[Maggie Lake:] The winning streak is over. Despite the smiles you see up on that podium with Fergie, the star, there, stocks edge lower on Wall Street. It's Wednesday, April 23rd. A quarter of global trade at stake. The US president starts his Asian mission. The writing on the wall for Facebook and Apple. The latest results are out this hour. And prime content for Amazon as it scores a milestone deal with HBO. I'm Maggie Lake. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening. He's on a mission to push forward one of the biggest trade deals in a generation, and it all starts in Japan. US president Barack Obama arrived in Tokyo to handshakes and smiles. It's the first stop on week-long tour around Asia. Washington is trying to refocus its diplomatic and economic efforts in the region. At the top of the agenda, a massive trade deal. Even before he touched down, though, President Obama took sides in a bitter territorial dispute between Japan and China. CNN's Michelle Kosinski reports from Tokyo.
[Michelle Kosinski, Cnn White House Correspondent:] It's interesting, right in the midst of the Ukraine crisis, in which the US has tried to take the lead in finding a diplomatic solution there, here comes this very important Asian trip, where some of the countries to be visited have very similar territorial worries, even disputes with China. It's not so easy to espouse the values of national sovereignty and territorial integrity in one part of the world and then not address it in another. In fact, one Japanese newspaper asked President Obama about it even before he landed, about these disputed islands between Japan and China in the East China Sea. And the president didn't try to walk some middle ground. He definitively said he sides with Japan on this as the rightful administrator of those islands and said that the US opposes efforts to undermine that. Then you look at the Philippines and Malaysia. They have their own issues with China. So, this is sure to be a topic that comes up again. And at times, it is a sensitive one as this trip progresses. Michelle Kosinski, CNN, Tokyo.
[Lake:] Now, at the center of President Obama's so-called "pivot to Asia," the Trans-Pacific partnership. It's a massive deal aimed at scrapping tariffs and boosting trade between the US, Canada, and ten countries around the Pacific Rim. Now, the 12 countries would account for 40 percent of the world's economy, and more than a quarter of all trade. The US government estimates it could generate more than $300 billion in new exports. Now, in Asia, Japan is a major trading partner with the US. The two countries exchange $216 billion worth of goods each year. The TPP would open Japan's economy to more goods from abroad, which is a sticking point. Currently, it's stalled by disagreements between Washington and Tokyo over beef imports. The deal has been in the works for years and is unlikely to be finished on this trip. Analysts say President Obama and Prime Minister Abe may announce a preliminary agreement tomorrow. And there's one significant player left out: China. The partnership is seen as a way for the US to try to counter Beijing's growing clout in the region. President Obama is trying to strike a balance on his trip. He's trying to exert US influence without upsetting major trading partners. Richard Quest sat down with the president of the Asia Society to discuss what's at stake.
[Josette Sheeran, President, Asia Society:] We have to demonstrate that the US really has pivoted or rebalanced to Asia. He's got to give proof points. One is the US involvement and all the disputes that are happening in Asia now. Will the US show forward leadership to be a constructive player and leader in the region to help these nations find their way through that? And secondly, on the trade with Asia, will he come out and really put that centerpiece in his presidency and the trade agreement between many of the nations in Asia and the
[Us. Richard Quest, Cnn International:] There is still always the feeling, even though they talk about the pivot to Asia and the new importance of Asia, there is still always the feeling that methinks they talk big and not mean it.
[Sheeran:] Well, this is where the proof points have to come in. There's been a lot going on in the world Syria, Crimea things have pulled the US away from Asia, but now we have to
[Quest:] But what's pulling the US towards Asia? Relations with China have been difficult, on trade protection, they are difficult.
[Sheeran:] Well, they're difficult, but this is our biggest trading partnership in the world. This is absolutely critical to the US economy.
[Quest:] There are fundamental differences of opinion between the US and China on core issues, whether it's been freedom of expression, whether it's internet piracy, whether it is hacking, whatever it might be not that the US comes to the table with clean hands.
[Sheeran:] Well, there are many differences. And yet, China has arisen as the second-biggest economy in the world, and we don't have the fabric of resiliency to deal with these issues that you do between the US and Europe, for example.
[Quest:] Do you think there is a fundamental difference of how the world is viewed from the United States and from Asia?
[Sheeran:] Well listen, Richard, I think it's more complicated than that. I think within Asia, Japan has a view of what the world order should be, China has a view, India has a view, the US has a view, Russia has a view. And we've lost our consensus. This is why this trip is so vital. President Obama has a big role to fulfill to show the US constructive leadership in helping the world forge a consensus for this century. We need buy-in, and there's no country, really, better poised to lead as we did after World War II. I think the US has to
[Quest:] They don't want
[Sheeran:] inspire the world
[Quest:] No! They don't
[Sheeran:] I mean lead
[Quest:] Asia doesn't
[Sheeran:] lead on how we come together
[Quest:] They don't want
[Sheeran:] to continue this.
[Quest:] the US to lead. That's the problem!
[Sheeran:] Well
[Quest:] That is exactly the problem! The idea the US will somehow lead the way in terms of that dialogue. Isn't that the issue?
[Sheeran:] Richard, I think we're at a critical point. We're either going to foresee another decade of rising prosperity, growth in Asia that will help lift all boats, or we're going to see the kind of tensions that came in 1914 versus 2014. We're seeing the same kind of war of words happening
[Quest:] Right.
[Sheeran:] This pulling apart of the fabric of relations in a way that I think we have to be quite serious about.
[Lake:] Now, US markets ended the day lower, but as you can see, only just, down about 12 points. It was back and forth all day. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. And Alison, we lost the winning streak is over, but the loss is very modest. What are investors talking about?
[Alison Kosik, Cnn Business Correspondent:] It's investors actually right now talking about those Facebook earnings coming in right now. We're getting a little bit of information. We found out that Facebook beat sales estimates, posting revenues of $2.5 billion. Earnings also topped forecast. So, that's what we know so far. We're sorting through their results on what their mobile ad sales were like. Those are going to be important, because both are key yardsticks for the company and for the broader market. Speaking of the broader markets, what moved today? Mixed earnings, disappointing housing numbers, all of that giving little reason to buy in. We learned that new homes sales plunged 14.5 percent in March to its slowest pace since last July. Some of that being blamed on bad weather, higher prices, higher mortgage rates, all keeping buyers on the sidelines. But you look at the losses, Maggie, they're not so terrible when you consider the S&P; 500 has been on that six-day winning streak, the Dow's closed higher in five of the past six sessions. So, getting both indices closer to their record highs. At one point, after what was a rough start to April, it's moving a little farther away from that today. Maggie?
[Lake:] Farther away and a lot of earnings still to come. Alison, thank you so much.
[Kosik:] Right.
[Lake:] Well, HBO is opening part of its massive TV library to Amazon. Amazon Prime users, listen up. You'll soon be able to stream many of HBO's hit shows, like "The Sopranos."
[Aid Turturro As Janice Soprano, "the Sopranos":] Time for presents!
[James Gandolfini As Tony Soprano, "the Sopranos":] And Grandpa? I told you people I didn't want any presents just
[Group In Unison:] Just a few kind words.
[Lake:] Ah, a present for Amazon users, but like the plot of any good show, there's a twist. HBO's present only applies to old shows. New seasons of shows like "The Newsroom" and "Girls" will take around three years to show up on Amazon. HBO, like CNN, is owned by Time-Warner. CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter joins me now. Brian, this is all we've been talking about is content. The battle for those eyeballs online. How significant is this deal?
[Brial Stelter, Cnn Senior Media Correspondent:] I think it's very significant because HBO has always been very tight-fisted with their shows. They own all of the programs that they broadcast, and they're very careful not to share them in lots of other directions. Some repeats of some old shows, like "Sex in the City," are on cable. But the value of repeats like that is dwindling, because people expect everything to be available on demand. And HBO's really good about making things available on demand. The 30 million people in the United States 30 million homes that have HBO can watch all of the back seasons of shows, like "The Sopranos," already. But what about the homes that don't have HBO? What about the people who might have Amazon Prime who might want to watch "The Sopranos" from many years ago? That's the people that will now have more access to shows, thanks to this deal.
[Lake:] So, who wins here? Is this a win for all around? Because to me, when you're talking about those back shows, they're old enough there are so many new hits that I'm not sure that HBO's really giving any kind of present. And what does Amazon get out of this?
[Stelter:] They're constructing this deal very carefully.
[Lake:] Yes.
[Stelter:] Amazon gets a bunch of bold name shows they can promote. They can now say, for example, they've got all the seasons of "The Wire," this critically-acclaimed HBO series that, for some people, is still brand- new to them.
[Lake:] Right.
[Stelter:] If you haven't seen it before, it's new to you. But HBO is most importantly still protecting its cable and satellite business. It is making sure that people still need to sign up for cable and for HBO if they want to watch the new hits, like "Game of Thrones" or like "True Detective." They're having their cake and they're eating it, too. They're figuring out a new way to make money from their old library while protecting their core business.
[Lake:] That's right. And for Amazon, as you say, some of the younger people as they come into Amazon Prime maybe haven't seen the shows. Brian, we're out of time now, but content is king, that's for sure, from what we can tell for all these deals. The content-makers are
[Stelter:] Every day
[Lake:] the jars to beat, aren't they?
[Stelter:] that is reaffirmed every time we see a deal like this.
[Lake:] All right. Well, Amazon Prime users, if you haven't seen those shows, you're going to be happy. Brian, we'll talk again soon.
[Stelter:] Thanks.
[Lake:] Thanks so much. Well, searching for answers in the South Korean ferry disaster. Investigators now turn their attention to the company in charge of the ill-fated vessel. We're live in Jindo with the latest.