May meeting and are very likely to cut at that May meeting.

QUEST: All right, I love the way they did this because once they've started cutting, then the cycle is reversing, and we really do need to then pay

extra attention that nothing frothy is starting underneath.

HOOPER: That is true. Certainly that's always the concern, right? That we have -- we see that resurgence in inflation.

QUEST: Right.

HOOPER: But nothing I'm seeing today suggests that we are going to see any big surge in inflation. In fact, what we are just seeing now are imperfect

data points which we will see and we've seen in past disinflationary trends, but that doesn't suggest any kind of surge.

I look at consumer inflation expectations, I think that's important. The Fed thinks that's important and consumer inflation expectations are very

tame, and they can be very, very predictive because they are self- fulfilling prophecies. And to me, that helps support the argument that we are headed towards that two percent target.

QUEST: Right. I'm grateful. Thank you. Tame numbers, that's what we like to have, tame numbers. Good to see you. Thank you. Have a pleasant evening.

Now, few companies have benefited more from the AI stock rally than NVIDIA. It was the chipmaker's second quarter report last year that helped turn

market sentiment dramatically around. NVIDIA's market cap has now soared to nearly $1.8 trillion and it is now more valuable than Amazon, although

that's a number that fluctuates.

NVIDIA was the best performing stock on the S&P 500 last year, and it is leading the way year-to-date. The chief executive joined me at the World

Governments Summit here in Dubai, and told me what NVIDIA must do to stay on top.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: I will agree that we work on something that is very important to the world that is incredibly hard to do. That has taken

us nearly three decades to refine and now, this is the new way of doing computing and it is the most energy efficient, the most sustainable, the

most cost-effective way of doing computing.

It is almost as if the quantum computer has been discovered. Our technology now is powering every industry from, of course, entertainment to computing,

to biology and health care to climate technology to self-driving cars. And so this is probably one of the most impactful reinvention of computers as

we know it in the last 60 years.

QUEST: Keeping your lead is not easy. How do you do it? I mean, is that the sort of thing that keeps you up at night? What's next, in other words?

HUANG: Well, inventing the next is hard especially since if you're the pioneer in doing something, you're already the only person doing it and so,

reinventing yourselves on a regular basis every single year, discovering new problem to solve, new industries to enable, new markets to open up, we

are constantly, constantly pushing ourselves to do that.

QUEST: Everybody is now thinking that they would like to get into the chip business on this AI and on quantum. They are going to find it is not easy,

but somebody might well succeed.

HUANG: Well, we can't control that.

QUEST: No.

HUANG: Yes, we can't control that, and so, there is not much to worry about there. What you ought to worry about is how do we reinvent ourselves? How

do we create the next? What new applications can we enable? Can we help digital biology become a field of engineering, not a field of sporadic

science?

[15:10:10]

Can we create a time machine so that we could see the future of climate change, but see it today? Build a computer that can predict climate two-

and-a-half billion times faster? You know, that's kind of the stuff that we ask ourselves.

QUEST: So if you keep your eye on that, is that the significant way rather than worrying about who is nipping at your heels? Who is next? People like

myself always want to see it in linear bilateral race terms. You're seeing it on a different plane.

HUANG: Our technology is advancing at exponential rates. If you want to climb up an exponential curve, you better be looking ahead of you, not

behind you, and so for us, focusing on the future makes the most sense as something you can control. It is much, much more inspiring.

We attract the world's best computer scientists and they want to create the future, not worry about the past.

QUEST: What excites you? When you wake up, you know -- when you wake up in the morning, what happens inside, Jensen when you see what is happening

with your technology, you see something happening, you see a development. What happens inside Jensen Huang?

HUANG: Well, for the very first time in history computer technology is about to close the technology gap. For the vast majority of my career,

computing technology has been available to a few people -- computer scientists, computer programmers -- and the vast majority of people are

left behind.

All of a sudden, artificial intelligence closed that gap. Very few people know how to program a computer. Everybody knows how to tell a computer what

it needs in natural language, in human language.

It is kind of a miracle that after all of these years, the programming language of a computer is human and what human doesn't know how to tell

somebody else what they need, what they would like to have done, to request for a plan, to solve a problem -- everybody knows how to do that, and now

for the very first time, a computer can understand that request, understand the prompt and come up with a solution to present to you for you to decide

whether this is the best way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Absolutely fascinating to listen to Jensen speaking and realizing this is the man who is, of course behind NVIDIA and the AI revolutionary

chip and seeing how he thinks that in a completely different plane in the sense to the rest of -- well, at least to me.

Now two other news, and so, it is difficult talks, extremely difficult, underway in Egypt for the potential release of Israeli hostages and a

ceasefire in Gaza.

Egypt says President Sisi met the director of the CIA and the Qatari prime minister ahead of Israel's intelligence agency that is also in Cairo. Hamas

has described the coming hours as critical. One of the officials say the group could join the talks if they make headway.

At the same time, Israeli officials now say the IDF has obtained security camera footage showing the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar inside a tunnel,

underneath Khan Younis.

Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv.

There are so many strands that are swirling about at the moment that it is difficult to know which one to grab onto as the primary direction this is

going -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think you could take any one of these threads and they probably all lead you to the same place

that the question at the moment is, is the IDF going to have military operation in Rafah that the world is increasingly opposed to.

All the talks that are happening in Cairo right now between the intelligence chiefs -- CIA, Mossad, Egyptian intelligence chiefs, the

Qatari prime minister -- are they going to provide an off-ramp, at least prevents an IDF ground assault in Rafah in the near term? And in all of

that, of course, what else are we hearing?

Well, the IDF is showing us video of Yahya Sinwar, the political chief of Hamas from 10th of October. Now, this is video that they say they recovered

after interrogations with Hamas fighters and commanders who they have captured and have been questioning.

And the video itself was taken from the CCTV camera in a Hamas tunnel, and it shows Sinwar being shown with his family by what the IDF is describing

as his brother into an underground tunnel.

[15:15:03]

There appears what the IDF is saying, at least that it is Sinwar's wife or one of his wives to use their language, and three of his children that are

going into this tunnel. It is not incredibly instructive in of itself about where Sinwar might be now, what he might be doing. The IDF have long

assumed he has been in a tunnel. But as I say, all of these threads go to the same place that there is a moment of decision.

You are going to have a pause and hostage release. You're going to have a ground incursion and you're going to have, let's say, not a distraction,

but just something to show that you're making progress in this fight against Hamas.

QUEST: I know this is a question that's been out since the very beginning, but now were getting more close towards the end. How do you judge if Hamas

has been eradicated?

ROBERTSON: And that depends who you are, because Prime Minister Netanyahu says the are completely destroyed, the military and it was interesting

again, talking about all the different threads that we heard from General Herzi Halevi, the military chief-of-staff sort of giving an end-of-four-

month report on the state of the fighting, and really, we get a sense there is almost a sort of a pause to regroup for the military at the moment, but

he frames it as the destruction of Hamas as a military machine.

We haven't had any significant rocket attacks, I think for a couple of weeks now, from Gaza, from Hamas, so the IDF would see it in the physical

destruction of that threat, if you will.

QUEST: Nic Robertson, I'm grateful. Thank you, sir.

As we move on tonight, the US Senate has now passed its foreign aid bill. Involved is money for Ukraine and Israel. Now, of course, is the Republican

House of Representatives, will they even vote on it?

We will be on Capitol Hill after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: President Biden has just denounced Donald Trump for encouraging Russia to invade NATO allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Let me say this as

clearly as I can, I never will. For God's sake, its dumb, it is shameful, it is dangerous, it's un-American.

[15:20:10]

When America gives its word, it means something. When we make a commitment, we keep it, and NATO is a sacred commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Now, the president has urged House lawmakers to approve foreign aid for Ukraine and Israel, a $95 billion measure passed the Senate. It's

unclear if the Republican held House will vote on it.

Manu Raju is with me.

Let's take this at a feral clip. Firstly, what's your feeling, Manu, will live out for it?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is unclear about whether or not this can actually become law. In fact, the betting would be

on Capitol Hill that it will not become law because of the opposition among House Republican leadership. That is what Speaker Mike Johnson had

indicated right in the moments before the Senate approved this $95.3 billion emergency aid package to Israel, to Ukraine, and to Taiwan saying

that it needs to have new tougher border security restrictions here in the United States at the border with Mexico.

Johnson, of course, rejected a bipartisan border security deal that was cut in the Senate saying that it simply did not go far enough. Now he is saying

that this plan needs to have some level for border security before he would even put it on the floor. So where that goes remains to be seen.

There is an effort here though, Richard, to try to see if they can circumvent the House Republican leadership, try to force a vote on the

House floor. It is known on Capitol Hill as a discharge petition. It would require the support of a majority of House members, 218 members when there

is full House membership, that is a very difficult thing to pull off.

And in talking to some members today, they are warning -- Republican members, they are warning their colleagues not to sign on to in this

effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: What do you say to Republicans who may be considering signing a discharge petition?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I think it gets a little hasty. I mean, I was involved in the last one as you know and it is a very arduous process, and

you better be ready for it. Because it is -- you get it from all sides on those things. I think that's -- I do think that's a little premature. I

don't think we need to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So if, they work to go down that route, it undoubtedly gets some pushback from various people, including the former president and current

Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump, who have aligned against this Senate plan.

So getting the votes to move forward would require Republicans in the rank to essentially buck the leaders of their party and that is why the

expectation is right now that this package, despite this bipartisan support in the United States Senate, is going nowhere in the United States House,

given the political dynamic and timing that we are in the middle of this presidential election. This whole effort could very well collapse --

Richard.

QUEST: Okay, now, many House Republicans are opposed to further aid for Ukraine. Does a slim majority, but that could, Manu, as you know, get even

slimmer after tonight's special election in New York. Their voters are choosing a replacement for George Santos, the Republican who was expelled

from the House.

The Democrat, Tom Suozzi is trying to flip the seat. He is running against Mazi Pilip, a county Republican. It is going to be close. How close, Manu?

RAJU: This is going to be a true toss-up. This is a district that Joe Biden did carry back in 2020, but this is a special election where the turnout is

expected to be far lower. There is also a big snowstorm in New York, which could also further depress turnout here.

In addition to that, the issue of immigration has really driven the attacks that have gone on air, particularly against the Democratic candidate, and

New York, of course, has been dealing with this surge in migrants, given the number of migrants have been shipped and have been bused essentially to

New York. Many of them in part of this district and that in part is driving some of the negative attacks that are seeing on air.

Forcing the Democrats, in part to be on the defensive in this district, but this is such a significant seat because the already very tight House

Republican majority could get even tighter if the Democrats do pick this up and to take back the House in November, they need to win in districts like

this, suburban districts, New York in particular, which is going to be ground zero for the fight for control of the US House.

So a very important moment tonight in this special election -- Richard.

QUEST: Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. I'm grateful to you, sir. Thank you.

The chairman of the Dubai mega developer, DAMAC has now warned us that everyone will pay if relations between the US and China get much worse. The

tensions between the two countries are already weighing on Dubai, which relies heavily on investment from both China and the West.

Of course, our program tonight coming to you from Dubai.

[15:25:06]

Much of the foreign investment is in property, which is DAMAC's specialty. The group has built iconic buildings here and all around the world. Its

chairman, Hussain Sajwani told me how global tensions are now threatening the business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUSSAIN SAJWANI, CHAIRMAN, DAMAC: I think the conflict between China and US is deep and nothing do which president comes in which one doesn't come,

okay. That conflict will continue. It is going to be lesser or with more and a lot of investment are going to come to this part of the world because

I think Chinese is going to invest less in the US or the western world.

QUEST: So you don't worry about a President Trump in a second term?

SAJWANI: No, as you know, me and President Trump are friends. But I think President Trump can make minor changes or some changes. The US a 200 years

old democracy. They have system. They have procedures there are so many organizations, but in a fair way, when he was president, we didn't see any

problem, we didn't see any war. Economy is doing well. And whoever comes, I think the boat will move forward.

QUEST: Right. But China, the sheer size of China could swamp little UAE or little Dubai an investment and could start to exert pressure. Does that

worry you?

SAJWANI: What makes me awake at night is a US-Chinese conflict and I am serious. I'm a very relaxed person. And I could lose whatever I lose or

gain whatever I gain. But what makes me very worried because if Chinese-US relation goes worse and worse, we are all going to suffer no matter where

we are.

Your iPhone is going to be maybe double the price. Every component that you use every day is part Chinese, part American and that conflict is going to

hurt all of us.

QUEST: Right, but that could be to a benefit in a sense of investment into the UAE and into your buildings.

SAJWANI: Yes. Yes. No. I think, UAE is a small country. So China is going to come and they're going to invest and they will come and we have seen in

the last 25 years, Iranian came in the early 2000 and everybody is worried and concerned. And then, you know, we have Russia who came two years ago

and everybody worried and concerned.

I mean, everybody comes every couple of years and invest the and they make some money and they are going to some other nation to invest.

QUEST: I look at this country and of course I have now been to numerous of the Emirates, of the individual ones. Is the growth here in Dubai, is it in

Ras Al Khaimah, is it in Sharjah, is it in the other ones, right? It is slightly cheaper.

SAJWANI: Naturally, Dubai is -- the hub of Dubai is the center.

QUEST: It is the sexy bit.

SAJWANI: Of course and Ras Al Khaimah or Sharjah, when they develop, they benefit from Dubai's growth so they're naturally going to build cheaper

than Dubai, that's true.

Ras Al Khaimah is doing well with the casino coming up.

QUEST: Do you see much more growth in casinos and alcohol and all of these? Do think is this what Dubai is going to move towards?

SAJWANI: We have not here legally and officially that Dubai is going to have casinos so far.

QUEST: Everybody thinks.

SAJWANI: Everybody thinks and if Dubai had a casino, one or two. I don't know, that's a government decision. I don't see major impact in a negative

way in Dubai. Of course, if you open 20 casinos and become a gambling city like Las Vegas, that would be bad for this region.

QUEST: See, what I always think about Dubai is do you know when to stop?

SAJWANI: We have a very clever leader.

QUEST: You know, do you when to stop? You build a building, put 15 up. You do --

SAJWANI: No, Dubai leader is very strong and he knows where to stop and we get -- I remember in the 90s, early, a lot of cheap tourism, you know, and

I built some three-star hotels and then government went tough on that and stopped the cheap tourism and wanted more higher end tourism. So they know

where to balance it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: More buildings than you can shake a stick out. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from Dubai.

A pop star, an overtime win, and a touristy setting make this week's Super Bowl an historic event. In fact, one that television, you might almost say

it was out of this world, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:47]

QUEST: U.S. markets having their worst day in roughly a year after a hot January inflation report. The Dow is now falling more than 700 points. The

S&P is also it's not back up. It is back down below 5,000 and the Nasdaq is bearing the brunt of the day. It's off more than 2 percent.

Today's inflation data clearly dampening hopes of a rate cut in Europe in the near future. The CDC could soon make a huge change to COVID isolation

recommendations in the United States, expecting to update its guidance to allow infected people to return to work or school if their symptoms are

mild and if they'd been fever free for 24 hours. This is according to a report in the "Washington Post."

Oregon have already broken with the CDC guidelines. People who test positive there are no longer expected to isolate for a set period and those

without symptoms don't have to isolate at all.

Dr. Saad Omer is epidemiologist, former director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. He joins me from Dallas, Texas.

Doctor, good to see you, sir. Do these new regulations or potential regulations, do they make the sort of common sense that we're all doing

anyway?

DR. SAAD OMER, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I think it's reasonable to align these guidelines with the other respiratory viruses and to modify them given the

fact that the immunity, both through vaccination and through infection is all around us. Obviously, COVID remains a significant public health

problem. But because of the immunity landscape and because of the fact that it will be easier to implement these guidelines and to follow these

guidelines if they are aligned with other respiratory viruses, I think this change does make sense.

QUEST: You see at the end of the day, people will go on subways and buses, go to a cinemas, and sit quite happily in an entire group of people where

they've no idea. You're arguably much safer if John knowing he's got a bit of a mild dose comes to the office and sits with a mask over in the corner,

and you take him a cup of tea every two hours.

[15:35:01]

OMER: Well, yes. So one of the things, you know, they are right about is to stay home and you have symptoms and I think companies should actually

create a culture of that. Having said that, I think it is also reasonable when the final official guidelines come out. They should give flexibility

to specific organizations.

For example, health care facilities might want to focus a little bit more on more, if you will, stricter the practices. Places where there's a high

frequency of high-risk individuals, such as the elderly, might want to still be a little bit more conservative than these guidelines are likely to

allow.

So I think it has to be nuanced. It has to be part of our culture. But I think they're taking the Goldilocks approach, not too hot, not too cold,

or, you know, in other countries it's called the Red Riding Hood approach. But in any case, you know, this does make sense with a few nuances that are

important.

QUEST: What worries you now about COVID?

OMER: Well, what worries me is that we are not using all the tools that are available to us. For example, immunization coverage for boosters is

unacceptably low even in countries where there is a lot of vaccines. In fact, there's no global shortage of vaccines and the capacity is there. The

vaccines are available and still in countries like the U.S. and other countries, many other countries, the coverage is very low, unacceptably

low, even in high-risk group -- and even in high-risk groups.

In addition to that, there are ton of passive measures for which there are resources available. There is technology available such as increasing the

quality of ventilation and federation in buildings. Businesses should make it a part of planning. There's space, you know, for work and all of that,

and we are not taking advantage of these passive tools that can make a dent.

QUEST: Well, Doc, I'm glad you are with us today. Thank you, sir, for your time.

Now, this weekend's Super Bowl, the one that's just gone, set a new record for a number of viewers. It was a television event the like of which we've

not seen since, well, decades.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Altitude 1600.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things are looking great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Eagle has landed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This super motion, low snap. He runs and he throws. Touchdown, it's caught. Hardman caught the ball. The Chiefs have won.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Travis Kelce getting a celebratory kiss from Taylor Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks beautiful from here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has a stark beauty all its own.

TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas! Viva! Viva! Las Vegas!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Hello, you have two ways to look at it. 123 million people tuned in, a number driven by more than just the overtime victory, thrilling the last-

minute by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Harry Enten is with me.

Now, look, Harry, I suppose I can be mealy mouthed and I can point out that the percentage and the ratio and the difference between what was and what

is now and number of viewers, a number of televisions on the one end, it's not, but the headline number is still unbelievably impressive.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: It is. You know, I guess we now put Patrick Mahomes up with Neil Armstrong, right? Those are two names now

that are linked throughout history. You know, it's so funny to me because I guess I asked my mother earlier today, does she remember where she was when

we landed on the moon, and she absolutely did. She said she was in 101 of the Ester Manor in Monticello, New York, up in the Catskills.

I guess for me, I'll have to remember where I was for this Super Bowl. I was up an Artsy New York watching the game with two toy poodles. I guess my

question for you, Richard, was, A, did you watch the game, and B, do you remember where you were when we landed on the moon?

QUEST: I didn't watch the game because I was here and for 1,001 reasons, I was unable to. I'm in Dubai. But on the moon, yes, I was 7. Thank you,

Harry, just turn the knife a little bit deeper and more sharp. I was 7 and I remember padding downstairs in my gym jams to watch on a black and white

television. So absolutely. Yes.

ENTEN: You know --

QUEST: But, but --

ENTEN: That's -- yes, go ahead.

[15:40:02]

QUEST: Hang on, hang on, hang on. But, Harry, what is interesting about this is that phrase that we used to call appointment viewing, which doesn't

really exist in the digital world in quite the same way. But there are these community television events. And this is clearly one of them, but

there'll be fewer and far between the Super Bowl.

ENTEN: Yes, that's exactly right. I mean, you know, we had a list earlier on of the top telecast, perhaps we can pull it back up again. And what we

saw was that pretty much all of the top television programs of all time, they're all Super Bowls, except for the moon landing. Look at that. Two

through 10 were all Super Bowls. In fact, the only other program besides the moon landing and Super Bowls that have had over 100 million viewers was

the "MASH" finale back in the early '80s.

The Super Bowl and the NFL is just simply put on a different planet than everything else. We have seen divided households. The audiences are so

divided. But when it comes to the NFL, that is something that, as you put it, is still appointment viewing.

QUEST: So right now, can we say that those numbers and that philosophy justifies seven mil for 30 seconds?

ENTEN: I mean, it's the only chance that you will possibly get to ever reach an audience of that size. And it's not just that you're getting, you

know, that 123 million on the day of. You're also getting those ads getting replayed over and over and over again. How many segments that we have on

CNN yesterday or how many segments on CBS or NBC that looked at the top ads? There were hundreds of them across the different networks.

So you're not just getting this one time, you're getting it played over and over and over again. So to me, if you have the money and you have a good

ad, yes, it's absolutely worth that $7 million.

QUEST: Right. Harry Enten, we will continue to delve into what you remember and where you were going and what it was doing at the time as we look

forward into the future.

Thank you sir. I know it's deeply worrying. Thank you very much, sir. Good to see you.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for the moment. Top of the hour, I'll be back dash for the closing bell. It's going to be pleasant. I can promise

you that now because the market is sharply lower. But enjoy in the meantime "CONNECTING AFRICA."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:59:51]

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. A dash to the closing bell less than a minute. The Dow has slid. It's coming back slightly off its lows, but it's

still sharply lower after January's inflation revealed stubborn high prices, up 1.3 percent. The Nasdaq has also pared back some of its losses.

It's now down just 1.8 percent.

Shares of JetBlue, one of the few bright spots on Wall Street. And if you look over all of the Dow 30 as well you'll see how that market is

performed. Otherwise that's the market.

That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'm on holiday for the

next 10 days. I'll see you when I get back.

END