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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Amazon to Lay off more than 18,000 Workers; Russian Media: Putin Develops Warship with Hypersonic Missiles; Booking CEO: People are really Enjoying Traveling now; ADP: Solar Market Strong but Fragmented; Solar Startup CEO: Our smallest set can Power 1/4 of a House; Guardian: Prince Harry Alleges William attacked him. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired January 05, 2023 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: A warm welcome to "First Move", I'm Rahel Solomon in today for Julia Chatterley. I had on today's program,
prayers for a Pope thousands gathered in Vatican City for the funeral mass of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the latest on today's historic ceremony just
ahead. Plus, Congress and chaos Kevin McCarthy is still unable to seal the deal and win over hard line conservatives in his bid to become U.S. House
speaker.
His unprecedented fight now entering its third day the layoffs, Washington straight ahead. Also the turmoil and Tech, Amazon announcing thousands more
job cuts than initially planned. And that's just hours after software giant Salesforce announced a 10 percent reduction in each workforce. Tech layoffs
in the wider U.S. jobs picture a main focus for Wall Street Investors today take a look at U.S. futures falling after a new report shows robust hiring
and the wider U.S. economy.
Beyond tech payroll firm ADP reporting that private U.S. employers added 235,000 jobs last month that is about 80,000 more positions than was
expected and also just released jobless claims numbers. Well, that's also pointing to continued strength in the labor market.
So let's get more now on the jobs picture with CNN's Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans. Christine, great to have you on this day
walk me through this report because when you look beyond the headline numbers, you do actually see that the recovery is not quite so even you
have some of the larger companies starting to pull back on hiring, walk me through this.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: One word fragmented here. You know, overall, we have a still strong labor market. But when you
look within the numbers, you can start to see where there are areas that are adding aggressively leisure and hospitality for example. I mean, people
want to do things and spend money on experiences and the goods producing part of the economy is showing signs.
I would say cooling, not a faltering but of cooling in these ADP numbers. It is the Chief Economist there who uses that word fragmented. You look at
overall with the numbers that good producing sector increases only 22,000. But leisure and hospitality is the big bright spot also some gains from
professional business services.
But overall a 235,000 print on an ADP private sector payroll number, that is surprising. I think, given the fact that the Fed has been raising
interest rates aggressively for six months. This is still a labor market where bottom lines a lot of employers are still struggling to find workers.
You can see that in the jobless claims as well. You're not seeing layoffs, layoffs are historically low, there are back with pre pandemic levels. What
both of these numbers together show me is that the job market remained robust into the end of the year.
SOLOMON: I think that is a really good way to describe it, Christine. I want to talk a bit about tech Amazon making some new saying that it will be
cutting 18,000 jobs. Neil Saunders, an analyst who covers the retail space pointed out in a research note that actually since 2018, Amazon has added
about a million jobs and so.
I wonder, Christine, how much of this Amazon and Tech beyond? How much of this is just sort of a correction from the over hiring? And how much of
this is an actual belt tightening because of weakening consumer demand or weakening profits? What do you think?
ROMANS: So we just said that the job market overall heading into the end of year is robust. And then some could say, well, how can you say that? When
we've had 10 percent layoffs at Salesforce and 18,000 at Amazon, that is a huge number and the largest layoffs ever in Meta's history, context is key
here. When you're talking about a million jobs added since 2018.
And Amazon, it was hiring at a breakneck pace, then they sort of slowed the hiring where you see the firing, it's an HR, it's in recruiting, I mean,
the jobs they added to add more jobs. So it might be a little bit of an overcorrection. It's also you're seeing that ad dollars are dwindling
spending is getting more cautious in these sorts of areas.
And so these companies that have grown aggressively over the past few years are starting to, you know, take a little bit of a back in context. It's
almost a margin error in terms of how many jobs that they added over at Salesforce? The CEO, they're acknowledging, yes, we hired too many people
too fast.
We were just living in the moment, and just seeing how aggressive the economy was for them in a good way. And they have been hiring, hiring,
hiring, and now they've got to kind of like retrench a little bit. So it's interesting to watch those big numbers in those tech layoffs.
But also to put it in perspective, I always say that, you know, by context, you know, that part of the labor market is really only about 7 percent of
the overall labor market. So the Tech layoffs are not really a canary in the coal mine. I think, at least yet for the broader economy.
[09:05:00]
SOLOMON: Yes, that's a great point Christine, perspective and context matters perhaps even more so when you have an economy that can sometimes be
a bit, confusing to truly appreciate and understand. Christine Romans great to have you thank you.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
SOLOMON: And we're actually going to speak to Nela Richardson, the Chief Economist at ADP a lot more about this report that's coming up later in the
show. But now we want to turn to Washington and the battle to be the next Speaker of the House.
Lawmakers set to reconvene and a few hours after Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed three more times on Wednesday to secure enough votes to
become speaker. So far, if you've lost track, understandably he has suffered defeat and six rounds of voting and two days on Fox, has the
details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): Chaos on the House floor after Congress adjourns for a second day without a speaker elected.
REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): We have a third one of our three branches of government offline right now. That is a very dangerous thing for our
country, and it cannot continue much longer.
BOEBERT: Representative Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the job after three more votes took place on Wednesday. The California Republican, now losing
six votes in two days.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I think it's probably best that people work through some morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a deal with those guys right now?
MCCARTHY: But a lot of progress.
BOEBERT (voice over): The failure to elect a speaker means members cannot be sworn in. Leaving Congress paralyzed until the standoff is resolved.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): None of us have seen anything like this disrespect for the institution and most Cavalier frivolous. It's quite sad.
BOEBERT (voice over): 20 holdouts rally their support for Republican Representative Byron Donalds.
REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): For the first time in history. There have been two black Americans placed into the nomination for Speaker of the House.
BOEBERT (voice over): Sources tell CNN that McCarthy is continuing negotiations with a group of opposing lawmakers and met separately with
freshmen holdouts.
REP. FRENCH HILL (R-AR): I'm sure there are some that may be no permanently but Mr. McCarthy is not treating them that way. Everyone is engaged in
these meetings and discussions and he's open to hearing from all of them.
BOEBERT: Republican's sources tell CNN, McCarthy proposed more concessions, one including a rules change that would allow one member to call for a vote
to oust the speaker. And to appoint more members from the Freedom Caucus to the Rules Committee, which dictates whether bills come to the floor.
McCarthy may concede to a vote on a bill proposing term limits for members and a border security plan. Although even with all those concessions,
Republican sources say McCarthy would still not have enough votes.
BOEBERT: Kevin McCarthy does not have 218 votes. Kevin McCarthy,--
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And you have 20? I ask you a very specific question if by Friday, we don't have 30.
BOEBERT: Listen, when we get this right, I will not Sean. I will not withdraw our - we're not petty of Kevin McCarthy. They were not self-
serving. We simply were asking for commitments on what the American people want to see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: To China now the World Health Organization criticizing China for a lack of transparency and publishing its COVID data, saying it's under
representing the true impact of the outbreak. Now despite that Beijing says that it will reopen the border with Hong Kong this Sunday, for the first
time in nearly three years.
Ivan Watson is live for us in Hong Kong with the details. Ivan, great to have you, so help me understand certainly there are industries that will
benefit from this, but how are residents and Hong Kong reacting to this?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, I'm a resident here and I'll give you one example. My daughter got sick this week
with a cold, and I went to pharmacies looking for fever medicine, cold medicine, throat lozenges, and you can't find them. And the pharmacists
told me, they've all been bought up purchased to treat the just massive numbers of people that are sick across the internal boundary between
Mainland, China and Hong Kong.
And this is a trend that we've seen kind of across the region, Macau and Taiwan, as well. So that is one example there. Another is just the response
to the Hong Kong government which has desperately wanted to reopen the boundary for years with Mainland, China because the Hong Kong economy has
been suffering in isolation for years amid the pandemic.
But the decision to open the boundary on Sunday will be somewhat limited. They're going to be traveled quotas about 60,000 travelers a day going in
each direction and get this. The Hong Kong government says that the travelers from Mainland, China will need to get PCR tests will need to get
COVID test, negative COVID test at least less than 48 hours before travel time.
So those are kind of travel restrictions, the same kind of restrictions that the Chinese government has been very unhappy.
[09:10:00]
WATSON: That a growing number of countries and governments around the world have been imposing, for example, the U.S. is also demanding preflight a
negative COVID tests from travelers coming from China. I believe we have a map that we could show to illustrate some of this. And the furthest extreme
among the many countries that are imposing these new restrictions is Morocco, which is completely barring travel from Mainland, China at least
for the time being. Sweden and Germany have just joined on board.
Thailand has announced it's not going to impose restrictions and its Health Minister has said that Chinese tourists could help revive its economy which
relies heavily on tourism, and has taken a beating. We've heard similar sentiments from the New Zealand government. Meanwhile, the criticism
continues to pile on the Chinese government about alleged lack of transparency when it comes to the scale of the outbreak.
For instance, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control, only about 20 people have died of COVID in the last two weeks in the entire
country. Whereas our teams in Beijing have been to funeral homes where they've seen bodies stacked up in containers outside the crematorium.
Listen to what the World Health Organization and official had to say last night about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE RYAN, W.H.O. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR HEALTH EMERGENCIES: We believe that the current numbers been published on from China under represents the
true impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, in terms of ICU admissions, and particularly in terms of deaths. And we would like to see
more data on a more geographic basis across China will continue to endeavor we look forward to getting more information on that from our colleagues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: And the Chinese government insists it has been cooperating with the World Health Organization. It has accused critics of trying to politicize
this situation. And it also insists that the COVID situation in China right now is under control, Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK, Ivan Watson there was a lot there thank you. Continue to watch that space. Well, the human cost of Russia's war on Ukraine, of course is
beyond measure, but the economic price is becoming clearer Ukraine's GDP contracted by over 30 percent last year according to the government. And
also Russian state media says Vladimir Putin has dispatched a warship armed with advanced hypersonic missiles.
President Putin claims that the missiles are harder to detect and will protect Russia from what he calls potential external threats. Scott McLean
joins me from Kyiv. Scott, look, I mean, as devastating as those economic figures were, they're actually better than some of the forecasts. And yet
we know the war is not even close to being over yet.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly no signs of it ending but you're right. Of course, it's not surprising, Rahel, that the Ukrainian
economy is shrinking. What is surprising is that maybe that it didn't shrink by even more because some economists were predicting that it would
shrink by 40, or even 50 percent. So by that measure, 30 percent is not so bad.
The Ministry of Economy here which put out these numbers says that the fact that Ukraine has been able to relatively effectively try to keep the power
systems online and repair the damage done by missiles strikes that is certainly helped. And of course, the huge influx of foreign aid and foreign
cash is obviously helped tremendously as well. Things perhaps are looking a little bit better on the battlefield for the Ukrainians as of late than
they are in the marketplace.
Especially given that devastating strike on the Russian barracks which took place New Year's Eve just after midnight, which has caused plenty of
ripples inside of Russia. The Head of the RT state television channel, calling on those members of the military leadership who allowed this many
troops to be in the same place at once, essentially sitting ducks. She's calling on them to be named and to be punished specifically.
The Russians are also running into trouble in the strategically important Donbas city of Bakhmut, which has been under siege for months now. The
Ukrainians appear to be holding the line despite the fact that they say that Psalm 60 percent of the city is now destroyed. The people doing the
majority of the fighting or at least a good chunk of the fighting for the Russians, is the Wagner private military.
And today, we saw a new video emerge in state media of the leader of the Wagner group, congratulating some recruits who are ex-prisoners. They had
gone around in the summer on a recruitment drive throughout Russian prisons offering convicts to essentially expunge their record be pardoned if they
served with the group for six months. And it appears that this is the very first graduating class of those recruits.
State media says that some of them are going to be staying on of course, there's another side of that story. And that's that CNN has reported on
plenty of those recruits being killed in action in Bakhmut, including one foreigner from Zambia and ex-convict who was killed in the Bakhmut area.
[09:15:00]
MCLEAN: One of the things to point out from Ukraine here, Rahel and that is that tomorrow for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and in Russia as well is
Christmas Eve. And so they the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is actually calling for there to be a 36 hour ceasefire to allow people to
celebrate. The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to push for an even more ambitious ceasefire.
He spoke with President Putin today, he's going to be speaking with President Zelenskyy today trying to really utilize his warm relations with
both countries to try to convince them to get back to the negotiating table and try to broker some kind of lasting peace even called on Vladimir Putin
to unilaterally declare a ceasefire on his own. Obviously, at this point, there are no signs that will actually happen, Rahel.
SOLOMON: We will wait to see as you pointed out Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate tomorrow. Scott McLean, thank you. And Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI has been laid to rest in a service at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.
About 50,000, faithful members of the public attended the ceremony which was led by Pope Francis. It's the first time in modern history that a pope
presided over his predecessor's funeral. CNN's Frederick Pleitgen has more from Rome. Frederick, great to have you, I mean, set the scene for us. I
mean, you were also among the 50,000 people there. What was it like?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was certainly an amazing experience to be here in Rome, as all this was
happening. As you said the Square was packed with people earlier today who were watching all this really history in the making. As you've also said,
and I think this is something that was really unique about the funeral service that took place here.
That was the current Pope presiding over the funeral of his predecessor, of course, Pope Benedict XVI had stepped down in 2013. And so it was Pope
Francis, who's presiding over the ceremony, even though much of it was not carried out by him himself. Of course, his health has also been difficult
for the past couple of months and so he sat for most of the servers.
However, he did speak at times there were several heads of state and other dignitaries who were here in the crowd. Although not as many as, for
instance, in 2005, for the burial and for the funeral of John Paul II. The Germans, however, with a large delegation here in Rome, you have the German
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Chancellor, and also all the Heads of Germany's constitutional bodies that were here as well.
One of the things that we have to remember about Pope Benedict XVI, he was, of course, someone who played a massive role here in the Vatican, not just
as Pope, but as before that as well as one of the Chief Cardinals here in the Vatican for decades, who really set the stage and set the tone for much
of the doctrine of the Catholic Church over the past. I would say about four decades, so certainly a huge loss for the Catholic Church and a huge
loss for the Vatican. But he was, of course, also a citizen of Germany and very much rooted in his home area in Germany, of the very end, they also
had a really strong faction here on the ground as well.
The Bavarian governor was here also the two former Bavarian governors in fact they chartered a plane for many of the dignitaries from that German
state alone to come here. And if you look at the crowd, it was interesting because as the sort of funeral ceremony was coming to an end, there were
some who were chanting Santo Subito essentially make him a saint immediately.
That to me, seemed to be coming from that area, where the sort of German crowd was I saw some Bavarian flags there next to the sign, calling for
Pope Benedict to be declared a saint very quickly.
So you do see that there is a lot of support for Pope Benedict. You know, one of the things that we've said about his pontificate is that, of course,
there were a lot of difficulties in it. Especially if you look at some of the abuse scandals that came to light where some felt that he wasn't doing
enough to address that but he certainly does have a massive and staunch following, especially in large parts of Germany, but then also in large
parts of the Catholic Church, especially because of his teachings and because he was such a top theologian as well, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Certainly interesting to watch and, as you say, smaller perhaps than his predecessor, but perhaps the way he would have preferred it to
begin with. Frederick Pleitgen, thank you. And straight ahead on "First Move", the holidays are over. So it's time to look forward to the next one.
The CEO of booking Holdings is here with some travel trends. And from sunsets, to solar solutions, the startup harnessing the power of the sun,
no matter where you are, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:00]
SOLOMON: Welcome back with the dawning of a New Year and the pandemic, seemingly slipping into the rearview mirror. Travel companies are gearing
up for what they call revenge travel. In other words, people taking vacations to make up for time loss under lock downs. At booking holdings,
third quarter earnings certainly reflected a travel surge with revenue up 29 percent and net income soaring 117 percent.
According to one research noted larger businesses in China and Europe could give it an advantage over rivals and that's despite economic headwinds. The
firm which uses stars like Idris Elba, who you're seeing here to advertise is focusing on its app. Its main brand says that the mobile app was used
for 45 percent of its room bookings in the latest quarter. Bookings in other brands include Priceline, kayak and rentalcars.com.
Glenn Fogle is President and CEO joins me now. Glen, great to have you look at the Idris Elba ads certainly get my attention. But I want to start with
China. I mean, it's such a huge story, the reopening. How significant is the reopening for booking? Is it a significant tailwind or not so much?
Help me understand that?
GLENN FOGEL, CEO AND PRESIDENT OF BOOKING HOLDINGS: Well, it's going to be interesting, and thanks for having me, but nobody knows yet. How fast is
the outbound business in China going to happen? Obviously, pre-pandemic China app and was a huge part of the international travel economy.
And so we're all looking forward to it coming back how quick, uncertain right now. But certainly we did have a nice piece of business that we
enjoyed pre-pandemic for outbound. And we're looking forward to regaining that as people begin to travel again, out of China.
SOLOMON: So we'll watch to see how quickly that materializes. Glenn, talk to me a bit about revenge travel, because I think we're hearing it
certainly from different parts of the travel industry, you hear from the airline CEOs, you know, you've certainly heard it from different parts of
the travel industry. Tell me a bit more about that and when does that finally start to plateau?
FOGEL: Well without doubt it definitely was the right turn because people have been locked up for two and a half years and people want to travel. And
we saw when any type of restriction would drop in terms of travel people would leap and immediately start booking. So we saw that now the question
is when is that going to cut down so much.
Uncertain, I think people are really enjoying traveling, they know that they want to meet up with the friends that they haven't seen the families
that they missed. All the things they plan to do weren't able to do. I think we still have a lot of ramp left in that.
In addition, people had a lot of savings during this time when people were unable to either purchase things because of supply chain problems or
weren't able to travel so they built up their savings. Now they want to spend those savings and we're looking forward to help make those men in our
area.
[09:25:00]
SOLOMON: But we know not everyone has is unlimited savings right we are starting to see in the data people are starting to draw down on savings are
starting to use their credit cards. Are you seeing any signs of weakness? Maybe people are still traveling, but are you seeing maybe people are
shortening their travel, any signs of weakness from what you can see?
FOGEL: No, you know, it's interesting, we talked about that on our third earnings call where we talked about, we hadn't seen people yet begun to
either cut back in terms of the number of nights for their holidays, for cutting back wraps in the star level of hotels, we really have not seen
that yet.
Obviously, that is something historically, you do see in any type of downturn in an economy where people say, I'm still going to travel, but
maybe I won't do it in this quiet extent. I would have done it, maybe I won't go to the fancy hotel, I'll go to some little moderately priced.
We hadn't seen that yet, when we did our call, and I will see what happens in the future. We don't know what's going to happen with the global
economies. But I do know that people are still enjoying some that they missed out for so long.
SOLOMON: Well, who's enjoying it most? What are you seeing in your data? Who's traveling the most? What age group? What demographic? What can you
tell us about that?
FOGEL: Well, certainly, it's interesting how the U.S. in terms of recovery in terms from the pandemic for travel was definitely leading. And then
Europe was behind that. And then even further behind Asia, the great thing that we're seeing is how Asia owes China has been coming back.
We mentioned in our third earnings call about how September was the first month when we finally had Asia above the 2019 number and that was good to
see. And we'll continue to see it come back. We're seeing Japan, we're seeing people in Korea and we're seeing all sorts of areas that previously
had been lagging a little bit beginning to come back.
And of course, they're always the holiday, a place that people always want to go. Whether it be in the U.S., and it's New York, and it's Las Vegas,
and perhaps it's Disney World and internationally Dubai is popular and again, seeing that recovery in Japan right now. We're seeing a nice
increase there, because people have not been able to go to Japan for some time.
SOLOMON: Interesting and I also want to quickly touch on OpenTable. Because bookings also opens OpenTable for those who are not familiar, that's a
platform where you essentially make restaurant reservations, continued signs of strength there. Are you starting to see people cut back on going
out, for example?
FOGEL: Now, actually, and that's another interesting area where there is no event travel. Its revenge dining, where again, people who had not been able
to go to restaurants have been restricted. And then once they could go, they were going, and we really are seeing that is a functional change where
previously people were willing just to go to a restaurant does show up.
And now much more so because it's so crowded and so many restaurants, people know, they have to book ahead. They need to get reservation, and
OpenTable is a great place for somebody to go get that reservation. So we're very pleased with what we're seeing happening there.
SOLOMON: Look, I think it's fascinating to watch post pandemic, just the consumer trends. I mean, I think it speaks to how damaging being locked up
in the house for all of those months really was just in terms of our patterns and our routine. So good to see that people are still out
spending, we'll see how long it holds up? Glenn Fogel, he is the President and CEO of booking holdings. Great to have you, thank you.
FOGEL: Thank you.
SOLOMON: Well, coming up jobs, jolts a week. Wall Street opens on top after a red hot read on U.S. employment. We will speak to the Chief Economist of
ADP, that's the company that compiled today's market moving report just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
SOLOMON: Welcome back to "First Move"! Still a whole lot to get to this hour including solar solutions how were Ukrainian startups hopes to bring
affordable energy to the war torn country and beyond? But first Wall Street bulls needing a bit of a power boost themselves in early trading.
Stocks are falling after new data points to continued strength in the U.S. jobs market. Payroll Firm ADP reporting that private sector employers added
235,000 jobs last month that was way above estimates.
Now all of this highlights the tough job ahead for the U.S. Federal Reserve. Fed minutes released Wednesday show that not one central banker
not one sees inflation falling fast enough to merit interest rate cuts this year.
Strong jobs numbers will further complicate the Fed's fight to control inflation. Nela Richardson joins me now she is the Chief Economist at ADP.
Nela, great to see you and great to have your insights on days like this!
Walk me through this report. We talked about it a bit earlier with Christine Romans. But it doesn't appear to be an even recovery, you are
starting to see maybe perhaps some of the larger industries pulled back, walk me through what you saw.
NELA RICHARDSON, CHIEF ECONOMIST: Absolutely. First, it's really important to note that this data that we presented today is based on ADP's million
clients. We represent 26 million workers pay one in six workers here in the United States.
So it's a very comprehensive look into what private establishments and firms are actually doing with their hiring. What we saw is a very healthy
number of 235,000 jobs created. But as you know, that number was not in lockstep across industries or even across establishment sizes with larger
organizations notably pulling back on their hiring.
Headcount was down in terms of new jobs by 151,000, for people for establishments that had more than 500 workers. So we're seeing strength in
that small and medium enterprise segment that we're seeing softness and weakness in larger firms that hired more aggressively over the past year.
SOLOMON: And anecdotally, maybe that's confirmed by the headlines that we see and what report every day you hear about the Amazons, you hear about
the sales forces? Nela what about wages, I saw a figure in terms of annual wages that really got my attention?
RICHARDSON: Right. Wages should be getting everyone's attention. It's the only thing workers have at their disposal to combat inflation. The issue is
that wages are still not keeping up. But what we're seeing is that wage growth has been really, really strong over the last year in 2022.
But we're finally starting to see a deceleration. So wage growth as measured by ADP was down to 7 percent year on year that's based on 10
million workers for the month. We saw that number come down from about 7.6 percent in November. Yes, that's progress, but not nearly enough.
When we are looking at wage growth before the pandemic, it was around 3 percent. So we're still more than double what has been the normal pace of
wages. And that, unfortunately, is still not keeping up with that headline, inflation number that the Fed is working so hard to bring them down.
SOLOMON: All right, certainly a figure that will raise some eyebrows at the Fed. Nela I also want to ask, are you seeing any signs of softening
broadening beyond just the interest rate sensitive industries?
[09:35:00]
SOLOMON: We talk about the tech sector so much but also housing, right? I mean, we have seen the impact of the Fed's fight on housing. But are you
seeing any softness broadening in the labor market?
RICHARDSON: Right. So we are seeing some softness in those interest sensitive sectors like financial services, those numbers were down for the
month 12,000 jobs, a lot of that softness is tied to the housing market tied to the fact that interest rates rose sharply, and people kind of pull
back homebuyers pull back.
Also, the low amount of housing inventory is affecting homebuyers right now. So you see that play out. We've seen some not in this report. But we
have seen construction reflect that softness, and certainly manufacturing reflect the softness and interest rate.
So yes, this is a fragmented market as we mentioned earlier, housing is one of those industries we watch because they tends to lead the economy into
and out of recession. So that softness is an important signal.
SOLOMON: And Nela, I'm going to ask you a tough question, but I'm confident you can answer it. If you had to describe this labor market today here in
the U.S. in one word, how would you do it?
RICHARDSON: Can I do three?
SOLOMON: Three, OK.
RICHARDSON: OK. I would call it tight, but fragile. You're seeing not a consistent strength across the labor market. You see areas of fragility
overall, the jobs market is tight, but it can't be taken for granted.
And so it's really going to be an important policy watch point to make sure that rates are tight enough that we don't see wages outrun the pace that is
comfortable for inflation to come down. But we still achieve some sort of soft landing for workers.
SOLOMON: And I think now with ADP out of the way all eyes turn to tomorrow's all important U.S. jobs report. What are you expecting because
we got ADP, which as we said was stronger than expected?
Looking ahead to tomorrow, I mean, Goldman Sachs pointed out in a note earlier this week that ADP job growth has underperformed the BLS by about
55,000, on average over the last three reports. So if you look at expectations, and you add 55,000 to that Nela, we're talking about perhaps
290,000 jobs being added. I mean, what are you expecting?
RICHARDSON: I'm not expecting that the ADP numbers we released today is a forecast of BLS. They're different samples, they asked different questions.
This is real data from ADP based on actual number of headcount that our clients firms have. The BLS numbers are based on a survey.
So we can't expect that one number alone is a forecast of the other even though they appear in very close together in the same week, but if you add
up all the jobs data, if you look at jobless claims that came out this morning, very low lowest than September.
If you look at the jolts data, job openings still strong, even as the economy is slowing, if you look at the ADP numbers, and where we're seeing
the sources of strength and consumer facing industries, you add all that up, you already see a labor market that's tight.
So what the tomorrow's number will do? It will give us more context. It'll show us more places where we're seeing fragility, but also more places
where we're seeing strength. And it's the job of the Fed to interpret all this data, and really make a call on what that means for inflation.
SOLOMON: Yes, that'll be so interesting to watch. You've gotten so much data as you pointed out, Nela on the labor front. Jolts as you pointed out,
showing this week that there are still 1.7 open jobs for every one person looking.
Powell seems to be his favorite ratio to talk about when talking about the labor market so much to watch. Great to have you Nela Richardson today with
that ADP data!
RICHARDSON: Thanks for having.
SOLOMON: She is the Chief Economist at ADP. And still to come, with energy prices uncomfortably high in Europe. I chat with a CEO of a startup working
to make solar power more accessible, one balcony at a time. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
SOLOMON: Welcome back to "First Move"! Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine energy costs in Europe have been uncomfortably high. My next guest has been
working to ease the burden. "We Do Solar" a startup founded by Ukrainian Entrepreneur Karolina Attspodina allows customers to install solar panel
kits on their balconies.
"We Do Solar" says that it system can help users reduce their electricity bills by up to 25 percent while also cutting their dependency on Russian
gas and oil and their carbon footprint. Joining me now is Karolina Attspodina. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of "We Do Solar". Karolina great
to have you today!
KAROLINA ATTSPODINA, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, WE DO SOLAR: Thank you so much for having me.
SOLOMON: Wonderful to have you. So let's start at the top. I mean, how does the system actually work? You say it's lightweight. You can put it on your
balcony. Explain to us a bit how it works?
ATTSPODINA: Yes. The system is very lightweight. So I think when designing and when creating "We Do Solar", for us, it was very important to create a
product that will be available for people that do not only own their own houses but also is available for apartment buildings.
Someone who's potentially renting an apartment and maybe doesn't own a property so I felt really unfair that there is no kind of way for people to
have access to renewable energy, if they're not the owners of the property.
The system works a really simple way. We have a set of certain amount of solar panels. They're very, very lightweight, about like one kilogram each.
And they are placed onto your balcony with specific straps.
After that there is a specific engine that is called a micro inverter, which transitions the solar energy into grid energy. And with that, it
pushes it into your grid just by plugging it into a normal power socket. So many people unfortunately - yes, and many people don't know how that works.
But there is a way to actually push solar energy into your household and solar power always has a bigger push them the actual grid energy.
SOLOMON: Well, I think that's fascinating me. How much energy and power are we talking? I mean, can you power actually larger appliances like a washing
machine and refrigerator? I mean, how much energy are we talking?
ATTSPODINA: Yes. So our - let's say smallest set is 600 watt worth of power. So that can exactly like you mentioned power up to 25 percent of
your household devices. Of course it picks up energy, because depending on when the power comes in, this is when your household devices will be then
powered by solar.
Of course you can also install bigger sets right? And we are going to come out with bigger sets where you can power up you know bigger amounts or
bigger percentage of your household. So depends of course on how much let's say square meters you have on your balcony or maybe terrace to make sure
that you can introduce that to your home.
SOLOMON: And Karolina as I understand that you launched shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, what's demand been like so far?
ATTSPODINA: Yes, it definitely hasn't been a coincidence with our launch.
[09:45:00]
ATTSPODINA: As I am Ukrainian, it has been pretty tough time because obviously I have family there as well. And we were basically launching
pretty much at the same time as the war has occurred. From the start of the war I think within a week or two people have realized that the energy
prices are going to go up and they have started to go up.
I think the governments have finally understood that they need to be independent, and they need to focus on renewable energy and integration of
renewable energy into their households. And definitely 70 percent, like, we saw an increase in sales of our product.
SOLOMON: So help me understand. I mean, how many countries are we talking? How many customers? Help me in sort of quantify what demand has been like?
And what's been a relatively short period of time?
ATTSPODINA: Yes. It has been a pretty short period of time. So when we launched, we launched first in Germany only because this is where our
startup is sitting right now. And right now, we're live in 24 countries across Europe.
SOLOMON: I see. Any challenges to being in 24 countries? I mean, that's quite impressive in less than a year. Any challenges in terms of
regulations? I mean, is it pretty uniform across these countries? Or are there some challenges in terms of meeting the demand in different
countries?
ATTSPODINA: There are definitely some countries still, like Hungary; for example, aware solar sets like this are still much loud. And, you know,
certain regulations are still not there. However, most of the countries do have regulations in place for a smaller amount of self-installation solar,
so that would be 600 watts.
And some countries are actually going up in higher capacities, like 800 or 1200 watts that you can install by yourself. So with that said, I do see
that within the future, you know, evolving within solar, you know, these capacities will be only growing.
SOLOMON: And speaking of only growing I mean, I understand that at some point you would like to expand into Ukraine. Help me understand, I know,
you said you've been in contact with the Ukrainian government, but that your products need the grid? What's your hope in terms of when you'll be
able to expand in your home country?
ATTSPODINA: Hopefully as soon as possible, not because of the expansion, but because simply the situation that people are under right now. So we do
hope that the war will be over very soon. And hopefully this year, we do need the grid that is correct.
At the moment, people are more in the survival mode, and they need different sources of energy to keep them let's say alive and, you know,
keep the electricity on. For us our product would come in place only when the cities are being rebuilt and we can then introduce it to the new
buildings as an alternative source.
SOLOMON: An energy source that is clearly needed right now in Ukraine. Karolina Attspodina, great to have you thank you!
ATTSPODINA: Thank you.
SOLOMON: She is the CEO and Co-Founder of "We Do Solar". And still to come, a new allegation from Prince Harry about his brother in his latest book,
what he's saying after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:00]
SOLOMON: Welcome back to "First Move"! And one last check on the markets U.S. stocks falling in early trading after a new report showed private
employers added more than 230,000 jobs last month that was way above estimates.
You can see the DOW is off 1.2 percent the NASDAQ the worst among them off about 1.4 percent and the S&P off 1.1 percent let's call it. And tomorrow
the government releases its all-encompassing jobs report on Friday. Today's data though, suggesting that Friday's number could come in strong as well.
Not good news for the inflation fighting fed but definitely good news for American workers.
And stocks in the news today include Bed Bath and Beyond take a look shares are off a whopping 22 percent shares sitting at about $1.90 a share right
now. The large U.S. retailer warning that it may be forced to file for bankruptcy as its financial position worsens.
It shares off by more than 20 percent as I said closer to 22 percent. Also shares of Crypto currency bank Silver Gate Capitol. They're tumbling too,
look at that off about 45 percent the company reporting a sharp drop in crypto deposits after the collapse of FTX.
The rift between Prince Harry and the rest of the British Royal Family appears to be growing deeper. The Prince is accusing his brother Prince
William of course of physically assaulting him back in 2019. That's according to the Guardian Newspaper which says its CNN's advanced copy of
Prince Harry's much anticipated new book "Spare".
The paper says Harry writes that William knocked him to the floor during an argument over Harry's wife Megan. Prince Harry sat down with "Good Morning
America" Co-Anchor Michael Strahan to discuss the new book take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL STRAHAN, GOOD MORNING AMERICA CO ANCHOR: The quote in his book where you refer to your brother as your beloved brother and arch nemesis?
Strong words, what did you mean by that?
PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX, BRITISH MILITARY OFFICER: There is always been this competition between us weirdly, I think it really plays into
always played by the air spare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: CNN's Max Foster joins me now. Max, great to see you! Does it surprise you at all having covered the Royal Family for so long does it
surprise you at all to hear him call Prince William, his arch nemesis?
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The whole book appears to be about his issue with being the spare so the number two. I think, you know,
this is only one side of the story that we're getting at the moment because Prince William's side have decided not to comment on any of this.
But I think Prince William's side would say actually, they used to try to promote Harry as much as possible, not making him feel like a spare. So
they had a very equal partnership, as far as it could be equal within the monarchy, which is built on a hierarchy.
He's got an issue Harry with the system effectively, which is that there are people more senior in the pecking order to him and he didn't like
playing second fiddle. And then you got the more sort of salacious detail that's coming out in this sort of blitz of publicity around the book.
You were talking there about the fight, which is making all the headlines here. William effectively pushing Harry to the ground and injuring him
being seen, as you know, using violence against his brother after a big argument when he's been very critical of Megan.
So I think there are a lot of sort of salacious interests here. But the bigger issue which is coming out of this is that Harry just doesn't believe
that he should have been made to feel second best throughout his whole life.
SOLOMON: Well, I mean, sibling dynamics are complicated to say the least. Max, can I circle back to those salacious allegations, the ones making the
most headlines, as you pointed out? I mean, fights among brothers or siblings in general aren't so uncommon, any greater sense of how serious
these allegations were in terms of the altercation or the physical nature of it all?
FOSTER: I think, you know, Harry talks a bit about that in how he, you know, he had these particularly scarred him. He's using it as an
illustration of the sort of issue that he had trying to find examples of exactly why he was so frustrated?
He actually concedes in there that William was trying to help him. Harry's saying, well, this isn't helping me. There's, you know, there's that
brotherly contests. I don't think it's unusual for brothers to fight as you say. It's not unusual for brothers to have competition either.
I think there'll be a huge amount of frustration within the family that these very private moments and they are deliberately private. William went
round to Harry's house. He was there on his own. They're all big blown out into the public.
[09:55:00]
FOSTER: And, you know, we're not getting William's side to any of this. And I think that's simply because if he did start giving his narrative, then it
would just continue and it'll keep blowing up. And I think they've just decided they're not going to comment to allow this or to blow over at some
point, if there isn't any more sort of content come out around it.
SOLOMON: I mean it's an interesting point, Max. I mean, I wonder when it will blow over at some point because it seems to be the story that just
continues to, you knows, have new headlines. Max Foster great to have you thank you!
FOSTER: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And finally, another honor for Football Legend Pele. A day after he was laid to rest Rio de Janeiro has renamed the avenue in front of the
City's Maracana Stadium as "King Pele Avenue". Now initially, it was to be called "Pele Avenue", but a Twitter poll found nearly 90 percent of those
who voted wanted "King" in the street name.
The three time World Cup winner died last week after a battle with Colon cancer. And let's take a quick look at the markets if we might as we said
they've been lower pretty much all morning after we got that strong ADP data you can see right across the board and that is it for the show. I'm
Rahel Solomon. "Connect the World" is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
