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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Global Firms Race to Battle the Pandemic; U.S. Retail Sales Gains Slow in October; President-elect Biden Warns Over Transition Delays. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired November 17, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:22]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know.
Records and restrictions. U.S. hospitalizations rise as states rollback reopening.
Stocks and stimulus. U.S. markets hit record highs as Biden says Americans need aid now.
And tech and Trump. Top tech CEOs face D.C. lawmakers over election and misinformation.
It's Tuesday. Let's make a move.
Welcome once again to all our First Moves around the globe. It's great to be with you for the next hour where we will hear from more companies
working around the clock to keep us safe.
We've got the head of supply chain specialist, Parsyl. They're going to be here to discuss vaccine logistics including insurance for tough to reach
places, essential, of course for vaccines. Plus the CEO of Qiagen, whose new antigen tests can apparently detect COVID in mere minutes. That's
coming up.
Essential technologies of course, on a day where the U.S. reports another record day of hospitalizations. More than 70,000 Americans currently being
treated. California, meanwhile, the latest state to roll back reopening measures as cases rise to records there, too.
It's not just America, South Korea has become the latest Asian nation to impose fresh health restrictions, as its cases tick higher, too. A reality
check, I think for investors who were once again eyeing a post pandemic world, thanks to Moderna's positive vaccine news. That helped the Dow and
the S&P 500 hit fresh record highs yesterday. We're seeing a bit of consolidation here in Tuesday's premarket session.
Take a look in Asia, Japanese stocks powering to a fresh 29-year high. They are up some 13 percent month to date. What about for the retail giants,
too? Well, they continue to ramp up as well. Home Depot and Walmart out with strong results premarket. Walmart's online sales surged some 29
percent. It's a bit of a buy the rumor, sell the fact as you can see there, under pressure.
Premarket U.S. retail sales eked out a rise for the sixth straight month in the data this morning, too. But last month's numbers were revised lower.
It's all part of what we call the K-shaped recovery phenomenon. The wealthiest can continue to spend, the poorest simply can't and many of the
rest are using savings from the CARES Act cash that was agreed to by Congress back in March.
How sustainable is this spending? Especially when millions of Americans will lose unemployment benefits at the end of the year if we don't see
further help from Congress, just one of the challenges for the President- elect.
Let's get to the drivers. Record COVID cases, record hospitalizations. In the United States, more than 166,000 new cases were reported yesterday.
President Trump, of course, still refusing to discuss the pandemic response with Joe Biden who says lives are being put at risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: More people may die, if we don't coordinate. Look, as my Chief of Staff, Ron Klain would say --
who handled Ebola -- the vaccine is important. It's of little use until you are vaccinated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Joe Johns joins us now. Joe, it's such an important point. Vaccines are coming, but they are not here yet and we have to bridge that
gap. The President-elect also talking about needing more help immediately. Congress needs to do something, but he also talked about practical steps,
Joe, as well, handwashing, social distancing. He even talked about the possibility of a mask mandate. Very, very different messaging from the
current occupant of the White House.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's true. And quite frankly, it seems that the President Elect is trying to hit all of the
right notes, if you will, at this early stage in the transition, pushing hard to try to get people on the track that he essentially ran on during
the campaign.
Of course, it's not clear at all what type of cooperation he is going to get from the outgoing administration, especially on that issue of helping
out in order to get people who are working on vaccine distribution and development in contact with people who are actually going to be
administrating policies on January 20th and going forward.
[09:05:14]
JOHNS: Mr. Biden, as you could see in that soundbite really struck a very different tone from some of the other speeches that he has given,
particularly when he said, more people may die if there is not coordination, that, of course, is stepping up the pressure on the
administration to open up the floodgates and allow people in this administration to cooperate with his incoming people.
Not clear at all that that's going to work. No word from the President. We haven't seen him in numerous days. But he has tweeted again and again, some
of those baseless comments to his base about winning the election, all of which simply has the effect of undercutting this incoming administration --
Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, at the worst possible time. Joe Johns, thank you so much for that report there and managing -- we could hear the loud report going
on next to you. So, well-handled there, as always, Joe. Thank you for that.
All right. In Europe, the latest COVID restrictions are beginning to show differing results. France and Germany have undertaken lockdown measures
since the beginning of the month. France says cases have been declining now for 10 days and the peak of the second wave has passed. However, in Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel says more must be done despite a slowdown in infections.
Jim Bittermann joins us now. Jim, it's interesting to compare and contrast here, Germany, going for a lockdown light option and saying look more needs
to be done. Angela Merkel this week saying she doesn't have the backing of states in order to be able to enforce that. FRANCE, at least, the messaging
here seems to be better. It's interesting.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. Yes, France actually did get some bad news overnight in the sense that the
hospitalizations reached a new peak, the highest they've ever been. But the testing positivity rate as well as the rate of increase in hospitalizations
in France has been slowly dropping.
So, in fact, the French do feel like this -- I think the French Health Minister said the other day that they feel like they are sort of at the
peak or reached the peak. It doesn't mean that things are necessarily going down. But they've also said -- the government has also said there's not
going to be any lifting of restrictions until at least the first of December in France.
Meanwhile, in Germany, they are seeing a similar thing. They believe they are sort of at the peak, but Madam Merkel said this morning that she in
fact, would have liked to impose the greater restrictions on Monday and she is going to go back to the states, the various driven states next week to
call for tighter restrictions than what they already have on, even though things seem to be leveling off, she would like to get the incidence rate,
the number of people per 100,000, down to about 50 patients -- 50 COVID patients per 100,000. And at that level, they believe that they can restart
contact tracing.
Right now, it's just so widespread both in France, United States, Germany, and practically everywhere, it's so widespread, you really can't do contact
tracing. And she'd like to get the Germans back to the course where they could do some contact tracing.
She said, basically, we have to just avoid contacts. And she, like leaders elsewhere have been just appealing for citizens to takes some
responsibility - Julia.
CHATTERLEY: And people all over the world, I think very resistant to going back to those more stringent lockdown measures, but at times, it's the only
choice you have.
Jim, on that note, Sweden, at the beginning of the pandemic was very closely watched, seen as a test case for a nation that decided not to lock
down, was talking about herd immunity at the beginning, too. And yet I noticed in the last 24 hours, even Sweden now announcing restrictive
measures. Talk us through that.
BITTERMANN: Exactly, they, I think have sort of throw in the towel here, basically. They decided that it's just not working, the whole idea of
approaching herd immunity is not working. The case levels are going up.
The Prime Minister told the Swedish public that basically during the first wave of COVID that the people did seem to be self-disciplined. They were
able to avoid contacts and whatnot. But on the second wave, they have not, and so the case levels are going up.
So he plans to impose restrictions to impose no more than eight people gathering in public places. That would include bars and restaurants and
that sort of thing. Of course, they can't do anything about private homes, but he is again, appealing to self-discipline, urging the Swedes to take
this upon themselves to stay away from other people and try to get these numbers down that I think that's probably the same message being heard all
around the world.
CHATTERLEY: It is acting in the best behavior of yourself and those around you and try and protect each other.
Jim Bittermann, thank you so much for that report there.
BITTERMANN: You bet.
CHATTERLEY: Now, setting aside current COVID concerns, U.S. stocks hit fresh records on Monday's session. Moderna's vaccine and the positive news
they are providing a further shot in the arm to the recent rally.
[09:10:06]
CHATTERLEY: Paul La Monica joins us now. Paul, you'd be forgiven for missing it. But there is I think a tug of war going on between the views of
a post-pandemic environment and investors wanting to buy some of the beaten down stocks versus comparing the current reality today, which is still
incredibly challenged.
LA MONICA: Yes, definitely. It looks like we probably aren't going to have a chance to bust out those 30K hats today because the broader market, the
Dow and the S&P 500 is lower, but you're right, Julia, when you look at what's happening right now, it seems like every day, there is this flip
flop between people saying, you know what, we're going to buy the beaten down companies that are going to benefit from a vaccine, things like the
cruise lines and the airlines.
But then a day like today, you have the Big Tech stocks taking the lead again. The NASDAQ futures are a bit higher, even though Dow and S&P are
pointing to a lower drop. So, I think investors really just can't make up their mind.
One day, they're like, hey, guess what? Carnival is not going to go out of business, so let's buy their stock. And then the next day, it's like, oh,
you know what, Amazon and Netflix are pretty strong companies. Let's go buy them instead.
CHATTERLEY: Fascinating, isn't it? I mean, investors buying into some of these beaten down stocks, the travel stocks, the hotel names, and we had
Best Western's CEO on yesterday saying he is seeing a tremendous amount of cancellations because people are too frightened now to travel.
So it's the timing mismatch, I think the people -- ordinary people, not investors have to get their heads around here.
Now, Paul, speaking of winners, general winners, quite frankly, Tesla being added to the S&P 500 as of December.
LA MONICA: Yes. Finally, I think a lot of people would say, given that -- you know say what want about Elon Musk. This is a company that has
revolutionized the auto industry. It has a market cap that dwarfs the combined Big Three market value, and they have finally been consistently
profitable, which was really the thing that was keeping Tesla out of the S&P 500.
So now that you have Tesla joining the index next month, it's going to be fascinating to see all these funds that are index funds, if they haven't
already bought Tesla, they're now going to need to buy it for S&P 500 ETFs and index funds.
But also, what's it going to mean, you know, going forward, you know, for the fact that, you know, Tesla immediately becomes one of the largest
companies in the S&P 500 as well. So, Elon Musk now has the ability to move the market writ large, not just his company.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Put the phone down. Watch that Twitter handle. I think that was what you were trying to say. You were trying to do it
diplomatically, unlike me.
Paul La Monica, thank you so much.
LA MONICA: You and I are excluded, of course. Our Twitters are great.
CHATTERLEY: I know. Thank you, Paul.
All right. The CEOs of Facebook and Twitter back in the hot seat today. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey said to be grilled over their handling of
misinformation when they testify before Congress.
CNN's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter joins us now with more. Brian, great to have you on the show. I think everyone agrees that they
aren't getting it right. The problem is, no one really agrees, at least in terms of the two parties, what they are getting wrong and how they are
getting it wrong, and I think the election provides perfect fodder for them here, because of course, both candidates are still claiming victory.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, two weeks later, and President Trump's tweets, these lies about claiming victory,
they are being flagged by Facebook and Twitter, but in a rather weak way.
There is a growing criticism of these platforms for not taking stronger action against Trump for spreading really dangerous misinformation on his
platform. He is the outgoing President after all, so perhaps he doesn't have as much sway as he used to with these platforms.
But Republicans still do have a lot to say about social media platforms and this hearing today is a G.O.P. controlled Senate Judiciary hearing, led by
Senator Lindsey Graham. So we're going to hear a lot about allegations of censorship of conservatives, even though there has never been proof of
widespread, concerted censorship of one political group or one ideology, we're going to hear a lot of those complaints today.
This hearings is titled "Breaking the News," and then it's all about censorship. So we're going to hear a lot from Republicans today about that.
And of course, from Democrats, we're going to hear about concerns that these platforms are not doing enough in order to take action against
disinformation.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and "Breaking the News," I'd say breaking democracy, quite frankly, and breaking the fabric of society. But do we expect action
ultimately, Brian, to tackle some of these issues, concerted action, I mean, from Congress? Because I think behind the scenes, these Big Tech
giants are saying, look, we need help, but until you give us stringent rules that we can follow, we will continue to do it our own way in the best
way we see fit and that's the problem.
STELTER: On Barack Obama's book tour, he is also saying the regulation is needed for these social media platforms. I think, probably a consensus view
there should be something that changes. However, it's almost impossible to get anything through Congress, almost impossible to reach an agreement
about what should be changed.
[09:15:07]
STELTER: And actually, think these Big Tech CEOs like Dorsey and Zuckerberg, they have won every time they've been up to Capitol Hill. They
sit there for hours, they deal with inane questions. Dorsey's beard gets longer and longer, but they come away pretty much unscathed, because these
lawmakers don't seem to have a clear path forward to actually change Section 230 and actually make other changes.
Maybe that will change in the Biden years, but I think every time they are up there, these tech CEOs end up coming out ahead, because you know, the
lawmakers huff and puff, but they don't blow the house down.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And they need to reach agreement within themselves and within Congress before they can tackle these guys, so they walk away
winners to your point?
STELTER: Yes. Right.
CHATTERLEY: Brian, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.
STELTER: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Brian Stelter there. All right, let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world.
Hurricane Iota is barreling across parts of Central America and heading towards areas that were battered by Hurricane Eta just two weeks ago. It
made landfall in Nicaragua where it was a Category Four storm late on Monday. Iota has weakened, but still remains extremely dangerous.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapping up a short visit to Turkey that didn't include any official meetings. Instead, the focus was on
religious freedom. Pompeo met with the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Istanbul. His visit comes amid strained ties between the two NATO
allies.
All right, still to come on FIRST MOVE. After development comes distribution. The CEO of cold chain expert, Parsyl, says getting a vaccine
delivered maybe the biggest challenge yet. He joins us later on the show.
And the COVID test you can take in your coffee break. I speak to the CEO of Qiagen as it introduces a 15-minute COVID test, portable, too.
Stay with us. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE on yet another busy day for global markets. U.S. stocks set to pull back from record highs. The Dow being
pressured in part by a drop in Walgreens shares. Amazon has announced the launch of its long anticipated online pharmacy that could take sales away
from both Walgreens and CVS, both are falling premarket. Oh boy, the Amazon effect strikes again.
[09:15:19]
CHATTERLEY: Warren Buffett also sees opportunities in the healthcare sector, too. Just released filings show Berkshire Hathaway buying new
stakes in drug makers Bristol Myers, Merck AbbVie and Pfizer, all gaining premarket, so bucking the broader trend.
We're now joined by Julian Emanuel. He is the Managing Director and Chief Equity and Derivatives Strategist at BTIG. Julian, great to have you on the
show. I know you also see value in healthcare stocks, too. But we'll get to that because I want to start just by talking to you about what we're seeing
in terms of the flows and the rotation from pandemic losers -- no, pandemic winners into losers, and back again. Are stocks vulnerable at record highs
here?
JULIAN EMANUEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EQUITY AND DERIVATIVES STRATEGIST, BTIG: We believe they are in the short term. You know, there's
no question about the fact that when you think about 2021, the elements are in place for a continuation of this run we've had since March.
However, if you look at a chart very simply of the last two and a half years, the way you get to the long term is this series of short terms that
can be really, really violent. You know, you had a bear market of 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. And then just this past February and
March, you had a one month 34 percent plunge.
We're not calling for that, but the issue in the near term is that the economy as we saw this morning in the retail sales figures is starting to
soften materially. And you know, we all know reading the headlines that the softening is probably likely to accelerate, given the restrictions that are
coming in place nationwide to fight the virus.
So it's really a time where I think we need to be prudent with risk and really, hopefully, we get some stimulus action out of Washington, which we
haven't gotten.
CHATTERLEY: It's like this tug of war. I described it like that earlier on in the show between this post pandemic future in the hope that the recovery
will be sooner rather than later, thanks to the vaccines coming on the market in the first and second quarter of next year, we hope.
But at the same time, you look at the present reality and the restrictions and the COVID cases rising, and you wonder where we end up here. Are you
basically saying there's a lid, a cap on where aggregate stock markets can go until we see stimulus or we get the virus under control?
EMANUEL: In the near term, that is certainly how we're approaching it. You know, we think long term, again, the case for higher prices is probably as
robust as it has been, given the fact that you started to see this cyclical rotation. Every bull market in its sort of full flower has had this kind of
cyclical rotation and we've seen it and fits and starts over the course of this year.
But the last several weeks are the first time that it has happened with the kind of, you know, emphatic nature that says that higher prices are likely
in store. It's just that the short term really argues against a continuation of this cyclical rotation.
So you have to ask yourself, as you look out over the next month or two, you know, where is the leadership coming from? And we don't see any
discrete leadership here over these next couple of months.
CHATTERLEY: So it's not a reason to power back into the pandemic winners like Amazon, Netflix, like Zoom.
EMANUEL: So I think you have to ask yourself, Julia, right? If the economy turns down, if you go into a recession, which would, you know, technically
qualify as a double dip, and the one time that's happened in the modern era, it's not been a good time for stocks, you have to ask yourself, if the
economy slows down, are you going to be buying more items online? Are you going to be doing more video calls? And you have to think the answer to
that is likely you're not.
CHATTERLEY: It's such a great point. So what's the probability of the double dip going into recession as we head out this year into the first
quarter of next year, if we don't see stimulus before the inauguration?
EMANUEL: Well, it's hard to put a number on it. But again, you look at the retail sales this morning and you know, they came in dramatically lower
than expected. And so, you know, whether that number is 20 percent or 40 percent, it is very hard to say. But what we do know is that, you know,
stocks trading on, you know, multiples in excess of 25 times current earnings, really are discounting a much lower probability of that recession
than you know what the actual news flow dictates.
But again, I want to stress, is that once we get through this short term, all the elements really are forming into place for a continuation of the
rally which started in March, but we have to get there first.
[09:25:10]
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, we just have to get through the next few months. So, what should investors be doing at this moment? And I hinted at the beginning of
the interview, I know you like healthcare stocks?
EMANUEL Well, you know, I don't think it is any coincidence that with the broad healthcare sector, trading at a five turn multiple discount to the
S&P 500 versus a historical average premium of one and a half turns, that you're seeing some of the smartest minds in investing in Corporate America,
doubling down on their bets in healthcare, because really, the value is there.
And in our view, you know, it's normal to think, particularly when you go back to 2016 that the politics cause this discount to emerge in healthcare,
but as we look at going forward, President-elect Biden has really made the case that he's not going to rip up the Affordable Care Act. He is going to
improve it at the margins.
And when we look at the Supreme Court, it's not likely that they're going to strike down the ACA in its entirety. So you really have a backdrop for
what is very, very positive, and I point out that healthcare tends to perform well if we have sustained market volatility, which as I said, we
could see over the next couple of months.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and Julian, and I include you in those smartest minds, too. So it all makes sense to me. Very quickly because I have about 30
seconds. Financials. We saw a mega deal in the financials, PNC buying BBVA U.S.'s business this week. More consolidation? More upside in banks?
EMANUEL: We think so, the whole idea of branch banking, as we know is being dislocated by, you know, Fintech. But yet you still have this
backdrop of lots of liquidity. Banks have done a very good job of setting aside sufficient loan loss reserves for what really is going to be not the
degree of downturn, even if we have it in the next three to six months. But they are over reserved and letting those go as the economy turns and we do
expect it to turn next year, after all, the vaccine is in front of us. We think it's a natural that the sector consolidates.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, ties to that longer term recovery play. Julian, great to chat with you as always. Julian Emanuel, Chief Equity and Derivatives
strategist at BTIG, one of our brilliant minds. Thank you for that, sir.
The market opens next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:40]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE where U.S. stock markets are up and running this Tuesday. And as expected, we've got a mostly lower open for
the U.S. majors. The Dow and the S&P pulling back from Monday's record highs though gains for the small cap, the Russell 2000, as you can see
there, the Dow yesterday coming within 50 points of that 30,000 level. We are moving further away, at least at the start of the session.
Stocks under pressure on renewed concerns about America's spending power, the consumer's power. Retail sales rising amid 0.3 percent last month.
That's a big drop from the month before. That is a concern slowing: economic growth.
Now, Airbnb says it made some $200 million in the last quarter even as the global pandemic restrictions tightened. The privately held home rental
company filed papers to go public yesterday. Its NASDAQ debut is expected by the end of the year.
Now we may be on the cusp of a COVID-19 vaccine, but distributing it will be the next challenge. Any vaccine will require a stable constant cold
chain as it journeys across the globe. Parsyl is a cargo insurance company that uses tech and data to monitor supply chains. It has expertise also
working with vaccines for the past two years.
It is partnered with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations in Africa. That's GAVI as we've called it and talked about on the show in the
past.
Joining us now is Ben Hubbard. He is Parsyl's CEO and co-founder. He also served as the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Agency for International
Development under President Obama. Ben, such a pleasure to have you on the show. Just talk to me about your work with GAVI over the last couple of
years, and what your data shows is the biggest risk to vaccines as they travel around the world.
BEN HUBBARD, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, PARSYL: Yes, well, thank you, Julia. You know, you're right. The journey of a vaccine can be perilous. This is a
product that needs to be kept within strict temperature compliance, as it is shipped, in many cases, thousands of miles across the globe, changing
dozens of hands across different modes of transit.
And, you know, if there's any break in that cold chain, it can render the vaccine impotent. And I think that's one of the unique challenges of
distributing vaccines is that it actually really does require near perfection in our ability to deliver them every time, everywhere.
And you know, that's what we've been working with GAVI on for the last two years is, you know, putting in low cost temperature sensors in these
shipments to understand what's happening to them, and the data we've collected, has taught us some pretty remarkable lessons. We've learned that
it's actually the wrist of vaccines you think in a cold chain would be heat, but actually the opposite is true.
Our data shows that vaccine freezing is actually a bigger risk due to these ice cooled coolers and faulty refrigerators. We've learned that moving
vaccines faster, particularly through what we call the last mile can dramatically lower the risk of loss to those vaccines.
And we've learned things like in one supply chain we've studied that 50 percent of the vaccine damage actually comes from just five percent of the
refrigerators. So we are able to target those refrigerators, improve them or replace them.
CHATTERLEY: This sensitivity is so key. If it just comes down to five percent of refrigerators that perhaps need replacing, and that helps you
protect the chain and protect the system, then that's pretty incredible.
What we've learned in the last couple of days, as of the last week, including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is that that one needs to be stored
at minus 70 degrees, but Moderna's vaccine needs to be stored at minus 20. Given that we're talking about very cold temperatures already, are the same
issues that you're talking about with freezing vaccines applicable in these cases.
HUBBARD: Yes, well, let me first say I think every vaccine is going to have a role in vaccinating the planet. The ultra-cold chain obviously
presents some unique challenges, even in the United States to say nothing the rest of the world, where really two thirds of the world does not have
the advanced technology to distribute an ultra-cold chain vaccine.
We have some other breaks on the horizon, which we're very excited about, but I think with all the media attention on ultra-cold chain it's actually
important for listeners to understand that most vaccines are actually kept in a typical cold chain, which is two to eight degrees Celsius. Sometimes
there's some freezer vaccines, and that's where risk of freezing is actually a greater risk.
[09:35:22]
HUBBARD: But I think it's important to understand again, all the attention in recent days has been on how we're going to get enough vaccines to
vaccinate our communities here in the United States and Europe. But this is really a pandemic, the pan prefix means that the disease is everywhere and
what we're really talking about is actually vaccinating the planet.
And unless we do that, we'll really never be free of COVID-19, and there's just simply not a national solution to a global crisis. We have to
vaccinate everybody and that poses some pretty monumental logistical challenges.
CHATTERLEY: So talk to me about insurance, particularly when we're talking about distributing vaccines in emerging markets, difficult to reach places.
In the past, I believe it was actually impossible to get insurance to try and protect that vaccine distribution, which is specifically what you've
focused on, and even just targeting, during the last mile, as we call it more quickly, you've had incredible results I believe in Uganda.
HUBBARD: Yes, well, you know, the data tells us ways we can improve the supply chain, it also helps underwriters understand the risks to those
vaccines. So traditionally, these are there, these are tough products to insure, because there's not a lot of data on them. And they are obviously
in markets with weaker infrastructure.
So once we're able to collect this kind of data, provide visibility into the risk, it actually becomes an insurable risk, and so we're very excited.
We've put together something called the Global Health Risk Facility, which we'll be launching in January, which is really an unprecedented alliance
between the insurance industry, technology, and the global health partners to make insurance available and affordable for COVID-19 distribution, but
really all vaccine distribution, all global health products, wherever they're being distributed, including those higher risk in country
distributions, which has traditionally been the hardest risk to insure.
CHATTERLEY: This is incredible. It's giving me goosebumps. It happens a lot when I have these conversations, because this is not just a game
changer for vaccine distribution for COVID, it is a game changer for how we do this going forward and that's also one of the critical elements.
Ben, when that launches in January, come back and talk to us, please, because we want to hear all about it.
Ben Hubbard, CEO and co-founder of Parsyl, thank you so much and thank you for the team's work. It's amazing.
HUBBARD: Thank you, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
HUBBARD: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: All right after the break, scaling up and speeding up the portable future of COVID testing. Stay with FIRST MOVE and hear the latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:57]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE and testing times, United Airlines has launched a program to test every passenger for COVID flying from
Newark, New Jersey to London Heathrow and who better to try it out but our Richard Quest, and he did. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calling all remaining passengers --
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR (voice over): Newark Airport, once a thriving hub for travelers, now a comparative ghost town. As COVID-19 runs
rampant through the United States and Europe, many travelers are shunning planes worried about catching COVID on their travels, or onerous quarantine
restrictions when they get there and when they get back.
QUEST (on camera): International travelers face specific problems, a patchwork quilt of quarantine restrictions and regulations. For instance,
who is going to fly to London, if it means they have to quarantine for 14 days, if they're just going on holiday?
QUEST (voice over): Testing could be the way to avoid lengthy quarantines, and United is experimenting testing all passengers over the age of two for
free on select New York to London flights.
They guarantee everyone onboard crew and passengers has tested negative.
QUEST (on camera): You have to think of this, not about what's happening now with one flight to London, but imagine that this is the way it's going
to be for multiple flights across the ocean as testing becomes more accepted by various governments, then you're going to have five, ten, who
knows how many flights with passengers doing the COVID test.
Yes, we are ready. The nurse will see me now. Now, that was a piece of cake.
QUEST (voice over): Easy for me, a potential lifeline to the ailing airlines. United's Chief Executive, Scott Kirby told me they are trying to
prove to governments testing is the answer.
SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: We're hoping that a negative test can give confidence to governments around the world to let people come in and
avoid the quarantine requirements. Because as you know, if there's a two- week quarantine, people simply aren't going to travel in these international markets.
QUEST (voice over): Public health experts remind us testing has its limits. There's a small chance the test could be wrong, and the risk
someone could have the virus and still be in the incubation period. Testing negative in New York, but testing positive in London.
A recent attempt to restart cruises in the Caribbean required all passengers to test three days in advance and onboard only to end up with
seven passengers contracting the virus. United's Chief Executive says he knows testing is not a hundred percent foolproof, but believes as the world
waits for a vaccine, testing, air filtration systems and enhanced cleaning along, of course with masks help passengers get back into the friendly
skies.
QUEST (on camera): We are now on our way to London and I've since learned that one of the prospective passengers did test positive for coronavirus.
United had a plan in place for such an eventuality, and that person has been isolated and is being taken care of.
As for the flight, the airline regards it as a great success. After all, it has managed to weed out those passengers that would have been a greater
risk to others.
As a result, it means the rest of the passengers can fly with greater confidence and safety.
Richard Quest, CNN aboard UA 14 heading to London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And back again. Our Richard Quest there. You're watching FIRST MOVE. More to come. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:46:48]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. There are 73,000 people in America currently hospitalized with coronavirus. That's the highest total ever.
That's as new cases continue to surge with 166,000 new cases reported in the country yesterday. Omar Jimenez reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An unending surge in coronavirus cases nationwide, the United States reporting another
166,000 new cases on Monday. More than 73,000 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus.
Hospitals are overwhelmed nationwide, but especially in rural communities, and in St. Louis, health officials warn area hospital ICUs will run out of
room by the first week in December.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom is considering a curfew to help slow the spread after the state reported nearly 10,000 new cases Monday, its
highest figures since August. This after Newsom pulled the emergency brake on the state's reopening and has placed 41 of the state's counties in the
highest tier of restrictions.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We are seeing case rates increase and positivity rates increase as well, no longer concentrated in just a handful of
counties.
JIMENEZ (voice over): In Oklahoma, bars and restaurants will close at 11:00 p.m. and tables must be at least six feet apart to try to quell the
current uptick in cases.
GOVERNOR KEVIN STITT (R-OK): Now is the time to do more. We need to pull together. Oklahoma, I need your help.
JIMENEZ (voice over): The hardest hit Midwest is seeing an aggressive spread of new cases. The region has some of the highest seven-day test
positivity averages in the country, including Iowa, which is reporting an average of more than 50 percent of tests coming back positive over the last
seven days.
The governor there is limiting indoor gatherings to no more than 15 people and issuing a mask mandate for all indoor public spaces where physical
distance can't be maintained.
President-elect Joe Biden urging the nation to wear masks amid the upswing.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I strongly urge you to do it. There's nothing macho about not wearing a mask.
JIMENEZ (voice over): But South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem still vowing to fight any mask mandates insisting on a limited government approach
despite South Dakota seeing an alarming uptick in cases this month.
And in El Paso, the deaths have reached such highs that medical examiners are having inmates help move the bodies.
There is one bright spot though after pharmaceutical company, Moderna, released preliminary trial data saying its vaccine is nearly 95 percent
effective. Dr. Anthony Fauci saying:
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The cavalry is coming, but the cavalry is not here yet. So what
we should do is that we should make the hope of a vaccine motivate us even more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: The bar for lockdowns is that much higher than it was in the spring, but the Navajo nation in Southwestern United States began a three-
week lockdown on Monday in an effort to fight the uncontrolled spread of the virus.
This comes after a spring when Navajo Nation had the highest ratio of COVID-19 cases in the United States even surpassing what we saw here in New
York City. CNN's Martin Savidge reports.
[09:50:10]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Last spring, COVID-19 devastated this sprawling 27,000 square mile Navajo Reservation that
stretches across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. In May, per capita Navajo infection rates surpassed New York and New Jersey. Dee Dixson's younger
sister among those infected.
DARLENE DIXSON, NAVAJO NATION RESIDENT: She went in to get tested, and she said she tested positive.
SAVIDGE (voice over): Just two weeks later, Dixson listened helplessly over the phone as her sister's COVID battle ended in a distant hospital
room.
DIXSON: I was talking to her and I was telling her, sissy, you can't go and you have to come home to us. By 5:45, you just hear that -- that tone
of her heart stopping and the doctor came on the phone and she said she was gone.
SAVIDGE (voice over): Now COVID is back. Navajo health officials warn of the virus' uncontrolled spread in 34 communities and fear an outbreak as
bad as spring or worse.
DR. JILL JIM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NAVAJO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: The cases just have been increasing. There is no plateau. There's no flattening.
SAVIDGE (on camera): How many ICU beds do you have here?
DR. LORETTA CHRISTENSEN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NAVAJO AREA INDIAN HEALTH SERVICES: We have 14 in Navajo area. Here at this site, we have six.
SAVIDGE (voice over): Last time the Navajo sent many of their cases off reservation to larger hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona. Health
volunteers poured in. That's not likely this time.
Hospitals nationwide are struggling to find beds for their own critical cases. So, the Navajo are preparing to fight alone, locking down the entire
Navajo Nation for three weeks, announcing the news on Navajo Radio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. I hope everybody woke up feeling good, feeling that they want to stay home and take care of themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: CNN's Martin Savidge there. All right, let me give you a look at what we're seeing in terms of US stock markets this morning. A bit of
reaction here as we've talked about this tug of war between hopes -- future hopes when vaccine deliveries arrive versus the realities you were just
hearing there in terms of COVID cases and hospitalizations around the United States.
Under pressure today, Walgreens and CVS the big story. Amazon's online pharmacy opening of course, not helping the performance of the Dow. Bucking
the trend though, the Russell 2000 up some one percent, so these domestic focused stocks expected to recover to a greater extent to outperform at
least when those vaccines come.
All right, let's focus now on Anheuser-Busch. It is the brewery behind some of the biggest beers in America, including Budweiser and Bud Light and it's
been in business for over 165 years. I can tell you there, the focus of the 100 Club today. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Visit a bar or pub anywhere in the world and chances are, it has an Anheuser Busch product on tap. It may be one of
the largest brewing companies in the world today, but it started small in 19th Century Middle America, St. Louis, Missouri.
TRACY LAUER, ARCHIVIST, ANHEUSER-BUSCH: In 1852 there was a brewery named as the Bavarian brewery. Eberhard Anheuser was one of the chief creditors
of the brewery and he acquired it in 1860, and then later, Adolphus Busch joined him about 1864 and then ultimately became Anheuser-Busch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Tracy Lauer is the archivist at Anheuser- Busch overseeing about 17,000 artifacts.
LAUER: We have the company minute books that date back to our incorporation in 1875.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): The company grew and prospered through the turn of the 20th Century before facing what would become its greatest
challenge.
LAUER: Prohibition started on January 16, 1920. It was a time in our country's history where we couldn't brew our primary product.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): The company adapted by turning to non- alcoholic beverages. Company CEO, Michel Doukeris says rising to the challenge is part of the corporate DNA.
MICHEL DOUKERIS, CEO, ANHEUSER-BUSCH: We went through war. We went through prohibition. We went through all the financial crisis that the country and
the world faced and the company has been always adapting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Prohibition ended in 1933 and beer was once again legal. To celebrate, the company purchased a six-horse
Clydesdale hitch, an antique beer wagon.
More than half a million tourists have visited the Anheuser-Busch stables each year to see the Clydesdales in person and to tour the brewery.
The company has suspended those tours for now in response to the global pandemic. Instead, hosting a virtual Beer Festival as a way to keep
customers engaged.
LAUER: Our company mission is really to make sure that people are happy.
DOUKERIS: Anheuser-Busch is to say that our business is to make friends, and we've been consumer centric, led by innovation and in the business of
making friends for the last 160 years, and we hope to be there for the next 100 and plus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[09:55:27]
CHATTERLEY: One of the most Googled terms in fact during the week of the election, liquor store near me. No surprise why.
All right. This is again, one of my favorite stories and then there were seven. Four more astronauts have joined the ISS better known as the
International Space Station. There were hugs and cheers as the crew of the SpaceX Dragon were welcomed by the current occupants including two Russian
cosmonauts.
The astronauts are expected to spend about six months onboard the station. Not a bad six months to be away, in fact.
And that's it for the show. You've been watching FIRST MOVE. I'm Julia Chatterley. Stay safe and we will see you tomorrow.
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[10:00:00]
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