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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Dow Logs Biggest Point-Drop in History; All of Italy Now On Lockdown, Cases in China Decline; Joe Biden & Bernie Sanders Face Off in Six States Today. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 10, 2020 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[04:30:18]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Wall Street dangerously close to a bear market. A year of gains wiped out. Now the president is pushing stimulus measures. Can stocks stage a badly needed come back today?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Broad impact from the virus around the world. Italy totally shut down, freezing 60 million people in place. But in Asia, numbers appear to be declining.

JARRETT: And Bernie Sanders faces a pivotal test today if he wants to remain pivotal in the 2020 race. Can lighting strike twice in Michigan?

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour here in New York this Tuesday morning, Tuesday after a historic day on Wall Street, after coronavirus fears and an oil crash sparked a huge selloff.

The Dow closed down more than 2,000 points, the worst point drop on record, the worst day since October 2008. S&P 500 tumbled 7.6 percent in one day. It is now 18 percent below its record high. A 20 percent decline would mean the end of the bull market.

Numbers plummeting so quickly they triggered what is called a circuit breaker put in place after Black Monday. That crash in 1987. The pause is designed to ease panic among investors and it worked for the most part. Wall Street on the brink of edging -- ending its decade-long bull market, but it stopped yesterday.

President Trump needs the declines to end here. He is using the economy as a barometer for success since he was sworn in. The White House has invited Wall Street executives to meet this week on the coronavirus. The president in a somber press conference, laid out his expectations for stimulus.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am discussing a possible payroll tax cut or relief -- substantial relief -- very substantial relief that's a big -- that's a big number. We're also going to be talking about hourly wage earners getting help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It appears to have helped for now. U.S. futures are up this morning, up 3 percent in a bounce back. That would be some 700 points. Over in Asia, you saw an attempt to recover there, although not as robustly.

And in London, Paris, Frankfurt have moved higher, taking wages a little bit of the recent losses. And Trump is focusing on hourly employees because they are the most vulnerable. They ferry groceries, passengers, hot meals. They can't work from home. By the way, if they go to work and they are sick, they spread the virus.

There are two problems for Trump. One, Senate Republicans are cool to new economic stimulus measures. And two, even with a strong economy, the administration has already done things usually reserved for down economies. He cut taxes in 2017, the federal deficit is already over a trillion dollars. Is there an appetite for a cruise ship industry bailout or an airline bailout?

Remember, in India two weeks, when Trump tweeted stock markets starting to look very good to me. Since that stock market bullish call, stocks are down 14 percent.

JARRETT: The White House says President Trump has not been tested for coronavirus even though he came in close contact with several lawmakers who are now self-quarantined. Those lawmakers had contact with someone at a recent conservative conference, CPAC, who later tested positive for the virus.

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz rode on Air Force One with Trump on Monday as he found out about his own possible exposure to the virus after spending the weekend at Trump's Mar-a-Lago property. He made headlines just last week when he wore a gas mask onto the House floor.

Congressman Doug Collins also joined Trump during a visit to the CDC on Friday. Photos from that day show the Georgia lawmaker shaking the president's hand in close proximity on the tarmac.

And the incoming White House chief of staff, Congressman Mark Meadows of North Carolina, also in voluntary isolation, though he hasn't had recent close contact with the president.

Later today, the Trump campaign will announce plans to hold a rally in the coming days, insisting it is proceeding as normal during the coronavirus pandemic.

ROMANS: All right. All of Italy on lockdown this morning. The prime minister extending travel restrictions to the entire country through April 3rd because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, this order affects 60 million people, a response far more aggressive than the American approach so far.

Let's go back to Rome. I want to bring in CNN's Delia Gallagher.

And, Delia, I mean, this sounds so dramatic. An entire country told to stay home.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are in a critical situation, no doubt about it.

[04:35:03]

There are a number of levels of concern here. Obviously, stopping the spread of the virus is of utmost concern. But also we have an economic issue, these closures really hitting hard, especially tourism industry, as you can imagine, tourism makes up 12 percent of Italy's GDP, already at the beginning of this crisis, the hotel industry was estimating losses of some 8.8 euros. Now with the lockdown in the whole of Italy, obviously, those numbers are going to have to be revised.

Concern about the health infrastructure. We spoke to the coordinator of intensive care units in the Lombardi region. That's where Milan is, and he said they are seeing a tsunami of patients. They are reaching collapse, putting patients in hallways.

When I spoke to doctors here in Rome yesterday, they said they were hoping for a lockdown because the Lombardi region has one of the best health infrastructures in Italy. And if those kind of numbers were to come to other regions that don't have that kind of infrastructure, it would become a difficult situation.

We also saw yesterday, Christine, as if everything that's going on wasn't enough in 22 jails across Italy, riots, some inmates escaped. They were protesting a ban on families coming to visit them. We're still a waiting figures on whether all of those inmates are indeed back in their prisons -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much for that. Delia Gallagher in Rome.

JARRETT: Coronavirus has now spread to more than 100 countries and territories. Globally, the number of coronavirus 113,000. More than 4,000 people have died.

Yet in Asia where the outbreak began, cases appear to be declining. South Korea reporting its lowest daily number in weeks, while China claims 19 new cases, which would be the lowest there since mid- January.

CNN's David Culver is live in Shanghai. He's been covering this since the very beginning.

David, has life returned to normal or maybe a new normal?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can bet there's an eagerness for that, Laura. Little by little it's trickling back to a new normal. I'm glad you suggested that. It's going to be very significant. It won't be back to where it was for some time now.

That's been fully acknowledged, and yet people are starting to go back to restaurants. Shanghai, Disney is opening some of their shops and restaurants. Not opening the park yet, but this is still an effort to go on to this phased re-opening, if you will. And we're seeing what perhaps is one of the biggest indicators of progress here, and that is coming right from the top. President Xi Jinping himself making a presidential visit to the epicenter of all of this, where it all began, Wuhan. That's within Hubei province, that's the capital there. And that's the city dealing with a lockdown for nearly seven weeks.

And that visit is with some of the military medical personnel. It's also within some of the residents there. They're still within a lockdown zone. So, that hasn't been lifted. But we're hearing that.

As of today, they're starting to allow movement for certain people within Hubei province, just outside of Wuhan, who are deemed to not be at a high exposure risk. How do they track them? It's done through an app. All of us in China are tracked by big data, if you will, and we have a QR code that tells us green, yellow, red.

And if you're green, it means you're being at low risk to travel and go around. If you're at red, you're supposed to be quarantined. Yellow, you're supposed to stay in place. You have potentially some exposure. So, they're doing that within Hubei province now. That is a sign of progress. It's a sign that they're allowing some movement within.

We're also hearing all of the field hospitals that they had opened up. They are closed. And they're starting, Laura, to resume school in the northwest province. So, a lot of folks, including in the U.S. where you are talking about maybe pulling school and closing them down for a while, well, here they're starting to go the opposite direction. So, perhaps something optimistic to look towards.

JARRETT: Surely parents have to be happy about that. David, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. The oil market crashed, the worst day in nearly 30 years since the start of the first Gulf War in 1991. What happened? The U.S. production boom has made America the biggest oil producer in the world. So, lower prices hurt oil producers here. A fight between Russia and Saudi Arabia is a spark.

Russian President Vladimir Putin walked away from a deal with the Saudis to cut supply, afraid the U.S. would fill the gap and steal market share. An oil glut is expected and oil prices promptly crashed.

President Trump says spinning this as good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down. But there's no doubt the crash will be far more damaging to the U.S. economy than past plunges.

CNN's John Defterios joins us live from London.

You know, it's just sort of amazing to look at those prices yesterday and see 25 to 30 percent plunge in oil prices. [04:40:07]

It's really unprecedented.

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN ANCHOR: Unprecedented, indeed, Christine. In fact, I had to look at the screen three times to see if I could believe it. It is interesting spin by President Trump, because I find it very difficult to believe that consumers will even feel the price cut at the pump when they have this pandemic to deal with. When you talk to people on the phone, they're extremely worried about the near future.

And as you suggested here, the U.S. has risen to number one, lucky 13 million barrels in the first quarter of 2020. It was a wave for a decade when they doubled their output. We have 1.5 million jobs in the United States directly linked to the oil and gas sector. A multiplier of 10 if you've taken hotels and restaurants, car dealers, the real estate business. I was in the Permian last October, it was extraordinary the boom we're seeing and this 50 percent correction, by the way, from January 6th, 30 percent of that in the last three days of trading.

Little consolation, this rise we see today because the industry is going to be transformed by this price correction, no doubt about it. This is not about small and medium sized enterprises and the basins that produce the shale, but the majors have come in. The mature adults are at the table. They have deeper pockets, Christine, but they're much more prudent with their spending. So, they have to cut back on production. It's not just about producing oil but making money and the benchmark on Wall Street is 15 percent return on capital, and they got clobbered during that selloff that you saw on Wall Street yesterday, the oil and gas companies.

ROMANS: Yes, the 1.5 million jobs in the U.S. is an important number especially if you see bankruptcies.

Is there a danger that the U.S. oil patch becomes I guess collateral damage, is that the Saudis try to grab control?

DEFTERIOS: I think it's the biggest worry for the United States oil and gas and for the world. As a matter of fact, Christine, the Department of Energy in United States said they don't like the fact that state actors are trying to manipulate the markets. That's finger pointing to Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Mohamed bin Salman is a young crown prince we've heard about. He's only 34 years old.

When Russia left the bargaining table when I was covering the OPEC plus meeting in Vienna on Friday, over the weekend, the Saudis said, look, this is our line in the sand. You're not going to join us in cutting production, we'll boost up production and we'll slash prices. So, I'd say it's an energy power play and the U.S. oil and gas producers and those in Africa, in Asia, and everywhere else will feel the squeeze of this power play by the number one and two exporters in the world, Saudi Arabia and Russia. ROMANS: All right. John Defterios in London, thanks, John.

JARRETT: All right. Still ahead, Bernie Sanders needs a big night in Michigan or his campaign will have a tough choice to make. Can he pull off another surprise to slow Joe Biden's momentum?

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[04:47:03]

JARRETT: In the U.S. there are 728 confirmed cases and 26 deaths in 36 states and Washington D.C. According to a new study, coronavirus symptoms usually take five days to appear so that can explain why it's spreading undetected in some cases based on available information, CNN calculates the vast majority of those who died in the U.S. are patients 70 and up.

ROMANS: In California, Santa Clara County has banned public gatherings of 1,000 people and more for three weeks. That includes Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Jose. The NHL's San Jose Sharks have a scheduled home game a week from Thursday. National Hockey, basketball, baseball and soccer leagues are also implementing a ban on media access to the player locker rooms. No media in the locker rooms beginning today.

JARRETT: Universities across the country are also taking precautions. Some have canceled classes. Others have moved them online. Overnight, Ohio State suspended in person classes until the end of March for all 66,000 students. Organizers of the South by Southwest Festival forced to layoff 1/3 of their full time staff after canceling this year's event.

ROMANS: A lot of independent contractors there really upset.

Now, "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" have decided to nix studio audiences. Hosts Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak both have underlying health issues.

Pearl Jam has canceled the North American league of its world tour. It's set to open on March 18 in 14 Canadian and U.S. cities. And Boston has canceled -- Boston has canceled its 2020 St. Patrick's Day parade out of an abundance of caution. Ireland canceling St. Patrick's Day parades over coronavirus concerns as well.

All right. Biden versus Sanders. Presidential contest today in six states. Bernie Sanders got a major bump in Michigan in 2016. A surprise win that foreshadowed Democrat's struggles to lure working class voters. Today's result could make or break Sanders 2020 campaign.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Detroit.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONENT: Christine and Laura, the final rally here for Joe Biden before the Michigan primary. He had a bit of company on stage, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, evidence the Biden bandwagon is indeed growing. He is trying to use that momentum to push into the primary today here in Michigan, as well as Missouri, Washington state, Mississippi, trying to make the case that it's time for Democrats to coalesce around Joe Biden.

Bernie Sanders, of course, is saying not so fast, drawing major distinctions with Joe Biden here in Michigan. Far more is at stake here than when 125 delegates, the biggest prize of all today. It is one of the last best places to make his argument that he is for working people, that he is for younger people across the industrial Midwest.

The calendar does not get easier for Bernie Sanders in the coming weeks after Michigan. In fact, Ohio, Illinois next week. Next month, it's Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. So, clearly, Bernie Sanders, to keep going, knows he needs to show strength here.

[04:50:02]

Joe Biden trying to close out this campaign in Michigan and move onto the matter at hand with Donald Trump.

There's no question the Democrats are eager to coalesce around one candidate. Let's see how Michigan votes today to see how fast the goes -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

All right. Wall Street desperate for a rebound after just a historic selloff. Can they bounce back and hold it today? CNN Business has a look at markets around the world, next.

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ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Taking a look at markets around the world.

You can see Asian shares trying to stabilize here, moving a little bit higher. European shares have also opened higher, at least 2 percent higher. And Wall Street futures also leaning up.

But, boy, that barely scratches the surface in terms of the loss of the last few weeks. It was a very big, bad day for investors after coronavirus fears, and an oil crash sparked a huge selloff. The Dow logged its worst day since October 2008 percentage-wise. More on the historic drop in a few minutes, but United Airlines now expanding its travel wavers for customers at the airline industries hit hard by coronavirus.

The airline is waiving fees for all domestic and international tickets issued on or before March 2nd for trips from now to the end of April.

Starbucks is testing out a new cup and it's hoping you won't notice. The cup is still made from paper, but the inside is coated with a compostable liner, instead of plastic. Starbucks has trying for decades to reduce waste by developing a greener cup. And they're still a long way to go.

Environmentalists have been frustrated by how slow this has been. Even with the compostable lining, recyclers still have to separate the liner from the cup. The new cup is going to get a trial run in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London, and Vancouver.

JARRETT: Twitter has botched a deceptive video of Joe Biden as manipulated. President Trump retweeted the video originally shared by the White House social media director Dan Scavino. The video has been viewed nearly 7 million times since Sunday and the manipulated media label Twitter promised is still not showing up for some users. Twitter said Sunday night it was working to fix that glitch. Scavino insisted the video was not manipulated in a tweet also retweeted by the president.

ROMANS: Harry and Meghan attending their final event as senior members of the royal family. The duke and duchess joining Harry's grandmother, the queen, for the annual commonwealth service at Westminster Abby. We're told the queen herself invited them to church.

Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Edward were also there. The engagement also marked the first time Meghan and the queen have been together since she and Prince Harry announced in January they were stepping away from royal life.

JARRETT: Well, record warmth ahead for at least one more day before a cold front brings heavy rain and colder temperatures to the eastern part of the country. The forecast now from meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.

An incredible run of warm still running 10 to 20 degrees above average, especially right along the immediate coastal communities there along the Eastern Board. And, in fact, we have highs even in the 70s across portions of New England yesterday which set record temperatures and look at the morning hours here, pre-sunrise readings up around 60 degrees in New York City, feeling the same across Erie, Pittsburgh, across Washington, as well, nearly 60 degrees for your low temperatures.

So, pretty impressive run, round of showers coming in with the next disturbance and we've got a trio of storms to tell you about. One of which will quickly skirt across the northern tier of the country, that works its way with showers through Wednesday. Secondary one comes in through Saturday here with some wet weather. I notice the one across portions of California, that's the main player here eventually through Saturday and to eventually Monday as well here, brings in quite a bit of wet weather into the Southern states and potentially into the northern tier of the country as well. And, in fact, it is across the west coast where the weather story is a big one. We'll leave you with this, Los Angeles, a seven-day forecast you don't see very often, showers each and every single day within the next week -- guys.

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JARRETT: Pedram, thanks so much for that report.

Well, it didn't take long for Pete Buttigieg to find work. The former Democratic presidential candidate will host -- guest-host on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Thursday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hopefully, some funnier lines than mine will be doing some writing for that. But I think it's going to be fun. The thing about coming off a presidential campaign, you have been focused on one thing and one thing only. It's nice to be able to zoom out and just come back at life.

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JARRETT: Among Mayor Pete's guests Thursday night, Sir Patrick Stewart.

ROMANS: I'll tune in for that.

While you were sleeping, late night took on President Trump's rosy take on the coronavirus pandemic.

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JAMES CORDEN, HOST, CBS "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": Trump says he has a natural ability to understand the coronavirus. Well, let's see -- nobody likes it, half the world is afraid of it. I can see why he can relate.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": The stock market tanked this morning. Trump tweeted, "Good for the consumer. Gasoline prices coming down!"

That's like the Titanic sinking and the captain yelling good news, free deck chairs. Take as much as you want.

Don't worry about it -- free -- free. Take five, sure. I don't care.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Things are worse overseas. The Italian government has just quarantined the entire country. Yes. Even the Olive Garden just changed their slogan to "When you're here, why are you here? You're going to give us coronavirus!"

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ROMANS: I'm glad so many could laugh about it.

JARRETT: You have to laugh.

All right. Thanks to our international viewers for joining us. Have a great rest of your day.

For our U.S. viewers, EARLY START continues right now.

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