BUSINESS-01
Released; Latest on Jakarta Terror Attacks; Actor Alan Rickman Dies of
Cancer - Part 1>
nominations are released, with critics decrying lack of diversity.>
Oscars; Auto Industry; Renault; Police; Transportation; Terrorism;
Indonesia; Alan Rickman>
(16:00:00) POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: What a difference a day makes for the market. Stocks on Wall Street are up some 2 percent as we reached the closing trading in Thursday January the 14th. Ladies and gentlemen start you engines, the Dow races back from Wednesday's big losses.
Also ladies and gentlemen, check your engines, Renault shares plunged 10 percent after police raid their offices.
Also tonight, the Oscar nominations are out and they are slammed for a lack of diversity. I'm Poppy Harlow and this is "Quest Means Business."
(MUSIC)
Good evening, welcome to the program. Tonight, U.S. stocks rebound after a brutal selloff at the close. The Dow is up more than 200 points. The rally follows a slight recovery in oil prices which plummeted earlier in the week. Also helping boast stocks, the President of the St. Louis Fed warns the rout in oil prices may dampen inflation that could prompt the Fed to slow the phase of interest rate increases.
Thursday is no exception to recent pattern, though we have seen triple digit moves in the Dow almost everyday so far in 2016. Tim Anderson, he's Managing Director at TGM investment, he is live for me in the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Look at all the green today compared to all of the red yesterday, the selloff accelerating into the close yesterday. Why the change of heart, is this a market that is just not rational?
TIM ANDERSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TGM INVESTMENT: Well it's a market that's trying to find intermediate support right now. We closed last night very close to the closing lows from last August since September. We took a pretty good run at those on the down side in the first 30 to 45 minutes of the day. And, we held, stabilized, oil rallied a little bit and I think the fact that oil has not gone through 30 on the downside for other than just a few moments in today or the last few days, oil was up about 2 percent and that really gave investors some confidence that we are short- term oversold. And, we saw initially a lot of buying in the high dividend yielding oil stocks and then it's spilled over into the rest of the sector.
And then the market kind of -- the rest of the market attracted a lot of other buying. We closed a little bit off our highs from 90 minutes ago, but still it's a very positive breath of relief day for a lot of people in the market.
HARLOW: Certainly a breath of relieve Dave (ph) but we haven't made up nearly what has been lost if you look at the totality of 2016 so far. You still have about a trillion dollars in stock market values lost in United States just in the first, you know, week and half of this year. Are you worried long-term about a bear market? Are you worried about a 20 percent decline from the recent peak or do you think those fears are unjustified?
ANDERSON: Well, they're not completely unjustified. We've had a, over 20 percent decline in the Russell 2000 Index.
HARLOW: Right.
ANDERSON: From just where it was a few days before the end of the second quarter. And we've had more than a 20 percent decline in the transportation index from where it was a few days before the end of 2014. So there are some areas of the market that have a much more distress than the Dow and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ. And, this could still turn into a protracted correction that has to play out at least throughout the first quarter.
Now the last couple of corrections we've seen in October of 2014 and in August and September last year, we recovered relatively quickly from those. And the concern is that this might take -- this might be a little bit more challenging.
HARLOW: This might be a little bit more challenging but what a day on Wall Street, we'll be watching. Thank you so much Tim, appreciate the insight tonight, live at the New York Stock exchange.
Also this evening, a cloud of uncertainty has descended on Renault. The automaker shares fell as much as 20 percent on Thursday, they eventually closed the session down 10. Reports reveal anti-fraud police searched three Renault offices last week looking to see if there was any evidence that the automaker may have rigged their emissions test.
On Thursday Renault said it was cooperating fully with police, it insisted that a separate independent investigation had not revealed any cheat devises in their cars at all. In a statement the company said, "This is good news for Renault, the ongoing tests open a way for improvement solutions for future and current Renault vehicles."
The French economic minister played down the significance of these raids. Emmanuel Macron said there were separate investigations conducted, of course you'll remember in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal.
(16:05:07) Still, the collapse in Renault shares point to a spooked market and points to Europe's other auto giants. Peugeot, when asked said that police did not visit its offices and inspection of its vehicles turn up no anomalies, Peugeot shares though still down 5 percent today. Daimler and BMW shares also tanked (ph) before pairing their looses. Volkswagen the car maker that set off the entire scandal still now looked in negotiations with U.S. regulators, a meeting between Volkswagen CEO and the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA here in the United States, that failed on Wednesday to produce any results.
Drew Kodjak is the Executive Director of the International Council on Clean Transportation, it is the group that first discovered Volkswagen so-called defeat devices, rigging some 11 million of their vehicles to look like they have lower emissions than they actually did. Thank you very much for being with me.
DREW KODJAK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION: Thank you for having me.
HARLOW: As we saw today, what happened, what played was shares of Renault down 28 percent at one point, then down 10 percent on the day. This is after the company insists that they have not rigged any emissions test after the preliminary finding at least from these raids show no sign of rigging. Do you see this as a public being, exceedingly cautious in the wake of VW?
KODJAK: I think we're getting mixed messages here and I think the market is reflecting that.
HARLOW: OK.
KODJAK: On the one hand, you have some of the test that have been complete by the French government which have given -- excuse me Renault a clean of health so far.
HARLOW: Right.
KODJAK: And that you have raids looking for evidence of fraud, which suggest that something is awry. And so the market going down 20 percent then bouncing back up to close at just 10 down. That's a reflection of that. The other big of interesting news today that just happened in Europe is that the European Investment Band has announced that it will freeze further loans to Volkswagen because it could not rule out that the loans that they had given Volkswagen in the past had been used for illegal activities.
And so that's another bit of big news that came out of Europe just today, and shows again that the shadow of this uncertainty that's caused by the Volkswagen defeat device scam that started here in United States continues to reverberate in Europe and elsewhere.
HARLOW: And that you led that investigation into VW, obviously along with the EPA. We just heard that the meeting that they had yesterday did not result in anything substantive. Do you believe that this is broader than VW, and I know its early going, but do you believe it is?
KODJAK: Well so, let's take a look around the world, we've had Korea do testing of diesel passenger vehicles, claim to have found defeat devices in Korea, which is a major market for passenger diesels, and Volkswagen has said that they will make amends and deal with those vehicles. Similar situation in India where Volkswagen has not admitted to having any defeat devises but has also said that they will deal with the vehicles that the Indian government claims have problems.
So there's lots of reverberations around the rest of the world, certainly in Germany, Volkswagen has pledged to deal with the vehicles have excess emissions in Germany. And in United States continues to be really the toughest nut to crack, because despite having a big announcement four months ago with a notice of violation from the Federal government, Volkswagen still hasn't managed to come to terms with either California or the USEPA about how to fix the vehicles in United States that have very high emissions due to the defeat devises which is a software program which evades the emission test.
HARLOW: But the police we know in France are conducting what they're calling "a further investigation," right? After these preliminary results into Renault came out. Can you walk me through what specifically they would be looking for that might not show up in their preliminary findings?
KODJAK: So great question Poppy. Here is the fundamental problem of proving a defeat device, is that if you just show that the vehicle has very high, real-world emissions, you have circumstantial evidence that there might be something wrong but you don't know if it's just because there's differences between the test cycle and what you're doing to the vehicle under the real world conditions, or if there is some type of a software program. And the only way to tell really, is if A, you can find the software code, and there's a hacker in Europe which has published a YouTube video showing how he has done that, which is interesting. Or, you raid the offices of manufactures and find evidence through e-mails or documents indicating that those manufacturers actually deliberately sought to evade the law.
(16:10:06) And so, it's that second approach to proving a defeat device which seems to be what the French government is trying to do in this particular case.
HARLOW: Thank you very much, I appreciate it Drew, we will obviously stay in touch with you as you led that VW investigation and see what comes of these further investigations. Thank you for your time.
Automakers were among the biggest losers on the European markets, all the major indexes in Europe ended the day lower. It was not all though bleak, Tesco shares surged 6 percent. The British supermarket chain reported its sales rose for the first time in over -- in four years frankly, over the holiday period.
A shocking attack in Indonesian capital, gunfire and explosions, rocking Jakarta, we will take you there live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Terror in the heart of Indonesia's capital, ISIS is claiming responsibility for a series of well-coordinated attacks in Jakarta. Explosions and gunfire rocked the city in a Paris style coordinated assault. Gunmen opened fire after a suicide bomber struck near a Starbucks. At least two people were killed, dozens more wounded, the attacker struck a busy commercial area right in the heart of Jakarta.
The target is an entertainment and shopping district that is very popular with foreigners. The city's police chief names an ISIS militant as being the man who plotted the attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TITO KARNAVIAN, JAKARTA POLICE CHIEF (through translation): In South East Asia, there's a militant named Bahrun Naim who wants to be the leader of the region. As when taking over the leadership, he declared his leadership in the southern Philippines. All leaders in Southeast Asia are competing to be the chief, that's why the Bahrun Naim plotted this attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: While a police spokesman told CNN that the terrorist were targeting foreigners and police, Indonesia's tourist ministry says, it believes tourist were not being targeted. Earlier I spoke to a ministry spokesperson Noviendi Makalam who told me that this area was not an area with quote many foreign travelers. I started by asking him his reaction to the attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOVIENDI MAKALAM, SPOKESMAN, INDONESIA TOURISM MINISTRY: We are very saddened of this accident, but actually that is always happening so many parts of the world. Unfortunately this time it's Jakarta, and from the -- tourism Indonesia we are very, very saddened about this.
HARLOW: This follows -- you're the spokesman for Indonesia's tourism ministry and it follows the 2009 joint hotel attack in Jakarta, the 2002 attack in Bali that had a significant downward effect on tourism. How can you ensure foreigner safety, especially when it appears that foreigners were targeted here?
MAKALAM: Actually this time it's not foreign tourist who is the target of the attack. We can assure about that. And, we are very pleased with what have been done by the Indonesian security forces that, in only in five hours they have already do a very good job in localizing the areas.
(16:15:06) HARLOW: Sir, you said that foreigners were not targeted, why do you believe foreigners were not targeted in this?
MAKALAM: It's different because it's not -- this is not a place where many foreign travelers to Indonesia are gathered. It's -- and they are not targeted to any tourism industry establishment. This is in the heard of Jakarta and it's not really, have a very much number of foreign visitors in this area. Yes this is a mall here but actually this is not really a place where foreign visitors are gathered in Jakarta during the time.
HARLOW: Have you increased security measures on major hotels and other spots that could be targets?
MAKALAM: Yes, yes. We have already contact at least 14 hotels in the surrounding office area this afternoon, right after the incident. So, they're already -- and we still have contact, good contact with them, most of them, and there is no rush, there is cancelation until not. So, we are very pleased to hear that. Even our airlines are also doing -- reporting a very good condition, our airline -- our airport is also in the good shape.
HARLOW: Do you see this as an attack sir on Indonesia's economy, on Indonesia's business hub?
MAKALAM: We look very carefully on the rate of rupiah against dollar and we also look at the Indonesian stock exchange up to the closer of the (inaudible) this afternoon. And, there is no sudden drop, it dropped after the incident, but on the later part it's gaining again. So, we are quite confident of what happened in the economic sector that, the market is really confident with what have been done by the Indonesian government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: CNN Senior Internal Correspondent Ivan Watson is live for us in Jakarta with the very latest. Ivan, let me ask you, because you heard the ministry of tourism there saying that foreigners were not targeted. The police are saying they were, what are you hearing?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's look at one of the targets, right behind me, right here. Behind these floral displays that are messages of condolences Poppy, this was an Indonesian police traffic control booth that was hit by the attackers on Thursday morning. So, there are no foreigners in this location at all.
But, if we spin around, and Brad let's spin around here so we can give some perspective, the Starbucks where a suicide bomber struck and begun the attack is right across the street, right across the intersection. And this is the shopping mall here that has McDonald's and so on. That normally this time of the time would be open kind of 24/7, but as a result of these attacks is not.
So, this is an area that yes, some foreigners come to, there are major hotels up and down this boulevard but it is also a destination for Indonesian as well, and they would have vastly outnumbered the faces of foreigners in this area. Poppy.
HARLOW: And this obviously follows the 2002 attack in Bali, the 2009 joint hotel attack there in Jakarta. What is the government saying Ivan if anything at this hour, especially after ISIS claimed responsibility?
WATSON: Right. Well not only has ISIS claimed responsibility but also the Jakarta police have said, this is an ISIS attack, and they've even named an Indonesian who they say went to Syria to fight alongside ISIS named Bahrun Naim, they claimed that he is trying to set up an ISIS network in Southeast Asia. It's important to note, this was not one of those mass casualty event attacks that ISIS succeeded in carrying out in Paris a few months ago. The scale of the damage of the Starbucks there is not massive, it's on the inside, there were two people killed here, a foreigner and an Indonesian, and five attackers killed.
Was that a result of, what that a result of incompetence on the part of the militant, was it a response, a result of, a quick response on the part of the Indonesian security forces?
(16:20: 04) It's not entirely clear, but it's certainly didn't come anywhere close to some of the horrific attacks that were carried out by al- Qaeda linked militants in Indonesia, in the past decade that were affiliated with a group called Jamia Islamia, a group that counter- terrorism experts all really much agree that the Indonesian security forces succeeded in dismantling over the course of the last decade. If this was in fact ISIS, what happened here on Thursday then that would presumably be a new generation of militants here in Indonesia, that's something that the Pentagon, that the Australian government and now the Indonesian government are warning about. Poppy.
HARLOW: Ivan Watson, live for us tonight in Jakarta. Ivan, thank you very much.
Next, how a group of men past retirement pulled the single biggest burglary in U.K.'s history, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Three men have been convicted of involvement in what prosecutors are calling the biggest burglary in English legal history. Four others plead guilty in September, many of the criminals are well retirement. Our Phil Black looks at how they managed to steal $20 million worth of jewelry and other valuables from a vault in London's jewelry quarter in April.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At a glance it looks innocuous. A white transit van travels through the back streets of London at the start of last year's Easter long weekend. Nearby, two men in high-visibility vest are on foot. Again, on the face of it, unremarkable, but this was the moment caught on security cameras that a $20 million jewelry heist begun to unfold.
DETECTIVE SUPERINTENDENT CRAIG TURNER, METROPOLITAN POLICE: It was one of the largest burglaries that has ever taken place within London in recent times. It was meticulously planned over a three-year period.
BLACK: The target, the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, the heart of London's diamond district.
This video shows how the gang of thieves used a fire escape to come and go from the building over a period of three days, careful to hide their faces from the camera. Once inside they used a lift shaft to access the basement, they cut through metal bar and drilled through a thick concrete wall to climb into the vault where they're raided dozens of boxes containing precious stones and valuables. The thieves casually loaded two wheelie bins into the transit van and drove away, leaving little forensic evidence.
In the end investigators followed David from landlines and mobile phones, to a gang led by pension aid (ph), highly experienced criminals.
TURNER: They thought they pulled it off, they thought that overseas secured their own pension box (ph).
BLACK: The police begun their surveillance operation, planting listening devises in their cars and swooped in to make arrest after the suspects were seen moving some of the stolen goods.
TURNER: They're bragging and they thought they've got away with it, and they were talking about films being made themselves.
BLACK: Four men fought the charges in court, four others admit they were involved, one insisting he wanted to come clean showed police where he hid part of the loot, under a memorial stone in a London cemetery.
TURNER: They were cowards. They had no consideration for those victims of crime whatsoever. I'll ask members of the public to actually look past their actual age.
(16:25:03) They were well-scorned individuals in relation to criminal activity. And members of the public should look past the glamorization of his crime.
BLACK: Prosecutor say only around one-third of the stolen items have been recovered. Around $14 million worth is still missing.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Federal health officials are considering whether to warn pregnant women against travel to Brazil and some other Latin American and Caribbean countries Zika virus is spreading. Zika is transmitted via mosquitoes and experts fear it may cause birth defects.
Our Shasta Darlington is live in Rio de Janeiro, Shasta, this has been focus in Rio for quite sometime, you've been reporting on it in the past few weeks. Brazilian health officials have been warning about it, but now you have global health officials concern. What are Brazilians saying?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well as you said Poppy, this has been a concern for quite sometime here in Brazil, to the point that doctors and even health officials are warning women to put off their pregnancies if they possibly can, at least until we get through the summer rainy season when you see even more and more mosquitoes. The mosquitoes are what transmit their Zika virus.
And, they're specially, they're proliferating in the northeast, and basically, when this virus, the Zika virus pops up in Brazil last year it didn't really set off alarm bells, until officials started noticing a huge surge in this birth defect called microcephaly. And, since then, with research, they tied the two, they believe that mothers who have been bitten by a mosquito with the Zika virus have then turned up with infants being born with microcephaly. These birth defects can mean that they have miscarriages, that the children die early, or that they need constant health throughout their lives, constant assistance.
So you can imagine, it is a huge source of concern here. And, frankly the mosquito that carries it is found throughout many countries in the region and is a growing concern throughout the region, Poppy.
HARLOW: It's also interesting, is it here in the United States? Obviously a lot of people travel from the United States to Brazil on vacation, on business, in the United States officials are saying this could be the first time that the Centers for Disease Control and Protection advises pregnant women to avoid specific places of travel, that is huge and they're making that determination right now. What does that do and what is the concern about the impact in the Brazilian economy given the rough waters that's already in, and ahead of the Olympics?
DARLINGTON: Well, it couldn't come at a worse time, not only are we six months away from the Olympic game here in Rio de Janeiro, but Brazil is mired in a prolonged recessions that isn't expected to end at this year, so in some ways the Olympics was kind of a lifeline at least for the local economy, there's a lot of construction going on, airport expansions. And they were expecting or they are expecting about half a million visitors to the games.
If there is some kind of a warning put out there, it's very likely that at least -- at the very least, pregnant women or women thinking about pregnant will put off their plans or cancel their plans to come to the Olympics, so that could have a huge impact. There's -- another cost thought that I think people should keep in mind, that's the cost to the health system here.
When I was talking about these babies born with birth defects, I'm talking about, more than 3,500 since the Zika virus was detected, in a normal year, you get about 150. So these in many cases are babies who are going to need for many years as they grow up. And it also, is a huge burden on the prenatal care for women, again, in country that's in a prolonged recession where they're slashing budgets across the board. Poppy.
HARLOW: Shasta Darlington in Rio for us tonight. Scary reality, what happening, thank you very much Shasta.
Coming up, the price of oil is driving stocks. I will speak with legendary oil man T. Boone Pickens about where prices are headed, what his predictions, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:25] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Poppy Harlow. There is more Quest Means Business in a moment when T. Boone Pickens tells me he is glad he is not too exposed to the current oil market madness.
And the winner is not diversity, the Oscar nominations are criticized for being "So White".
Before that, this is CNN. And this is time update you on the latest news headlines.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia's capital, two civilians were killed and more than 20 others wounded. Police say at least five attackers besieged the shopping district of popular westerners. A U.N. employee at the scene described the chaos of the string of explosion that hit the city in quick secession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY DOUGLAS, UNITED NATIONS: I was in the car when first happened, and we got to call our driver that had a call from our security, asking where we were. There sort of bombing gone off (ph) in front of the building. But we were actually, luckily pulling into the front of the -- in the back of the (inaudible).
We pull up and got out of the car. There's a little bit of chaos because people weren't quite sure what's going on. And then, a second bomb went off as we were getting out of the car. And we basically rush into the building.
And then, the third bomb went off, we went off to our office on the 10th floor and now we're locked down in the 10th floor, in our office building. And then, a fourth, a fifth and sixth bomb went off and then we heard small arms fire in the street, in front of the building.
You couldn't get much more central in Jakarta if you tried. It's right (inaudible) out in the central business area, so you got major international hotel chains all over the place. And you got the U.N. the Japanese Embassies down.
So there's a big diplomatic beef (ph) and there's a big business community right now. So if you want to make an impact, you want to get some visibility for what you're trying to do, this is the place to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: The World Health Organization has declared three West African countries officially Ebola free, this end the outbreak that killed more than 11,000 West Africans. The WHO though still warning that these three countries remain at risk, a possible flare offs or small outbreak and that they must remain vigilant.
A French schoolteacher injured in Wednesday deadly avalanche at a French Alps Ski Resort is being investigated for involuntary manslaughter. Three people were killed including two of the teacher's students. The school group was touring was touring an avalanche slope that was closed because of avalanche risk when by struck (ph).
The Powerball lottery in the United States has a winner finally or three. The biggest lottery jackpot in history at the total $1.5 billion dollars will be split between the three owners of three winning tickets. The lucky tickers are sold in California, Tennessee and Florida.
