Return to Transcripts main page
First Move with Julia Chatterley
U.S. Bond Yields Spike Amid Fed Rate Hike Uncertainty; Three U.S- Canada Border Crossings Blocked by Protest; Rhino Poaching on the Rise in South Africa; Tritium Unveils Plans for Tennessee EV Charger Plant; Coursera Posts Strong Growth in 2021; Revealed: Why Putin met Macron Behind Massive Table. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired February 11, 2022 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST: Live from New York I'm Alison Kosik in for Julia Chatterley. This is "First Move" and here is what you need to know.
Biden's warning, President says Ukraine could go crazy quickly as diplomatic efforts continue. Border battle, Canada trucker protests shut
auto plants and cost workers millions. And British pounds, UK economy enjoys strong growth as restrictions ease. It's Friday hurray! Let's make a
move.
A warm welcome to "First Move" great to have you with us this Friday another day of volatile financial markets as global investors, U.S. central
bankers and U.S. President Biden all weigh in on January's hotter than expected inflation numbers.
Wall Street Futures are pointing to a flat to modestly higher open. That's after Tuesday's or after Thursday's across the board pullback that saw the
NASDAQ drop more than 2 percent. European shares are lower after mixed Asian close.
Stocks remain under pressure as bond investors continue to price in higher borrowing costs. As inflation soars benchmark U.S. 10 year bond yields look
softer today but still sitting close to that 2 percent level.
Lots of talk over whether the Federal Reserve may have to raise rates by a half a percent next month. That would be double than what is expected. Of
course that would be done to tame prices.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is now endorsing a half point move, some even suggesting the Fed could announce an emergency rate hike before
its March meeting all that is just speculation at this point, though.
That said Goldman Sachs is now expecting seven Fed rate hikes in 2022. That's up from its previous projection of five hikes. President Biden also
weighing in on the inflation mess telling NBC News that, prices should moderate in the months ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When can Americans expect some relief from this soaring inflation?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA. According to Nobel laureates, 14 that contacted me and a number of corporate leaders, it's odd
to be able to start to taper off as I go through this year. In the meantime, I'm going to do everything in my power to do with the big points
that are impacting most people in their homes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: In the meantime, market uncertainty reigns, tech stocks have risen or fallen by 1 percent or more in four of the last five trading sessions as
investors way aggressive fed tightening. We'll be following the market action throughout today's show, but first onto our first driver. And that's
Ukraine.
NATO and the U.S. are issuing fresh warnings of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. This as a week of diplomacy ends without a breakthrough. The
U.S. Secretary of State says a military incursion could come at any time. NATO says there is "Real danger" as Russia's military buildup continues.
Let's go ahead and bring in Nic Robertson. He is live for us in Moscow. So we have seen Nic over the past several weeks a real ramp up in talks
between, you know, various world leaders. But still, we haven't seen a diplomatic breakthrough. And it doesn't even sound like it's close.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It doesn't, you know, the NATO Secretary General in Romania today where there are additional U.S.
troops base there been put there another 1000, 2000 there now as part of the NATO commitment.
And the NATO Secretary General say, you know, as part of the Russian military exercises, which is sort of creating, you know, the buildup that
we've had over whispers exercises are underway now, the NATO Secretary General saying is still seeing more Russian forces come in to those
exercises, and that the more troops there are the less warning time that NATO has to, you know, prepare and to take precautionary measures.
So the concern is really there. And I think that was, you know, he was certainly echoing or perhaps amplifying what President Biden had said, just
last - just today that there is a real risk that things could go wrong quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: American citizens should leave should leave now. We're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It's a very different situation and
things could go crazy quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And I think when you try to sort of analyze whether the diplomacy has right now you have the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Ben Wallace
in Moscow today meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu. We've yet to get a full readout of that meeting. And it seems what Ben Wallace
wants to do is repeat that message that there are diplomatic off ramps.
[09:05:00]
ROBERTSON: The NATO's a defensive organization, but undoubtedly going to hear from the Russian Defense Minister that Russia perceives NATO as being
the one that's creating the instability at the moment and the readout last night from the Russian representative and from other representatives, that
Normandy for Minsk meeting in Berlin, that lasted nine hours, there wasn't agreement, there couldn't be a document that could be signed by all sides.
And what the Russian representative said was that this shows that the Western diplomacy is not having an impact on the current situation, if you
think back to the beginning of this week, the one thing that, that Emmanuel Macron, the French President thought that he had taken away from President
Putin and President Zelensky and Ukraine was that there was an agreement to move forward on the Minsk talks.
And now you have the Russian saying that is not happening; that this track of diplomacy is not working. So it does raise the question about any track
of diplomacy that's moving forward. And that's not visible at the moment.
KOSIK: Yes, I mean, do you think about what happened after, after Macron met, you know, with Russia, and there was actually a little bit of hope
there. I mean, just a little bit, it seems like we're not even talking about that right now.
ROBERTSON: That test was those talks yesterday, were a test. And certainly that was a test that President Putin said that he was waiting to see. He
said about Macron. Let's, you know, with all your proposals, let's see how you get on essentially getting Kyiv to do what we want them to do, which is
to agree to negotiate directly with the Russian backed separatists, the pro-Russian separatists in the East of Ukraine.
And that's not happening. That's what Russia wants out of that, if there was going to be an area of diplomacy that could grow. That was the forum
for it, not quite sure where it could lead. But now there isn't another meeting of the Normandy forum on the Minsk talks until March.
So that avenue at the moment doesn't appear to be going anywhere. And President Putin essentially said, how we continue discussions with
President Macron will depend essentially on the outcome of the pressure that he puts on Kyiv and the Minsk talks were a test of that.
KOSIK: OK, thanks for that update. Nic, appreciate it. OK, Anna Stewart joins me now with the economy in the UK, rebounding 7.5 percent in 2021.
What's the latest on this?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yes, really strong GDP figures there 7.5 percent. This will certainly boost UK government's competence. They've said
for some time now that the UK economy is growing faster than any other G7 economy. And it's true 7.5 percent now for the last year. But before
Alison, we pop open the champagne and get overexcited about this.
It's really important to look at the context of this economic growth. Firstly, the fact is that the UK was the only major economy to dip as low
as it did into recession through the pandemic. So it's bouncing back actually, from a much deeper low, then you can look at the end of last year
and really Omicron muddy the waters significantly.
For December the economy actually shrank by 0.2 percent as people bunk it up at home avoiding Omicron before Christmas. And that was a drag really on
that entire last quarter. Looking at that last quarter economic activity was actually still 0.4 percent lower than it had been in 2019 pre-pandemic.
Let me use that measure to compare the UK to some of the other economies of the G7 while the U.S. expanded by 3.1 percent, France as well 0.9 percent,
Canada by 0.2 percent. So I think the next time we hear Boris Johnson extol the virtues of UK economy and boast about it growing faster than any other
G7 country. It is important to remember the context.
And also I think, like many countries around the world important to note the inflation situation in the UK, the cost of living is rising. So
certainly people here in the UK will not be feeling the benefits of this economic growth.
KOSIK: Oh, yes. We're all feeling the effects of inflation globally. Anna Stewart thanks so much. Blockades at the U.S. border started by Canadian
truckers now escalating, three border crossings in North Dakota, Montana and a major crossing between Ontario and Michigan are all blocked.
The White House says entire industries are seeing significant impacts as supplies are disrupted for GM, Honda, Toyota and others, all cutting back
production. On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused his political opponents of enabling a small fringe minority.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: The Leader of the Conservative Party and her team has been their biggest champions even promoting their
fundraising. The consequences of these actions are having dire impacts they're impacting trade they're hurting jobs they're threatening our
economy and they're obstructing our communities. I am focused on ending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:10:00]
KOSIK: Miguel Marquez is in Windsor, Ontario. Miguel city leaders there are expected in court today to seek an injunction against the protesters. So
what can you tell us?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the mayor now calling this an illegal blockade, they are going to court today to get the legal ability to
move protesters out. And they're also moving in lots of gear from other places in Canada to help them do that, when I show you what's happening
here, right now, still blocked here.
We're moving into day five, this is sort of a morning ritual for the protesters who spent all night out here in their cars, sort of honking,
I'll stop talking for a second and let you listen. So they are trying to keep their morale up, they are trying to stay together.
Typically what happens is that during the day, more and more protesters from Windsor come down here and support them and hang out here as well. But
the government being very clear, they have support from other areas from the province and from the federal government here in Windsor.
Now, overnight, they put up a cement barricades around this area, so that they can do whatever operations they are going to do. They are clearly
preparing for that. Now if it comes to that, they are going to increase the number of fines, they're going to - they're going to tow vehicles, they are
going to take licenses away, you know, especially if it's a truckers license, that that from the provincial government.
So they're putting all the pieces together basically to say, look, if you do not leave peacefully, this is not going to end well. And they're moving
resources, not just here in Windsor, but to those other areas where the borders are blocked. So that it seems that once they move one, they're
going to try them do they all simultaneously back to you?
KOSIK: Miguel, I hope you can hear my question. Hopefully they won't start honking again. Listen, this is having a huge impact on the broader economy,
the supply chain specifically what about automakers? What are you hearing?
MARQUEZ: Yes, look, it's a massive disruption. One bright note here, Port Huron, which is another crossing about an hour North of Detroit that the
traffic there, which was on several hours delay has come down, they've added more resources at the border there.
So that is better. There's Detroit Free Press, noting that some automakers are flying in parts back and forth. But it's these are measures they can do
in the short term, but they need a long term fix and the long term fixes getting this bridge back open.
It's affecting automakers across the board on both sides of the border, auto parts suppliers on both sides of the border because they can keep
producing, but they have nowhere to send their stuff. So it just keeps backing up everywhere now from Toronto to Lansing and probably beyond those
areas now. It's having a real effect. If this keeps going on that economic bite is going to become real and serious, Alison.
KOSIK: Yes, we'll see if these city leaders are successful in getting this injunction today. Miguel Marquez thanks so much. Now to the Beijing Winter
Olympics an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport will decide whether a Russian figure skating sensation can compete in her next
event. She failed a drug test taken back in December. Selina Wang is live for us in Beijing. Selina, what's the latest?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Alison, this is overshadowing the premiere event at the Winter Olympics. And we have two big questions that
are still unanswered number one is can the 15-year-old breakout Star Russian Finger Skater Kamila Valieva can she continue to compete at the
Olympics?
And number two is can the ROC the Russian Olympic Committee keep the goal that they want already at this team event. Officials now are finally
confirming that 15-year-old Valieva she has tested positive for a banned substance. It is a drug that is used to treat a heart condition and it's
known to boost endurance.
But experts here are questioning the timeline of events and how all of this unfolded. She took that drug test back in December 25th but the results of
that test Alison not coming through until February 8th on Tuesday. That was a day after the ROC already took home gold.
Now swiftly after that the Russian anti-doping agency they move to ban Valieva from competition but a day later they overturn that decision after
Valieva had tried to appeal it. Now, the IOC here though they want Valieva out.
They are challenging that with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, there will be a hearing and the deadline here is tight because her next
competition is just days away on Tuesday. Unfortunately all of this diminishes Valieva's incredible performance and it is once again putting
the spotlight on Russia's history of state sponsored doping. Valieva here she is the star of the Winter Olympics.
[09:15:00]
WANG: She's already broken multiple world records at her young age and in addition to that she's made the history books as the first woman to land a
quad at the Olympic Games. And I spoke to the Former Deputy Director of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and he told me that Valieva here she's a victim
of a state system and that there needs to be accountability to the Russian authorities to make sure that athletes like Valieva have the opportunity to
compete clean, Alison.
KOSIK: OK. Selina Wang live for us from Beijing. Thanks very much. And these are the stories making headlines around the world. Crews in Thailand
are racing to contain a new oil spill off its East Coast. Two weeks after an undersea pipeline dumped up to 14,000 gallons of oil official say on
Thursday it leaked another 1300 gallons into the sea. The area has multiple beaches, and is a popular destination for tourists.
South Africa says poachers took the lives of more than 450 rhinos in 2021 arise on the previous year. Criminals use their horns to make bogus
medicines. Now, conservationists are going to extreme lengths to save them as David McKenzie reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An aerial operation a wildlife vet readies powerful - dots to save an iconic giant even drugged
its 5000 pounds of raw power.
LUFUNO NETSHITAVHADULU, WILDLIFE VETERAN: Whenever they are down, you need to be careful because she sort of put them in a border of death. So you
just need to be to keep the balance. Make sure that on go to the other side.
MCKENZIE (voice over): That to do everything to keep the rhino calms; not to make this that traumatizing. But it's extraordinary what anything to do
here to make these rhinos safe. Removing the rhino's horns, this doesn't hurt the animal, but it may save its life.
Illegal poaching syndicates, target rhinos for their horns they sell for tens of thousands of dollars in Asia. Take away the horn; take away the
incentive to poach.
MCKENZIE (on camera): What does it feel like that you have to take this extraordinary step to actually change the way animal looks and is.
ROBERT THOMPSON, SECTION RANGER, KRUGER NATIONAL PARK: Yes, for me, it's terrible because it's not really around at the end of the day taking that
piece of it, which makes it sort of prehistoric for the species to survive. We have to do it at the moment.
MCKENZIE (voice over): That about survival is far from assured. New figures show that in the past decade, Kruger National Park lost around 70 percent
of its white rhino, mostly to poaching.
MCKENZIE (on camera): What is the consequence if you get this wrong?
CATHY DREYER, HEAD RANGER, KRUGER NATIONAL PARK: So if we get this wrong, the consequences no rhino in Kruger, which for us is really not an option.
We know that we don't have another 10 years of looking after Rhino if we don't turn things around.
MCKENZIE (voice over): Her team is up against it. COVID-19 drove away tourists collapsing the parks' revenue stream. Forensic teams like this one
are underfunded. And they know that in many cases, a poached Rhino represents a generational loss. Often baby rhinos like a - would have died
alongside their mother if Petronel Nieuwoudt hadn't stepped in to raise them by hand.
PETRONEL NIEUWOUDT, CARE FOR WILD RHINO SANCTUARY: Just look at them you know? Why do you want to not save them? You know, they stay here for 50
million years and now on our clock we can't save them.
MCKENZIE (on camera): It's like a giant vacuum cleaner. There we go almost done, almost done. Oh, all finished. The aim is to get all of these rhinos
even when they come here as young orphans back into the wild and look at this crush of them together like this they socializing learning how to be
rhinos.
MCKENZIE (voice over): Even teaching the very youngest like two month old Daisy. She's made an unusual friend a zebra called --. Daisy arrived barely
able to walk. In rhinos the will to live is strong. But we are failing them. David Mackenzie, CNN, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Incredible story more after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:00]
KOSIK: Welcome back to "First Move". I'm Alison Kosik live from New York. U.S. stocks on target for a mostly flat open this Friday as investors
continue to debate just how far the Fed must go to tame inflation? Goldman Sachs now believing the Fed will have to raise rates seven times this year
after January inflation numbers hit near 40 year highs.
Investors fear higher rates will trigger slower U.S. growth and increase the chances of a Fed policy mistake. Beyond rate hikes the Fed is also
gearing up to unload the trillions of dollars in assets at purchase during the pandemic to help support economic growth.
Expect to hear a lot more talk from Fed officials about their tightening plans before their next policy meeting in mid-March. David Lebovitz joins
me now he is the Global Market Strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management. Great to have you with us this morning!
DAVID LEBOVITZ, GLOBAL MARKET STRATEGIST, J.P. MORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT: Thanks for having me. Good morning.
KOSIK: Good morning. So we did get this red hot inflation number. And then right after it, we heard from the President of the St. Louis Federal
Reserve Bank, Jim Bullard, saying that he supports raising interest rates by a full percentage point by July 1st. Do you see the Fed getting this
aggressive?
LEBOVITZ: So I think it's important to recognize that that was a very bold statement and an attempt for a headline grab, you know, it is very clear
that the Fed is a bit behind the curve, and that the Fed needs to get the tightening process going here in the United States.
But you know, I also think it's important that we take a step back and recognize a couple of things. One, mathematically, inflation is going to
begin cooling off over the course of the next couple of months, what we call the base effect, where the comparison to the prior year is going to
become more challenging.
And so just naturally, we should see these rates of inflation begin to decline. At the same time, we do think the Fed is going to begin raising
rates in March. And the combination of this base effect as well as some modest fed tightening, I think can get inflation to a much more comfortable
place sometime around this summer.
And so you know, what I'm keeping in mind was I think about the Fed is that they're going to react to the data as it comes through the door. Something
very interesting from the last press conference, the word decision was mentioned 15 times, but 14 of those 15 mentions were in the context of no
decision has been made.
And so clearly the Fed is getting ready to get going here. Again, we expect them to begin hiking rates in March, but I do have some questions around
how aggressive the Fed will be able to get it has to get over the course of 2022.
[09:25:00]
KOSIK: You know I got to say you sound pretty positive that that the Fed will be able to get inflation under control. But there was a survey done
with CEO's questioning whether rising, raising these rates alone is enough. To give you an example, the Fed is still buying bonds. And there's - even
though they're scaling back, you know, their purchases, there's a question of why they're just not stopping now.
LEBOVITZ: So, you know, I think that the problem here is that the Fed had basically said that they were planning on stopping in March. And what you
don't want to see is a fed that begins to abandon the plan that it's laid out, that would, to me send a signal that the Fed was a little bit
panicked, and felt like they needed to move more aggressively than what they've currently suggested to the market.
And so, you know, the monetary policy game, if you will, is all about setting expectations. And, you know, more and more people are calling for
six, seven hikes this year, the market is pricing six hikes this year, we'll get a new set of Fed forecasts, when they get together in March, I
think that'll show at least four hikes on the docket.
But if you're - if you're Jerome Powell, remember, it's infinitely easier to convince the market that you're going to hike four or five times and
then ended up hiking three, as opposed to convincing the market that you're going to hike three or four times and then needing to go five, the word of
the year is really going to be optionality. And that optionality is directly tied to the way the data is going to evolve.
KOSIK: I'm curious what you think when we look at the market? How much of this do you think is priced in as far as the valuation adjustment that we
just feel the market going through, especially in tech, do we have more adjustment to go through?
LEBOVITZ: I think that we do. I mean, it's important to recognize that interest rate volatility remains elevated. And it's not just the level of
rates that has caused the equity markets, indigestion so far this year, but it's the speed with which rates have risen.
And again, that is very much unsettled risk assets broadly, but some of the more interest rate sensitive sectors like technology, in particular, I
think, as we get more clarity from the Fed over the next couple of weeks, and at the March meeting, specifically, you should hopefully begin to see
interest rate volatility decline, that should take some of the downward pressure off of the equity market.
And again, when we think about this from a fundamental angle, the outlook for things like corporate earnings in 2022 still feels relatively solid. We
are entertaining the risk, as was mentioned earlier of a potential Fed policy error and that leading to some economic stress in 2023.
But you know, by our lights 2022 is a year where equity markets should be able to dig themselves out of the hole that they've found themselves in so
far year to date.
KOSIK: OK, David Lebovitz the Global Market Strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management. Thanks so much for coming on the show today.
LEBOVITZ: Thanks for having me.
KOSIK: And we'll be back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
KOSIK: Welcome back to "First Move" I'm Alison Kosik. U.S. stocks are up and running this Friday. No supersized moves for stocks ahead of U.S. -
U.S. footballs Super Sunday, though. The major averages trying to move higher after a volatile week on Wall Street.
Earnings have come in pretty strong overall but all that's been overshadowed by fresh uncertainty over how far the Fed will go to tame
rising prices? Yesterday's inflation numbers showing prices rising pretty much across the board.
The ongoing trucker protests on the Canadian border that could worsen supply chain issues too, rising oil prices are also inflationary - crude
today firmly above $92 a barrel. The International Energy Agency warning that OPEC production issues could lead to even higher prices soon.
No need to worry about those higher prices with electric cars though. Instead, you'll need to worry about chargers, which is where my next guest
comes in. EV Chargers made by Australian company Tritium are used in over 40 countries.
And now it's going to make them in America. Plans for Tritium's first U.S. plant were unveiled on Tuesday by none other than President Biden. Joining
me now is Jane Hunter, CEO of Tritium. Welcome to the show, Jane!
JANE HUNTER, CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TRITIUM: Thanks for having us.
KOSIK: Talk us through why you decided to invest and expand more heavily here in the United States?
HUNTER: Well, we have already a large presence in the United States, we actually have 15 percent market share of the DC Fast Charge market in the
United States. But with the work that President Biden's Administration has done in the bipartisan infrastructure law that is actually brought forward
our plans and also significantly increased the size of the plans that we have to manufacture onshore in the U.S. so that we can both meet the Buy
America and made in America provisions.
And you know, take advantage of some of the wonderful parts of that law, which are going to increase EV uptake right across the country.
KOSIK: How do - how do you think how did your company grab the attention of the White House? And did you ever think you know that you would actually
get this kind of support from the Biden Administration.
HUNTER: It's not something we've saw, of course, but we know - we're a great example of exactly what that legislation was seeking to do, which is
to bring offshore companies, foreign companies onshore start to manufacture more onshore create American jobs.
And so it didn't surprise us that were a great example of that. But certainly the opportunity to go and speak to the president and give a
speech in the White House was not something we were expecting.
KOSIK: Talk about the impressions you got from the president's commitment in this area.
HUNTER: I think it's more than clear that this administration has an incredibly strong commitment to this new technology to the benefits it
brings to the environment to human health. It's very clear from the amount of money that they've set aside 5 billion in formula funding an extra 2.5
billion in competitive grants.
The commitment to change the entire federal fleet across to EVs as well as every U.S. made boss being above by 2030. So it's a huge amount of
commitment. But it's also a commitment to the health of the community, the health of the environment, and to the fact that this new technology is here
to stay.
KOSIK: I want to get to a question about the price action in your stock. If there was a two day run up after your announcement, you know about the new
factory in Tennessee that you have. And then there were a 13 and a half percent plunge in shares.
And it's got critics questioning if your company will be profitable enough to justify the $2.1 billion market cap that you have amassed over the past
couple of days, what you would have to say to them about their skepticism?
HUNTER: Look, the stock market has been very volatile, as we know, all the way through 2021. I think that over the course of 2022 we'll see the market
will sort the wheat from the chaff and you know Tritium is a company that's had revenue for a number of years now. We sold our first charter in 2014.
We have number one market share in Australian and New Zealand, number two market share in the U.S. number two market share for DC Fast Charge in
Europe. So this is a company that already has quite a large market share of a market that has a huge TAM and a very high CAGR.
[09:35:00]
HUNTER: So I think that we'll see that volatility will settle with time. And I wouldn't like to take a guess on where it will settle? But certainly,
I think Tritium is a company that's not far off having a positive EBITDA 2023 is our forecast for having a positive EBITDA.
And we'll see with the increased volumes and the much larger amount of overheads that get absorbed in the company that we're going to very rapidly
be a company that will turn profitable.
KOSIK: Talk with us about what your plans are for this new facility in Tennessee and the timeline for production?
HUNTER: So it's scheduled to come online in Q3. We're actually shooting to be ready by the end of Q2 so that we're at full production by the start of
Q3 of 2022. And it will be a 10,000 unit initial capacity and up to 20 or 30,000. So we can increase that quite significantly by doubling the shifts,
and then also by running 24/7.
But what we've also done is taken space that allows us to take additional tranches over the next 18 to 24 months. So we can increase that up to
30,000 per annum.
KOSIK: In your company, are you facing any supply chain challenges, semiconductor shortages, you know, supply chain bottlenecks, you know,
we've just come off the story about, you know, this trucker protest as well that's causing issues. Give us a flavor of what you're seeing?
HUNTER: Yes, absolutely. Look, everyone in the electronics industry, and probably anyone in manufacturing is still suffering from supply chain and
logistics issues as they have been since the start of COVID. The issues just change year on year, we're expecting another year of disrupted supply
chain and logistics.
We had enormous disruption last year to both shipping and air freight. We also had, as you mentioned, semiconductors, PCBs, there were various
shortages, right across the industry. What we did was change just in time inventory management to just in case inventory management starting to
buffer more stock.
And also we've had to build a lot more finished goods. So something we do a lot of last year was take a bet on how much stock we thought we'd sold, we
would sell we built the finished goods. And we sold all of that stock. In fact, we got to the point where we had customers saying they would take any
50 kilowatts that we had available.
We had none left by the end of the year. And we sold all of the finished goods that we built. And we'll be building even more finished goods this
year to deal with that long lead time that exists for parts. You need to expect there's going to be shortages and you need to expect the unexpected.
Some of them are not going to be ones that you predicted.
KOSIK: Range anxiety is a real - is a real feeling for those who are thinking about buying an EV or who have one, you're trying to obviously
offer up the solution.
HUNTER: Absolutely. That's right; it's a chicken and egg. So people may feel reluctant to buy an EV if they don't think they can drive anywhere up
into the mountains to ski across the wide open plains in the center of the country.
So you do need to deal with range anxiety, particularly for those who live in rural and remote locations. If they don't think they can drive for
three, three and a half hours, they're not going to go and buy an EV.
So that's where the government does have a role to play in the metro areas, you'll find that the private sector will be dealing with all of the best
sites because that's where they can make profit out of high utilization rates. And where government has a role to play is in those vast open spaces
where perhaps it's not going to be profitable to run a fleet of chargers.
And that's what the President Biden's Administration has done so carefully is thought about how they're going to roll this out right across the
country so that they can deal with range anxiety in a country as vast as America similar to Australia, you know to across the - across from the west
of Australia to the east of Australia, you're going to need some level of government involvement in the center.
KOSIK: OK. Jane Hunter, CEO of Tritium thanks so much for your time today.
HUNTER: Thanks for having us.
KOSIK: Coming up on "First Move" the CEO of Coursera on the question of how to keep the online learning business growing post pandemic? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
KOSIK: The online learning sector and platforms like Coursera saw huge growth during the pandemic as millions around the world took courses
online. But shares of Coursera are lower in opening minutes of trading today, even after a strong fourth quarter earnings report after markets
closed Thursday. Joining me now is Jeff Maggioncalda. He is the CEO of Coursera. Great to have you on the show!
JEFF MAGGIONCALDA, CEO, COURSERA: It's great to be here Alison thank you for having me.
KOSIK: All right, let's get this stuff priced out of the way here where you are seeing shares of Coursera. They've lost about 50 percent of their value
since the IPO. They continue taking a hit today. Why do you think investors are reacting like this on the back of your strong earnings in the latest
quarter?
MAGGIONCALDA: You know Alison, I wasn't I'm not really sure entirely. We had a great quarter, I think year over year, we produced 41 percent revenue
growth, which is pretty good coming off of a pandemic year. And in particular, we're seeing a lot of interest in America and around the world
in individuals who are saying, I don't want to do my job anymore.
I want a new career. I want a career with more flexibility, higher pay better benefits. And the ability to learn skills online creates great
opportunities and even post pandemic this has been fueling a lot of interest in learning online on Coursera.
KOSIK: I'm going to get to that in just a minute. Have one more question here about the company as a whole. Is it your thinking at this point,
because you know, people are getting out of their homes, even though they you know, maybe don't want to go back to work.
But they are going back to school and things like that. Do you think the company will continue to grow, but it will just grow at a slower pace?
MAGGIONCALDA: Yes, we did 59 percent organic revenue growth in 2020. That was the big pandemic year. This year at 2021 we finished at 41 percent
organic revenue growth. In 2022 we put out guidance yesterday that overall we expect to be above 30 percent organic revenue growth, which was pretty
good growth.
So we do see this as a lot more than just the pandemic. I mean, fundamentally, the world is changing very rapidly because of technology,
globalization, and people need to learn new skills. And if they do, there's a wide range of new opportunities for new jobs if people get skilled up. So
we think this is going to persist far beyond the pandemic.
KOSIK: Yes, so we are seeing I mean, we saw a huge jump in your customer base during the pandemic. And now, what are you seeing now? I would
imagine, you know, with the world opening up again, it is impacting your customer base in some way. So how is that? Is there still as much interest
in learning online?
MAGGIONCALDA: Yes, I think it really depends on what people are coming for? And we did see in 2020, our registered learner base grew from 47 million by
another 30 million up to 77 million in just one year. So the pandemic, clearly when people got stuck at home, that was a big thing.
Last year, we grew up to from 77 to 97 million. So we're still growing at a very healthy rate. There's a lot of interest for individuals coming
directly to Coursera online to take professional certificates to learn the skills to get new digital careers.
But the other thing that we're seeing and this is again, I think something that'll be sort of persistent well into the future is that businesses are
realizing that embracing technology going digital moving to the cloud using AI makes them more competitive and so businesses are up-skilling their
employees using Coursera.
[09:45:00]
MAGGIONCALDA: Governments are retraining their workforces using Coursera and now post pandemic with Coursera for Campus, universities and colleges
all around the world, even as students come back to campus, they're realizing that integrating online learning into the way that students learn
is a great way to provide flexibility and also access to emerging skills.
KOSIK: So you're seeing more people in the professional realm, hop onto your site and join it and they could beat you. Do you know for sure whether
they're changing jobs? And if they are what are - I'm curious what some of the most popular online certificate programs there are?
MAGGIONCALDA: Yes. So in the consumer segment, what we've really been seeing a lot of interest in is what we call the entry level professional
certificate. So these are jobs that people can get. And some of the most popular ones are IT support, UX design, project manager, data warehouse,
data engineer, data analyst, there's one on Intuit bookkeeping, and these come from Facebook, from Google from IBM from Intuit.
So their industry players providing professional certificates for this entry level jobs. And the neat thing about these jobs is that A, they don't
require a college degree B; they don't require any prior experience. And C, you can learn the skills fully online from a big brand high quality
company, like a Google or an IBM.
And also increasingly, these are the kinds of jobs that could be done remotely. So no matter where you live, you can get access to the education.
And increasingly no matter where you live, you can get access to the job opportunities. And I think that's going to be one of the biggest benefits
coming out of this pandemic.
KOSIK: Yes, how much is the interest in Coursera, kind of a window into the war on talent that's happening in the labor industry.
MAGGIONCALDA: It's really big. I think it's big from the consumer side as you look at what consumers are choosing, and increasingly, they're looking
for these entry level professional certificates. And by the way, these are linked to hiring partnerships with companies who are looking to fill these
jobs.
And they're also linked with something we call degree pathways, which is an increasingly universities like the University of London with their
Bachelors of Computer Science; they will give academic credit towards a college degree for people who have finished the professional cert.
So a lot of individuals are coming for these job changes. And then also we see a lot of companies needing to fill these high demand digital roles, and
realizing especially in the domains of cloud computing, and AI, that a skilled workforce is really the way to be more competitive.
KOSIK: What different job would you take?
MAGGIONCALDA: I love my job. I mean, it's interesting. I've been a CEO now for 25 years; I was at a previous company called Financial Engines for 18
years. And we were helping people with retirement investing.
The thing I really love about Coursera is if you look at almost every challenge that society is facing, look across the UN sustainability goals,
almost everyone fundamentally can be addressed with education. Making education available is I think, fundamental to human progress, and can
really move humanity forward.
And yes, there's a saying that a lot of people have said, which is talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not. I think the pandemic has
really changed this. I mean, online learning the opportunity for anyone to learn, no matter where you are, is much more evenly distributed now.
And increasingly with remote work, the opportunity to get jobs will become more distributed to if only people have access to that education. So I love
my job. There's nothing I'd rather be doing.
KOSIK: I didn't mean to imply otherwise, believe me. I think that's a good way to end the great interview. Thanks so much for joining us, Jeff
Maggioncalda CEO of Coursera.
MAGGIONCALDA: Thank you.
KOSIK: Thanks so much for your time.
MAGGIONCALDA: Thanks, Alison, take care.
KOSIK: Coming up on "First Move" Musk's ambitions for Mars. The SpaceX CEO giving a much anticipated update on his starship that's designed for
voyages to the red planet that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:00]
KOSIK: Welcome back to "First Move". I'm Alison Kosik. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk saying he's highly confident that the company's starship will make it into
Earth orbit this year. Musk is hoping starship will - starship one will take humans to Mars.
Rachel Crane joins me now with more from Starbase, which I hear is pretty cool, Rachel. And you know what? Elon Musk is the one to really give a lot
of access to him? So I'm curious what he talked about and what more he gave as far as clarity to the timeline?
RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alison. I'm here in Starbase, Texas. And yesterday, Musk gave the first update on this starship
program in two years, so is a hotly anticipated event. And I just want to point out over my shoulder Alison; you can actually see two of the starship
spacecraft standing next to the booster's super heavy.
Now, that vehicle when they're stacked on top of each other, that whole thing is called starship. It's a fully reusable rocket. And Musk hopes that
that vehicle will take us to the moon, and one day eventually to Mars.
And I just want to take you now over to the launch pad Alison because that's where you can see this vehicle fully stacked. That's where the event
was at the base of that rocket yesterday. And it standing nearly 400 feet tall starship, it's a fully reusable rocket.
And when ignited this thing will have more than twice the thrust of the Saturn Five. The Saturn Five is of course what brought humans to the moon
back in the Apollo era. Now Musk spends a lot of time last night discussing why SpaceX is working on the starship program. And he believes that it will
eventually get us back to Mars take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO, SPACEX: Starship is capable of doing that. It's capable of getting a million tonnes the surface of Mars and creating a self-sustaining
city. This is the first point in the 4.5 billion year history of Earth that it has been possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CRANE: Now Alison Musk says that he hopes to work towards having three of these launches a day but before they can launch it all to orbit they're
waiting for FAA approval to launch here from Starbase. Now the FAA has been going through an environmental assessment review to basically understand
what kind of environmental impact these massive launches will have on the surrounding area.
And of course, if we get to a pace of three a day, what it could potentially have on the world? So a lot of eyeballs we're watching this
event last night we got a few more details on the flight profile of that orbital launch and potentially the kind of impact that starship could have
on the planet.
And for of course, achieving that ultimate goal of Musk's to one day making a self-sustaining city on Mars. Musk saying there's two motivations for
this one to create an insurance policy for our planet, which as we all know, is going through a moment of, you know, chaos, for lack of a better
description, but also for the inspiration to bet to inspire the next generation of leaders Alison.
KOSIK: Colonizing Mars, I would say that it's a big dream, but we will be watching along with you, Rachel Crane, thanks so much. We all know about
six feet of social distancing. But did you notice how far French President Emmanuel Macron was sitting from Vladimir Putin this week when the two met
in Moscow? Well, that was done deliberately as Jim Bittermann reports.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was one of the few things for meetings on Monday which the Kremlin and the French
Presidential Palace agreed. The reason that Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin sat so far apart for the negotiations was that Macron
refused to take the Kremlin's PCR test.
[09:55:00]
BITTERMANN: The Kremlin said that the six meters nearly 20 feet that the two men were kept apart was normal procedure and that it did not affect
negotiations. The Elise Palace Spokesman said that taking the test was not compatible with Macron's agenda. According to our media colleagues, it
would have taken too long to get the results.
The French Presidency would not comment on reports that Macron refused to test because it was thought to be an attempt to get Macron's DNA sample. In
fact, experts say that they wanted to do that there are other ways to obtain DNA from take a glass or other items that might have been touched.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
KOSIK: And that's it for the show. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter you can reach out there @alisonkosik. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson
is next. Have a great weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
