Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm
Speaker 1: Jason Kelley. We're right here every day bringing you the
Speaker 1: latest news from the world's of business and finance, plus technology, politics, economics,
Speaker 1: all harnessing the power of Business Week reporters and editors.
Speaker 1: And of course Carol that's part of a team of
Speaker 1: twenty seven hundred journalists and analysts more than a hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty countries and Jason. You can download Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week on iTunes, SoundCloud, bl Bloomberg dot com. You can
Speaker 1: also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio every weekday, or watch us on YouTube
Speaker 1: by searching Bloomberg Global News. We did see Florida reporting
Speaker 1: new cases rising to the highest level since the pandemic began.
Speaker 1: Texas saw hospitalizations surge. Two more signs at the virus
Speaker 1: outbreak is we're sitting in some U States and meantime,
Speaker 1: we at Beijing shutting at schools un concerned about new
Speaker 1: infections as China started testing all shipments of imported meat
Speaker 1: that had a fresh outbreak that was linked to another
Speaker 1: wholesale seafood and meat market in the capital. So back
Speaker 1: with us to talk about where we are and what
Speaker 1: we need to do and how we kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: deal with what's going on, especially when you come at
Speaker 1: it from different angles when it comes to the viruses.
Speaker 1: Dr William Hazeltine, he is chairman and president of Access
Speaker 1: Health Internationally, joins us on the phone from Connecticut. Doctor Hasltin,
Speaker 1: it's great to have you back with us. Um. What
Speaker 1: do you make of the most recent virus headlines. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm looking right now at what's happened in Florida, and
Speaker 1: in many ways it was predictable. It was averaging about
Speaker 1: five hundred, between four and five hundred up to eight
Speaker 1: hundred cases sometimes for about a month and a half,
Speaker 1: and then starting in the end of May early June,
Speaker 1: he just started to rise. A couple of days ago
Speaker 1: there were two thousand five cases, uh, and now there
Speaker 1: may be about two thousand new cases. It's pretty serious,
Speaker 1: and what it means is that the precautions that people
Speaker 1: were taking we're eased off about two weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: we're now seeing that as spikes and newly diagnosed infections,
Speaker 1: mostly because people are getting uh, mild, lil or seriously ill.
Speaker 1: And that's happening in many parts of the country. Some
Speaker 1: other parts, like New York City, it's still relatively calm.
Speaker 1: People in New York at really scared and they know
Speaker 1: it's important to keep social distance. But even in New York,
Speaker 1: it's people are beginning to forget. And so, what have
Speaker 1: we learned about our initial response, doctor has l ten
Speaker 1: that we can maybe put into practice now because there
Speaker 1: is this I think strong resistance on the part of
Speaker 1: both government leaders and just everyday people to go back
Speaker 1: to a full on shutdown. Yeah, I understand that. It's uh,
Speaker 1: it's fully, fully understandable. And what the way I look
Speaker 1: at is the following. We paid a price, but we
Speaker 1: didn't get the benefit. That's because we didn't do it right.
Speaker 1: We didn't really enforced contact tracing and mandatory isolation, and
Speaker 1: people weren't particularly observant all all the people weren't observant
Speaker 1: about the precautions they were urged to take. So we
Speaker 1: never cleared the infection like a number of other countries did,
Speaker 1: or reduce it down to a very manageable level of
Speaker 1: say a half a dozen five six in the whole country.
Speaker 1: We just didn't do that, and so we we paid
Speaker 1: a price, but we didn't get a benefit. The net
Speaker 1: result is we're now going to end up in a
Speaker 1: different situation, which is I call it back to the future.
Speaker 1: When I was born seventy five years ago, it was
Speaker 1: right on the cusp of the vaccine and antibiotic miracles.
Speaker 1: Before that time, people lived with the understanding that death
Speaker 1: could strike them at any moment. Even I remember polio,
Speaker 1: I remember being terrified of rheumatic fever. Those are things
Speaker 1: we couldn't control. And in fact, we've built America. We've
Speaker 1: built the world in a world without vaccines and in
Speaker 1: the world without antibiotics. But you pay a price that
Speaker 1: we're beginning to understand, and that price is death. Is
Speaker 1: that your shoulder at all moments? And it seems that
Speaker 1: we're willing to adapt to that. We've adapted in the past,
Speaker 1: we'll adapt again. We have exiting the time at least
Speaker 1: for now, where we have a free ride and don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about dying of an infectious disease tomorrow. Wow. Okay,
Speaker 1: So so how do we do this? Because you know,
Speaker 1: you're right, you know we're kind of in this interesting situation,
Speaker 1: and yes, history has shown us we can forge ahead,
Speaker 1: and we can You know build society, but there is
Speaker 1: a cost to it. So as we reopen, do we
Speaker 1: do we do it? You will pay the price. Yes,
Speaker 1: we do do it. I I happen to agree. We
Speaker 1: don't have any choice because Americans seems to be undisciplined
Speaker 1: and we don't have either the leadership, the governments or
Speaker 1: the government apparatus that we need. We need leaders that
Speaker 1: are clear, consistent, credible, and compassionate. We need government governance
Speaker 1: that works, and we need a public health service very
Speaker 1: much like an army that has unitary command from the
Speaker 1: top to the bottom. When the President says it's up
Speaker 1: to the governors, he's right. He doesn't have a tool
Speaker 1: he can use like he can use the military abroad.
Speaker 1: We don't have that tool. When the governor say it's
Speaker 1: up to the municipalities of the cities. I live in
Speaker 1: New York and you can see the tension between the
Speaker 1: governor and the mayor, and the mayor might even in
Speaker 1: some places as the county leader may say it's up
Speaker 1: to the local authorities. We don't have unitary commands in
Speaker 1: public health service. If there's a lesson we learned from this,
Speaker 1: it's we need unitary command to protect us internally as
Speaker 1: we do externally. Our biggest threats in my lifetime have
Speaker 1: not come from abroad. They've come from diseases within our
Speaker 1: own country, whether it was HIV AIDS or whether there
Speaker 1: was a number of other diseases polio that I can remember.
Speaker 1: Those are the big threats, and we've not prepared for
Speaker 1: those like we are prepared for external threats. Right, let's
Speaker 1: get back to our conversation with Dr William Hazeltine, Chair
Speaker 1: President of Access Health International. Join us on the fund
Speaker 1: from Connecticut. It's also got a new book. It's called
Speaker 1: A Family Guide to COVID And one of the things
Speaker 1: I love about this, Dr Heseltine, is it's a book
Speaker 1: that lives right now. But this is a fast moving story.
Speaker 1: So you give people access to your website because you're
Speaker 1: gonna keep updating this. Tell us what led you to
Speaker 1: write this. I remember during the early days of HIV AIDS,
Speaker 1: so many people had questions and there was no place
Speaker 1: they could go for answers. This is even more serious
Speaker 1: than that because it's kids that are affected. If you're
Speaker 1: a parent, you have kids that are asking questions all
Speaker 1: the time. I'm a grandparent and I've got a lot
Speaker 1: of grand children asking me questions and their parents asking me,
Speaker 1: and so I decided that I would write a book
Speaker 1: to answer questions in a very simple way. The kind
Speaker 1: of questions the kids are going to ask, our parents
Speaker 1: will ask themselves in each other heads, like what's happened mom?
Speaker 1: Why can't I go play with my friends? Or how
Speaker 1: long is this going to go on? Or will science
Speaker 1: save us? Adults are going to say things like should
Speaker 1: I really put maths on my kids when they go
Speaker 1: to play with their friends? Should they play with any friends?
Speaker 1: What's the situation today? It changes as we know. This
Speaker 1: is a every changing situation. So this is what I
Speaker 1: call a living book in the sense that the book
Speaker 1: will change along with our knowledge. Questions will disappear, answers
Speaker 1: will change. There is no said answer of answers yet,
Speaker 1: so it's a living document. It's been a lot of
Speaker 1: fun to do, and I hope it's helpful. I have
Speaker 1: to say, you know, we just went through a conversation
Speaker 1: my daughter last night. She's seventeen, you know, getting medy
Speaker 1: to be a senior in high school. Jason has a
Speaker 1: teenager the same age, and another one and a little one.
Speaker 1: But she was like, I just missed my friends mom
Speaker 1: and they've done the zoom thing and they do everything,
Speaker 1: and you just you do think about like, we don't
Speaker 1: know what school is going to be like in the fall,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, her world is being turned
Speaker 1: upside down and and we're so happy we're healthy. But
Speaker 1: you do realize the mark that this is having, you know,
Speaker 1: on a younger generation. Absolutely you do. And it's at
Speaker 1: a time when young people have to get out. This
Speaker 1: is what young people have to do, whether they're children,
Speaker 1: whether they're teenagers. I've talked to a lot to do
Speaker 1: this book. I talked to a lot of kids. I
Speaker 1: rounded up every grand child and a child I could find,
Speaker 1: and a lot of teenagers. You know. I talked to
Speaker 1: a teenage boy who said, this whole thing is a
Speaker 1: plot to keep me from my girlfriend. That's life. That's
Speaker 1: what parents are dealing with. No, they are. And I
Speaker 1: think we do think a lot about as as Carol mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, kids going off to college and being deprived
Speaker 1: of that experience. But you know, I think you provided
Speaker 1: some really good historical perspective in that regard. Dr haselteen
Speaker 1: that you know, this is this is new to to
Speaker 1: all of us and in many ways. And yet, um,
Speaker 1: you know this is something that as a society we've
Speaker 1: dealt with before and we just have to learn to adapt.
Speaker 1: In many ways we do. But it's not going to
Speaker 1: be easy, is it? Is it safe to say? I mean,
Speaker 1: I was listening to a conversation on Bloomberg Radio earlier
Speaker 1: just about a vaccine, and I know there are some
Speaker 1: folks that are saying, oh, we could get it, you know,
Speaker 1: later this year. What's the reality and do we have
Speaker 1: to until we have a vaccine, life will not be normal. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we lived for as I said, for centuries
Speaker 1: without vaccines, so you can live. Secondly, Uh, there are
Speaker 1: things you can do. Other countries have shut this virus
Speaker 1: down almost completely, not completely, and it won't be gone completely.
Speaker 1: And we are going to have drugs that are temporary
Speaker 1: vaccines for anybody who's exposed. We will have drugs within
Speaker 1: a year that will prevent anybody from being exposed from
Speaker 1: falling ill. I'm virtually certain of that. Vaccines I've given
Speaker 1: at Wow. Well, Uh, as always, we really appreciate your time,
Speaker 1: Dr William has Alten. The new book is called A
Speaker 1: Family Guide to COVID and when you pick it up,
Speaker 1: you should note just as he said, it's a living book,
Speaker 1: and so you'll be able to get into a website
Speaker 1: that will be constantly updated because the questions are changing it.
Speaker 1: As he said, the answers are changing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think about the conversations we have now, Carol versus what
Speaker 1: we're having a month ago, six weeks ago. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're in our fourteenth week of doing this broadcast this way,
Speaker 1: I know, right, And I think what's also interesting and
Speaker 1: crazy is that there are still so many questions about
Speaker 1: kind of getting our head, you know, our heads around
Speaker 1: it and and getting back to normal. And I think
Speaker 1: what he says is at some point, you know, you're
Speaker 1: going to have to get out there, and there will
Speaker 1: be a price to pay for it, and consequences. For sure,
Speaker 1: We'll I'll have to adjust, all right. That was Dr
Speaker 1: William Hazeltine, chair president of Access Health International, his new book,
Speaker 1: A Family Guide to COVID. You're listening to Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do a little bit this week economics.
Speaker 1: It's been very busy on that front. Between that blockbuster number,
Speaker 1: or at least a number that caught people by surprise.
Speaker 1: Even as you dug down, you sort of got these
Speaker 1: elements that still made you say if you were a
Speaker 1: Carol Mass or at least WOA. So we're gonna break
Speaker 1: that down as well as what we heard from J Pow.
Speaker 1: What we've heard so far the first of a two
Speaker 1: day testimony that he has up on Capitol Hill. Uh.
Speaker 1: Let's turn to Kathleen Hayes, Globe Economics said policy editor
Speaker 1: for Bloomberg. She's anar Bloomberg and Erector Broker Studio. Elena
Speaker 1: schletivis senior US economists for Bloomberg Economics. She joins us
Speaker 1: on the phone from Long Island. So, k H, I
Speaker 1: want to start with you, J Pow. What what do
Speaker 1: we need to know? I mean, we've heard a lot
Speaker 1: from this guy over the past few weeks. He's been
Speaker 1: tip of the spear in many ways, or certainly the
Speaker 1: FED has what's the key takeaway? Well, I the the
Speaker 1: chair I think is describing reality when he says that, yes,
Speaker 1: the economy, look at the UM employment report, look at
Speaker 1: how much jobs rose. It's definitely coming off the lows.
Speaker 1: I think what he said today is uh, it's uh,
Speaker 1: maybe even the beginning of recovery, but still in much
Speaker 1: worse shape than it was before the lockdowns, before everyone
Speaker 1: had to shut down. And I think that's what he
Speaker 1: wants everyone to remember. Yes, it's good that things are
Speaker 1: getting better, but they're not good enough yet. So I
Speaker 1: think that's a very important point. Maybe part of the
Speaker 1: reason he's saying this is because he does want to
Speaker 1: make it clear that what the data show you is
Speaker 1: there is still a need to help some people. Because
Speaker 1: the last thing he's going to do is tell Congress
Speaker 1: Republicans or Democrats that yes, you better get out there
Speaker 1: and and you know, renew that program, do this, do that, right,
Speaker 1: He's going to stay away from that. But by underscoring
Speaker 1: the fact that there's gonna be a lot of people
Speaker 1: without jobs even after the economy gets into recovery, I
Speaker 1: think that sends the message. So maybe that's part of
Speaker 1: the reason, But it's also how it looks. Elene is
Speaker 1: going to get into the retail sales force. But you know,
Speaker 1: you combine retail sales and chops and a couple of
Speaker 1: things and you say, gee, maybe actually, queue Elena, can
Speaker 1: Helena come on in because you actually put out some
Speaker 1: research specifically on that retail sales report and you said,
Speaker 1: maybe slow down, everybody, don't get too excited about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: so actually cheered Powell today made a note of that,
Speaker 1: and he acknowledged stronger than expected gain in the main
Speaker 1: retail sales, but he ascribed it to the eight coming
Speaker 1: from the measures including the Big Checks protection program basically
Speaker 1: the fiscal support uh from and and monitory policy support. Uh.
Speaker 1: The crisis was evolving, so uh. He also said that
Speaker 1: the federally means agnostic with respect to the strength of
Speaker 1: the recovery, and that is the scene of all of
Speaker 1: his latest remarks. So what he's trying to say is
Speaker 1: that in case of retail sales, for example, that this
Speaker 1: rebound follows the significant drop in activity. So in terms
Speaker 1: of retail sales, decline over the previous three months was
Speaker 1: followed by an eighteen percent rebound, but activity remains still
Speaker 1: remains below its pre crisis levels. So retail sales are
Speaker 1: eight percent below what we saw back in January. We'll
Speaker 1: take time for that to get back to the trend. Right.
Speaker 1: It's easy to come back from such a terrible level,
Speaker 1: and you do wonder about Okay, So what's going to
Speaker 1: be the economic momentum on the other side, Kathleen, especially
Speaker 1: when you know, we see stories about temporary jobs loss
Speaker 1: temporary job losses will become permanent ones, and you talk
Speaker 1: about you know a lot of folks. Now, that's what
Speaker 1: we don't, right, I think, And I think it seems
Speaker 1: it seems logical, right, it seems how can we conclude
Speaker 1: that a lot of small businesses don't just feel shattered,
Speaker 1: and not not only feel shattered, they are shattered. They're
Speaker 1: not coming back. So and I think that's I think
Speaker 1: that's what I'm j Pal's biggest worries, and he's mentioned
Speaker 1: that many times, and that's such an important part of
Speaker 1: the economy, but we don't That's one thing we don't know.
Speaker 1: And I would say, never underestimate the appetite of the
Speaker 1: American consumer. And once people can get out and go
Speaker 1: to more stores. I don't know about you guys, but
Speaker 1: on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and most of
Speaker 1: the retailers are still closed. So I just wonder myself
Speaker 1: if maybe this this rebound may continue more than people think.
Speaker 1: Because if there's one thing people do in this country,
Speaker 1: they shop and they've been locked at home. And then
Speaker 1: I then I think the question is how long? Because
Speaker 1: you're with me right now, I'm well, I'll totally with you.
Speaker 1: But Jason, man, you need some new sneakers. He's like,
Speaker 1: I think there's a little withdrawal going on there, but
Speaker 1: I would. But I think it's a really interesting point, Kathleen,
Speaker 1: because social thing for all of us, you're seeing people,
Speaker 1: you know, when they are allowed to really get out there,
Speaker 1: I mean numbers. Notwithstanding even the conversation we just had
Speaker 1: with the CEO of FedEx office. She basically like, look,
Speaker 1: I'm in Dallas, people are out, the malls are bumping,
Speaker 1: and you know this is going to happen. Then I
Speaker 1: want to throw on because I want to get Jake can.
Speaker 1: I just want to let Len in on this. But
Speaker 1: first I just want to mind. I want to be
Speaker 1: speaking to Rob Kaplan on Daybreak Australia today at six
Speaker 1: thirty pm. And of course he lives in Dallas. He
Speaker 1: lives in Texas. That's one of things I definitely want
Speaker 1: to ask him about. And there a phase three. So Helena,
Speaker 1: what do you want to add? Just you know, I
Speaker 1: agree with you guys on the spirit of an American consumer,
Speaker 1: I'm eating myself to go out there and spend some money.
Speaker 1: But as long as you have this money, as long
Speaker 1: as you have the means to spend. So remember the
Speaker 1: gap is still huge between the trends, the pre crisis
Speaker 1: trends in wage income and what we're seeing at the
Speaker 1: current levels that was more than of set by stimulus
Speaker 1: checks over the peak of the crisis. But what happens
Speaker 1: going into the second half of the year when this
Speaker 1: what gets reduced and or eliminated. So that's what I
Speaker 1: want to see. You want to see whether people actually
Speaker 1: have the money to spend. They may want to, they
Speaker 1: may want to get out in shop there. It wouldn't
Speaker 1: be a nice surprise if all these programs that have started,
Speaker 1: including the main street lending program, actually end up getting
Speaker 1: some money in the pockets of the business owners, who
Speaker 1: then really can say, even if I'm not at full speed,
Speaker 1: I'm getting back, you know, I'm getting back online. I'm
Speaker 1: working again. I want you know, I've got to I
Speaker 1: can bring some of my employees back. I think that's
Speaker 1: that's the X factor that nobody knows right now. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's one of the many, many things we still don't
Speaker 1: know about what happens sex. All right, thank you both
Speaker 1: for a spirited conversation. Kathleen Hayes glow Like and Ice
Speaker 1: in policy editor for Bloomberg. She's back home in our
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. And Elena Shall. Let you have
Speaker 1: a senior US economist for Bloomberg Economics, Jonius, on the
Speaker 1: phone from Long Island. So many questions, Jason Kelly, So
Speaker 1: many questions. Are you answer to get out there and
Speaker 1: go shopping? Not really, not really, Like I was a
Speaker 1: little auntie too, like go, you know, have a burger,
Speaker 1: which I did and that was great. Um. But you know,
Speaker 1: I also have the benefit of the suburbs, and you
Speaker 1: know I can get out and about a little bit more.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Let's talk about an aspect of
Speaker 1: the coronavirus crisis that we actually haven't spent as much
Speaker 1: time on of late. So I'm excited we get to
Speaker 1: talk about this story concerns antibody tests and the headline
Speaker 1: in the story that will be in the upcoming edition
Speaker 1: of Bloomberg Business Week, says antibody tests are everywhere now
Speaker 1: and confusing everyone. Kristen Brown, the healthcare reporter for Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: She wrote it. She joins us on the phone from California.
Speaker 1: Joel Webber, the editor Bloomberg Business Week. He's on. He's
Speaker 1: with us from Brooklyn. So Joel, help us understand how
Speaker 1: you got to this story and why it's important. A
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, UM, I call Kristen and said, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm basically thinking about doing an antibody test
Speaker 1: for myself. What do I need to know? And she
Speaker 1: was basically like, uh, kind of don't bother because nobody
Speaker 1: understands anything about what the results are. Right. I'm being
Speaker 1: a little facetist here, But like, I think the main
Speaker 1: thing that Kristen uh and I kicked around on that
Speaker 1: call and that she writes about is is that really
Speaker 1: we don't know what these antibody tests and the outcomes
Speaker 1: really mean yet, and that is adding just a whole
Speaker 1: level of confusion to the coronavirus conversation because you might
Speaker 1: have had it and tested positive for it, but this
Speaker 1: antibody thing, we don't really understand if that actually makes you,
Speaker 1: you know, it shows you any immunity to the virus
Speaker 1: at all. Um, Kristen, what did you learn while you
Speaker 1: were reporting this? Yeah? So interestingly, I so I should
Speaker 1: disclose I actually did to have an antibody test myself
Speaker 1: because I was curious, even though I know they're worthless.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's the really interesting thing is
Speaker 1: even if you're up on the science and you understand
Speaker 1: that we know that antibody is probably confers some immunity,
Speaker 1: but we don't know how how much immunity, So it
Speaker 1: means that the test really isn't going to change anything
Speaker 1: about your life, right, you still have to be careful,
Speaker 1: but they there's this desire to have this feeling that
Speaker 1: maybe you have some protection against this virus. And I
Speaker 1: think there's this really interesting thing going on where testing companies,
Speaker 1: doctor's offices are now sort of preying on that that desire,
Speaker 1: that hope we all have. You know, several of our
Speaker 1: Bloomberg colleagues forarded me emails they got or text messages
Speaker 1: they got from their own doctor's office saying, you know,
Speaker 1: book an antibody test today. We've got them. Even though
Speaker 1: the science says, and good medicine says, there's no than
Speaker 1: for an individual to get this test, because the test
Speaker 1: isn't going to change anything about your behavior. Kristen, I
Speaker 1: feel like with everything with COVID nineteen, it's not easy.
Speaker 1: It's not simple, and that includes, you know, these tests,
Speaker 1: and what's tough is there's so many out there. Feels
Speaker 1: like everywhere you look, you know, there's an antibody tests.
Speaker 1: What's interesting is you talk about, even in your story,
Speaker 1: how people are starting to vet antibody tests. I guess
Speaker 1: to figure out which ones maybe perhaps are more reliable.
Speaker 1: But you know, I felt like this was going to
Speaker 1: be the holy grail to some extent, you know, in
Speaker 1: addition to a vaccine, to being able to reopen safely.
Speaker 1: And now what we're hearing is maybe that's not the case.
Speaker 1: You know, I shouldn't say that. If not that the
Speaker 1: tests are completely worthless, right, there are some scenarios in
Speaker 1: which these tests can be very useful, and so it
Speaker 1: is important that test manufacturers have very good, highly sensitive,
Speaker 1: highly specific tests. Uh. Those those cases include you know,
Speaker 1: public health surveys when we're testing floss of the population
Speaker 1: to try and understand, okay, how many people have really
Speaker 1: had the virus in this community, how many people are asymptomatic.
Speaker 1: It also includes occupations like healthcare workers or you know,
Speaker 1: even people at grocery stores, where those people have to
Speaker 1: be performing their jobs and interacting with a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And maybe it makes sense to have the people dealing
Speaker 1: with people who are sick with COVID to be people
Speaker 1: who have antibodies already, because even if we don't a
Speaker 1: hundred percent know how much immunity they confer, at least
Speaker 1: we're making a more educated guests about who is safer
Speaker 1: to be on the front lines there. So there definitely
Speaker 1: is some value in these tests, just you know, probably
Speaker 1: not to you or me. And let's let's bring in, um,
Speaker 1: the thought of the FDA and all of this, right
Speaker 1: because these tests, um uh you know what kind of
Speaker 1: regulations are around for them right now? Yeah, so this
Speaker 1: is a really interesting thing. The FDA in March, when
Speaker 1: these tests aarted coming on the market, We're like, hey,
Speaker 1: we want you guys to get the test out there
Speaker 1: as as soon as possible. Basically, just go ahead and
Speaker 1: do it. We're not going to intervene. And what happened,
Speaker 1: and the FDA has said this is that they had
Speaker 1: a bunch of bad actors. They had people marketing tests
Speaker 1: that they said were FDA approved when they're not. They
Speaker 1: had people marketing tests that performed really poorly, uh, marketing
Speaker 1: those really aggressively. And so then last month the FDA
Speaker 1: had to step in and sort of walk back their
Speaker 1: earlier position and say, Okay, if you're an anibody test maker,
Speaker 1: you need to apply to us for an emergency youth authorization,
Speaker 1: which is the same, uh, the same authorization that the
Speaker 1: diagnostic test makers have to get. So but that hot
Speaker 1: still has solved the problems because now we still have
Speaker 1: all of these tests on the markets that are you know,
Speaker 1: in the pipeline for approval but haven't gotten true boy,
Speaker 1: getting are still on the market right and as you said,
Speaker 1: there's about two hundred of them, with eighteen just getting
Speaker 1: receiving a formal emergency user authorization. It's an interesting story
Speaker 1: in just another smart story, um, and a reminder of
Speaker 1: how complex this all is. Kristin Brown, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News healthcare reporter joining us on the phone from Oakland, California.
Speaker 1: Of course, our thanks to Joe Webber, editor of Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week, on the phone from Brooklyn. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: can check that story out. It's on Blueberg dot com
Speaker 1: and of the Blueberg terminal already and you can see
Speaker 1: it in print later this week in the Remember Me
Speaker 1: addition to Blueberg Business. We talked about like this was
Speaker 1: going to be so important and so helpful, and I
Speaker 1: have to say I talked to people anecdotally and they
Speaker 1: say it's a mess as well. So we'll see rom journal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you let me drive, No, no, no, please, I
Speaker 1: want to drive, just drive the questions trying job. This
Speaker 1: is the drive to the globe community. Thanks, we'll try
Speaker 1: us down on Bloomberg Radio list. Indeed, just about eleven
Speaker 1: minutes left to go in today's trading session, and as
Speaker 1: you know, we've been bouncing around, but we're just a
Speaker 1: little bit off our highs. But nonetheless we've got more
Speaker 1: than one percent rallies on each of those major equity averages.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the clothes with Henley Smith, senior vice
Speaker 1: president and senior relationship manager at New York based stone
Speaker 1: Castle Cash Management. They've got two twenty two billion in
Speaker 1: the f d i C insured institutional cash deposits under advisory,
Speaker 1: and he joins us, let's get on the phone from Connecticut.
Speaker 1: Henley nice to have you back with Jason's great to hear.
Speaker 1: It's great to hear that busy traffic who poured out
Speaker 1: in New York. So things are ultimately getting back to normal.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that. It's it's slogoing certainly in
Speaker 1: New York. Um. Yeah, tell me, you know, what are
Speaker 1: you seeing in terms of activity picking up and maybe
Speaker 1: what it tells you about you know, where the financial
Speaker 1: markets go from here. Well, you know, we've, as we've
Speaker 1: talked about before, we've kind of on the leading edge
Speaker 1: of what was gone on in the last ten weeks.
Speaker 1: As investors come into a fully insured cash management situation,
Speaker 1: they want to be in liquidity and insured principle. So
Speaker 1: we were the benefactors of that. So we've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of institutional clients Russia too that you definitely did
Speaker 1: see a big rush into that. Oh yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: we were up over the last couple of weeks, you know,
Speaker 1: well over five billion dollars in new assets that came
Speaker 1: in because people wanted to protect interest uh principle and
Speaker 1: they wanted liquidity. So we were the benefactors of that,
Speaker 1: UM and we continue to see that. So I think
Speaker 1: that the allocation of cash, even in these low interest rates,
Speaker 1: will continue to grow, both on the institutional level as
Speaker 1: well as the individual level. And I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of the normal now. Uh. You know, we saw that
Speaker 1: coming out of two thousand eight nine, and I think
Speaker 1: that you're going to see that was going to be
Speaker 1: with us now as people build, maintain and control rainy
Speaker 1: day reserves for what might be happening next. Well, that
Speaker 1: whole notion of a rainy day reserve, I mean, I
Speaker 1: would imagine that becomes a little more popular in a
Speaker 1: time like this now, right, Oh, absolutely, And you would
Speaker 1: think that, you know, with these ultra low interest rates,
Speaker 1: people would be kind of running for the hills. And
Speaker 1: of course you're seeing obviously stock market prices move up
Speaker 1: and down, but for the most part moving up. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we've seen that on the institutional level. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: was also on the high net worth individual savings rates
Speaker 1: are up. That's because, of course there might be some
Speaker 1: similar checks there. But we see um in the family
Speaker 1: office market in particular, and we've talked about this before,
Speaker 1: where cash as a part of their out other total
Speaker 1: portfolios is anywhere from you know, fift Now, are you
Speaker 1: worried about some of the turmoil that we've seen in
Speaker 1: the past in those money market funds. Well, you know, again,
Speaker 1: I think that it just kind of exposes some of
Speaker 1: the concerns that we've had up to this point in
Speaker 1: these collective investments. So I think the real, uh, the
Speaker 1: greatest safety control can be seen through direct ownership of
Speaker 1: cash assets. I know that's tough on the retail side,
Speaker 1: but for institutions, you've seen more of it. They've been
Speaker 1: moving out of these collective money market funds because in
Speaker 1: many ways there, you know, they are impacted by what
Speaker 1: their neighbor does and they don't want to do that.
Speaker 1: So direct ownership continues to be the way that people
Speaker 1: are going and that's what we've seen. So I gotta
Speaker 1: ask you, uh, a little bit of a turn here.
Speaker 1: It's sort of back to where we started a little
Speaker 1: bit heavy. What's it like in Connecticut? What what are
Speaker 1: you seeing? Because you know, we're trying to get this
Speaker 1: this picture of what's going on across the country and
Speaker 1: even with the Tri state area. You know, Carol and
Speaker 1: I are comparing notes. You know, she's just outside of
Speaker 1: New York City. I'm in the Westchester suburbs, and our
Speaker 1: lives are very different. I wonder what you're seeing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just the same as you. I mean, I think more
Speaker 1: people are getting out a little bit more. They're being
Speaker 1: courteous and kind, and they're wearing masks in public, public areas.
Speaker 1: I'm in an office building here in Connecticut and Newtown, Connecticut,
Speaker 1: and start people are starting to come back a little bit.
Speaker 1: But you know, the offices have to change a lot
Speaker 1: of as you know, Wall Street is a lot of
Speaker 1: open uh desks, and that's going to have to change
Speaker 1: a little bit. So uh, you know, slowly we're restaurants
Speaker 1: are coming back. People are eating under tents and parking lots,
Speaker 1: which is great to see. But so yeah, slowly, but surely,
Speaker 1: I think, uh, the tone is changing to the positive
Speaker 1: and it's great to see. Okay. And so when you
Speaker 1: see some of the headlines like a spike in Florida
Speaker 1: or Texas or China, you know, shutting down schools in
Speaker 1: Beijing because of a new market related you know open
Speaker 1: or food market related. Um, you know, round of the virus,
Speaker 1: that doesn't concern you, well, certainly it does, um, but
Speaker 1: I think again, forearmed is or forewarmed is forearmed? Do
Speaker 1: we know a little bit more about it now we
Speaker 1: know to be expected now, So I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: ten weeks ago it kind of came out of nowhere
Speaker 1: to everybody. So now I think everyone's you know, their
Speaker 1: their awareness is much more heightened. And I think with
Speaker 1: that realization, I think, uh, you know, this is a
Speaker 1: manageable thing. Only when when do you start to think
Speaker 1: about the elections in the November elections? You know, we
Speaker 1: get to a point where that becomes a major focal
Speaker 1: point of our market conversations and investment conversations, because we
Speaker 1: know that that can certainly, you know, change what the
Speaker 1: outlook is? Um, is it too soon? Do you think
Speaker 1: about it now? I think people are thinking about it
Speaker 1: all the time. I mean, and I think that's one
Speaker 1: of the underlying things that's been happening in this kind
Speaker 1: of uh you know, chaotic world that we now live
Speaker 1: in which we've kind of been stumbling into. We we
Speaker 1: talked about this before, about baby black swans that happening
Speaker 1: and happening and happening. We've talked about that before. So
Speaker 1: I think the trick of this particular market cycle is
Speaker 1: that we've had these lisical undertones in it, and that's
Speaker 1: just gonna on the only supercharge what we're doing. So
Speaker 1: as we get closer to November, I think the volatility
Speaker 1: we can count on just continuing to increase. Uh So
Speaker 1: we're just trading from headline to headline to headline. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a really interesting. Uh it's a really interesting time
Speaker 1: to say the least, Henley. Really nice to catch up
Speaker 1: with you. You know, always a pleasure to get your
Speaker 1: perspective on things. And you know, it's it's a unique
Speaker 1: one too. Yeah, it totally is, totally is all right, Henley,
Speaker 1: So senior, go ahead, go ahead, Henley. No, I just said,
Speaker 1: you know, cash is kind of a leading thing, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's an a class that, uh is getting on
Speaker 1: more and more important as we go along. Yeah. There
Speaker 1: there's several times this year I wish I was more cash.
Speaker 1: It's just gonna say, alright, Henley, good to hear your
Speaker 1: voice at least. A senior relationship manager at Stonecastle Cash Management, Jonius,
Speaker 1: on the phone from Connecticut. I like, you know, when
Speaker 1: we're able to talk to people at their offices, like,
Speaker 1: that's sort of a nice sign. I mean, clearly we're
Speaker 1: not talking to a lot of people in skyscrapers in
Speaker 1: Manhattan although you know, some of our colleagues are back
Speaker 1: there in our Bloomberg Interactor Broker studio here and again
Speaker 1: I've been there the whole time, and our team obviously, um,
Speaker 1: but you know, I don't know, it's hard to get
Speaker 1: your head around this idea that kind of where we
Speaker 1: are in different states and in different localities in the cycle.
Speaker 1: You know that part of the reason that things feel
Speaker 1: a little bit better around here is because I dare say,
Speaker 1: our leadership, our state leadership, and our local leadership like
Speaker 1: really locked it down. You know, are you messing with
Speaker 1: my governor Murphy? No? No, no, I'm saying versus Texas Service, Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: in other parts of the country. I think it's just
Speaker 1: a huge, huge difference. I've never messed with Murphy. I'm
Speaker 1: not an alcohohead. You're about go ahead. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, Southcloud,
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