Today on NYSE Live | Charles River Laboratories Rings Bell to Mark CEO James Foster’s 50-year Care

Good morning everyone and welcome to NYSE Live. I'm Kristen Scholer here in the studio at the Stock Exchange. We do see equities trying for gains this Monday morning after a report that there is a push to secure a potential ceasefire with Iran. According to Axios, US allies are pressing for a deal with Iran, but said the odds of reaching one in the next 48 hours is low. Now, over the weekend President Donald Trump did take to social media saying the US would attack Iranian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. He implied the deadline to reopen the energy shipping route is Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Now, the latest headlines come after the March jobs report on Friday was much better than expected with the economy adding 178,000 jobs last month. That pushed up bond yields due to the strength and the stock market is set to reopen today after it was closed on Friday for the Easter holiday.

Let's take a look at what's on tap this hour. NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange just released the April Mortgage Monitor taking a look at key trends and developments across the mortgage and housing sectors. ICE's head of mortgage and housing market research Andy Walden is here to join us to break it down. Plus, as quantum becomes more in focus this year, we're going to hear from the CEO and CTO of Quantum Brilliance. This company says it makes chips out of diamonds and they joined our Ashley Machernarty to share more. Then at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, we'll take you live to that opening bell podium as we always do. NYSE listed Charles River is set to kick off the trading week by opening markets. And later on in the show, I'm going to head down to the trading floor and speak with its CEO James Foster about what stands out during his 50-year tenure at the helm.

Well, moments ago Intercontinental Exchange published the April Mortgage Monitor showing that the spring housing market started on a stronger footing. Andy Walden, ICE's head of mortgage and housing market research, joins me now with more. Andy, great to see you this Monday morning.

Thank you for having me, Kristen. Appreciate it.

All right, let's kick things off here with home affordability reaching its best level in 4 years. Why is that?

Yeah, I mean there's a couple of different factors there. One is, you know, even with the leg up in interest rates we've seen over the last couple of weeks, mortgage rates still a quarter of a percent below where they were at this point last year. And the second is that home prices are seeing real home price declines meaning that they're rising at a slower rate than borrowers are tacking on income or that inflation is hitting those homeowners. And so, 99 of the 100 largest markets seeing a better affordability than the same time last year. Nationally speaking, this is the best affordability we've seen for the month of March dating all the way back to 2022.

Wow, how is this impacting inventory, better home affordability?

Yeah, we're seeing inventory levels pick up a little bit as well. It's happening at a very slow rate. So, nationally speaking, about 8% more inventory than we had at the same time last year. Slowest growth rate that we've seen in 24 months. So again, kind of slowing down that growth overall, but nationally we're about 11% shy of normal. Better than the 19% shy of normal that we were at this point last year. Across the country, about 70% of markets have seen inventory pick up a little bit over the last 6 months. And there's still a lot of geographic diversity in terms of what we're seeing across the country. You still have areas like Florida, Texas, Colorado's in that mix as well. Parts of the western US where you have 50 to 90% more homes available for sale than you traditionally would see at this time of the year. And then you have the opposite in the northeast kind of centered around where you are, New York, New York City, parts of Connecticut 50 to 80% short from where they should be. So, a lot of variety across the country that's driving those various home price growth rates.

Let's talk rates because we do see mortgage rates climbing from their recent lows, which at one point was below that 6% threshold. How is that impacting activity both from a home buying and a refinancing perspective?

Yeah, from a refinance perspective, and you mentioned it when rates hit that five handle in late February, we had more folks that could benefit from a refinance that we had seen in the last 4 years out there in the market. That's dropped by about 60% over the last few weeks as rates have taken a leg up. So, it's really pausing some of that refinance activity that we had seen. Hopefully temporarily, hopefully that returns here later this year, but putting a pause on that activity for right now. From an affordability perspective, it's pulled about 4% of buying power out of the market from where we peaked earlier this year. But as I mentioned, still better affordability than we've seen at this point the last few years out there in the market. We've been seeing some pretty strong purchase demand early this year. A little bit of a hesitation there from the market as they kind of digest everything that's going on in the Middle East and, you know, the kind of where they stand here entering this spring buying season. So, those purchase demand numbers are going to be really interesting to watch here over the next couple of weeks to see how buyers respond as rates settle kind of around this 6 and a third range.

Does the data that you look at and analyze, Andy, indicate where rates could go from here?

Yeah, certainly a lot of uncertainty around rates right now as you'd expect. And you're seeing it kind of digest the same data that the bond market is digesting. Mortgage rates really don't like uncertainty and so one of the areas that you'd obviously look at is spreads between 10-year Treasury yields and 30-year mortgage rates. Those have widened by about 20 basis points over the last few weeks and so putting a little bit more upward pressure on mortgage rates. When you look at the futures market right now, again a little bit of uncertainty pricing in a little bit of volatility here over the next few weeks and next couple of months and then pricing in rates to settle a little bit as we move through the summer. But a lot of that's just going to be driven by what do we see around Iran, what do we see from oil prices here and how does the market kind of digest that in terms of inflation expectations and GDP expectations as well.

And now the April Mortgage Monitor, which came out this morning, and ICE Borrowers in sight survey also took a look at what home buyers and refinancers are looking for in a lender. What qualifications stood out to you?

Yeah, and it's really what you would expect. It's what does this mean to me? What does this mean to my pocketbook, right? Over 75% of folks said that they were looking to get the best rate. Unsurprisingly, more than half said fees were extremely important to them as well. So, those stood out far and above all other aspects that home buyers or potential home buyers mentioned. The next highest was how long is it going to take me to close this loans and that was about a quarter of borrowers. And so, very acutely focused as you would expect on the costs and their monthly payments in today's market. What's also interesting is while folks say that the costs are the most important to them, very few are shopping beyond one or two potential lenders in today's market. 80% of folks are only looking at one or two. When you look at older generations, you look at baby boomers, 90% of those folks were only shopping more than two options. 60% went with the first option. So, it says, 'Hey, maybe those prospective home buyers if costs are important, they'll look at more lenders and kind of shop around for the best deal.' When you look at what this means for lenders out there in the market, it means, 'Hey, you need to be one of the first if not the first to the table putting the right product and the right pricing in front of the right borrower at the right time to secure those transactions.'

Andy, just in about 30 seconds before we have to let you go, any other trends that stood out to you this month?

Yeah, I think when you look across the country heading into this spring, obviously the northwestern region of the country is starting to stand out there a little bit and that kind of ties into the tech sector. You can look into Seattle, inventory growing, the high end of that market really softening up as you're seeing more layoffs in Seattle. And so, I think the northwest is going to be a region to watch this year. And then if we fast forward beyond that, I think California is a really interesting market. They've seen an affordability improvement, still very stretched from an affordability standpoint. So, when you get into '27 and '28, I think we may be having more conversations around Southern California as well.

All right, Andy Walden, ICE's head of mortgage and housing market research. Andy, thank you as always.

You bet, Kristen.

All right, everyone. Coming up, quantum computing is capturing attention across the industry and on the other side we're going to hear from Quantum Brilliance's CEO and CTO on how it is making chips out of diamonds.

Welcome back to NYSE Live. Just as AI took the spotlight last year, quantum is increasingly gathering attention in 2026 from business leaders and investors alike. Well, the CEO and CTO of Quantum Brilliance recently sat down with our Ashley Menard to share more about how this company is making chips from diamonds. Let's take a look.

So, quantum is an emerging suite of technologies that do things that today's technologies can't. So, there are quantum sensors and there are quantum computers. Quantum sensors measure things that we otherwise can't today, which allows us to do things like know where we are on the earth without the use of GPS. And computers allow us to solve the really tough problems that we can't, like how to design a new drug for a new pharmaceutical.

All right, and where does Quantum Brilliance fit in in this ecosystem?

So, Quantum Brilliance makes diamond quantum chips. This allows you to produce really, really small quantum chips that can be deployed into sensor systems or computing architectures of the future. We are the world's leading company that uses synthetic diamond to manufacture these chips.

And I understand you're also in quantum sensing. Can you break that down for us, Marcus?

Yeah, so our chips enable you to take quantum anywhere. Because they are miniaturizable, they operate entirely at room temperature and pressure, unlike many other technologies, you can have them conceivably in your phone, in your laptop, or in your data center. And for a sensor, that's really important because sensors are everywhere. So, you need to be able to make these miniaturized chips, which you can manufacture at scale and deploy wherever you find sensors today. So, where you'll find a sensor soon of ours is on aircraft, where our sensors will provide a backup system to GPS. And then beyond that, vehicles and then maybe one day on your person.

What differentiates Quantum Brilliance from other quantum companies in the space?

So, Quantum Brilliance uses synthetic diamond to make diamond quantum chips. These diamond quantum chips can be miniaturized, operate entirely under room temperature, and can be mass deployed and mass manufactured. This allows diamond quantum devices to be deployed in all types of context, on a satellite, in a vehicle, in a robot, and in the hundreds of millions in data centers of tomorrow.

Who are your customers, Marcus, and how are they using your technology?

Yeah, so we have customers in both sensing and computing. One of our customers in computing is Oak Ridge National Laboratories, a part of the Department of Energy. We installed at their facility the world's first cluster of multiple quantum computers earlier this year. So, that's three quantum computers working together and enabling the scientists at Oak Ridge National Labs to pioneer well, what is the future of quantum supercomputing? What does that data center look like? How many quantum computers are needed? How will those quantum computers work with classical computers? And what will they do?

How big are these quantum computers?

So, today they're the size of a desktop computer, so just like you imagine at the office. In the future, they'll be the same size as a GPU. So, just like what we see in our laptops for our gaming and also in our data centers doing our artificial intelligence.

Do you think everyone will have a quantum computer one day?

I think it's a very likely possibility if you can mass manufacture at economically relevant price. And you also need to have it from a power consumption and size weight power perspective, it just has to be easy to use and deployable in all types of environments.

And you mentioned quantum computing and quantum sensing. What is the difference between those two?

So, quantum sensing is about sensing things in the world, such as the earth's magnetic field. Or detecting the amount of chemical in a blood sample. Or imaging the firing of neurons in a new neuroimaging chip. Computing is about solving problems with information. So, for example, simulating a molecule, solving a complex optimization problem, how you're going to pack and route trucks around to deliver different stores, or even artificial intelligence. And so, our technology is particularly suited to solving chemical problems in computing and artificial intelligence in computing. And in sensing, it can do such a wide range of tasks from sensing the earth's magnetic field to imaging neurons in action.

All right, and what will growth for Quantum Brilliance look like in 2026?

So, Quantum Brilliance is working with about six pilot customers in sensing at the moment. We're working with people like SoftBank, Oak Ridge National Labs in quantum computing algorithm and hardware co-development. And the growth journey for Quantum Brilliance is we're establishing the smart diamond foundry. This is the first step towards pilot production that allows us to get to an economically relevant price to make quantum technology useful, mass deployable.

Do you think people will be talking about quantum one day as much as they're talking about AI?

Absolutely. Well, I think people will be talking about quantum AI. So, that is artificial intelligence accelerated to the next level using quantum computing and benefiting from the information gathered by quantum sensors.

All right, thanks again to Quantum Brilliance for that interview. You're taking a live look here at the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. On the other side of this break, Holganix says it's on a mission to revolutionize agriculture. Find out how it's using new technology solutions to achieve this.

Welcome back to NYSE Live. Holganix is on a mission to boost soil health and it's working with American farmers to revolutionize the way that crops and plants are grown. I spoke with several leaders as part of a limited series, including Holganix Chief Technology Officer Austin Hausman, who shared how the company's solutions are marrying soil and technology. Let's take a look.

As we refer to our product, we call it a technology because the IP portfolio that went into this was incredibly intense, but at the end of the day, we found a product that ultimately allows us to restore life to the soil in its most simple form. As you think about what the product is, we put a consortium of microbes that are naturally occurring in the soil back into the soil. Decades of farming and over utilizing our lands has led to depletion of our soils as they once were. If you go talk to a generational farmer, they generally agree that our soils have been depleted over the decades. And so, when we bring a product that puts life back in the soil, that becomes a unique challenge for growers. If you look across the data that exists in agriculture, it has slowly been built over this trend of a declining soil profile. And we can very quickly restore the life to that soil, but with that it comes a pretty tremendous opportunity and a responsibility to help educate on what healthy soils look like. So as we started to ultimately restructure the soil biome, we've taken it upon ourselves to weigh our data into that. Help growers understand the changes that they're making, ultimately helping lead them to different adoption practices, informing them. The phrase that my team uses the most is, how do we turn data into action? If you look across the agricultural landscape, farmers are generating a tremendous amount of data on a daily basis. I mean from soil sensors, satellites, weather information, the onset of connected equipment is generating half a million data points every single day, but as it exists today, there's a relatively high signal to noise ratio. How do we use that data to help inform the growers about the decisions they should be making? And if you look at life on this planet, most of it actually exists in the soil or below ground. And so that's where we have been focused is what is the medium that we're growing in and how do we improve it, but also how do we arm our growers and our communities and our partners about what healthy soil looks like and in a way that objectifies that with your data.

Let's dive into the technological product that Holganix is offering its customers. What more can you share?

Yeah, so Holganix has been in the product business for a very long time. We have a great product that works really, really well. One of our tenets is we have to go beyond the product and help growers understand and educate and also improve our internal business. So earlier this year we launched a platform called Horizons. Horizons is a connected agronomic platform for lack of a better term. We believe we're one of the only few people that are looking at this data at every single angle that we can. So there's a lot of companies out there doing remote sensing flying satellites and airplanes and drones over fields, but that only looks at everything that's happening above the ground. So we take that data, but we also supplement it with life below the ground. So over the course of this last winter we collected almost a quarter of a million soil samples in all of our growers' farms to help us deep dive what's happening below the ground as well. And as I mentioned earlier, we have an onset of technologies and platforms that are connected to every operation that that grower has when they enter the field. And so we think the magic actually lies in building a really responsible data lake around all of those tenets, not just looking at a single piece of the puzzle.

How unique is it that Holganix can get a read on the soil performance based on what we've seen in the past?

Yeah, I think if you look at what the USDA has done over the last 100 years, they're single moments in time and quick snapshots of what we like to call relatively unhealthy soils. We've degraded the soil structure globally for quite some time and it's becoming a food security risk, it's becoming an economic risk. And so as we've started to restore that soil, it's been really important for us to understand and help educate what's happening below the ground. We think we're building the largest soil data collection platform on this planet and it just happens to be connected to a lot of other great sensors and data sets as well. It's great that we know what's happening in the soil biome, but how does that interact with weather? How does that interact with the decisions growers are faced with every single day? And ultimately our goal is to improve the lives of the American farmer. We're sitting in a position where commodity prices are down, input prices are as high as they've ever been and they're forced to make decisions with very limited data. And so we think we can play a role in that. We're doing a great job of improving the ROI on their farm, but we have to continue to hold that tenet and help them improve and make decisions that previously weren't available to them. They're faced with a tremendous amount of pressure. We want to reduce that signal to noise ratio and actually turn that data into information for them. The American farmer is a collection of majority small entrepreneurs that are faced with a million challenges. I don't know too many farmers that have a full-time data scientist on staff that is helping them sort through all of this data and ultimately translate it into information that they can action upon.

How does AI factor into this?

As you kind of follow the trajectory of AI, one of the trends right now is the concept of human in the middle. AI is great at doing a lot of things. It's not great at replacing intuition. Quality is a big conversation in the AI world right now. And we view it the same. Our farmers, many of them are multiple generation farmers that have a great knowledge of the land that they've worked over the years as well as a really good intuition, honestly. And so we think AI can be a powerful tool to connect the bridges as an asset to them. I mentioned it earlier, if we're generating a half a million data points a day, what does a farmer do with that? AI is really good at taking that and turning it into the sound bites or small points that which the farmer can leverage on. So we see the farmer as being the core of this and really instrumental of playing that human in the middle role, but ultimately they need the resource that can churn through this data, ultimately get it off the laptop and into the field where it's most useful. And so we think AI is great at solving great data sets, presenting information, but allowing the farmer to make the decision of their operations on their farm.

How transparent is this data? I came from an industry where it was heavily regulated and everybody was fighting over the power of their data and I think growers intimately understand the value of their data.

They're prideful of their data and they want to own their data. They also want to be able to use it to improve their operations. And I think that there's been a couple of cases in the industry where their data's been exposed or they've given it to a partner which has helped improve their partners' lives, but not necessarily the farmers' lives. So we view this as the farmers' data is their data. We want to use it to help improve their lives and help improve products, but at the end of the day, growers really need to understand their data, where their ownership rights exist and making sure that they've got control over the great things that they're doing every day.

Talk to me about the integration with satellite and sensor data.

If you think about the satellite arrays that fly over this earth, this is a great segue out of the who owns the data conversation. Most growers aren't aware that there's satellites taking pictures of their fields every single day. It takes a satellite, you know, 3 to 4 days to traverse the earth and it's capturing images of their fields all the time that is used by NASA and weather industry experts and the agricultural community at large. We help get that information back to the farmer. So we've built a platform that integrates with satellite arrays, we can use fixed-wing aircraft, but ultimately taking snapshots of those fields as they go through the growing season helps inform our farmers so that they can make decisions before it's too late. In the historical agricultural community, you would do a bunch of great things at the beginning of the season, make really good educated guesses and the results would show up in the combine or in the bin. And what we like to do is give them snapshots of their field, real-time alerting, but make them aware of things that they can do during the growing season before it shows up on the yield monitor or in the cart. So allowing our growers to have access to this data in real time when there's still time for them to make decisions around it becomes really paramount for us.

All right, you're taking a live look at that bell podium there and thanks again to Holganix CTO Austin Hausman for that interview. Of course, on the other side of this break, NYSE-listed Charles River Laboratories International is set to ring the opening bell to celebrate a milestone moment for its chief executive. We'll have more on the other side.

And welcome back to NYSE Live. In just a moment here, NYSE-listed Charles River Laboratories International is set to ring the opening bell to celebrate a milestone moment for its chief executive.

Charles River Laboratories International set to ring the opening bell. The firm here to celebrate the upcoming retirement of its chairman, CEO and president James Foster, which is set to take place in May. Foster has been with the company for 50 years, ascending to president in 1991, CEO in 1992 and chairman in 2000. It's the same year the company started trading here on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CRL. Let's take a listen.

All right, you're taking a live look there at Charles River celebrating the opening bell here at the New York Stock Exchange to kick off this trading week. James Foster's going to join me on the floor for an interview in just a few minutes. We are officially up to the races here on this Monday morning. Stocks coming off their best week since November and looking for gains here at the open. Joining me now with more is Lauren Saidal Baker, economist at RTI ITR Economics. Lauren, great to have you on the show this morning. What are you watching as we begin what will be a key week when it comes to the data?

Yes, the big data releases for me this week have come down to inflation. We'll get some data PCE numbers, but also the CPI. This is something that's coming under focus. Those March CPI numbers are going to be critical since that's going to be our first look at just how much the conflict in the Middle East and oil prices have started to pass through. Obviously, this is going to be a much more extended process and we'll be watching oil prices closely to see just how long these elevated prices will be hitting the US consumer.

Yeah, what do your models show in terms of the potential impact?

So, we're at something of a good place in terms of our spending on energy goods and services. The US consumer actually spends a lot less on energy today than we did a few decades ago, about 3.7% of our total expenditures. So, if an oil price shock had hit us 10, 20, 30 years ago, I would have expected to see much greater macroeconomic impacts. Now, that's not to say there will be no impacts, especially among certain demographics, especially lower income earners. They get squeezed a little bit harder when those necessity prices go up. So, we'll be watching probably back to that K-shaped economy seeing different groups respond differently with their spending levels. At the end of the day though, it just matters how long these prices stay elevated. Our expectation is that this is more of a short-term shock. We don't expect to see very high oil prices indefinitely. We have a few good precedents. The Ukraine war is one of the examples that I look to in recent history where we saw that short-term shock came back down once the immediate kind of risk trade was over.

Yeah, I'm curious here Lauren what this does mean for overall GDP growth. It seems like there might be some concern that as inflation rises, it could take a piece out of that GDP figure.

That certainly is possible. Again, GDP is really driven by that consumer spending segment. About two-thirds of gross domestic product does come down to the US consumer. So, it's very critical to see are we just in a short-term risk-off position or are consumers going to fill up their gas tank seeing these $4 or higher prices at the pump and are they not then driving to the store maybe they were on their way to do that spending additionally. I don't think we've hit that point yet. We're at a point with the consumer where the labor market, although it's loosened somewhat, it's still relatively tight. So, those incomes are coming in. However, real incomes, that is inflation-adjusted incomes, are starting to get just a little bit more squeezed. We're seeing that rate of rise in incomes starting to taper off for the consumer. So, where we have to turn next is to debt-fueled spending. Can we put more on our credit cards or other forms of borrowing? We're seeing again increasing shift in mentality from the consumer to that direction. At this point, delinquency rates are nothing that I would be worried about, but this is something that we're going to have to watch going forward.

Lauren, I'm curious from your view here just how crucial the Strait of Hormuz is. Of course, we know the US in recent years has become more energy independent, but for international oil prices and markets, especially in Europe, it does seem like that shipping route is crucial.

It absolutely is crucial. Much more so than say Iran's oil production, most of which they either use domestically or export to China. Oil prices are global. So, even with how much oil we produce here in the United States, our pricing is trading with those global markets. As far as the strait goes, it's not just oil that I'm worried about. Another key factor is going to be things like fertilizer prices and the inputs for fertilizer. Just as we reach the planting season, the start of the growing season, that price shock could have some ripple effects into the agriculture and the food sectors here in the United States and globally. But we will be watching again. I know there's a lot of political dynamic that I would never venture to forecast. We're watching closely to see what can get in and out of the strait right now.

Finally, the jobs report here much better than expected last month. We got that data when the market was closed on Friday. What's your read, Lauren?

Overall, this is still a tight labor market. The jobs numbers in recent months, I think are being limited much more by labor availability than they are by corporations' willingness to create those jobs and businesses looking to hire. There are certain skill sets that you just can't find. Welders right now, for example, incredibly difficult to find folks with that skill set. That said, there are certain other sectors, right? We look at the tech sector that maybe did too much hiring and so this is a little bit of right-sizing with layoffs. Overall though, layoffs still incredibly low. We do also see the quit rate quite low. That tells me that there's not too much confidence either on the employer or on the employee side of the equation. So, we'll be modeling through. One month of data, of course, does not make a trend, but it's good to see these numbers holding up in the most recent release and again, relative tightness in the labor market. That's keeping that real personal income treading water.

What is your expectation for Fed rate cuts going forward amid all of this?

My expectation is none. I don't think we'll see the Fed really want to pull the trigger in the near term. Obviously, there's more political influence on those decisions than there has been historically, but at this point with oil prices and the knock-on effects to inflation still somewhat up in the air, they really want to see a clear trend of just how hard inflation will be hit. There's also the argument though that these higher oil prices could take more juice out of growth than they could impact inflation. So, that would be an argument for further rate cuts. I think there's just too much question. We need to see the data come in before we'll see any moves from the Fed. The market seems to be shying away from increasing movement on interest rates. I think we're stuck at this rate for a little bit longer.

All right, Lauren Saidal Baker, economist at ITR Economics. Lauren, thanks again.

Thank you.

All right, everyone, well, stay with us because up next on NYSE Live, we're going to speak with Akshaya Sreenivasan, founder of Women of Gen AI about everything from the latest AI trends to diversity in the space and the startup ecosystem. Plus, the NYSE sponsored the Hill and Valley Forum in our nation's capital recently and a leader of one VC firm told me why bringing together the Hill and the Valley is crucial. Then later on, I said it earlier, but we are going to head down to the trading floor and speak with Charles River Laboratory International CEO James Foster. He's set to retire after 50 years with the company and we'll have more on the other side of the short break.

I'm just so honored and so grateful to you, Lynn, for welcoming us to announce our Time Person of the Year, the Architects of AI. I want to take a moment to welcome Chris Lahey. You have been an incredible driving force making AI accessible to everyone and we are so glad that you are here with us today. We are focusing on the leaders and the people and the humans that are imagining and building this future that we will all be living in.

We had somebody ask us recently, why are you going out at this time of the year? The reason we're doing this is for our people. It's not about us. Our motivation for doing this transaction is to make this a better place for the next generation. We have a stewardship responsibility to our people to give them a professional and a financial opportunity that's better than what we have. And what I am very proud of is the team that we have here. This is a true partnership in every sense of the word.

Welcome back to NYSE live. Artificial intelligence has been the biggest buzzword on Wall Street for several years now. And in fact, the architects of AI were named the 2025 Time Person of the Year. Well, one industry leader is working to highlight diversity in the space and new trends defining the tech sector. Joining me now with more is Akriti Khatri, founder of Women of Gen AI. Akriti, welcome.

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.

Yes, great to have you on the show today. And take us through the work that you're doing with Women of Gen AI.

Yeah, thank you for having me once again. I've been a part of the AI revolution for over a decade now, starting with being a founding team member of IBM Watson back in the days, growing that to over $13 billion in revenue, to being part of the founding team at Workday, scaling that to $7 billion in revenue back in 2023. And my passion is about empowering women in the space, especially coming from a country like India. And I've been really passionate. So, our community has grown to over like 10,000 members. And I'm heavily focused on ethical AI and eliminating bias in AI as well. Launched a startup funded by Andrew Ng in the space to remove bias in AI and make it more fair with fair to scores and things like that. So, I'd love to talk more about that. But Women of Gen AI is really empowering women in all parts of the world, whether be it in countries like India or be in the United States or even like going into countries in the Middle East. My heart goes out to the people in Afghanistan, the women in Afghanistan who don't have access to basic education today. How can we make it a better place for people like that, people who don't have access to their basic human rights? I do believe that a squirrel in Afghanistan has even more rights than a woman because a squirrel can stand in the public parks of Afghanistan, but a woman doesn't have the right to even stand a thing.

Let's talk about some of the tactics, Akriti, that you are taking to reach these goals when it comes to shaping the future of AI. What can you share?

Yeah, totally. Thank you for the question. In terms of some of the tactics, what I've launched is an AI personal assistant to boost the productivity. Just imagine if each of us had our own AI personal assistant to help us 2x what we could do to boost our productivity. That would be so amazing. And that's the world that we live in today with LLMs and access to everything. That's what I launched back in the years. We are funded by Peter Thiel, Founders Fund, and a few others. Launched an AI personal assistant. Worked with companies like Workday. And launched a whole movement to boost your productivity. And with access to tools like this, even children reaching the workforce, they can focus on the more strategic things rather than the mundane tasks. So, I feel like there's a shift. People say AI is going to take away your jobs. I don't believe so. I think AI is going to boost your productivity and help you 10x and do better. So, we're going to have a world with more people focusing on the real problems versus the mundane tasks that people focused on in the past.

Okay, so let's talk about the ethics, right? As AI evolves, you referenced it earlier. What steps are you taking to make sure that there are ethics, there are guardrails in place so that AI can serve us for good?

Thank you for the question, Kristen. I think responsible AI is so important. And with the laws constantly changing in different parts of the world, what I did back in the days was launched a product that was focused on auditability of machine learning models to ensure that they're fair and not biased. This was funded by Andrew Ng, Decibel. I brought in a few other venture funds like that to put in the first seed round of 5.5 million. It's called Credo AI. And it was heavily focused on really eliminating the bias in AI in use cases such as loan lending, hiring, and even other use cases such as facial recognition. There was a whole movement around Black Lives Matters back in the days during the pandemic back in 2020. And many of the big companies like the IBMs, the Facebooks of the world banned facial recognition technology for a span of time to avoid conflicts. And this is so important because big financial institutions encountered lawsuits because of bias in AI and problems such as this. So, how can we counter that with ethical AI and make it just a better place for the world?

Akriti, anything else you want to share? We just have about 30 seconds left.

Yeah, I think one of the causes that I'm really passionate about is rescuing puppies. I rescued five puppies from the LA wildfires back during CES last year when LA was burning down. And I think we were actually brainstorming at Human X last time where I'm heading to around things like puppy GPT with the OpenAI CEO, how you could read the facial expressions of pets and think about what they're thinking? How can AI help you with things like that? So, I think there's a whole new market beyond just human beings. I love it. How can you empower pets?

All right. Well, Human X of course kicking off today in San Francisco. Akriti, thank you for joining us here on the East Coast before it sounds like you're heading back to the West Coast. Akriti is the founder of Women of Gen AI. Akriti, thank you.

Thank you.

All right, everyone. Well, in some other news here at the NYSE, we sponsored the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, D.C., which took place recently, gathering leaders across government, technology, and industry. And I was on the ground and spoke with several of these leaders, including Michael Eisenberg. He's a general partner at VC firm Aleph. Eisenberg explained why the annual event is so significant to both sides, of course, working on the policy and the technology. Let's take a look.

Well, I've been coming to the forum since year one. And I think this is just a critical moment in time and in history where technology innovation AI on the one hand is meeting defense needs and national sovereignty needs, whether it's in the battlefield or in the supply chain. And the world is changing right in front of our eyes with the war in Iran and other conflicts around the world. And the good guys need to kind of accelerate themselves right now.

How can the Hill and Valley come together for good?

I think it's a great question. I think for too long there has been an aversion in technology circles to working towards better sovereignty and better power for the United States and in my case also for Israel where there's been less of an aversion in the past because much of the Israeli technology industry comes out of the military. But now, what we see is that Silicon Valley has actually moved closer to Washington. This conference has been going on for 5 years and is now, I think, correctly servicing the needs of the United States of America both to project power, to be powerful, and therefore to be prosperous because in the more fractious world we're living in, we're going to need the advanced technology cooperating, collaborating with government for the pursuit of prosperity for people.

And what role does industry play in this?

That's a great question. So, industry should not be building necessarily for the needs of the government, but they should be partnering with government in order to develop technologies that make the good guys, as I said, the United States, Israel, and the allies, better off. And I think one of the things we've seen in the war in Iran right now, prior to the war in Iran, the United States government called Israel a model ally, fighting together. But the technological and intelligence and military collaboration is unprecedented right now. I think it's showing that these two great economies, these two great innovation economies, have kind of grown together to the point that they are a powerful force both for prosperity and protection for the region and for the world.

Are there any particular takeaways that you want to walk away with from today?

Yes. The world is changing very rapidly in front of our eyes right now. President Trump has taken the bold stroke of taking on a compounding problem that's called Iran. And I think the charge to the people in this room at Hill and Valley is we need to build technologies in the service of humanity and in the service of peace, power, and prosperity for the democracies of the world. Our western values are literally at stake right now. That's what's on the block right now in this war against Iran and this war against radical Islam. And so, what we need to do together with our partners in the region in the Gulf, United States, Israel, is win this war. And winning this war means building supply chains that are resilient for artificial intelligence, which includes the whole semiconductor stack, for energy, and for prosperity, ensuring the United States continues to be the leading power in the world and that its core allies and the model ally of Israel work together to achieve those goals through innovation and through military strength.

Are you optimistic in terms of where we stand in reaching those goals?

I'm very optimistic about the future. I think we have a tendency in the era of social media to look at the here and now. We think we can microwave every problem away. Wars take time. Rebuilding supply chains take time. And what I'm thrilled about from Hill and Valley from day one is this is a long-term looking group of people. These are people who look out over the horizon and say, 'Okay, we need to invest in hard technologies. We need to invest in the supply chain. We need to invest in our allies to ensure that 5 to 10 years down the road for our kids and my grandkids, already at this point, the world is going to be a better and safer place.' And this conference is just endowed with great entrepreneurs who think long over the long term and are willing to invest over the long term. And by the way, I'll say again, God bless President Trump who took a bold decision to invest in the long term. It wasn't an easy decision with gas prices going up, but it's the right decision that will ultimately lower energy prices, create secure supply chains, and create more innovation that defend our Western values.

Tell me more about your work with Israel and how that factors into an ally perspective.

Yeah, like I said, the United States defined Israel as a model ally and then it showed up in this war with Iran fighting shoulder to shoulder. Churchill once said, 'The only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without allies.' And I think what this war has proven is actually the best thing is fighting together with great allies. And there's no two greater allies in the world than the United States and Israel. I think one of the things we've seen is that Israeli technology, both in intelligence and in the battlefield, has both opened the eyes and worked like hand in glove with the United States technology. And so I expect a doubling down of investment in Israeli and American technology and supply chains for the benefit of both the countries and the world. And this partnership, which will ultimately open the Straits of Hormuz and which will ultimately create the regional supply chain and infrastructure for AI, will serve this protection of Western values going forward. And that's where we're heading. These are the two most important allies for innovation, United States power position in the world, and defending our values across the world.

I know 100 years isn't much in the New York Stock Exchange laurels, but we're very proud first US airline to reach 100. The resilience and the determination to move forward despite all odds is something that I think we're all proud of. We've had a great opportunity to celebrate this year. The power of obsessing on our customers is what makes Delta really great. And my superpower, I'd like to think, is obsessing on them, so that they can go do the job. And it's not just me, it's our leadership team in terms of making it happen.

It's a bit of a pinch-me moment. I mean, everyone's here. Here we just rung the New York Stock Exchange bell. In a lot of ways, it's a dream come true. When you walk around the NYSE floor, it's just emblematic of the American dream. Look, if I can do it, others can do it, too. So, believe in yourself, work hard, be the best you can be every day, and it compounds. A plan to go and change the way people fly. It is the next step. When we look back at what we've promised to go do and then we go do it, it'll be the foundation of our business that builds us to the next step. And it's because of the people here and what you all did, which is enabling greatness.

Welcome back to NYSE Live, everyone. We are down here on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier this hour, you saw NYSE-listed Charles River Laboratories International ring that opening bell to celebrate James Foster's 50 years with the company, more than 30 of which as its CEO. Well, joining me now with more is Jim himself. Jim, welcome and congratulations.

Yeah, it's great to have you at the Stock Exchange today. What does it mean to be here for this big celebration of yours?

Yeah. Well, 50 years in, give our viewers a sense of what your company does.

How do you want to see that mission expand going forward? The next 50 years.

Looking back at your time, certainly at the helm of Charles River, what stands out to you? What are you most proud of?

Yeah, that is quite impressive. And what else is in store for you now? I mean, 50 years is an incredibly strong run. What are you looking forward to?

Stay healthy. I like that, indeed. What else is in store for you here at the New York Stock Exchange today? We saw you ring that bell earlier.

Yeah, we saw that. Of course, your ticker symbol CRL trading here at the New York Stock Exchange, and that was on display on the bell podium as well. Anything else you want to leave our viewers with, Jim?

All right, James Foster, an incredible run. Thank you so much for joining us here on the trading floor after ringing that opening bell. James is the chairman, CEO, and president of Charles River, and of course, celebrating 50 incredible years. All right, well, that's just going to do it for our time here on NYSE Live. You can take a live look at the markets. We do see stocks trying for gains, the S&P 500 up about three-tenths of a percent. Rose several percentage points last week. In fact, its best weekly performance since November, ending what had been five straight weeks of losses, of course, amid this conflict in the Middle East. We got a lot of data on tap this week. We'll continue to follow the headlines. The week is going to finish with that inflation report on Friday. A key number because, of course, the question is how will gas prices be impacted, if at all, based on what we see transpiring in the Middle East. A few ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz. That did provide some optimism over the weekend. And President Donald Trump did deliver a deadline to Iran Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern for a ceasefire plan. Reminder to our viewers, you can watch us each weekday morning on all the streaming services that you see on your screen right there. We're live from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Eastern. We have a closing bell show called Taking Stock as well from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. We'll see you on the floor later today.

Welcome to the public market. The New York Stock Exchange is the cathedral of the capital markets. So, there are a few places more fitting to consider the future of American financial system than this one. So thrilled for this next chapter to begin today with all of you in this historic building.

The day we went public, it was the most bizarre day of my life. He said, 'Yesterday, Shake Shack was the most beloved hamburger company in the entire country. Today, it's going to be the most reviled stock.' He said, 'You guys are never going to grow into your $46 valuation.' How many Shacks did we have 10 years ago? 31 Shacks. And did I not just hear Rob say that we're going to have 1,500 Shacks? So, yes, we grew into that $46. It's all because of you guys. I'm so proud of you, every one of you. You work so hard to make so many people happy, and you make your communities better. What more could you ask for?