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CNN 10
The U.S. Ups Its Support For Ukraine; Shipments Of Baby Formula Are Flown Into America; Gas And Diesel Prices Hit New Records; A Stock Index Raises Concerns. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired May 23, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. This is our last week on the air in our spring broadcasting season. So after this Friday,
we`ll be working behind the scenes until the daily show resumes in August.
First up, more American assistance is on the way to the nation of Ukraine. The two countries are not officially allies through the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. Ukraine`s not a member of NATO. But the U.S. has been a leading supporter of Ukraine as it fights the invasion launched by Russia
in February.
While on a trip to Asia, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill to provide $40 billion in new assistance to Ukraine. It includes military equipment
and humanitarian aid for the European country. This is in addition to the $13.6 billion that Congress approved for Ukraine in March. These packages
have had bipartisan backing from Democrats and many Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The president says they`re a sign of strong support for Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia but some Republicans say the U.S. is spending
too much to help Ukraine that it should be selling the nation weapons instead and that European countries should be spending more to support
Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a product from Europe is arriving to help out with a problem in the United States. That problem is a widespread shortage of baby formula.
One of America`s largest manufacturing plants was shut down in February over safety concerns and it won`t be able to reopen for at least another
week.
Seventy thousand pounds of formula landed in America from Switzerland yesterday, and President Biden says his administration`s working around the
clock to get it to people in need. But critics say that administration waited too long and moved too slowly in taking action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Here at Ramstein Air Force Base, we`ve been watching service members putting together these
pallets. You can see them all throughout here. It`s 1.5 million bottles, each bottle, 8 ounces. One-point-five million bottles of baby formula being
sent by a European company to the United States. The Department of Defense is doing the shipping.
Let`s take a look at what they`re sending. If you look at this, you can see it says Nestle. That`s a Swiss company. Alfamino, that`s a formula that`s
hypoallergenic.
That`s because a lot of the children in the United States, their parents who are having trouble finding formula often those children have particular
medical conditions or they have allergies and they`re looking for a particular kind of formula like a hypoallergenic formula. So it`s --
there`s a lot of hope that this could help families in the U.S.
Now, we want to be clear-eyed about this as great as it is to have these 1.5 million bottles, this will not solve the infant formula shortage. There
are other steps that are being taken too, but even all put together this will not solve anything. Hopefully, it will alleviate it to some extent,
but as far as getting those shelves full again, that could take many, many, many weeks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: In the United States, fuel is at its highest price ever. The AAA Automobile Association says the latest record for a gallon of gasoline was
set on Sunday at more than $4.59 per gallon on average. Diesel`s record was set last Wednesday at over $5.57 per gallon.
Here`s how that impacts inflation, the rising prices for goods.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENTON CINQUEGRANA, CHIEF OIL ANALYST, OPIS: It could be gasoline, it could be diesel, it could be jet fuel. So, but that fuel is eventually
going to be distributed. Right now, those tank levels are pretty low, though.
YURKEVICH: Is that concerning for you?
CINQUEGRANA: Absolutely.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): These oil tanks in New York harbor sit at alarmingly low levels not seen in 30 years, as demand outpaces supply.
CINQUEGRANA: Over there.
YURKEVICH: This is one of seven critical fuel points across the country, supplying our nation`s gas stations, planes, trucks and homes, critical to
fueling the U.S. supply chain.
CINQUEGRANA: And really high diesel prices get passed on to the consumer. Whether that`s for construction, whether that`s for delivering groceries to
the grocery store where you buy whatever it is you need.
YURKEVICH: U.S. diesel prices are already at record highs, with particular pain here in the Northeast. And now with tankers like these exporting much
needed diesel to Europe, instead of supplying the U.S., prices are spiking higher. But there are also fewer U.S. diesel refineries after years of
closures to make up that difference in supply.
CINQUEGRANA: Right now, there`s just a global shortage of diesel. It`s really tight.
YURKEVICH: Katie Child, owner of Berkshire Energy Depot in New Haven, Connecticut, is responsible for setting the price of diesel here.
How does it feel to have to make the price higher every day?
KATIE CHILD, OWNER, BERKSHIRE ENERGY DEPOT: You can see the pain in their face when they come in and see the price and you just -- you apologize and
say I`m sorry. There`s nothing -- there`s nothing I can do about it.
YURKEVICH: She`s a small business owner who services other small businesses and says the record prices have lost her customers.
CHILD: When prices are high, people shop around more. Well if you know you`ll save, you know, 10 cents down the road, you`re going to go there.
YURKEVICH: Hudson Square Pharmacy, back in New York, is also facing the same problem. Everything from cereal to toilet paper is more expensive.
AL SOLMAN, OWNER, HUDSON SQUARE PHARMACY: We do pay a gas surcharge too. Now that gas has gone up a lot, we notice on our bills $2, $3, $5 surcharge
for gasoline.
YURKEVICH: That extra charge has to be recouped from somewhere.
SOLMAN: Once the prices become a little too much, then we just have to pass it on to the consumer.
YURKEVICH: But the consumer holds some power to turn the tide of high prices. A relentless buying and spending inflicted on a brittle supply
chain are contributing to the high price of diesel.
CINQUEGRANA: And at some point the consumer`s going to say, all right, enough`s enough. I got to -- I got to slow down because this is taking too
much of a disposable income. If we do have a pullback in economic activity, that might help, but kind of level off supplies, but for the time being,
things are really tightening.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
Which of these animals symbolizes a lasting decline in the stock market?
Bull, turtle, bear, or pig?
A bear market can describe a condition when stock prices drop for a sustained amount of time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: So far, this year has not been a good one for the U.S. stock market. Continued inflation, rising interest rates, global instability worries
about a possible recession which is an economic downturn, all of these have been factors in why major indexes like the Dow Jones have taken a
significant hit in 2022.
Another index you hear a lot about is the S&P 500 or the Standard and Poor`s 500. It tracks the stocks of large 500 American companies and last
Friday, the S&P 500 temporarily sank into the territory of a bear market.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we talk about being in a bear market.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were panicking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The market is not functioning properly.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: What exactly is a bear market?
It`s when stocks drop 20 percent from a recent high. When we talk about the overall stock market, we usually look at a broad index like the S&P 500.
But individual stocks or commodities can also fall into a bear market if they decline 20 percent.
A bear market is different from a correction. That`s a 10 percent decline. So if the S&P 500 falls into a bear market, it`s already had a correction
and then fallen another 10 percent. Since World War II, there have been 14 bear markets for the S&P 500.
A bear market doesn`t always signal a severe economic downturn in the last 40 years, four bear markets have occurred without a recession. But the
drops that coincide with recessions tend to be worse.
The good news is bear markets don`t tend to last as long as bull markets. The average lasted 339 days and declined nearly 32 percent. But history
shows it takes about a year for stocks to fully bounce back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: The S&P 500 did bounce back a bit on Friday. After temporarily meeting that bear market definition, the index ended the day at 19 percent
below its high in January so just shy of bear market territory. But the recent drop is its biggest since March of 2020 when the COVID pandemic was
sinking in.
And the Nasdaq, a different index, is already in a bear market. Its stocks are down 30 percent from their recent high last fall. So all this will be
closely watched.
(MUSIC)
AZUZ: After a three-year hiatus, the tram driver championship returned to Europe over the weekend and what a championship it was.
One event involved tram pool, bump the queue and try to get the ball to roll to the middle.
Another looks like a tram version of bowling though I`m not sure the whole train was supposed to smack the pins.
There`s the no hands did she program in enough braking power to stop in time event. She did not.
But if you want to see what a perfect tram stop looks like -- wow is right. Five hundred points for this masterful maneuver. Sometimes there was too
much speed, sometimes there wasn`t enough.
But if your favorite kind of transport is tram sport and you`re not afraid of the tramifications of trampling the comptration, train your eyes on an
event that tracks the best conductors as they toe the line with the trolley and cry of keeping it real.
Old Orchard Junior High School is keeping it real. Shout-out to our viewers in Skokie, Illinois. And thank you for your requests on our YouTube
channel. I`m Carl Azuz.
END
