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First Move with Julia Chatterley
China Suspends Cooperation with U.S. following Nancy Pelosi Visit; Solid U.S. Earnings Season also Easing Slow-Growth Concerns; HBO Max and Discovery Plus to Combine Next Year; U.S. Declares Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired August 05, 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)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: A warm welcome to "First Move", great to have you with us on another pivotal jobs Friday in America. Just moments ago,
the U.S. released what can only be described as stunningly strong employment data for the month of July.
Numbers that should further ease concern or perhaps even a raise concern that the United States is headed for imminent recession the U.S. adding
528,000 jobs net last month that's more than double expectations, with big gains in sectors like leisure and hospitality and in the healthcare sector.
Also notable the U.S. unemployment rate which has finally fall into pre pandemic levels. The jobless rate now standing at 3.5 percent here's the
reaction us futures firmly lower.
As investors fear the Federal Reserve will now be forced to tighten rate further again, markets now expecting an another three quarters of a percent
rate hike at the meeting next month.
The Fed of course, trying to curb economic growth to help bring down inflation and this report shows that economic growth is still remains very
strong, at least as far as the labor market and hiring is concerned. All right, let's get more of this. In our "Drivers" Rahel Solomon joins me now.
Rahel, the only word I can use here is wow.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That was my reaction and to add to that reaction, Jason Furman just tweeted, uncomfortably hot jobs report, this is
a really interesting time that we're all living through Julia, because any other time you see a jobs report like this, and it really just sort of
spells a really strong economy, really red hot labor market but in an environment where inflation is at 9.1 percent, according to the last
reading.
Well, it sort of adds an asterisk to that jobs report, right? So yes, as you pointed out, this was twice what economists were expecting, we were
actually expecting to see some cooling in the labor market. Not seeing that when we look at sort of where the jobs were. It was widespread, as you
pointed out, leisure and hospitality Julia, adding 96,000 jobs in the month of July professional and business services 89,000. I think we can pull it
up for you; healthcare is 70,000 and government 57,000 jobs.
So the complicating factor about all of this is the demand for workers and wages. Right now, Julia, there are 1.8 open jobs for every one person
looking when you have that kind of imbalance. It creates upward pressure on wages, right? I mean, just think about it, companies have to incentivize
people to work for them, because there is such demand for workers.
And so they raise wages to try to incentivize workers. And while that is great for American workers, well, first of all, that's being outpaced by
inflation. But that then trickles down into higher prices. And it creates a vicious cycle and it makes the job of the Fed trying to fight inflation
much harder.
And I should point out, Julia, that inflation is so problematic, that even with these wage gains we're seeing, with the exception of just two
industries, leisure and hospitality and retail, every other sector is being outpaced by inflation. And that's the problem.
So what does this mean for the Fed? Well, it means that we'll probably see another rate hike of three quarters of a percent in September. But it also
means that the U.S. economy at least the labor market is still red hot, not showing signs of slowing down.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's important to listen to the signals because I always remind myself that 99 percent of the employment in the United States is
small and medium sized businesses. So we listen to the signals that we get from those that have the loudest voices and the biggest megaphones, which
is tech companies, which we know are sort of looking at slowing down the pace of hiring but for small businesses here at least, gangbusters, there
you go, that's another word, inexplicable.
SOLOMON: Wow, gangbuster red hot, uncomfortably red hot, so many ways to describe this report.
CHATTERLEY: Exactly people get the message. Rahel, thank you, Rahel, Solomon! OK, China flexing its military muscle and political muscle to
suspending cooperation with the United States on a range of issues, including climate. It comes as Taipei reports, fighter jets and warships in
the Taiwan Strait. This of course, all following us House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has visits to the island earlier this week. She's now in Tokyo for
talks with the Japanese Prime Minister.
Selina Wang, joins us now. The military drills of course continue. But now the response in terms of not only sanctions, direct sanctions, of course on
Nancy Pelosi, which she can talk to us about but on something one of the few areas where the United States and China were still trying to cooperate
on tackling climate change.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As a result of this, we are seeing U.S.- China relations Julia, sync to new lows as if they couldn't get any worse. China has announced that they are suspending bilateral talks with the U.S.
on a whole wide range of issues.
This includes topics including illegal immigration anti-drugs, this includes on military discussions and also most importantly as you say on
climate change this was one of the few areas where they were still ongoing dialogue between the two countries despite the ongoing tensions. And this
is bad news for the whole world.
[09:05:00]
WANG: These are the two world's largest contributors to climate change, and they need to have these discussions but as a result of the fallout from
this Pelosi visit, they are not China has also said it sanctioning Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family over what they are calling this
provocative, reckless act. That is challenging China's sovereignty. They have not released details on that, but it is a major symbolic move.
This of course comes on top of all of the military escalations from China. We've just learned, according to Taiwan that they have flown a record
number of warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone. This is the airspace around Taiwan while China frequently flies war planes in
there. Today we learned there were 68 in a day. That is a record number Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, Selina Wang in Beijing, thank you for keeping on top of that for us there.
Now Russian President Putin hosting Turkey's President Erdogan this hour the two leaders meet for the second time. In less than three weeks the
summit in Sochi comes up to Turkey help broker deal to restart grain shipments from Ukraine.
The Kremlin says they will discuss the deal as well as trade ties and potential energy projects. Nada Bashir joins us now from Istanbul. The fact
that these two leaders have met twice in just less than three weeks, I think it's important. It's also setting off alarm bells, that perhaps the
Kremlin is looking to strengthen economic ties with Turkey, of course, a NATO nation, particularly in the energy sector. And I think the risk is
here that the perhaps it will provide Russia with the opportunity to disguise the origin of these oil exports as the EU crackdown on oil
imports. Finally kicks in next year Nada, it's a valid worry?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Yes absolutely, Julia, that is expected to be a key focus of these talks now between President Putin and President Erdogan,
as you highlighted that we have seen them maintaining that dialogue, that communication quite frequently now, over the last few weeks and month.
We just heard just ahead of those closed door talks between the two leaders, President Putin making a few brief remarks saying that he hopes
this meeting will allow the two leaders to establish some sort of agreement to strengthen those economic ties between the two nations focusing on
various aspects of economic relations.
But as you said that in particular, on energy cooperation but also of course, this is the first meeting between the two leaders since we've seen
the black sea grain initiative being put into practice. And that was something that President Putin was careful to mention. He thanked President
Erdogan for his work in mediating that agreement. And this really has been seen by President Erdogan and the Turkish government as a bit of a
diplomatic win.
For Turkey, we've already seen one ship there is only that first shipment of grade from Ukraine southern Black Sea port of Odessa, successfully
passing through that carefully identified safe corridor passing its inspection here in Istanbul before making its way to Tripoli in Lebanon
today, a further three ships departing from Ukraine, Southern Black Sea ports, on their way to Istanbul for those inspections carrying nearly
60,000 metric tons of grain.
So this has been a significant development on that front. And of course, as you mentioned, Russia may now be looking to Turkey, not only to support
them in mediating those sorts of resolutions, but also now to strengthen those economic ties. Turkey are being a NATO member hasn't joined in
imposing sanctions on Russia.
So as Russia begins to feel the bite of these Western sanctions, they may now be turning to Turkey to help support them on that front. This isn't the
only thing on the agenda today. There are a number of topics and what is primarily on the agenda for President Erdogan today is a focus on a
potential incursion in Northern Syria.
This would be the fourth incursion by Turkish military in Northern Syria since 2016. The most recent one we saw back in October 2019. President
Erdogan, of course, his aim remains the same he is looking to establish a safe zone, in his words, a buffer zone on Turkey southern border, ridding
the region of Kurdish allied militant groups that the Turkish government deems to be terrorist organizations.
And a secondary goal to that then allowing the movement of Syrian refugees currently settled in Turkey voluntarily to these parts but of course, that
incursion we saw in 2019, triggered widespread condemnation by the international community. It is still a major goal for President Erdogan.
And this is important because of course, Russia has significant stakes in Syria, it still has a military presence in Northern Syria controls much of
the airspace in that region.
We saw President Erdogan attempting to really gain Putin support back just a few weeks ago meeting with both President Erdogan and meeting with
President Putin and the Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, the permanent bus for has said he doesn't support the incursion. But of course, that will
be a key topic today in those talks President Erdogan trying to get the green light from Moscow to push ahead with this incursion, Julia.
[09:10:00]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, there's so much in there and obviously so much to talk between them. I think the danger for Turkey on the potential energy in
negotiations that I was talking about in the beginning is the risk of triggering secondary sanctions on Turkey.
So that's something to worry and certainly be concerned about as well. But good to hear that more vessels have left Ukraine with that precious grain
as well. So we'll continue to follow that too, in addition to everything else, Nada, thank you so much for that Nada Bashir.
OK, let me bring you up to speed with some of the other stories making headlines around the world. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy hit back
at Amnesty International on Thursday, after the human rights group said Ukrainian forces endangered their own civilians by putting troops and
equipment in residential areas. President Zelenskyy said the report is helping Russia get off the hook for its crimes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We saw today a completely different report from Amnesty International, which unfortunately tries to
Amnesty the terrorists' state and shift the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim. There are no and can be no even hypothetically
conditions under which any Russian attack on Ukraine becomes justified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: President Zelenskyy also accused the group of practicing in his words "Immoral Selectivity". Russia is reportedly ready to discuss a
potential prisoner swap now that the verdict has been reached in Brittney Griner's drug smuggling trial. Violence lawyers say they will appeal the 9-
year prison sentence. Russian judge handed down on Thursday, the WNBA star pleaded guilty to taking less than a gram of cannabis oil to Russia.
And a lightning strike has killed two people near the White House in Washington D.C. that exceed the victims were sheltering from a thunderstorm
under a tree in Lafayette Park. Two other people were critically injured there's no word on their current condition.
OK, straight ahead the U.S. declares Monkeypox, a public health emergency the World Health Organization calls on Europe to do more. Its Regional
Director joins us. And costly content Warner Brothers Discovery Streaming is underpriced. As it merges HBO Max and Discovery Plus we have the latest
on that report. Stay with us.
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[09:15:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" U.S. stocks remain on track for a lower open after the release of today's stunningly strong U.S. jobs numbers
the U.S. reporting within the past hour that 520,000 jobs were added to the economy last month more than double expectations. The big question is
whether today's numbers will put that to rest concern that the U.S. economy is headed for recession. The report surely represents a source of concern
for the U.S. Federal Reserve, which wants to see a moderating pace of jobs growth to help ultimately bring down pricing pressures.
U.S. profits are another source of economic strength. The S&P 500 companies on average are reporting more than 12 percent sales growth and more than 8
percent profit growth this Q2 earnings season. The numbers of companies beating on the top and bottom lines have surpassed five year averages as
well.
Julian Emanuel joins me he's the Senior Managing Director at Evercore ISI Julian, great to have you with us! I tell you what, this doesn't say
anything for the economists and the analysts, whether we're talking about predictions of corporate earnings, or jobs numbers.
JULIAN EMANUEL, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, EVERCORE ISI: This is tough job in a bear market. Yes, it's easier in a bull market. But you know, look,
this is actually the kind of dynamic that we have seen in different forms since the beginning of the pandemic.
The issue here is that the economy globally, is so unpredictable, that you just get constantly these wide variations and expectations. You know, look
how do you possibly reconcile two consecutive negative GDP quarters? With the employment report we just saw 45 minutes ago, it's very challenging.
CHATTERLEY: I'm guessing it's your job and not mine? Does that mean that there's going to be revisions to those quarters and that we'll see a bump
up in the numbers? Because I think it's very confusing for people to understand, perhaps it is less confusing, at least in the short term for
the Federal Reserve, because they have a mission to bring prices down, they have to hike interest rates, and they will continue to do so. The idea that
they could cut rates next year, which is what the market initially was pricing to me just seems absurd, based on these numbers.
EMANUEL: No question about what we've made very clear, that our view is that the one thing the Fed must avoid is a situation where and this is sort
of, you know, the rate hiking cycle has now become a bit more complex, although clear, but there's this Goldilocks element to where you cannot
hike so far that you precipitate the kind of recession not that we have right now.
But that the yield curve is telling you, we could have in the back half of 2023, to the point where you would be tempted, as was the case in the 1970s
to cut rates into that kind of downturn without inflation having been subdued significantly enough. It's a very difficult task.
CHATTERLEY: I guess my other question here is just how tight policy is, or isn't? Quite frankly, because we're reducing the balance sheet and we're
raising interest rates, but from incredibly low levels. And while we've got out of the psychology of seeing rate hikes, and we've had easy money for as
long as everyone can remember, given the last few years have just been so long, outrageously long in terms of what we've been through. Do we have to
just get a grip and understand that these jumps are really big, because the Fed has waited so late to hike rates, but its OK. And perhaps the jobs
market at least is telling us that.
EMANUEL: The job market is you know, it's one of those things where our view was, is that to a certain extent, good news would be good news. This
is a bit too much good news for certainly, the yield markets, which you know, part of the reason 2022 in as painful as it's been for equity
investors is because after 25 years, bonds and stocks are now moving together, yields go up, stocks go down. And that's sort of what's going on
right now.
But again, putting it all together, look, there's an element that says is that particularly if you're a stock picker, the fact the Fed is starting to
normalize policy from really multi decade lows, and it's happening around the world is very good for finding investment opportunities that have long
run differentiated potential. And ultimately for us, the fact that free money goes away may be painful in the present, but is likely long run a
very good thing.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, if we look at the very short term, and I'm always reticent to do this, I'm talking about literally the day's moves. What we're seeing
there once again, to your point is a market that's pricing in more hikes, not less and that means bond prices come down and we're seeing stocks go
down. So for the average investors where you have a lot of money in stocks and you have a lot of money in bonds this is incredibly painful.
[09:20:00]
CHATTERLEY: It's actually been great for the past month because we've seen bonds going up and we've seen stocks going up unfortunate correlations, but
it works for the average investor. And then before that it was really uncomfortable. So I guess, Julian, my question is, and for those people
that it works, when things are going up, it's incredibly painful when it goes down. How do you invest? And for those that were hoping perhaps we'd
seen the bottom of the selloff in stocks, in particular, have we?
EMANUEL: So we think in all likelihood, we have not seen the bottom and stocks in the cycle. Now, what this does this kind of environment makes it
you know, emotional challenge, you know, beyond what you see, when you open your financial statement.
As an investor, you need to be committed to the long run case for stocks, and there is historical evidence that stocks can still advance in times of
high inflation, you need it to crest and we do think inflation is going to crest this year. But you can't have it advancing so but the other aspect of
that is psychology, right?
If you look at the bull market that we've had, since the financial crisis, you have been rewarded to buy every pullback of 20 to 30 percent, or what
have you. This environment says, you know, be prepared to buy those pull backs, if you don't see yourself a buyer. If we go through those June lows,
that mean you own a little bit too much stock now, and you should probably trim, you need to be psychologically ready.
The other important thing here, Julia, is that cash is not at all a liability. It is an asset, even with inflation, where it is now it enables
you to be a buyer of those dips, where you need to do that to really secure long run investment proportion.
CHATTERLEY: Dry powder, I think it's called.
EMANUEL: Exactly.
CHATTERLEY: Interesting point to me. What proportion, Julian I mean, I know, as you said, it's difficult to gauge because it's based on people's
comfort levels. But what proportion of the money that you perhaps have available to invest, however small should be in cash at this moment in your
mind?
EMANUEL: Well, that really comes down to you know, your age, your risk tolerance, your investment horizons, people's cash levels tend to be
anywhere from quality 0 to 10 percent. And our point of view here is that the number right now, particularly given the degree of the rally we've had
the last month is that number should be skewing towards the high end, again, in preparation to be deployed.
If stocks set back with the knowledge that even if we're wrong in our view that they won't set back over the next number of weeks, that your cash
levels will actually fall, if stocks continue to advance.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's a great point. Always great to have you on the show Julian, thank you so much for that Julian Emanuel Senior Managing Director
Evercore ISI.
OK, now to a streaming switch and the boss of Warner Brothers discovery says cinemas get the priority when it comes to new releases. David Zaslav
made the comments in an earning's call where he announced massive losses and laid out plans to merge streaming services HBO Max with Discovery plus,
just for context, Warner Brothers discovery is the parent of CNN.
Brian Stelter joins us now with all the details. Brian, I'm glad we've got you on this because there is a lot to talk about. This is a mixed quarter
for me, because it's part of the old business, its part of the new business.
So it's always going to be a little bit messy, you're always going to see some element of kitchen sinking, I think in these kinds of quarters and the
quarter following, but I think a lot of focus has gone on what the future of streaming is, and also what Zaslav had to say about where he sees it.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Zaslav's main message was long term thinking as much as about quarter by quarter. And
discovery is doing a lot quarter by quarter to try to trim the business. He was focused on the next three, five, even 10 years as love announcing that
merger of HBO Max and Discovery plus will begin to happen this time next year summer of 2023.
And it will then roll out in various markets around the world. He talked about 2025 goals. They talked about the future of DC films, of course, the
superhero a collection of characters that would like to challenge Marvel more aggressively. He talked about a 10-year plan for DC Comics for DC
films for bringing some of those characters to life.
And he talked a lot about trying to protect those assets and brands. I think a lot of what we're seeing right now Julia is a reversal of the prior
administration, Jason Kilar who was running Warner media for AT&T who said it was all about streaming, who said we're going to take films out of
theaters, but them only on streaming. Those were big, expensive bets that were made in 2020. And they're now being reversed by Zaslav.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and he's saying that we just don't see the economic case for that direct streaming. So it is a significant shift and I think that
statement was weighed actually very cleanly, but also talking about the prospect of reducing churn.
[09:25:00]
CHATTERLEY: In terms of the number of viewers and, and breakeven, let's talk about the economics actually, of making streaming work in an
environment where there is increasing competition. And I think that's a reality check for everyone. We've seen that for other players, Netflix, in
particular, in the past quarters, two quarters in particular too.
STELTER: Right, I think there's a really interesting argument that's been laid out by the new administration. And we will know in a couple years
whether it was the right argument or not, they're basically saying, this market is so competitive, putting a film in a movie theater first creates
more value creates more lore makes it seem like a bigger deal because it was in a movie theater. Now that has been the logic going back 10, 20 years
in Hollywood, the pandemic changed a lot of those bots.
And that's why Kilar in the previous administration said we're going to skip theaters, we're going to go straight to HBO Max, we're going to show
that HBO max is the future of entertainment. Now basically, is as though it's trying to have an all of the above model and that also reflects the
changes in media company valuations. The decline of stocks, including Netflix, Warner Brothers discovering Disney, these media stocks are way
down investors much more skittish about streaming than they were six months ago. So that's partly why Zaslav is printing much more than all of the
above strategy, we're going to be in theaters, we're going to be on cable and satellite, we're going to be in streaming we're going to be in
everywhere, however, where most of our stock did fall quite a bit in pre- market trading. Rather than after hours trading yesterday, when he was presenting so far, there's still a lot of skepticism about the future of
the stocks.
CHATTERLEY: Absolutely, and on that note, let's talk about pay. Brian, let's talk about our bosses pay. Just to be clear for our audience, again,
the ownership structure of CNN $246 million in 2021. And that was a jump from 2020 $37.7 million. It's a lot of money and it's a huge project, a
challenge. I think going forward, I supertankers.
STELTER: I've covered Zaslav for many years. He is one of the highest paid CEOs in America, the argument goes like this, his mentor, John Malone, pays
his CEOs incredibly well, mostly through stock through options that only become available if you get the stock price up and up and up. And that's
been the idea behind discovery.
And Zaslav paid for years, relatively low base salary, and huge opportunities in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars for stock. You
can see why Malone thinks it makes sense. However, some of those lay off HBO executives, it bothers them quite a bit when they read about these
inflated salaries not just at Discovery, by the way, but also across the media sector. It is one of those tension points that always exists in the
media world.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, huge upside in the share price, incentive effect to do better and to boost that share price up but as you said, this is not a one
corporate story. This is across the sector and there are questions being asked. Brian, great to have you with us as always, Brian Stelter there!
All right coming up, Monkeypox multiplying the United States following the W.H.O. in declaring a public health emergency the global response to the
outbreak and what more is required next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" and as expected, U.S. stocks are firmly lower in early trade after today's blowout U.S. jobs report pretty
much wiping out any chance of a Federal Reserve policy pivot anytime soon.
So we've been discussing the bottom line interest rates likely to stay higher for longer and that's of course, not good for Wall Street. U.S.
reporting a much greater than expected 520,000 jobs added net last month more than double expectations. The U.S. unemployment rates also falling to
pre pandemic levels too. However, lots of other news and important news those investors are following this Friday as well, including a breakthrough
for U.S. President Biden's more than $700 billion economic plan, the so called Inflation Reduction Act.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema offering critical support for the bill after party leaders agreed to change some of the legislations tax raising provisions.
The bill allocates more than $400 billion to programs that help ease prescription drug costs and climate change.
Affairs have a deep freeze in relations between the U.S. and China the two largest global economies could represent new headwinds for markets. China
announcing after the Asian close that it will cut cooperation with the United States on climate change, and limit military cooperation to is part
of its condemnation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan.
Now in other news, as monkey pox continues to spread around the world, the United States has declared the disease a public health emergency. White
House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha is explaining the Biden Administration's efforts to tackle the outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHISH K. JHA, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We have 1.6 million people, there's no reason to think that 100 percent of everybody
will want the vaccine but we are going to try to target make sure there's enough vaccines for everyone.
A 1.6 million people in the high risk group, we've got 1.1 million doses already allocated to states, they can order it about 600,000 have gone out.
States are going to be able to get more this month. We've got another about 200,000 doses coming in September, another about 500,000 doses coming in
October.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And there are more than 7000 confirmed cases in America. That's more than any other country that comes up to the World Health Organization
issued its highest alert over the outbreak last month, globally.
Nearly 27,000 monkey pox cases have been reported across 88 countries, and Europe remains the region with the most infections. Joining us now is Dr.
Hans Kluge. He's Regional Director of the World Health Organization in Europe, Dr. Kluge, fantastic to have you with us.
DR. HANS KLUGE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, W.H.O. EUROPE: My pleasure.
CHATTERLEY: We've seen the United States now declare this a public health emergency. But as you look at the infection rate that we're seeing, perhaps
the lack of cases that we don't know we've got at this stage, has the response been swift enough and aggressive enough in your mind?
DR. KLUGE: Well, I think that several lessons from the COVID-19 have been taken into account. So it's very important that there was a public health
emergency of international concern. I would like to commend the United States Government for having it now as a national emergency.
Because what does it allow? It's a call to action. And it allows targeting resources to contain the outbreak. And that's the main aim that I'm here to
for this transatlantic cooperation, because we see that a crisis anywhere can become a crisis everywhere if an - regions, just like COVID-19 are the
epicenter in the world.
CHATTERLEY: Can I ask about, and I mentioned it in my introduction, for all the cases we know about, do you have an estimate? Even if it's a
guesstimate of how many cases that we don't know about what kind of proportion, because this is also a lesson that we learned from the COVID-19
pandemic that for every case we know about there can be multiple that we don't know.
[09:35:00]
DR. KLUGE: Absolutely speaking about the Pan European region, we have about 17,000 cases. Now, this is clearly the bulk globally, but we call it the
tip of the iceberg, so two key issues here to limit the infection.
Number one is to send civilize the highest groups. And in European region, like globally, it's mainly in the group man having sex with men with
multiple partners, very important to avoid stigma and discrimination, because otherwise, people are going to go underground.
And we'll even have a lesser ID of the total number. And number two is to target the vaccines and the treatments to those high risk groups.
CHATTERLEY: Do you have a sense of a baseline level of how many people you that you think will get infected in the same way that we heard there from
the White House's coordinator and COVID-19?
They said that the high risk group is 1.6 million people in the United States they have 1.1 million vaccines available today. Do you have any kind
of estimates for Europe, even if it's just the high risk, the proportion of people that are high risk?
DR. KLUGE: Well, it's a specific target group. But it does not depend on sexual orientation, because what we're seeing now is also cases in
children, in women as well. So basically, everyone is vulnerable.
But a key issue, I think the biggest thing to tackle is the stigma and discrimination. And we should remember, after all, that transmission is not
so easy. It requires close contact, skin to skin, mouth to mouth.
So in that sense, the calling of an emergency is very timely, because what we don't want, for example, is to have a reset of - in animals in rodents,
which then can really sustain the monkey pox outbreak in the future.
CHATTERLEY: Dr. Kluge, I think you said something incredibly important there about the stigma attached to monkey pox at this moment. And I think
so far the message has been targeted to specific communities, and specifically, men who have sexual intercourse with other men.
And the message has been that they need to limit those sexual partners to try and avoid infection or spreading the infection. Are you saying
actually, that that's now the wrong message and that everyone needs to be careful, particularly for seeing children be infected?
And who should be vaccinated? And how do people best protect themselves, whoever they are?
DR. KLUGE: On the vaccination, an important point here is that vaccines alone are not going to stop the outbreak. It's either what we call pre
exposure or post exposure. And it takes about two weeks to build up the immunity.
So it's a very important tool, but not a panacea. The key issue, frankly, speaking, is the oldest public health tool that we have. And Portugal in my
region has shown that you can have a decrease of the cases, even in absence of wide vaccination by since stabilizing the high risk groups.
And for this, we need to empower trusted messengers, and fight fake news and disinformation, which is a lesson we learned from the COVID-19.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, so everybody needs to be careful here and be prepared and be aware. And it's not just specific communities that should be targeted
because to your point that does raise the stigma attached to this.
And I think we've unfortunately established that today already. I want to move on and talk about COVID. Because I, I know you're also raising the
flag about an increase in cases, particularly as we head into the winter months, and we're already seeing rising cases.
And again, many we're not capturing because people I think are tired of testing. How important is it to time the message from governments and the
response from individuals? Because I do feel there's a window where you can say to people look, you need to wear mask and you need to be more careful.
But people are exhausted. And if we want to get this right, the timing on what we ask people to do has to be much targeted. Would you agree?
DR. KLUGE: Absolutely. Basically, what we see in the European region, and also globally is that people stabilize their lives, but without stabilizing
the pandemic. The virus has never gone away. It's still there. It keeps changing, and it's still taking unnecessary, many lives.
So the key issue here I would say is surveillance because information data is power. Several countries are weakening their testing strategies. They do
not make a difference between reporting people going to the hospital due to COVID or Vis COVID.
We developed in Europe, five pandemic stabilizers. Number one is a full vaccination. Number two is the second booster for high risk groups.
Basically, if you haven't had your shots this year, you should consider yourself vulnerable. Number three is ventilation, far, not enough.
Attention has been given to ventilation in classes in office buildings, we don't want to close the schools again.
[09:40:00]
DR. KLUGE: Number four, if need be in confined, crowded places to consider masks. Even now I am wearing the mask. It's not because it's not obligatory
that you should not consider it. And number five is to scale up equal access to the new antivirus to avoid people getting onto the ventilator.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, good messages, sir. Great to have you with us and hopefully we'll talk again soon.
DR. KLUGE: My pleasure.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you so much for joining us. Dr. Hansen over there, the Regional Director of the W.H.O Europe, sir, thank you. OK, coming up,
flexible solutions to finding work the CEO of Instawork with insights into the jobs market on a key wild day for the U.S. job growth in America,
that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: OK, welcome back to "First Move". Let's get back to those blowout jobs numbers for July in the United States leisure and hospitality
added 96,000 jobs net. That's of particular relevance to Instawork, which matches more than 3 million hourly workers to open positions across the
United States and Canada.
Hospitality is a key sector for the business along with vacancies in warehousing and logistics to discuss how it all works. Sumir Meghani, he's
Instawork CEO and Co-founder. Sumir, fantastic to have you on the show!
It's like a dating map app actually for matching hourly workers with opportunities out there for firms that need their required skills. Just
explain who's using the app and how it all works.
SUMIR MEGHANI, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, INSTAWORK: Good morning, and thanks for having me. Yes, Instawork is the leading flexible work app. We connect
thousands of businesses sports stadiums, retailers, ecommerce companies with millions of qualified professionals.
And right now, we think we're filling a very critical need in the local economy. It's literally as easy as your pros who are workers they download
the mobile app, they create a profile, tell us their skills when they're available.
And then they'll get notifications of jobs opened up a job uninstall could be as short as six to eight hours on one day or several days or several
weeks. The one unifying theme on in-store give flexibility which is you know our pros have complete control over where and when they want to work.
CHATTERLEY: I think it's also important for our viewers to understand that the scale of the opportunity here because we only often talk about the post
pandemic work environment.
[09:45:00]
CHATTERLEY: We talk about people working from home or zooming in or doing that kind of activity. But for what, around 100 million workers, you have
to be present for a job in the United States.
And we're talking about 1.8 vacancies equivalent for every person actually looking for a job that matching and provision of flexibility is crucial in
this labor market at this point in time.
MEGHANI: Absolutely, and it's funny, Julia, you know, we're a tech company and a lot of companies right now, including installers are trying to figure
out, you know, do people want to work from the beach? Or do they want to, you know, do you want to travel and take their laptop with them.
And as you mentioned, if you're a bartender or a forklift driver, you don't have that choice. But what we're hearing from our pros is they're demanding
flexibility in other forms the ability to navigate, you know, their work schedule, around their family, or to be able to travel and work jobs in
different cities.
And to give you a sense of the data, we're seeing, you know, we were at about a million pro signed up for Instawork last March in 21. This March in
2022, we were at 2 million.
And just five months later, just now we've hit 3 million pros and, and so our pros are speaking with their swipes, you know, they're downloading, you
know, the app and signing up.
And I know you covered the jobs report earlier, you know, we're at record, low unemployment, three and a half percent. So you know, these workers have
many choices on where they're going to spend their time.
The fact that they're choosing despite a hot, tight labor market to be on Instawork, you know, is a sign that that flexibility is the new norm for
all workers, right? Not just digital workers, but for everyone.
CHATTERLEY: So how, how does it work in terms of a business comes to you and says, look, this is what I'm looking for. These are the skills
requirements, you have loads of people that upload their skill set, and how do you vet them?
How do you ensure and how do you manage the feedback? What proportion of people that sign up for a job, perhaps the business comes back and says
actually, this person was not that great. And they didn't arrive and they didn't do this.
And then what do you do with that person? Do you give them a second chance? How does vetting quality of work and employer, let's be clear, work on the
platform.
MEGHANI: Yes, and you highlighted something really interesting is that there's sort of betting on both sides.
CHATTERLEY: Right.
MEGHANI: And for the first time, hourly, hourly workers, you know, they have a choice on where they want to work, but they also have a voice,
they're able to rate the employers, just like the businesses on in store are able to rate workers.
But to your question about vetting, all of our professionals have to download the mobile app. And they go through a multi-step process, they
upload pictures of the relevant work attire.
So any certifications they have that might be required for specific positions, for example, a bartending card or a forklift certificate, they
have to upload the work experience, right. So they're building a profile of record on Instawork, which is part of our long term strategy.
And, and only about 10 to 15 percent of people who tried to sign up are actually approved to get on, because it is a pretty rigorous, you know,
signup process. And then after that, you know, it's a two way rating system.
And the benefit for businesses that the more ratings they give us, you know, our technology and our platform will help get their shifts in front
of the right people who we think are a good fit.
And then on un-Instawork, there's an incentive for our pros to do their best work. You know, our average wages on Instawork are $19 an hour, our
pros make, on average, nearly double your state's minimum wage, so they get high pay, and they get instant pay.
And so within 20, 30 minutes of when they clock out of a shift that money is on their debit card and in their bank account. And so the better you do
on Instawork, the higher ratings you get, it's a meritocracy, you're able to earn more, right, get paid quickly, you are able to up skill. And
combine with the flexibility. It's a really, really compelling value proposition for the 3 million pros we have.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and we should make the point that in many of these cases, the average wage is higher than that, that minimum wage. It's just they've
never - well, they've not changed the rules on the level of it for years and years and years because Congress can't get its act together.
But your point is that they are more than perhaps they would out there if they were acting alone and not through this app. One of the other things I
like to the flexibility is that people can sign up for different jobs.
So you were saying that a person can be a bartender one day and a forklift truck operator the next day. So it's also the variety, depending on
circumstances and what you're available to do and where I think that that also is fascinating.
And how do you make money? Do you charge the employer when they managed to hire people? And are you making money? I know you're in growth phase and
you're scaling up but talk to us about some of the economics for you too.
MEGHANI: Yes, the businesses pay us a fee when there's a successful match. So if someone shows up and they do a great job, that's only when they pay.
And so our business is aligned with you know with the successful outcome for both the partners and the pros.
Our pros don't have to be anything that instant paid feature I mentioned earlier is completely free.
[09:50:00]
MEGHANI: So all they have to do is have the skill and the will to work and they're able to make, you know, really high income and get that flexible
pay. And we're growing quickly, as you mentioned, we're a growth stage company, we've got some amazing investors.
It's been important for us to have great sort of fundamental unit economics, you know, to make sure that our marketplace is balanced. You
know, businesses are paying rates, when there's a match that is reasonable and commensurate with what they normally pay.
And our pros are making, you know, far more than they might be able to make on their own. And so we think that's a great thing for the economy.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And I like your point about the aligned incentives that you only get paid when the worker does a good job, not just because you
match them with an employer, and then your job's done.
So you're incentivized to have the right people into make it work, which makes sense, but it's nice to see you getting paid on that back to. Sumir,
great to have you with us, keep us posted.
And I want to talk expansion plans as well, because I think other countries could use you too. We'll talk again soon. Sumir Meghani, CEO & Co-founder!
MEGHANI: Yes, we just watch Canada, we - Canada.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I know, and onwards, great to chat to you. Sumir Meghani, CEO and Co-Founder of Instawork! Thank you. All right after the break a
boring crisis, the UK faces pricing of pints severe as the cost of grain continues to rise.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. The great British beer festival is back after a long pandemic pause. The troubles may be in store for the AL industry war
in Ukraine is jeopardizing its most important ingredient. And that of course is grain. CNN's Isa Soares reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After a two year hiatus, the great British beer festival is back. And there's plenty to celebrate with
nearly thousand cars, scales, craft beers and ciders less than one roof.
It's a welcome return for an industry that has seen restaurants closed and bar struggling to stay open.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven't seen each other socially for quite a long time. So it's just a great place to come have a few beers and true the
fact.
SOARES (voice over): That trouble is brewing as the UK like many countries faces the knock on effect of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
NIK ANTONA, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE (CAMRA): Brewing isn't a high intense production process, you need to boil your water, your malts,
barleys together and mix them all together at high temperatures. So you do need a lot of energy to do that. And it's pushing up their costs very
highly. There's other factors like fuel costs, delivery costs the crisis with a lot in the Ukraine and that's affecting grain prices.
SOARES (voice over): And it's not just grain. Russia's invasion has also caused energy prices to spike rising 70 percent from June of 2021 to June
of this year.
ANDREW TURNER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ST. AUSTELL BREWERY: Everything is being affected. And if I'm honest, I don't think we're really feeling the squeeze
of that yet. I think the squeeze of that really is to come in the next 12 to 18 months.
[09:55:00]
SOARES (voice over): But the reality of these costs has left a bitter taste in some people's mouths, with more than 50 percent of the British public
saying the average price of a pint now around five U.S. dollars is unaffordable.
But as I wandered through the halls of this festival, it's clear the thirst for beer is not going anywhere.
SOARES (on camera): So how does it feel to be back after three years of COVID?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely brilliant, loving every minute of it and great to see everyone under the same roof again joining, enjoying great car
scout.
SOARES (voice over): And while the outlook may look cloudy, for now these brewers clearly still have a glass half full. Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Tough gig. That's it for the show. "Connect the World" is up next. Have a wonderful weekend. I will see you on Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
