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First Move with Julia Chatterley
U.K. Borders Shut Over Fears of a New Variant Virus; Airlines among the Fallers as Virus Fears Hit Markets; Negotiators Agree a $900 Billion Aid Deal; now Congress has to vote. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired December 21, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:19]
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.
COVID clamp down. U.K. borders shut over fears of a new variant virus.
Stock slump. Airlines among the fallers as virus fears hit markets.
And bailout breakthrough. Negotiators agree a $900 billion aid deal; now Congress has to vote.
It's Monday. Let's make a move.
A warm welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Good to be with you as always.
Two stories front and center today. Finally, a deal in Washington, D.C. on financial aid for struggling Americans, but that news overwhelmed well and
truly overwhelmed by fears of a new variant of the COVID virus in the U.K. The government is saying it spreads more quickly than earlier versions.
As a result, multiple nations have cut travel ties with the U.K. that includes France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Israel, among others. That
follows Southeast England including London being placed under a strict tier four lockdown. We'll explain that and take you through to the U.K. shortly
for all the latest information.
As you can imagine, the uncertainty though being felt right across global markets. U.S. stocks are set to open sharply lower. As you can see pulling
back from record highs hit last week.
A selloff, too happening across Europe. Germany and France currently down more than three percent. We've also got U.K. assets under pressure, too.
British Airways' parent, IAG, down as you can see more than nine percent. EasyJet down 9.5 percent. Lloyds Bank also off more than five percent, too,
on fears of further damage to the U.K. economy.
What about the British pound, too? Well, that's giving up gains from last week as well. Brexit negotiations have also stalled and that now playing
into sentiment as well as the perfect storm for the U.K. at this moment.
Oil also tumbling on concern that travel bans will weaken economic recoveries. Both Brent and U.S. crude now down just under four percent. Oil
had actually gained for the last seven weeks on vaccine led recovery hopes. A reality check going on, well and truly this morning.
Vaccine and U.S. stimulus not helping in the face of current virus fears.
Let's get to the drivers. The U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson holding emergency talks this hour after dozens of nations shut their borders to the
country. The measures was sparked, as I've mentioned by a new variant of COVID-19. Its prevalence in the nation's capital and the surrounding area
also triggering a strict new domestic lockdown over the weekend.
France's 48-hour temporary ban on freight has led to gridlock at the Port of Dover, a key crossing point for goods and trade to and from Europe.
Salma Abdelaziz is there for us. Salma, great to have you with us. Just explain what you can see right now.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, Julia, to avoid chaos, essentially part of the motorway has been shut down; part of the highway closed, and
those drivers and their trucks kept in that location essentially cordoned off so that the port right behind me here the Port of Dover is completely
empty.
I'm just going to step out of the shot to give you a look. This is normally one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. You should see ships coming
in and out, imports and exports bustle and hustle. What you see yet -- what you see is a red light, all closed, all off. France-U.K. border is shut
down right now.
Now, we do understand that the French authorities say that they are working on a Europe wide health protocol to try to put that in place in a matter of
hours to allow goods to transport between these two countries in a safe way without getting that variant that you mentioned to spread further, to
spread further into Europe, to spread outside of the U.K., although it's already been detected in other countries. But that's the fear that this
variant that is up to 70 percent more transmissible could spread.
So you have truck drivers right now sitting on highways, health concerns for them because they are sleeping in their cars. They don't have access to
food, bathrooms, and water. French authorities calling for help and support for those stuck on the highways.
This port also now closed, fears of food shortages, medicines shortages, something the U.K. Transport Secretary essentially tried to calm people's
fears about and say, listen, we have other ways, we're going to solve this. It'll take a matter of days. I'm in touch with my counterparts, but that
doesn't change the fact that just this weekend, Julia, the government here saying that this virus, this variant is out of control.
I think critics of this government would say today, well, your response to this new variant is also out of control, complete chaos, this country
feeling like it's being sealed off -- Julia.
[09:05:18]
CHATTERLEY: That language certainly doesn't help when people are fearful. There are so many questions people are now asking, and we don't have
information. It may be spreading more quickly than other forms, other variants of this virus, but does it make people sicker? What is going to be
the impact on vaccines? There are so many things at this stage that we don't know.
Salma, just in terms of the impact on the U.K., more restrictions, people being told literally overnight, all the plans that you've made for
Christmas now have to change once again, just talk us through that.
ABDELAZIZ: I think this is a very key part of the story, Julia, because rules can go into place, but if people don't follow them, then those rules
are simply not effective.
Enforcement here in the U.K. has been very minimal. It does not come at a police level. It is up to the individual to follow the rules, and a lot of
Londoners, and a lot of people living in these affected areas essentially feel like the social contract has been broken.
This is the Prime Minister who just last week stood in front of Parliament and mocked the opposition, Labour Party, for even asking for tougher
restrictions. This is the Prime Minister who said that there would be an easing, a relaxation of coronavirus restrictions for Christmas time.
This is the Prime Minister who said I will not criminalize Christmas. That would be inhumane. And then this complete about-face. This total U-turn.
You can only imagine how frustrated and upset people are. But most worryingly, many are just simply flaunting the rules, flaunting
restrictions.
I was at Heathrow earlier today, and I was hearing from a friend inside that people were going to the countertops and asking for flights to the
United States, which of course has yet to ban flights from the U.K. They're buying flights to the U.S. to try to circumvent the rules and get back
around to Europe.
So this is what you need. You need people to follow the rules, respect and heed these orders. Otherwise, Julia, it really does look like this variant
could start spreading outside of the U.K. It could go global.
CHATTERLEY: We need more information. Criminalizing Christmas. Yes, people just have to follow the rules as painful as they are. Salma, great to have
you with us. Thank you for that context there.
Now, as Salma was saying, there are major concerns about supplies of food and other consumer goods getting into the U.K. after France closed its air,
land and sea borders.
The French government says, it is developing a Europe-wide plan to allow supplies to continue flowing. Jim Bittermann joins us now from France.
Jim, what more about this Europe-wide plan -- because we clearly need it and we need it ASAP.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, not very much, Julia. In fact, the ambassadors -- apparently, the European
ambassadors have been meeting in Brussels today, talking over exactly what they can agree on. There's no sign of any agreement as of yet.
We did get a hint, a little bit, about what kind of things they might stipulate in this health protocol from the French Transport Minister this
morning, who basically said that COVID tests are going to be something that's going to be required if people that are in Britain, in the U.K. are
going to have to have a COVID test before they can come to the continent.
Basically, this is a problem more for the U.K. than it is for the continent, because the U.K. depends on much more supplies coming from
Europe than the other way around, and in fact, Brits who are trying to get to London and to U.K. today were allowed to go.
The Eurostar, for example, ran some trains today and people going toward Britain are not being affected if they could find some way to go.
But the question more is the transport of goods. For example, the French lorry drivers, French truck drivers who are in Britain may be stuck there
for -- until some kind of a protocol is worked out. They could be stuck there over the Christmas Holidays, who knows, but they are stuck in their
trucks. Some of them don't have food. They don't have water and that sort of thing.
It's a very difficult situation on the ground for those truck drivers and the French Truck Drivers Union here has spoken out quite clearly on it.
Elsewhere in Europe, it is the same sort of thing. The concern is more about the people who might get stuck in the U.K. and may not be able to
make it back, and as Salma was saying there, in fact, it may be all for naught in the sense that this virus is a variant of the virus. It has
turned up in at least a couple of European countries, at least in The Netherlands and in Italy, they have had some of the cases identified of
this variant -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, we are already seeing it, Jim. And to your point, the lack of clarity over movement and when people are going to be able to move
and get back home at this moment just a few days before Christmas is also adding to the anxiety.
Jim Bittermann, great to have you with us, in France there, thank you for that.
Now this all because the new variant appears to be up to 70 percent more transmissible. Scientists also trying to understand how this might impact
the efficacy of COVID vaccines, if at all.
Joining us now, Dr. Peter Hotez. He is the co-director of the Center for vaccine development at Texas Children's Hospital and Dean of Tropical
Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Hotez -- Peter, always fantastic to have you on the show. Let's take a step back, your wisdom please. What we know what we don't know and what we
shouldn't presume at this moment.
[09:10:23]
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, thanks, Julia. Look, this is -- the SARS 2 coronavirus is
an RNA virus and RNA viruses are known to mutate with a certain frequency and based on those mutations, these viruses have created certain lineages,
certain -- not really strains, but variants that allow us to geographically trace the origins of these SARS 2 coronavirus.
So for instance, we use the sequence of one of the lineages to determine that the virus that affected New York and caused that devastating epidemic
in March and April probably originated from Southern Europe. That's an example.
Now, what the U.K. scientists have been noting and they've been doing surveillance of all the different virus strains and they've seen since
September, there's been an increasing frequency of one particular type that has an unusual number of mutations.
And so now, this is becoming a dominant type of the SARS 2 coronavirus lineage that probably began in Southeastern U.K., they think in may be
around the Kent area and now, it's in London. It's in Scotland and Wales.
And it looks as though it's out competing in the sense the other lineages, in the sense that it is becoming dominant now in the U.K. and on that
basis, they think it's possible that it may be more transmissible than the others.
So that 70 percent numbers is not based on experimental evidence. It's based on projections using mathematical modeling.
As far as I know, there's actually no experimental evidence showing that it is more transmissible. But there's enough of a concern that this prompted
the British Prime Minister to issue that warning that it may be a more transmissible variant, but we don't really know that.
CHATTERLEY: It's frightening, isn't it? Because it goes back to this idea of science by press release. We don't have the data, we just have to go by
feel here and say that simply because we're seeing so many of these cases, we sort of work backwards and presume that it's transmitting between people
more quickly.
HOTEZ: Well, that's right, and making policy decisions based on limited experimental evidence is really tough. I think part of it is a reaction to
the fact that we've missed so many opportunities in the past that people now want to be certain that they get ahead of it. They don't want to find
out six months from now that this was much more highly transmissible and maybe even more serious an infection and then find out after the fact.
So far, there's no evidence that it's more -- direct evidence that it's more transmissible, although it's possible, and there's certainly no
evidence that it's more severe.
CHATTERLEY: As you pointed out as well, we do see mutations take place. This is normal, what is it specifically that's caught the attention of the
scientists that make them relatively more concerned? And is there any connection between that and potential impact on efficacy of vaccines?
Because I think that's the immediate fear.
People say, oh, is this so different that actually the vaccines that we've now created won't be good enough to be used against this? Can we make any
of those kinds of assumptions at this stage?
HOTEZ: I think what's -- I think what's causing the expressions of concerns is the fact that it's not just a couple of mutations, there are a
few mutations. There's around 17, and that's quite a lot for one particular lineage.
And one in particular is in the part of the virus that docks with our host tissues, what's called the receptor binding domain of the spike protein, so
that if it was more transmissible, this would be a plausible mechanism by which that occurs.
I think it's unlikely that it's going to affect vaccine development. One mutation in this -- all the vaccines work by inducing an immune response to
the spike protein, I doubt one mutation is going to have that big an effect, but our scientists and others have already been working now to
actually look at the serum, the antibodies from vaccinated individuals and show that it could still neutralize this new lineage and the point is, it's
been around since September, so I think it's -- that we know, so it's probably all over Europe at this point.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I think we also have to take a step back and just breathe out and recognize that it's taken many months to get to this point where
we're hearing about it, the likelihood is to your point, it has already spread more widely than we realize.
Dr. Hotez, you've had the vaccine, I believe. Just for our viewers, I just wanted to understand what it was like, how you felt afterwards, just to
help people if they are afraid of getting this vaccine, how you found it.
[09:15:01]
HOTEZ: Yes, Julia, I got the first jab, as you say in the U.K. for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first one, the first of two doses.
It was fine, I had -- that evening, I had a little bit of a muscle arm soreness, maybe some body aches, maybe even a low-grade fever. I am not
even certain about that. By the next morning, I was really fine.
So physically, it was not a big deal at all, no worse than other vaccines that I've had such as the Shingrix vaccine or the some of the flu vaccines.
I think the emotional impact was bigger. One, knowing that the likelihood after I get my second dose that I'll never be in a hospital or ICU because
of coronavirus is remote.
So that was a great feeling of relief and gratitude to the Pfizer-BioNTech scientists and to our National Institutes of Health and organizations like
the Wellcome Trust for supporting coronavirus research for the last couple of decades to make all of this possible.
I think my greatest wave of emotion, I was thinking about the 300,000 Americans who have lost their lives already and thinking how if we could
have just gotten them to the other side and had vaccinated, they did not have to lose their lives. That was heartbreaking to think about.
Also the fact that people are still so defiant of COVID prevention measures in part because our White House or U.S. government for so many months since
the summer, downplayed the severity of the epidemic and claimed it was a hoax, claimed that the COVID-19 deaths were due to other causes and
discredited masks and so many people lost their lives because of that, and it was just so unnecessary.
So a lot of intense emotion because of all this.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I hear you. I feel intense emotion just watching you quite frankly, and so many lives lost around the world.
Dr. Hotez, I only have a few more seconds, but there was a reason as well for me asking that, which is whatever we know about this U.K. variant or
don't know, in addition to the fact that we're in the midst of a crisis, and we continue to be even with vaccines coming, it doesn't negate the need
for social distancing, for mask wearing, for people just to follow the guidelines and to be safe, and I guess this is an important message at this
moment, too.
HOTEZ: Yes, this is a -- you just hang on because we have the vaccines and now, we've started vaccinating the U.K. population, the U.S. and other
populations. This is especially in London and elsewhere, where you're being asked to endorse some harsh steps.
Remember, this is not in perpetuity. This is a few more weeks, maybe a couple of months before everyone gets vaccinated. No one needs to lose
their life at this critical juncture.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, hang in there. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the Texas Children's Hospital and Professor at
the Baylor College of Medicine. Sir, thank you for your work and education for all of us. We appreciate you. Thank you.
HOTEZ: Thank you again.
CHATTERLEY: All right, today's news out of Europe is a reminder that global markets remain vulnerable to the new health shocks even as vaccine
rollouts gain at steam. Help is coming, but not soon enough.
Richard Quest joins us now. Richard, no surprise that all the stocks that we've seen gaining over the past few weeks on vaccine enthusiasm, selling
off today: travel, hospitality, anything related to tourism.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Yes, because I think what's clear, is that this variant, which might be in the U.K. and the British
have been upfront about sort of saying how bad it is. We know it's been in the Netherlands already. We know there's been a case of it in Australia. So
it's not a wit and just beyond understanding to assume that before long, it will appear in some shape or form in other European countries.
And even if it doesn't appear in your country, it could appear in your next door neighbor's country and another country and another country, and before
long, you're going to have a complete halt of travel once again. So that's why this is so bad.
I think what's also interesting is the failure to some extent of the E.U. to be able to put together a coordinated response. We had Netherlands first
with Britain, then Belgium, then Spain chipped in, then Germany and France.
Meanwhile, the E.U. Council is deciding what it might or might not do about it all. But that's why -- and what's also interesting, Julia, if you look
at the stocks affected this morning, the legacy carriers, Lufthansa is down heavily, IHG obviously is down heavily.
But the low cost carriers like Wiz are only down about four and a half percent. EasyJet, which has a huge footprint in the U.K. is down nine
percent
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the relative impact here already very clear. Richard, what about for U.S. stocks? Because we're saying perhaps that this is a
European issue, it may already be prevalent in Europe and across Europe, in other European nations, but for the United States, stocks have defied
gravity.
We're at record highs last week, we're at the worst point ever in the COVID crisis. All the focus has been on vaccines and the recovery. Can investors
continue to do that, do you think?
[09:20:13]
QUEST: Ready for a correction. That's what I'm going to tell you. Now, is it going to -- I cannot predict. Will it happen at two o'clock in the
afternoon on December the 22nd, or January the 3rd -- I can't.
But at these lofty levels, when earnings in the immediate future are under pressure, let's just bear in mind, the U.K. had 30,000 cases, 30,000 new
cases, the U.S. has nearly tenfold that, 250,000 U.S. cases.
Now the U.S. population is not 10 times greater than the U.K., so the virus is out of control to some extent in the United States. And when I look --
and you and I are both here in New York, but when we look at the measures being taken, perhaps with the exception of California, I mean, what's been
--
Here in New York, what's really been done besides closing of indoor dining, and some extremely complex rules at the edges, there's none of that mixing
of people and this and that and households and bubbles and all that sort of stuff you're seeing in Europe, which begs the question, long answer, but
short point -- begs the question, whether or not the U.S. is going to explode in terms of cases, even more so in the New Year after Christmas
mixing, which ultimately will of course, hit earnings again.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, we are seeing the after effects of Thanksgiving, wait until we see a post travel on Christmas.
Richard Quest, concerning words. I could not help to agree with you.
QUEST: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Richard Quest there. All right, still come on FIRST MOVE, Congress poised to pass a long awaited COVID-19 aid package. I call it a
Band-Aid package. We're going to need more.
We go live to the United States Capitol for more on what's in it and what's not.
And the freight industry warns the French travel ban will have a devastating impact on the U.K. supply chains. I speak to the head of the
U.K. Road Haulage Association later this hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:25:08]
CHATTERLEY: Breaking news. In the last few moments, the European Medicines Agency has recommended conditional approval for coronavirus vaccine
developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to be used across the European Union.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen tweeted, "This is a decisive moment in our efforts to deliver safe and effective
vaccines to Europeans." The approval of course needs to be rubber stamped by the European Commission. This comes weeks after the vaccine was first
granted permission in the U.K., and of course, in the United States, too.
Now another major development here in the United States, lawmakers have finally reached a deal on that $900 billion stimulus plan with Congress
expected to vote later today. It will come as a relief for families desperately struggling across the country this winter, many of whom will
now get a $600.00 check.
John Howard is in Washington for us. John, they finally reached a deal, important to talk about what's in it. Also important to talk what's not in
it?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, significant thing that is not in the bill is aid to state and local governments, which have
already laid off more than a million people over the last several months, and face further layoffs because their revenues have been devastated by the
economic slowdown under COVID. And of course, that slowdown has been getting worse and worse.
We saw bad retail sales numbers last week. Jobless claims have been trending up, we may get a negative jobs number for the month of December.
It's possible that we could be in negative growth for the first quarter of 2021.
However, $900 billion in this bill is a big step forward by the Congress, Democrats and Republicans, we expect President Trump to sign it. It will
include those $600.00 checks for families earning under $75,000.00. It will include some supplemental $300.00 a week federal unemployment benefits,
that's in both cases half what it was in the CARES Act earlier this year. But nevertheless, better than nothing, and it will have some extended
unemployment benefits for people whose benefits would run out.
So it's very good news, all of those things in addition to the replenishment of the Paycheck Protection Program, all of that is quite a
Christmas present for the American people who have been suffering for the last several months.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's a step forward. I called it a financial Band-Aid earlier though, because I do think they're going to have to come back after
the Inauguration next year and do more. But we shall see, for all the reasons you said about the economic weakening that's already going on.
But John, I want to talk about something else, too. Some eye opening headlines over the weekend, a meeting in the White House potentially
discussing the use of Martial Law to force some states to hold new elections where the President is concerned about the validity of the
results.
Did this happen? What can you tell us?
HARWOOD: Well, it's absolutely crazy, and it's hard to escape the conclusion given things that the President has said that the President of
the United States who is going to be in office for another 30 years is a kook who has surrounded himself with kooks who are pushing ideas like this.
Now, important for our international audience to understand, this is not going to happen. There's not going to be Martial Law declared. But the idea
that the President is entertaining that idea, that he is entertaining the idea of seizing voting machines from states, it's just crazy talk, and
everyone needs to strap in their seatbelts for this ride over the last 30 days to see exactly what Donald Trump is capable of doing.
The good news for the American people is most of the stuff he says is just crazy talk that doesn't go beyond talk, but we're going to have to watch
very closely.
CHATTERLEY: John, I was just googling as you were speaking there the definition of the word kook, K-O-O-K, a crazy or eccentric person. Yes.
Plenty of those.
HARWOOD: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you for that, John Howard.
HARWOOD: You bet.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, in Washington for us there. Thank you.
All right, the market opens next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:32:15]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. markets are up and running on this Holiday shortened trading week. And as expected, we've got a weaker
open for all the U.S. majors, though we are off earlier lows, I can say that.
U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote on that critically important $900 billion emergency aid package later today. That's the good news. But the
deal I think was pretty much priced into the markets late last week.
A worsening COVID crisis in Europe has not been priced in and we're seeing that now. Governments across the globe are shutting down air travel to the
U.K. as the country grapples with a new variant of COVID that may be more contagious as we've discussed already on the show.
Vaccines, however, are on the way. The first doses of Moderna's COVID vaccine set to be administered to Americans today and E.U. health officials
have just given "conditional marketing authorization" quote, to the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine. Its use could begin right after Christmas there.
Now to the U.K., the Prime Minister is currently chairing an emergency meeting. This, as more countries ban travel to and from Great Britain after
the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant.
Much of the southeast of the country, including London is under strict new lockdown measures which came into effect at midnight Saturday.
Nic Robertson joins us now from Downing Street. Nic, emergency meeting in light of the reaction from other European nations. I'm sure a lot of
confusion from ordinary Brits, too.
If they've been looking at this since September, why now and why the U- turns and the consistent changes over what to do about travel and Christmas arrangements?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, well, while the scientists were able to sort of see this particular variant emerge in
September, and a couple of cases here in the U.K., what the data that they didn't have to support it in those two cases really didn't come until much
more recently, early December.
And according to the government, when the announcement first came about this new variant a week ago today, at a press conference, they didn't have
the data, which really gave the understanding, the definitive understanding that this new variant could be more infectious, 70 percent were infectious
they say, not more deadly, but more infectious, which of course, can drive up the number of people arriving in hospitals, put the hospitals into
overcapacity, and that is a danger as well.
So by the end of the week, when the government had that information, Saturday, we saw the Prime Minister reverse course on the Christmas that he
had promised most people in the U.K., which was a Christmas of several families in your household for a period of five days -- that has gone. It's
now down to in the tier four area of the country, London and the southeast, an area of 16.4 million people, an area one third of England.
People have been told, you cannot have any other families, anyone else in your house. It's just you, your family that lives in that house. That's all
you can have for Christmas.
So the reaction of course, as the rest of the world has watched this situation take off and escalate in the U.K., has been to say, well, we need
to close down.
So we've seen so many countries in Europe -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, we've seen countries in the
Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and others; we've seen countries in the Americas, we've seen Canada, we've seen Argentina, we have seen Chile and
others all come out and say, it's not safe for British citizens to fly here.
[09:35:44]
ROBERTSON: But the real big concern for that meeting today, the real concern for the government is the fact that France put a 48-hour block on
all travel, which includes trucks and freight, food coming into the U.K.
So that's one of the big areas that the government is looking at today that their line right now is "Don't panic. The stores are well stocked. We've
got what we need." But of course, this is a very difficult situation for the country at a very difficult time.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And it's the fact that it's deja vu compared to what we saw in in March-April time when within the E.U. nations everybody just
acted unilaterally rather than having a coordinated program. And of course, the French Minister of Transport said, look, we're going to try and work
something out at the European level and ease the border crossings, the good border crossings.
But of course, Nic, it was already a real concern in light of the Brexit negotiations. So, it's a perfect storm brewing here.
ROBERTSON: A perfect storm, yes, the Brexit negotiations blew through a deadline that the European Parliament said look, if you don't get a deal by
the end of Sunday night, last night, then that we won't have time to sort of go through it and ratify it before the deadline, 31st of December this
year. You know, that's one problem that now, the negotiators are now facing.
They are continuing to negotiate. There is a desire to get a deal done. But of course, more pressure on Boris Johnson from some of his own MPs now to,
you know, to think about the possibility of okay, let's park this, let's try and get extra time.
Other ideas are coming into play, but the government is not focusing on that right now. So you know, again, you have this Brexit situation
developing on top of this already now strained situation relations with Europe.
And one of the things that was going to come into play on the first of January, was a scenario similar to as it is today, that the U.K. being
outside of the European Union would mean that U.K. citizens would not be able to travel into the European Union because of COVID restrictions.
So the scenario that we're witnessing today with this new variant is similar in some ways without the travel bans, per se, on flights. But in
terms of limitations of who could go to Europe from the U.K., the limitations were going to be very strict that we're going to come into
force on the first of January.
So there's a lot in change and a lot in flux, Christmas in the middle of it, and the people of this country caught unexpectedly in a much tighter
lockdown and a less happy Christmas for many people than they expected.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and many of them flooding out of London as we saw the images and the pictures over the weekend. Nic Robertson, great to have you
with us. Thank you for that update there.
All right. Joining us now Rod McKenzie, Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association in the U.K. Rod, great to have you with us and thank you for
making time.
Your response to what we're currently seeing, the travel ban, in particular, put on by France.
ROD MCKENZIE, POLICY DIRECTOR, ROAD HAULAGE ASSOCIATION, U.K.: Well, it is certainly over the top, and it's over the top because lorry drivers are not
vectors of this disease. How do we know that? Because in the first wave of coronavirus, only two to three percent of the entire lorry driving staff
with the U.K. and those using the U.K. got the disease.
So that's because they live alone, really, they are in the cab on their own. They drive on their own, they sleep on their own in the cab. They eat
in the cab on their own.
They don't travel around infecting people in the way that arguably airline passengers do when they get on board a plane packed with lots of other
people.
So it's an illogical move by the French. It's completely unnecessary at this time of year. The border was difficult enough, as you've just been
hearing because of the COVID preparations and the stockpiling that's going on, sorry, the Brexit preparations and the stockpiling that's going on for
that.
And of course it's Christmas which is our busiest time, so this is not wise.
CHATTERLEY: Can you just give us a sense of volume of traffic here even if we just talk about the short strait, so that's Dover to Calais because
we're showing our viewers, images here of Dover and it's just lines of lorries, stationary lorries. How many lorries a day would be traveling this
route?
MCKENZIE: Yes, they're really ugly pictures, aren't they? And the answer is 10,000 lorries a day use the short straits between Dover and Calais. The
reason they are called short straits, not surprisingly, is it is the short sea crossing between GB and the continent, only about 20 miles, it doesn't
take long to get across those waters.
And the alternative routes tend to be less popular with traders simply because they involve longer sea crossings on boats, which take several
hours or even days. So that short sea crossing is vital.
And I feel that sometimes, it is used as a political weapon by the French, and certainly got very unpleasant consequences at the moment for the poor
lorry drivers who are stuck in those jams you're looking at, and who are facing a miserable Christmas, possibly away from their families.
[09:40:48]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and you've got French drivers stuck on the wrong side and Brits or British driver -- lorry drivers stuck on the wrong side, too, and
struggling with the clarity on how they can get home.
I mean, 20 percent of the U.K. is trading goods goes by this route, just to give us a sense of how important this route is. The British Transport
Secretary said that the ban was slightly surprising, but he said the majority of Britain's trade was not affected and the public won't notice
any shortages, quote, "for the most part." Rod, do you agree?
MCKENZIE: Well, I think the government is slightly misleading when they talk about 20 percent. Technically, they are accurate. But the bulk of the
things that have moved by other means are things like aggregates, you know, gravel and sand and big heavy stuff, and oil.
And of course you very rapidly, you know, could get up to 80 percent being that sort of stuff. But that's not the useful things for most Brits most of
the time.
So what we want is our Christmas turkey and our goodies and our chocolates and our French cheese or whatever it is and the wine, and so the 20 percent
is an illusory figure. It's actually effectively, you know, much more like 70 to 80 percent of the things we need as consumers, including parks or
factories.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, so we need to resolve these blockages ASAP and find a European solution. Rod McKenzie, great to have you with us. Thank you,
Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association. Great to have your insights today.
All right, still ahead, Tesla driving into the S&P 500. The opening trade for Musk and company on its big time debut, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:34]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE with another look at what we're seeing for U.S. markets. The major averages still lower, but as you can
see, significantly off the lows in premarket trading. Bank stocks also helping give some support here.
The Fed announced late Friday that their balance sheets are strong enough to resume share buybacks. In the meantime, Tesla shares are lower on their
first day as a member of the S&P 500. Yes, down 1.6 percent, only up 630 plus percent year-to-date. Yes.
Alicia Levine joins me now. She is the Chief Strategist at BNY Mellon Investment. Alicia, great to have you with us. We're not going to talk
about Tesla. Talk to me about the market reaction today and what you make of it.
ALICIA LEVINE, CHIEF STRATEGIST, BNY MELLON INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Yes. Hi, good morning. Happy Holidays, Julia. Nice to see you for this season. I
think human reaction, I think there's a lot we don't know. It's a bit of a knee jerk reaction. I suspect the market will absorb fairly quickly, and
bond (INAUDIBLE) and the recovery story is what has really been priced in to the markets, particularly in this kind of market situation.
So (INAUDIBLE), but there's too much we don't know, actually. So I suspect that we are going to get pass it fairly quickly and focus on this and
recovery.
CHATTERLEY: Interesting. So actually, after this initial sort of reality check, knee jerk reaction that we know, we're still in the midst of a COVID
crisis. Investors go back to focusing on vaccines, economic recovery, buy on dip mentality pretty quickly in your mind.
LEVINE: Yes, absolutely. Look, I think that essentially, what the market has priced in is very strong recovery starting in the summer of 2021. So
anything that threatens that timeline of about six months to get a flow pretty much back into the swing with a more regular demand pattern where we
start seeing it in the second quarter, as you have year-over-year base effects on growth and earnings.
Anything that threatens that timeline is going to affect the market. So the thought that maybe there's a variant of the virus that wouldn't get the
vaccine useful again, it's obvious (INAUDIBLE), but again, that is not to say (INAUDIBLE) and you're going to get hiccups somewhere along the market,
something straight up, and it felt that way this year and that's where we find ourselves and so the timeline is what is going to threaten market
performance (INAUDIBLE).
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it makes sense to me. Alicia, I'm going to thank you there. We will get you back soon, but we're having a few technical issues
hearing you, so I'm going to thank you there. Happy Holidays and we will get you back very soon.
LEVINE: Happy Holidays.
CHATTERLEY: Chief Strategist at BNY Mellon Investment. A hug to you.
All right, still to come, a second coronavirus vaccine is now rolling out across the United States and not a day too soon as cases continue to surge.
We'll look at the distribution efforts ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:47]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. Moderna scrambling to get millions of doses of its newly approved coronavirus vaccine distributed across the
United States just before the Christmas Holiday authorized -- my apologies -- not approved.
Trucks are picking up their vaccines for delivery to hospitals and other sites. The first doses are expected to be administered today. Pete Muntean
is outside a distribution facility in Mississippi for us.
Pete, great to have you with us on the show. Just talk us through what you've seen over the past couple of hours.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Julia, we're expecting more trucks to leave here today. This is a McKesson facility. That's the
company handling the distribution of the Moderna vaccine and they will be going to 3,000 locations across the country, deliveries begin this morning
at places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens.
In terms of location, this rollout about four times the size of the initial Pfizer roll out of last week, and that's thanks in part to an advantage
that the Moderna vaccine has over the Pfizer vaccine. It does not need to be stored at super cold temperatures. In fact, a regular refrigerator will
do just fine. That opens this up to more rural communities and rural clinics.
I spoke to FedEx about this and it says that difference has actually not changed how it will handle these packages. Here's what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE STEPHENS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION, FEDEX: It doesn't matter whether you have to be ultra-cold
or you have to be -- whether you're minus 90 or minus 20, it doesn't matter.
Our job is to get the package from point A to point B, as expeditiously and as safely as we possibly can and to deliver it to those that are going to
administer it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: Six million doses of the Moderna vaccine are leaving here, Julia and the Department of Health and Human Services says 20 million doses could
be allocated by the end of this month. You have to remember what a remarkable achievement this is.
We're seeing the rollout of two new vaccines within the span of about a week.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, this is phenomenal speed and the logistics here, quite frankly, are mind blowing and we talk about them regularly on this
show.
I want to get your aviation analyst brain working, though, in terms of vaccines being given to pilots, to air hostesses, to people that are
working in this environment. We've had representatives of the industry come on the show and say, you know, these are frontline workers the same as
others, and they're keeping the country flowing, they keeping goods moving as well as people. What do we know? And is there any push here from the
F.A.A. to get these people vaccinated quickly to?
MUNTEAN: Well, we know that airline workers unions have been fighting for airline pilots and flight attendants to be in that sort of first tier of
those to get this vaccine. The F.A.A. does have a little bit to say about this, especially considering that it regulates what pilots can take as far
as medications, even vaccines.
It said that it would approve this rather quickly and it has said that pilots and air traffic controllers can take the Moderna vaccine. Remember
two doses, so during each of those doses, a pilot or an air traffic controller has to wait 48 hours, especially considering those are high
stress jobs that involve a high layer of safety.
So it is good news from the F.A.A. for pilots and air traffic controllers, although they are still waiting to see when they could actually get it from
the Federal government.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it depends what phase they come up in and what their relative ranking is. Pete, what about the idea of making those vaccines
mandatory? Has anyone whether it's the airlines again, or the F.A.A. weighed in on this?
MUNTEAN: Not just yet, Julia. You know, they are standing by -- these workers are standing by to get this. No definitive word from the F.A.A. on
whether or not this will be mandatory for those working in the aviation industry.
It is pretty remarkable, though that the F.A.A. did approve this with such speed. There's a bit of an irony here though and that these folks aren't
actually on the list just yet of those to get this vaccine right away.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, absolutely. And if you're going to start mandating vaccines for your employees, what about for customers as well, quite
frankly. It's going to be fascinating to see how this plays out.
Great to have you on the show there tracking the delivery of those precious vaccines. Pete Muntean in Olive Branch, Mississippi for us. Pete, thank
you.
[09:55:10]
CHATTERLEY: All right, one last look at what we're seeing for the price action here on the markets. U.S. stocks still lower in early trading.
Tech actually among the big losers in early trades. You're seeing a pairing of risk overall. But once again, we are off the lows as we watch what's
going on in the U.K. and across Europe.
Boris Johnson set to speak later on today, so we'll be tracking all of this throughout the day on CNN for you.
But that's it for the show for now. You've been watching FIRST MOVE. I'm Julia Chatterley. Stay safe as always.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
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