Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly. 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
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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. One of the areas that
Speaker 1: we've been talking about, Carol, is a key economic indicator, uh,
Speaker 1: and it's one that's close to home, is the rental
Speaker 1: market in New York City. And it's a complicated one
Speaker 1: to some extent. In other ways, it's very simple, which
Speaker 1: is if the rents are going there, they're just there's
Speaker 1: so many important elements to this. So let's have someone
Speaker 1: smarter than me explain it all to us, and that
Speaker 1: is Prescant Gopal. He is us real estate reporter for Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: He's got a great story about the New York City
Speaker 1: rental market pushed to the breaking point by tenant debts. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is a serious story. Presha joins this on the
Speaker 1: phone from Massachusetts. Presha tell us what you found, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, New York in many ways is vulnerable to
Speaker 1: the current um economic crisis that the country is facing.
Speaker 1: UM would be more than a lot of cities because
Speaker 1: for one thing, it's the biggest rental city. Two thirds
Speaker 1: of UM the households are are are renting. And also
Speaker 1: even before COVID, obviously there was an affordability crisis in
Speaker 1: place of people we're struggling to make the rent even
Speaker 1: before they started to lose these jobs and numbers, and
Speaker 1: many of the renters are in professions that are hard hit.
Speaker 1: So the restaurants and bars and nail salons and and
Speaker 1: you know, the people who cleaned the office is UM.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know, there are a lot of them
Speaker 1: are having trouble paying their rent. Right, And this is
Speaker 1: what we've been worried about. Pressant right that in terms
Speaker 1: of the economic shutdown, it's it's kind of you know,
Speaker 1: the trickle down effect, if you will and and that's
Speaker 1: you know, initially, I think we didn't think about the
Speaker 1: real estate market right away, and then we started think like, oh,
Speaker 1: wait a minute. You know what if people, you know
Speaker 1: can't pay their rents and you know, or companies can't
Speaker 1: pay their rents, whether it's small businesses, you know, and
Speaker 1: and then the impact of this becomes just so much wider. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, you know, the people who were most
Speaker 1: impacted by this um, this economic crisis are renters really
Speaker 1: because those are the people who are UM. Like I said,
Speaker 1: they're in these jobs that are hard hit, they make
Speaker 1: less money. UM. So when they don't pay there's an
Speaker 1: effect that you know, it actually moves up the chain
Speaker 1: to a certain extent. So you have UM landlords, especially
Speaker 1: small landlords, who have have bills to pay, They have
Speaker 1: to pay for utilities, and the city is giving them
Speaker 1: new break on their property taxes. They have to pay
Speaker 1: late penalties, so late with that and UM and they
Speaker 1: entertain the mortgages, so that affects banks. So you know,
Speaker 1: this has widespread impacts. So I want to bring in
Speaker 1: the editor of the magazine now, Joel Weber. He joins
Speaker 1: us from Massachusetts. So Joel real Estate cities. This is
Speaker 1: right in the Business Week wheelhouse. Help us understand this
Speaker 1: in the in the context of what you're trying to
Speaker 1: do in terms of continuing to tell the story of
Speaker 1: this pandemic and the economic aftermath. Well, I mean, the
Speaker 1: the spiraling cost of this thing just just keeps happening, right,
Speaker 1: And I think there's the economic costs of it, and
Speaker 1: then there's a human cost of it. And this story
Speaker 1: is sort of an example where the two meet and
Speaker 1: we really, um don't have a way out yet. UM.
Speaker 1: And you know, the things that have been kind of
Speaker 1: put in place UM felt like temporary stopgap measures. And
Speaker 1: and as the the crisis sort of lingers, UM, I
Speaker 1: think we're all trying to figure out, you know what
Speaker 1: what kind of implications this will ultimately have. UH And
Speaker 1: and Prisson, I just wanted to kind of bring that
Speaker 1: back to you. And you know, the New York State
Speaker 1: enacted the Tenants Safe Harbor Act UM last month to
Speaker 1: stop evictions, as you know in the story, and and wondering,
Speaker 1: you know what what other kinds of policy UH actions
Speaker 1: might we see from UH legislatures UM and similar effects
Speaker 1: going forward. Well, let me linger on this just a
Speaker 1: little bit because I think it's important, like so that
Speaker 1: the Tenants statee Harbor Act. What that does is it
Speaker 1: prevents um evictions of people who were impacted by um,
Speaker 1: you know, economic victims of COVID nineteen. So that prevents
Speaker 1: a very short term problem, which is you know, UM
Speaker 1: of a wave of evictions and a potential spike in homelessness,
Speaker 1: which could have been devastating to New York. So that's
Speaker 1: great that you prevent that. But what happens is, UM
Speaker 1: there's a long term effect because tenants are in talk
Speaker 1: to their landlords, they owe large amounts of money that
Speaker 1: they will never be able to retay, and UM, with
Speaker 1: each month that passes, they owe more, and then their
Speaker 1: their credit is shot and it's uh, you know because
Speaker 1: of this, and then they're not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: maybe very easily moved to another apartment. So they're there,
Speaker 1: you know, there With each potential solution here, there are
Speaker 1: UM you know, consequences to that, and that the real
Speaker 1: solution might be the federal government stepping in and providing
Speaker 1: rent release in a in a very big way. But
Speaker 1: that has not happened. I mean, there's been I think
Speaker 1: some resistance in Congress. UM for Republicans in the Senate.
Speaker 1: So we haven't really seen that yet, right. I think
Speaker 1: of people who had the discussion during the financial crisis
Speaker 1: who said, you know what, maybe we should have just
Speaker 1: gone in and short up all of those bad mortgages,
Speaker 1: made mortgage payments, you know, kept people in their homes,
Speaker 1: would have saved the economy, would have protected those financial
Speaker 1: investments that were based on the mortgages. You know. And
Speaker 1: I do wonder if as we try to figure out
Speaker 1: the rest of this crisis and what's the best way
Speaker 1: to help out individuals, I feel like, um, do you
Speaker 1: come in and give them some kind of relief, because
Speaker 1: you know, you think about if they if landlords to
Speaker 1: lose tenants and there are people who can't find jobs,
Speaker 1: they can't find new tenants. Potentially, I mean there's this
Speaker 1: ugly cycle p some that just keeps ongoing. Absolutely, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's what it is. It's like, you know, do you, um,
Speaker 1: if you do provide that rent relief. I mean some
Speaker 1: people are worried that you know, it's a disincentive for
Speaker 1: people to work or something like that, right, But but
Speaker 1: by doing that, you end up preventing all these knock
Speaker 1: on effects, which are things that may be very difficult
Speaker 1: to recover from, you know, de curiating buildings, you know,
Speaker 1: landas not making repairs, uh, you know, going lands going
Speaker 1: into foreclosure and you know, um, you could just see
Speaker 1: how that could spiral out of control. Right alright, Priscian couple,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. US real estate reporter for Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: Joe Webber, final word to you. Give us a preview
Speaker 1: of next week's session. Can you do that? Give us
Speaker 1: a UM. So, I think we've got some really fun
Speaker 1: story that it's interesting. Right, There's like there's the Crisies
Speaker 1: stories and we kind of all, um, you know, it
Speaker 1: feels like this magnetic poll towards them, and we have
Speaker 1: to do those um and we will, you know, with
Speaker 1: great interest and public service duty and all of the
Speaker 1: great stuff that I think the heroism of journalism requires. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then on the other side, there's also just like
Speaker 1: sort of some fun stories all of a sudden. So
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna leave it broad and evasive like that
Speaker 1: and say that there's a little bit of both. I
Speaker 1: got a fun one for you. We just talked with
Speaker 1: the Mondalese CEO and people are cooking with oreos Joel. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, oreos have been around for a while. They're
Speaker 1: they're trusted and tried and true exactly. And you know,
Speaker 1: if you bring them out in our home, they disappear
Speaker 1: very quickly, whether or not you're dunked in milk or
Speaker 1: you know. I've never attempted to cook with them, but
Speaker 1: you know, I'll take someone's word for it. There is stable. However,
Speaker 1: you're the best week and weekend in Massachusetts. Joining us there,
Speaker 1: the editor of the magazine. This is Bloomberg Business Week
Speaker 1: with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. I
Speaker 1: gotta say I'm so excited we're gonna get into this
Speaker 1: story because I feel like there has been a theme
Speaker 1: this week about the changing world order. In today's Business
Speaker 1: Week Economics, it is about a new world order for
Speaker 1: the coronavirus era, and we're starting to see what it
Speaker 1: looks like. Bloomberg News Executive editor for International Government act up.
Speaker 1: As I said on the phone from London, Rosalind Matheson
Speaker 1: joining us, Um, nice to have you here with Jason
Speaker 1: and myself. Tell us about this era that we're in,
Speaker 1: and I do wonder about how the history books are
Speaker 1: going to look back at it, and the economic books
Speaker 1: are going to look back at it, and the changes
Speaker 1: that we're seeing. It's very interesting because, if anything, what
Speaker 1: we're seeing in a ways an acceleration and a hardening
Speaker 1: of trends that we were already seeing. It's like the
Speaker 1: veneer and a ways being stripped away, and countries are
Speaker 1: showing themselves for what they are. China, for example, is
Speaker 1: very much out and unapologetic with their recent security law
Speaker 1: in Hong Kong, something they probably would not have done
Speaker 1: just a few years ago, but now they're making a
Speaker 1: judgment call that they have a mass enough how to
Speaker 1: get away with it that they can wear the punishments
Speaker 1: that come. That's one thing that we're going to see accelerating. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the U ways is further withdrawing from international organizations and
Speaker 1: showing a willingness to criticize longstanding our lives like Germany.
Speaker 1: It's very much the one to one focus games from
Speaker 1: them now with their arrive where we with China, so
Speaker 1: aside from that, it's a country that really is turning inwards.
Speaker 1: One way that we will see things possibly being withdrawn
Speaker 1: is that there's a bit of unity and strength coming
Speaker 1: into Europe, and that despite Brexit, despite the squabbling that
Speaker 1: you see between North and South and so on, and
Speaker 1: that's really under Anglo miracles steady hand, and particularly we
Speaker 1: could see a new role from middle countries, middle powers
Speaker 1: if you like, like Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea and
Speaker 1: so on, starting to express themselves more basically saying we
Speaker 1: can't rely on the US here, so we'll brand together
Speaker 1: and do something. Iselves so rise, I'm so glad you
Speaker 1: brought that up about Europe because I was I was
Speaker 1: reading a story some of the coverage that came out
Speaker 1: of I think your team, because you have this massive
Speaker 1: role in the Bloomberg Empire, and it was about the
Speaker 1: an election at the EU Group. Keep me honest here
Speaker 1: that Ireland, the financiment Minister of Ireland sort of won
Speaker 1: this surprise victory. And so you have these countries in Europe,
Speaker 1: even these sort of smaller to mid size economies, who
Speaker 1: were going to be maybe a little more important or
Speaker 1: at least have a louder voice. That's kind of interesting
Speaker 1: in the midst of all this. Right, Well, that's slight
Speaker 1: and in fact that was the victory for the smallest states.
Speaker 1: As you said, and the four biggest economies in Europe
Speaker 1: had supported an alternate candidate to leave what'sne as the
Speaker 1: euro Group, that's the finance ministers really within the EU.
Speaker 1: So that was a real backlash against those and in
Speaker 1: fact it was quite a tight result. They weren't very
Speaker 1: late last night and caused unusual excitements really for the
Speaker 1: euro Group, beyond what we'd normally have. But it's it's
Speaker 1: really a way that we're seeing these countries saying, well,
Speaker 1: we need to put ourselves more out there. There's risk
Speaker 1: to our economies, of course, as we do, for one thing,
Speaker 1: by taking on China more assertively. But given that we're
Speaker 1: not seeing a real concerted global leadership he called to
Speaker 1: the G seven, the D twenty or whatever, or to
Speaker 1: other institutions, at least countries are saying well, we'll have
Speaker 1: to form new alliances ourselves and move those alliances around
Speaker 1: and they'll be based on different things perhaps, And we
Speaker 1: saw those groupings based on before and that's really where
Speaker 1: we're going to see a key shifts happening. I feel
Speaker 1: like a key line in this story by Alan Crawford
Speaker 1: is the problem is that there's no obvious form to
Speaker 1: debate the shape of the post pandemic world. Inness increasingly
Speaker 1: we see countries look inward, right, they're not getting together
Speaker 1: and talking about these issues on a global scale. I'm
Speaker 1: curious what are the implications And is it to be
Speaker 1: expected that you know, the US dominated for a long time,
Speaker 1: right and other you know, parts of the world before that,
Speaker 1: and now is it a natural progression that maybe China
Speaker 1: becomes the leader. Well, that's that's a very interesting question
Speaker 1: because the US, of course, really was sort of the
Speaker 1: glue that held the post war I think institutions together
Speaker 1: the global order in a way like it led the
Speaker 1: way through these institutions that provided a strong security umbrellas
Speaker 1: many parts of the world, the Pacific, Europe, and so on.
Speaker 1: And it really is withdrawing from that, and those institutions
Speaker 1: are now in fundamental states of change, and the idea
Speaker 1: of the G seven or a G twenty really coming
Speaker 1: out with some kind of coherent statement or policy at
Speaker 1: this point is kind of moot because we've been seeing
Speaker 1: two years under the Trump administration those meetings fall into
Speaker 1: disarray and disagreement. So as you say, what where does
Speaker 1: that lead the idea of kind of organized responses and
Speaker 1: coherent responses, and it will form, perhaps in new and
Speaker 1: different ways, with these smaller groupings what's known as the quad,
Speaker 1: which is the US of course, also that India, Japan,
Speaker 1: and Australia, UM and it might be China led to
Speaker 1: organizations as well. But at the same time, the UI
Speaker 1: still is the biggest economy on the planet. It successes,
Speaker 1: you need the success of other countries too, um. So
Speaker 1: there will be always a role for the U S.
Speaker 1: It's just how big that role would be and so
Speaker 1: rise as you think about, as we think about all
Speaker 1: the time this upcome presidential election here in the United States,
Speaker 1: how does that factor in? And I guess the real
Speaker 1: question is is how much of this is sort of
Speaker 1: unstoppable to to some extent, and how much of it
Speaker 1: may be arrested if there is a change in power
Speaker 1: here in the United States. Well, it's absolutely the big
Speaker 1: wild card. Of course, if Donald Trump wins the game,
Speaker 1: you can imagine him being emboldened and America first becoming
Speaker 1: of America said with a big exclamation mark at the end,
Speaker 1: even more so um and continuation of his policies, but
Speaker 1: even more dramatically so a greater rupturing of the established
Speaker 1: world order. And rent that other actors also to come
Speaker 1: in Russia and Turkey included not just China, but equally
Speaker 1: if Joe Biden wins, and even if there is that
Speaker 1: greater outreach to allies, so perhaps a more collaborative mood.
Speaker 1: There can't be a return to the way things were
Speaker 1: because the mood in America has changed too much amongst faces,
Speaker 1: and bically, the mood in the other countries have changed.
Speaker 1: People say it's about America only, but also about the
Speaker 1: way that other countries now see themselves in the world.
Speaker 1: So you'll see greater protectionism, greater unilateral behavior, and so on,
Speaker 1: regardless of who is in the White House after November
Speaker 1: just quickly thirty seconds rose, I mean, as a result
Speaker 1: of this, you know, does that mean economies are going
Speaker 1: to struggle more because they're not necessary playing on the
Speaker 1: global stage or not necessarily just quickly, Well, that's a
Speaker 1: very interesting question because we are seeing, of course, country
Speaker 1: is no longer thinking about trade as a unifying factor.
Speaker 1: In fact, they're using trade as a weapon in politics,
Speaker 1: and that really does raise the risk of what we
Speaker 1: see is increasing trade wars, not just between the US
Speaker 1: and China, but also US and Europe. And other countries
Speaker 1: and China. So definitely that atmosphere of less collaboration does
Speaker 1: create economic risks with it. Alright, Roz Mathson, you are
Speaker 1: the best. Thanks for spending some of your Friday evening
Speaker 1: with us. Executive editor for International Government for Bloomberg, joining
Speaker 1: us on the phone from London. This is Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Mazer and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: We are still in the midst of a major national
Speaker 1: and global health crisis, so let's understand where we are
Speaker 1: when it comes to COVID nineteen. We turn again to
Speaker 1: Dr Penny Wheeler at the president CEO of A Line
Speaker 1: of Health, joining us on the phone from Minnesota. This,
Speaker 1: of course, is a not for profit healthcare system based
Speaker 1: there in Minneapolis, thirteen hospitals, more than ninety clinics across
Speaker 1: the state of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Dr Wheeler, really
Speaker 1: nice to have you back with us. It's nice to
Speaker 1: be back with you. Thank you. So tell us what
Speaker 1: it looks like, what this outbreak looks like on the
Speaker 1: ground there in Minnesota, because I know it's different across
Speaker 1: the country, and I think the last time we talked
Speaker 1: to you it was a few weeks, maybe a couple
Speaker 1: of months ago, and a lot has changed in the world. Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: and a lot of change in our world. So not
Speaker 1: only do we have a COVID crisis, but sitting in
Speaker 1: the middle of Minneapolis, since it's killing of George Floyd
Speaker 1: took place, we had a lot of civil unrest UM
Speaker 1: that occurred beyond it. So it's kind of crisis upon
Speaker 1: crisis here. UM. In terms of the COVID, we actually
Speaker 1: are a little island here right now, a bit in
Speaker 1: the Midwest that is seeing less than the sun Belt
Speaker 1: and the western um Coast is seeing. You know. So
Speaker 1: we have had since since May, had a diminution of
Speaker 1: the number of people who required hospitalization down collectively from
Speaker 1: like six hundred to UM sorry about that, given given
Speaker 1: the six hundred, about two hundred and we in our
Speaker 1: geography UM have had also decline in hospitalization rates even
Speaker 1: after the number of significant protests that occurred. Right, well
Speaker 1: that Carol brought that up earlier. Interestingly, UM, when we
Speaker 1: were talking about some of these upbreaks, and I think
Speaker 1: people wore masks, right, yeah, people did wear man. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think that one of the things that saving us
Speaker 1: and I was so glad to hear your public service
Speaker 1: announcement is really it gets to a concern about caution fatigue,
Speaker 1: but wearing masks, physical distancing, washing, hand staying almost those
Speaker 1: things still really matter. And I think we're really worried
Speaker 1: about the exponential effects that this can take off if
Speaker 1: we lower our guard. I think even with some of
Speaker 1: the preventive measures, like in a state like California, we've
Speaker 1: seen that with some of that relaxation comes higher caseloads
Speaker 1: than sadly, higher hostitalizations and deaths as well. What are
Speaker 1: you hearing about, you know, officials and where they are.
Speaker 1: I think earlier this week you met with some of
Speaker 1: your state legislators on your response, the state's response and rebuilding. Um,
Speaker 1: what's on everybody's minds Because I do feel like there's
Speaker 1: this push and pull between wanting to move forward, get
Speaker 1: the economy back on track, but we're still kind of
Speaker 1: constantly looking behind us or in front of us, you know,
Speaker 1: about the rising virus cases that we're being around the country.
Speaker 1: I think there's still fear of a second wave. UM,
Speaker 1: So I'm just curious what what that meeting was all
Speaker 1: about and what came about. I think it was exactly that.
Speaker 1: It was worry about this balancing. You know, there's not
Speaker 1: lost on us the economic hit that this virus is
Speaker 1: causing us, But now seeing what's happening in so many
Speaker 1: other states and geography, is the economic hit greater if
Speaker 1: you if you reduce caution as you reopen. So I
Speaker 1: think that largely the testimony was about that. And so
Speaker 1: what's your biggest concern? And maybe you've already said it,
Speaker 1: Dr Wheeler? As you look around the country, and you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like you're sitting in a similar place to
Speaker 1: where we are here in the Tri State area, where
Speaker 1: it's like we sort of did the work. The numbers
Speaker 1: are down there trending in the right direction, and yet
Speaker 1: they are wildly trending in the wrong direction in the
Speaker 1: rest of the country. So what do people who are
Speaker 1: in these as you say, sort of oases, these sort
Speaker 1: of comfortable or slightly more comfortable places. What do we
Speaker 1: do at a time like this? What do we need
Speaker 1: to be working? Yeah, I think caution you know is like,
Speaker 1: for example, one of the big questions in front of
Speaker 1: our legislature was do we go to universal masking? So
Speaker 1: do we do? You know, as we open up. Can
Speaker 1: we continue to do that as smartly as possible to
Speaker 1: devoid these exponential rises and other geographies so it's really
Speaker 1: hard to close things back down once you've reopened. Can
Speaker 1: you reopen them and have enough you know, civic responsibility
Speaker 1: you know to do that. We know that for example,
Speaker 1: wearing masks, you know, yes, it protects you a little bit,
Speaker 1: but about the protection goes to the people around you
Speaker 1: that that you're protecting from. So if we can do
Speaker 1: those things, then I think we can open up more
Speaker 1: safely and won't see these unfortunate rises we're now just
Speaker 1: starting to see and leading indicator of some case rising
Speaker 1: in our geographies. And and I worry as I look around.
Speaker 1: We're doing pretty well as a geography so far in masking,
Speaker 1: but our mobility increases increased a lot, and people naturally
Speaker 1: there's caution fatigue. But Dr Wheeler, don't you find that amazing?
Speaker 1: I mean, Jason and I kind of laugh about it,
Speaker 1: but we don't laugh about it. That this whole idea
Speaker 1: of just wear a mask. You know, you're not losing
Speaker 1: your your rights as a citizen. It's just about keeping
Speaker 1: others safe. And I do find it kind of baffling
Speaker 1: that we're still struggling with this and we just unfortunately
Speaker 1: only have about thirty seconds here. But don't you find
Speaker 1: that frustrating. I find it totally, un wholeheartedly frustrating. That
Speaker 1: doesn't intinge on our our liberties, and quite honestly, it's
Speaker 1: a way into service to the rest of humanity by
Speaker 1: protecting others from getting the virus if we may be
Speaker 1: in asymptomatic carey ourselves. So please wear masks. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be We're right there with you. We're gonna
Speaker 1: keep beating this drum uh dr Petty Wheeler. We really
Speaker 1: appreciate President CEO of a Line of Health. Jonas on
Speaker 1: the phone from Minnesota, love catching up with her and
Speaker 1: getting that perspective from the Midwest and man, Minneapolis, they
Speaker 1: have been through a lot. As she pointed out, she's
Speaker 1: such a nice Midwesterner because she said, please wear a mask,
Speaker 1: as you and I are, like, just wear a mask,
Speaker 1: ask darn it, just do sometimes stronger. Yeah, but we're
Speaker 1: a family show, so we're going to keep your new jersey,
Speaker 1: nice jersey, nice brother journal. Yeah, but you let me
Speaker 1: drive Oh no, no, no, nor home, honey. Please I'll
Speaker 1: do the right drivel me. I want to drive, just
Speaker 1: drive baby, the questions trying. This is the drive to
Speaker 1: the globe commune. Thanks, we'll drive us to dawn. On
Speaker 1: Bluebird Radio, it is time for the drive to the
Speaker 1: closed and Pipotone is with us, co founder of Trade
Speaker 1: zero America. He joins us on the phone in Brooklyn
Speaker 1: and this as we've got a market that's pretty much
Speaker 1: at its ties of the session. Just got about twenty
Speaker 1: minutes left in the trading day and we're on track
Speaker 1: for some games for the week overall. Uh Dan, good
Speaker 1: to have you here with Jason and myself. Remind us
Speaker 1: about your platform, because you guys are UM zero commissions, correct,
Speaker 1: and talk to us a bit about how it all works. Sure,
Speaker 1: we are a zero commission broker, more geared towards the
Speaker 1: active investor. A lot of the tools that we offer
Speaker 1: our gear to those people who are looking for a
Speaker 1: little bit more than essentially just a free stock trading
Speaker 1: mobile app. Many of our customers UM trade both directions.
Speaker 1: They equally on both the long and the short side.
Speaker 1: Uh and we give fair treatment to both of those
Speaker 1: styles of trading. Additionally, the access that we provide we
Speaker 1: span the entire market hours from four am to eight
Speaker 1: pm Easter. So what are you seeing in terms of
Speaker 1: demand for this platform right now, Dan, Because you know,
Speaker 1: we've read a lot about robin Hood and other um
Speaker 1: platforms that are really appealing at this time because people
Speaker 1: are stuck at home, they've got a little more time,
Speaker 1: and especially the younger set seemed to be discovering the
Speaker 1: stock market, especially as we've seen this pretty nice run. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: for sure, we we've haven't. We've had a captive audience
Speaker 1: for the better part of the last four or five months. Uh,
Speaker 1: And what we've seen is that there have been a
Speaker 1: lot of new entrance to the marketplace. Some of our
Speaker 1: competitors really have done a great job of of really
Speaker 1: demystifying the stock market. But at some point it's these
Speaker 1: new these newly entrants to the market are left wanting
Speaker 1: more and left wanting a little bit more access, better tools,
Speaker 1: and a better handful on on their trading. And so
Speaker 1: you know, when when looking at a mobile app and
Speaker 1: only seeing the last price instead of the bid and
Speaker 1: the ask is not enough. When when traders and and
Speaker 1: and new investors are graduating to the next level, we're
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of attention in what we do. Hey,
Speaker 1: I want to know a little bit more about the
Speaker 1: demographics who is using your platform and what kind of
Speaker 1: trading activity have you seen and maybe changes in that
Speaker 1: activity over the last few months. We had a great
Speaker 1: story Jason and I talked about it, uh, Dan earlier
Speaker 1: in the week about citadel Um saying that retail traders
Speaker 1: now account for about a fifth of stock market trading
Speaker 1: and as much as a quarter on the most active days.
Speaker 1: That's what they're seeing. What are you seeing? Yeah, we
Speaker 1: since January, we've we've had huge increases in both volume
Speaker 1: UH and new entrance. What's huge? What's huge? Trading up
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty percent since January. Uh. The the attention
Speaker 1: to the short side and trading on the short side
Speaker 1: at our firm is up over two hundred percent in
Speaker 1: that time. And as I mentioned, a lot of the
Speaker 1: millennial investors of people like to talk about these is
Speaker 1: really the new new drivers of the market. UM are
Speaker 1: are now, you know, left wanting to have more access
Speaker 1: and more tools to the market. So we're seeing a
Speaker 1: lot of these millennials sort of trade up to a
Speaker 1: platform like the one that we have. So Dan let's
Speaker 1: talk about, um, you know, some of the stocks out
Speaker 1: there that you're seeing when it comes to this pandemic.
Speaker 1: What's providing some investment opportunity out there? I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a health crisis, and I know one of the
Speaker 1: things that you guys are are looking at, are you
Speaker 1: know names that stand to benefit here? Sure, lots of
Speaker 1: attention and sort of what we call the COVID sector.
Speaker 1: A lot of the treatment providers and those companies that
Speaker 1: are searching out VACS teams like the Nova Vacs, the Madernas,
Speaker 1: those companies that have partnered with the US government and
Speaker 1: US government has has has given them grants and sponsored
Speaker 1: their development of various vaccines. Uh an oval Pharmaceuticals is
Speaker 1: another one, and some smaller cap names. These have been
Speaker 1: very actively trading on our platform on both an intra
Speaker 1: day and overnight basis. Come when it's like Sorental Therapeutics
Speaker 1: sr NY, UH and ultimately another one symbol a l T,
Speaker 1: which has had a nice run the last few days.
Speaker 1: So you guys get to see a lot of data
Speaker 1: and that's you know, kind of interesting in terms of
Speaker 1: where people are trading, what they're interested in, and whether
Speaker 1: they're you know, taking a shorter or long position. I
Speaker 1: am curious about some of those uh pharma or biotech companies,
Speaker 1: whether it's Nervavacs. I mean, this is a stock that's
Speaker 1: had a really really good run. It's up about god,
Speaker 1: it's up twenty two hundred almost this year. So are
Speaker 1: what's the trend that you're seeing? Are people shorting it
Speaker 1: at this point? You know, on an intra day basis,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of these pops that are occurring
Speaker 1: in the morning based on overnight news. It's really giving
Speaker 1: trade or is the opportunity to many times fade the
Speaker 1: open so to speak, where they'll you know, they'll short
Speaker 1: based on the news that's come out and then and
Speaker 1: then look to buy back a couple of points lower. Um.
Speaker 1: The news cycle has really created the volatility that gives
Speaker 1: the opportunity for traders to you know, to play these
Speaker 1: things on an intra day basis, both long and short.
Speaker 1: So you're not necessarily seeing more traders. I know what
Speaker 1: you're saying, they're getting in and at they love the movement,
Speaker 1: but you're not seeing more take maybe a long position
Speaker 1: versus a shorter vice versa. We're not We're not most
Speaker 1: of the most of the clientele and the traders that
Speaker 1: we're dealing with, for the most part, are are holding
Speaker 1: uh not holding the positions overnight. Interesting, So how do
Speaker 1: you make this, I mean, for your businesses sake, Dan,
Speaker 1: if we get back to whatever the next normal is
Speaker 1: going to be, how do you hang onto these customers? Well?
Speaker 1: By keeping fresh, by ensuring that the tools and the
Speaker 1: technology that you're providing is always a step ahead. By
Speaker 1: by empowering the investor with ease of access of both
Speaker 1: on boarding the platform and also banking, moving funds back
Speaker 1: and forth from from the brokerage firm to their bank account.
Speaker 1: Um and and really um, you know, providing better tools.
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna leave it there. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Dan Pipotone, co founder of Trade zero America joining us
Speaker 1: on the phone from Brooklyn. Listen, this has been, uh
Speaker 1: an interesting time for these types of companies because, as
Speaker 1: Dan said at the top, it's a captive audience in
Speaker 1: many ways, and you've got um, you know, even in
Speaker 1: in tough economic times, there are still people who want
Speaker 1: to take advantage of this market. They're seeing this market
Speaker 1: especially We've talked a lot about this today and probably
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about it. These tech names that have
Speaker 1: been on an absolute run over the course of this year,
Speaker 1: and even with that tough march. And by tech you
Speaker 1: mean pure tech as well as biotech because because of
Speaker 1: the push not only to find a vaccine, but also
Speaker 1: you know, various therapies, you know, modalities to treat uh,
Speaker 1: the ailment to treat the virus at different levels, you know, everybody,
Speaker 1: and there's so much money that's being committed from the
Speaker 1: government and elsewhere, and so you're really seeing that sector
Speaker 1: really get a big boost. Thanks so much for listening
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