[Curnow:] You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD, I'm Robyn Curnow, this is CNN. Thanks so much for joining us. Our top story right now, one hour into the trading day in New York and we're certainly seeing some significant losses, including for the Nasdaq, of course, tech-heavy, and that is down over 2 percent. This is all contagion from a shock profit warning issued by Apple. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. As we have been speaking in the last 20 or so, 30 minutes, there has been more moving and again, all coming from that rare profit warning coming from Apple.
[Kosik:] Yes, that is really the bulk of why you're seeing the market sell off. But we saw the Dow accelerate those losses when a manufacturing report came out showing that manufacturing here in the U.S., it expanded in December, but it came in short of expectations. That's worrisome to investors, because of course, the big worry about Apple is that the impact of the slowdown in China's economy impacted Apple's revenue for the last quarter last year. Well, now we're seeing a bit of a slowdown in manufacturing here, although we're seeing an expansion. But when you see the manufacturing come in short of expectations, that can really rattle the markets. So that's why we saw the Dow tick even lower. Now down more than 500 points Robyn.
[Curnow:] Ok, and this Apple warning, I mean this is a giant red flag. Is this a sense that Apple is breaking cover? Are we going to be seeing other key companies making these sorts of statements?
[Kosik:] I think you're going to see other companies definitely make these statements like this. I mean even if you look at the last earnings season, more than a third of the S&P 500 companies, CEOs, on their earnings calls, mentioned how tariffs are concerning to them or how they're impacting their companies. So let's fast forward to a few months later. So we're getting another earnings season coming up in just a few weeks and the expectation is these CEOs are going to be talking more about the tariffs, more about the uncertainties surrounding the U.S.China trade war. And some of the companies up to bat that could be impacted the most are GM, Starbucks, Volkswagen, they do a huge chunk of business in China. So if Apple is being impacted by China's economic slowdown, that means these companies could be impacted as well Robyn.
[Curnow:] And the big question is with all of those companies that have exposure in China, how deep and wide is that exposure, and what kind of impact will there be? Because of course China is the world's biggest market.
[Kosik:] Right. So yes, China is the second biggest economy in the world, and if these companies have that kind of exposure, it's going to hurt their revenue, and you're going so see that sort of ripple effect happen. Not just with the companies with the most exposure, but those with even just a little exposure. I mean, what you're essentially seeing happen in U.S. stocks right now is a readjustment in prices based on how investors see how it is going to be let's say just in six months from now. How this tariff and trade situation could affect companies moving forward. So, companies that are a valued very highly, well that value is going to be readjusted lower, because the expectation is costs are going to increase for these companies, if this trade war lingers on.
[Curnow:] OK, Alison Kosik, keeping an eye on those numbers and certainly moving over there at the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks so much for the update.
[Kosik:] Sure.
[Curnow:] OK, so in just over an hour, the U.S. will make history, with its most diverse Congress ever. A record number of Latinos, African-Americans, and LGBT members have been elected. There is also a record number of female lawmakers. That puts the number now at 25 women in the Senate, and 102 in the House of Representatives. And that includes Nancy Pelosi who is expected to be named Speaker of the House, probably also in the next hour or two. It would be her second stint in that role and she's the only female speaker ever. Pelosi's daughter actually spoke to CNN earlier about her mom and this is what she had to say.
[Alexandra Pelosi, Daughter Of House Democrat Nancy Pelosi:] She'll cut your head off and you won't even know you're bleeding. That's all you need to know about her. No one ever won betting against Nancy Pelosi.
[Curnow:] Dana Bash recently spoke with Nancy Pelosi about the barriers she broke to be such a driving force on Capitol Hill. Here we go.
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Political Correspondent:] This is your hood.
[Rep. Nancy Pelosi , Speaker Of The House:] Yes.
[Bash:] To really know Nancy Pelosi, you go where it all started, Little Italy, in Baltimore, where she was born to Congressman Tommy D'Alesandro and Annunciata D'Alesandro. When she was six, her father became Baltimore's first Catholic mayor.
[Pelosi:] He leapfrogged over the Irish. That was a big deal. But it took a political organizing to do that.
[Bash:] Much has been made of Pelosi's father's influence on her. Less known is her mother's. [on camera]: Your mom actually patented a device, the first device to apply steam to the face.
[Pelosi:] Yes.
[Bash:] Basically an at home facial.
[Pelosi:] That's right.
[Bash:] That's incredible.
[Pelosi:] That was incredible.
[Bash:] Pelosi says her father and the times held her mother back in many ways but Annunciata D'Alesandro was a quiet force in politics.
[Pelosi:] My mother was very much a part of the organizing. My father was the orator, the public servant.
[Bash:] And your mother got stuff done.
[Pelosi:] Well, my brother called it her moccasin brigade, all of these women who would be part of getting the message out, being at events. There are two things that I bring with me from my family in this regard. One is to know how to count. That's very important. Count your votes to win the election. Count your votes to win a vote on the floor. But the other is, listen to the constituents.
[Bash:] The D'Alesandro home was at the center of this Italian community. A vivid childhood memory helping new immigrants who knew where her father, the mayor and his family lived and would regularly knock on their door asking for help.
[Pelosi:] Since I was a little girl, I knew how to tell somebody how to get a bed in city hospital. How to try and get housing in the projects because that's right here next to us. And because I heard my mother say it so many times.
[Bash:] After college, she wanted to go to law school. Instead, like many in her generation, she got married, and started a family.
[Pelosi:] When I got married, and I had a baby and another one, five and six years, people are always were saying, oh, she knew when she was a little girl, she wanted to run for office. I never thought of that at all, ever, until I did.
[Bash:] The Pelosi's moved back to husband Paul's hometown, San Francisco. She became more and more active in the Democratic Party. But it wasn't until her youngest daughter was a senior in high school that she ran for an open House seat.
[Pelosi:] I went to her and said, you're going to be a senior, mommy has a chance to run for Congress, I don't know even know if I'll when.
[Bash:] She said get a life.
[Pelosi:] She said get a life. And I did.
[Bash:] When she first ran for House leadership 18 years ago, her male Democratic colleagues didn't get it.
[Pelosi:] When people said oh, there are a lot of the women are supporting Nancy, to run. And they said well why? Do the women have a list of things they want us to do? Why don't they just make a list and give us the list? This is the Democratic Party in the year 2000.
[Bash:] She attributes her boundless energy to Italian genes it's certainly not a balanced diet. Dark chocolate and ice cream. Vaccaro's has been her favorite since she was a little girl.
[Pelosi:] The chocolate. Not chocolate chip, but chocolate. I like my chocolate unadulterated.
[Bash:] How do you think that you wield your power as a woman differently than a man does?
[Pelosi:] Other people tell me if you're at a meeting or something, they'd say, do you understand how different that meeting would have been if a man were conducting it?
[Bash:] Do they explain how?
[Pelosi:] Well you listen, you build consensus.
[Bash:] That's exactly what she did to get what she hopes will be enough votes for speaker again. Make compromises with Democratic doubters looking for someone new, not her.
[Pelosi:] None of us is indispensable. But some of us are just better at our jobs than others and I have a following in the country apart from anybody who has run for president.
[Bash:] For most women, frankly, you know, myself included, it is hard to say those words I am uniquely qualified. I deserve this. I earned this, I can do this better than anyone else. But you can say that.
[Pelosi:] You know why I do it? Dana, I do it because I want women to see that you do not get pushed around. That you don't run away from the fight.
[Curnow:] That was a great conversation wasn't it? Thanks to Dana Bash for that. I'm Robyn Curnow, live from Atlanta. This is CONNECT THE WORLD. Coming up, we are going to talk about alleged Saudi human rights abuses. They're in the spotlight. The details on that in just a moment.