Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
NVIDIA Earnings Set To Test AI Rally On Wall Street; US Tallies Most Major Work Stoppages; Fubo Sues Legacy Media Companies Over Streaming Plans; Alabama Fertility Clinic Halts IVF Treatment Over Frozen Embryos Case; Elton John Auctions Hundreds Of Items At Christie's. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired February 21, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:33]
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Well, US markets are struggling today. The Dow Jones is in negative territory. We're down three-tenths of a
percent, that is down 128 points.
Boeing shares are slightly lower after it replaced the head of its troubled 737 Max program.
Well, those are the markets and these are the main events: Earnings from Wall Street's obsession chipmaker, NVIDIA are due after the bell today.
Workers strikes targets major US brewers.
And your chance to own a piece of the rocket man's personal collection. Christie's stages an auction with Elton John.
Live from Dubai, it is Wednesday, February the 21st. I'm Eleni Giokos. I'm in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
A very good evening and welcome to the show. Tonight Wall Street's AI rally will be put to the test when chipmaker, NVIDIA reports its latest earnings
about an hour from now.
The major US averages are in the red for a third straight day, and investors will be looking to NVIDIA to see if Wall Street can build on its
recent record highs. As you can see, we are red across the board.
Now, its advanced chips have been fueling the rise in artificial intelligence and analysts are expecting to post a surge in revenue. NVIDIA
shares have risen more than -- get this -- 225 percent over the past year, far outpacing the broader markets. The chipmaker is now one of the world's
most valuable companies.
Quincy Krosby is the chief global strategist at LPL Financial, and she joins us now from Virginia. Great to see you.
And in fact, we've been talking about NVIDIA being the most important stock on the planet, but I guess what we're looking for in these earnings will be
guidance just as much as the top line numbers.
QUINCY KROSBY, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, LPL FINANCIAL: Absolutely.
The market, you know, understands that they'll probably do quite well on the top line and the bottom line, but the guidance -- future guidance is
very important and it is important not just for the stock, it's important for the rest of the market, and the rest of the big tech names because
after all, as you pointed out, artificial intelligence, AI, has been the theme helping to underpin this market surge.
GIOKOS: Yes, exactly. I mean, I'm looking at that rise in that share price, 225 percent. I mean, it is an incredible stock, but the question is, does
it have more room to move to the upside? And what are you expecting to help keep up this momentum?
KROSBY: Well, overall, remember, NVIDIA came from the gaming side of the industry and they moved over as the provider of the processes that are
going to help underpin generative AI, which is more and more data having to move at a faster clip.
So anything in their earnings reports or the guidance that suggest any kind of slow down, any kind of regulatory issue is going to give the market a
catalyst to actually pull back.
You said that NVIDIA has been selling off, that may be helpful because what it suggests is that buyers are saying wait a minute, they've delivered in
the past, but the market has punished them for just something that doesn't deliver extra expectations. And then they come in at the lower price point.
So again, much is riding on this company, and not just for the company, but for the overall market to see if there's any fuel left in this market to
keep rising.
GIOKOS: Yes, exactly.
It's almost become a barometer for the overall market.
Our Richard Quest spoke with the CEO of NVIDIA last week here in Dubai. I want you to take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: 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. It is something you can control. It is much, much more inspiring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:05:08]
GIOKOS: Okay, so Quincy, what is your sense? You know, technology moving at exponential rates. I mean, can NVIDIA sort of fulfill this AI prophecy, I
think, that everyone is expecting it to.
KROSBY: Well, yes, but remember, NVIDIA is also linked to the companies it works with. So Microsoft just for example, and what you need is that those
companies are monetizing their research and development and actually coming out with products and software that they can sell, therefore, needing more
and more of what NVIDIA offers.
Now, NVIDIA is part of the infrastructure, the technological infrastructure that is needed, and therefore, the market when it listens to, NVIDIA that
we've seen it before, NVIDIA hitting it out of the park, but the market says we wanted even more from you, especially because the valuations are
quite rich.
The point is, it's happened before, but then buyers tend to come in at the lower price point. Yes.
GIOKOS: So I mean, I want to quickly touch on Amazon joining the Dow and how significant that is. I was just looking at the Magnificent Seven stocks
as well, and what they mean for the overall market. It's been such an exciting space within technology, but Amazon has really been an interesting
one.
KROSBY: Absolutely. Because Amazon represents much more than technology, they are in almost every consumer discretionary area. They are in consumer
staples. You'd even argue that they are in transportation, they're in cloud, they're in advertising.
I mean, it reflects almost every single part of the market. So if they're coming in with a company that you can't categorize where Amazon is,
although we tend to put it in with the Magnificent Seven as a Big Tech name.
GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely.
I mean, really fascinating. I guess, they define what it means to be a conglomerate in today's terms, I guess, Quincy Krosby, great to have you
with us. Thank you so much.
Well, the US Labor Department says there are 33 major work stoppages last year, the most in over two decades and there are signs of more labor
unrest, particularly in the beer industry.
More than 400 Teamsters are striking at Molson Coors Brewery in Texas and another 5,000 are threatening a nationwide strike next week against
Anheuser-Busch, America's largest brewer.
The union says the walkout appears unavoidable given the state of contract talks.
We've got Vanessa Yurkevich joining us now to break it down.
I mean, it's contracts, it's wages, it's job security. It is a plethora of issues that the unions want, the brewer -- the beer makers to start looking
at seriously. Are they going to come to any decision anytime soon?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you have the Teamsters Union representing workers from both Molson Coors and
Anheuser-Busch. You have 400 out on the picket lines right now in Fort Worth, Texas outside of one brewery there. This is outside of Molson Coors,
the second largest manufacturer -- brewer -- of beer in North America.
And essentially the union is saying that the company offered them a deal which included a $1.00 an hour increase and the union saying that is simply
not enough. They point to the company's profits. Last year, there was $1.5 billion in earnings revenue pretax, that's a 39 percent increase from 2022.
And similar story with Anheuser-Busch you could a week from this Friday, see 5,000 Anheuser-Busch union workers walk off the job if they do not get
a contract in time and the union has been saying that they are still awaiting the best and final offer from Anheuser-Busch, but they have not
yet received it.
They also point to revenue from Anheuser-Busch which was up five percent in the third quarter. So you have these companies saying that they want to
make a deal. You have these companies saying that they're working in the best interest of their employees, but also remember, they're consumers --
we know that both companies have contingency plans in place to make sure that they have employees who are on the job working, but also supply, Eleni
here in the US in March, that starts March Madness, the biggest college basketball game tournament in the country. A lot of people are going to be
enjoying that, drinking a lot of beer, and these companies want to make sure that they are set to do just that ultimately working towards
agreements. But you know, some of these unions are really making some strategic demands based on what we have seen over the course of the last
year and what labor has been able to do here in the US.
[15:10:10]
GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, it's been fascinating. As we mentioned, the US Labor Department saying there were 33 work stoppages just last year, that is the
most in over two decades. I guess the question here is, what are we seeing on the labor front that has resulted in this? Is it, you know, the cost of
living that's increased, that's not sort of matching what people are earning? Are companies making profits that are not sharing with their
employees?
What trends have we seen, Vanessa?
YURKEVICH: Yes, it is really all of the above. Remember, when these workers and unions signed contracts, they are usually locked in for three to four
years and you can't anticipate inflation. You can't anticipate cost of living increasing so dramatically, as we saw over the pandemic.
So you had a lot of these workers in different industries, the auto workers, the workers in Hollywood, the hospitality workers in Los Angeles,
who watched companies make record profits during the pandemic, when their wages stayed very much the same and that number is not surprising to me, 33
work stoppages or strikes accounting for more than 450,000 workers on the picket lines.
There was also a little bit of a ripple effect. You saw so many unions becoming so successful in negotiating with companies getting exactly or
even close to what they wanted, and you saw other industries taking notice. And here you have now the beer industry and unions there saying, I know
it's 2024, it's not 2023, but we are not backing down from what they believe that they deserve at the end of the day -- Eleni.
GIOKOS: Vanessa, great to have you on. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us.
Well, Apple has just launched its first sports app, Apple Sports posts live scores and stats and includes the option to see live betting odds. Tech and
media companies are in a fierce competition to attract sports fans. Fubo TV is suing to block a joint sports streaming venture between Disney, Fox and
Warner Brothers Discovery, the parent company of CNN and Fubo accuses the three of operating a sports cartel in violation of us antitrust laws.
CNN media analyst, Sara Fischer is in Miami for us.
Sara, great to have you on. I guess, look, it was inevitable that we were going to see some sort of change within the sports industry and
specifically where you can catch your favorite games and what we've seen from Apple, for example, as well. But does this really threaten sort of the
traditional way of selling these lucrative sports rights to media companies?
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: I mean, it does long term and the reason is this. You could command very heavy fees from these leagues,
because you are arguing that you were distributing them to a very wide set of people, because a lot of people bought the cable bundle.
Remember, at its height, a hundred million households were paying for cable. Now we're down to about 66 million, and essentially, what these
folks are recognizing is that as more people move into streaming, they need to offer the rights that they were getting from leagues over to meet them
in streaming.
The challenge is, there is not as many people there quite yet, because we're not selling things in as big of bundles. If you look at the folks who
do try to sell it in bundles, you know, YouTube TV only has eight million subscribers, Hulu has about four million. It is not quite yet at that same
threshold that cable was, and so obviously, they are not going to be able to -- you know, the leagues are not going to be able to command as much
fees, and I think all that's going to trickle down, it might even be for some leagues that were heavily dependent on what we call regional sports
networks in cable, that could even trickle down to player salaries.
So this is going to have a big shift in unit economics, but this new service, by the way, you just mentioned that a bunch of the big companies
are coming together to provide a new service. We don't even know what's going to happen with that yet, because there is now pushback from whether
or not it's even anti-competitive.
So we'll see how all this shakes out, but I would expect a lot of these fees in some cases to grow smaller as we move into streaming.
GIOKOS: Yes, interesting.
I mean, I was thinking about it from the consumer perspective, as well. I mean, if you could have an app that sort of gives you all the information,
how does that sort of changes the way we consume something that we've been so used to knowing that we have to, as you say, get onto cable and watch it
on specific networks.
FISCHER: It's horrible for the consumer, which by the way, when I say that these fees get smaller in streaming, that's because for each individual
rights, it's going to be smaller, but collectively, the leagues will probably make more money because they're now not just distributing on one
network or two networks, but they have a streaming service and then they have a digital skinny bundle and then they have maybe two or three legacy
cable networks that they're still distributing on. Like that's the playbook that the NBA is looking at right now, so that's how they're trying to
finance it.
But for the consumer, you're right, this is very confusing because you need to be subscribing to a bunch of different packages to get what you used to
be able to get all in one place.
[15:15:07]
And by the way, from a cost perspective, it is really intrusive for sports fans. Now for non-sports fans, this is kind of the dream come true because
for a long time, they were paying these heavy, heavy rights for cable that were essentially mostly sports networks that they didn't watch.
GIOKOS: Yes.
FISCHER: So, for sports fans, this is great. For the non-sport -- this isn't great. For the non-sports fan, this is actually a lot more equitable.
GIOKOS: Sara Fischer, always coming with great points. Thank you so much for that analysis.
Well just ahead, stunning allegations against a former FBI informant once a key figure in impeachment efforts against US President Joe Biden. A live
report from Washington, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back.
And the Republicans' impeachment inquiry into US President Joe Biden is potentially hanging by a thread. An ex-FBI informant at the center of the
inquiry is now accused of getting information from senior Russian intelligence sources.
The latest court filing says Alexander Smirnov made a bribery claim about the president and his son, Hunter Biden. House Republicans say Smirnov's
charges do not impact their inquiry or grilling the president's brother, James Biden behind closed doors.
Annie Grayer is in Washington. How significant are these revelations, Annie?
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: They're huge. I mean, this was a witness who Republicans propped up as central to their investigation
because this was a witness who was coming forward with all of these allegations about the president and his son, Hunter being involved in a
foreign bribery scheme, and it turns out, none of those allegations are true.
The FBI informant has been charged with lying. And since the charges have come out, Republicans are now trying to downplay the witness that they once
championed and saying that they have lots of other evidence and lots of other witness testimony, bank records, documents that are building this
inquiry up.
But it's a huge part of their investigation that's already on life support, because even members of their own party doubt that they have the evidence
to impeach the president, and in such a narrow majority with Republicans in the House, it is hard to get anything done, let alone something that
doesn't have I've hard evidence behind it.
[15:20:02]
GIOKOS: Annie Grayer, thank you so much.
A dual US-Russian citizen now jailed in Russia and charged with treason. We're told that the woman is, Ksenia Karelina who entered Russia a few
weeks ago.
The White House says it is aware of reports of her arrest and it is urging Americans to leave Russia immediately. Russian authorities claimed the 33-
year-old woman provided financial assistance to activities directed against Russian security. Her employer says she is accused of donating a little
more than $50.00 to a Ukrainian charity in the US.
Now the mother of Russian activist, Alexei Navalny is keeping up the pressure to release her son's body after an unanswered plea to the
president, Vladimir Putin.
She has filed lawsuits against the city where the body is supposedly held alleging inaction. It has been five days since the critic's reported death
in prison. And now his widow is picking up his fight against the Kremlin.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(YULIA NAVALNAYA speaking in foreign language.)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Using her late husband's catchphrase, a grieving Yulia Navalnaya has picked
up the mantle of Alexei Navalny.
YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S WIFE (through translator): I should not have recorded this video. There should be another person in my place.
(ALEXEI NAVALNY SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE.)
PLEITGEN (voice over): These, the last images showing Navalny alive, smiling the day before his sudden death in an Arctic penal colony, which
Russia says it's still investigating
NAVALNAYA (through translator): Putin killed half of me half of my heart and half of my soul, but the other half of me remains and it tells me that
I don't have the right to surrender.
PLEITGEN (voice over): Navalnaya for years, avoided the political limelight, but a glimpse of her strong character shone through as Alexei
was poisoned in Russia in August 2020.
As she stared down the men keeping her away from her ailing husband in a hospital.
NAVALNAYA (through translator): We demand the immediate release of Alexei Navalny, because right now in this hospital, there are more police and
government agents than doctors.
PLEITGEN (voice over): Odessa Rae spent months working on a CNN documentary about that poisoning and grew close to the family.
ODESSA RAE, PRODUCER, "NAVALNY" DOCUMENTARY: She was very strong from the minute I met her, and she had the capacity to handle different situations
with a lot of poise and strength.
She just holds herself and holds that same belief for the future of Russia.
PLEITGEN (voice over): Yulia remained an anchor of support for Alexei, never leaving his side as he recovered in a hospital in Germany, even
returning to Russia with him despite the dangers.
A final kiss as he was taken into custody at the airport.
RAE: She's just one of the strongest women I have ever known. You know, to watch what she's gone through and to see her strength, it is an inspiration
to everyone. I mean, I don't know many people like Yulia and Alexei.
PLEITGEN (voice over): But since Alexei's death, it's only Yulia and she has made clear she will continue his work challenging Vladimir Putin's iron
fist rule over Russia.
NAVALNAYA (through translator): I thought long and hard if I should come up here or go and be with my children. I thought what would Alexei have done
in my place? And I'm sure that he would have been standing here on this stage.
PLEITGEN (voice over): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: All right, well, we're going to a very short break and Christie's talks about the Elton John auction featuring nearly 900 items, that is
coming up next. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:28:01]
GIOKOS: Strict limits on overtime for truck drivers in Japan are set to take effect this April. They are trying to address a shortage of drivers
and improve working conditions.
And as CNN's Hanako Montgomery explains this could have a much bigger impacts on the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Twenty-four hour convenience stores, fresh seafood, same-day deliveries -- in the world's
fourth largest economy, convenience reigns king.
But starting April 1st, this way of life many Japanese are used to threatens to be upended because truck drivers in Japan will finally get a
cap on overtime.
TAKETO NAJIMA, CEO, CHIKUMA TRANSPORT CO. (through translator): Truckers have been supporting Japan's economy for a very long time. So when the cap
is implemented, it will certainly mean all goods won't be delivered. That's what I'm most worried about.
MONTGOMERY (voice over): Truckers, the lifeline of Japan's economy deliver 90 percent of Japan's cargo.
But the hours, long and punishing have at times been fatal with dozens dying from overwork each year.
The government cap from April, which limits overtime hours to 80 a month for truckers is a welcomed change, but for the trucking industry, it means
fewer drivers and smaller wages.
RYUJI SHIOKAWA, TRUCK DRIVER (through translator): I think the biggest concern is the salary. Even if I get to spend more time with my children,
if my salary drops, it will make life difficult for us.
MONTGOMERY (voice over): Once the cap is implemented, the government fears that some goods won't be delivered on time or ever transported.
Without intervention. Japan could see a 14.2 percent decrease in delivery capacity this year, or 34.1 percent drop by 2030 leading to economic losses
of up to $67 billion that year alone.
The 2024 problem compounded by a shrinking population and an aging workforce as the trucking industry loses over 15,000 drivers annually.
[15:30:18]
HIRONORI TSUBOL, JAPANESE HEALTH MINISTRY (through translator): I think that many people are concerned about the decrease in the supply of
services. But if it's a difficult work environment, fewer and fewer people will want to work so I believe that creating a workplace that is easy to
work in is the key to attracting people to the industry.
MONTGOMERY: Japan's trucking industry, poised to change drastically, but Japan's reliance on truckers, the heart of the country's supply chain,
steadfast.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, this just in to CNN, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System is now the first organization in the state to confirm that it
is pausing invitro fertilization treatments. This is after Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children under state law. The
justices declaring last week that the wrongful death of a minor act applies to all unborn children regardless of their location.
CNN's Isabel Rosales is here.
Isabel, good to see you. This is exactly what would-be parents and advocates have feared. Take us through this decision and what it means.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Eleni. This first of its kind ruling is putting back into the national focus this question, this question
of when life begins. Now we have the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System, the first organization that we know of that has paused IVF
treatment in light of this ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court.
Here's part of their statement to CNN that I want to read out loud. Quote, "We must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could
be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments."
It's also important to note here that that Supreme Court ruling in Alabama, in the state of Alabama, speaks only to civil lawsuits, not criminal, but
that is certainly a major concern here if this is going to steam-roll into something into the criminal field. That's what we've been hearing from
patients, from doctors.
Let me take a step back here where this all came about, this ruling by Alabama's highest court. This stems from wrongful death lawsuits filed by
parents of, quote, "embryonic children." So the parents of embryos that would have become children, they had them in a cryogenic nursery, frozen,
awaiting implantation. When a patient in one of these clinics got access to that nursery, dropped the embryos, and destroyed them.
So this really brought the legal question of whether those embryos counted as children and whether there could be any liability for their destruction.
Now we see clearly that the Supreme Court in Alabama has sided with those parents.
Now reproductive rights advocates are warning that this could have huge implications for IVF across the country. That IVF for moving forward could
become more costly, less accessible, that liability costs could skyrocket, and that patients could be forced to pay lifelong storage fees for those
embryos, forced to keep them frozen even if those embryos are not viable. And then there's the question of who gets to decide what happens with
unwanted or unneeded embryos once a couple has gotten pregnant or for whatever reason that they don't want those embryos anymore.
Now I did speak with Gabrielle Goldel. She has been trying for two years to get pregnant with her husband and made the decision to undergo IVF
treatment. She's halfway through her cycle. She says this has been a difficult decision on her body to prepare for this emotionally and then
financially, too. She spent $20,000 so far. Here's how she took the news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIELLE GOLDEL, ALABAMA IVF PATIENT: I was already, you know, fully invested in this process. We had paid our clinic in full. We had purchased
all of our medication. It's been months long and then to be told that there is a possibility that we would have to stop this in the middle of one of
the most important parts of it is really terrifying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: Right, so the destruction of these embryos, which are now legally seen as children, could lead to lawsuits. That's the gist of what has
happened here. She, Gabrielle, tells me that she is not in a position to pay for these storage fees for 20 embryos or whatever could happen here
along the next steps. So she's keeping in close touch with her clinic and she says that whatever happens next, if the worst comes to pass here, she
is considering actually moving out of the state of Alabama to pursue her IVF treatment elsewhere.
[15:35:01]
GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, just, you were talking about what it actually means and how this is sort of going to spill over into storage and what it means
for patients that have been looking for assistance in fertility. In terms of what this means practically down the line, yes, we've seen a pause in
treatment right now, but what is the sense and prognosis of how this is going to play out as, you know, this decision settles?
ROSALES: Yes. Well, that's a big concern of critics here, of whether this is just opening the floodgates, whether other states will follow Alabama's
lead. These consequences or it could be seen at a national scale here as other states attempt to define whether embryos are people. And already
we've seen one religious group using this ruling in Alabama as precedent for a Florida abortion rights case.
So this is a big concern if we're just seeing the repercussions of this coming to light. And really the only other step legally here would be for
the Supreme Court to take this up but that seems unlikely.
GIOKOS: All right. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much.
Well, now to a massive home clearance featuring Versace, Banksy as well as Bentley convertible. And those are just some of the things listed by Sir
Elton John, the singer whose flamboyant style captured fans almost as much as his music.
(MUSIC)
GIOKOS: Performance of "Bennie and the Jets" there, and fans can now take a piece of the superstar home with him. He's auctioning off much of the
contents of his Atlanta apartment that just sold for $7 million.
Christie's president for the Americas told Julia Chatterley what's up for grabs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BONNIE BRENNAN, PRESIDENT, CHRISTIE'S AMERICAS: A lot of people recognize Elton John for his contributions to the music world, but he really is a
remarkable collector with just impeccable taste. He and his husband David Furnish amassed an amazing collection of photography. They're one of the
largest photography collectors in the world. They've amassed over 7,000 photos, Julia. We're selling just about -- just over 350 photographs in
this sale.
It was really in Atlanta, most of the property, all of the property in this sale of Christie's is coming from their Atlanta home, on Peachtree Road.
And it was Atlanta where he really developed his passion for photography in the early '90s and hasn't stopped since.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and it was a place of respite for him as well, I think, which to some degree I think you see that come out in the
sort of flavors of the collection and the comfort I think that he draws or drew from this home in particular.
Who's the buyers? Who do you think is going to be buying this, whether it's superfans or up to the collective -- real collectors' items, pieces, and
where geographically do you have a sense of interest at this stage?
BRENNAN: You know, it truly, I think to answer your first question, we're going to see buyers. We're going to see a lot of new buyers. These are
exactly the type of sales that introduced Christie's to a wide audience of new buyers, people who in fact are here because as of the Elton factor, as
we say. But there are such great material on the sale, Julia, that I think many, many of our dedicated collectors will also participate.
They've already been in touch with us to ask us for condition reports and more information on some of those extraordinary works that were very
personal. You know, Damien Hirst made that work for David and Elton. Julian Schnabel, very much did a personal portrait of Elton.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
BRENNAN: So there are some extraordinary things that I think would hang beautifully and some of the greatest are collections certainly in this
country. But I think it's a global audience. Our very first visitor to our exhibition when it opened was an Australian who had flown here specifically
for this this exhibition. We also had a young 7-year-old who said I'm here because I love Elton John.
So he really is a universal figure beloved by people of all ages, and truly across the globe. So I think we're going to see a number of countries
participating in the sales, both live and online.
CHATTERLEY: Just very quickly because I always do think about art as sort of passion projects and a purchase, but there is also an investment
opportunity here. How do you frame that in terms of whether somebody is buying something here as a potential investment opportunity that will rise
in price in the future versus what I think you should always do when you're buying art, is by something that you love?
BRENNAN: You know, I think you have a spot on, Julia. That's what we tell all of our clients is really buy what you love. If you do that, you'll
never make a bad investment. And the good news here is that everything that Elton had was really kind of a great quality. Those photographs were so
special you really can't go wrong. If you're looking for a great photograph, he with the help of Jane Jackson, a dealer in Atlanta, really
built an extraordinary collection that represents not only fashion photography, but some of the great photographers of the 20th Century are
there.
[15:40:08]
So you are -- I think you're in a safe playground to bid and know that you're getting works of great quality.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: All right, well, that is it for QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'll be back at the top of the hour as we make the dash for the closing bell. Up next,
"MARKETPLACE EUROPE"
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:58:13]
GIOKOS: Hello, I'm Eleni Giokos. It is the dash to the closing bell and we're just two minutes away.
Boeing has ousted the head of its 737 MAX program. The company's top selling plane has been plagued by quality and safety concerns, including a
door plug blowout last month. As you can see, Boeing is down eighth-tenths of a percent.
The Dow is headed for its third day of losses and it is set to close slightly lower. In fact, it's now slightly in the green. The Dow was in
negative territory most parts of the day. It seems that it's paid back its losses. As you can see, we've seen a bit of a bounce on S&P and Dow. The
Nasdaq still in negative territory.
Investors are awaiting earnings from chipmaker Nvidia after the bell. That is going to be the big one moving the markets. Don't forget Nvidia has seen
a huge stock price increase over the past year, up 230 percent. Can it hold up that momentum? What will the numbers tell us? We'll of course have those
details after the closing bell.
We're looking at the Dow components. Dow intakes the top spot. Walgreens is on the bottom and on its way out. In fact, Amazon will replace it on the
Dow 30 starting on Monday, and that will make Amazon the third member of the magnificence seven to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Well, I spoke with Quincy Krosby about the significance of Nvidia's earnings for the broader market. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUINCY KROSBY, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, LPL FINANCIAL: The market, you know, understands that they'll probably do quite well on the top line and
the bottom line, but the guidance, future guidance is very important, and it's important not just for the stock, it's important for the rest of the
market, and the rest of the big tech names because after all, as you pointed out, artificial intelligence, AI, has been the theme helping to
underpin this market surge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, that is your dash to the bell. I'm Eleni Giokos. The closing bell is ringing on Wall Street and of course all eyes will be on those
Nvidia earnings, which are about to drop. Dow up slightly.
"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.
END
