tv Bloomberg Markets Bloomberg June 11, 2021 1:30pm-2:00pm EDT
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the start of their annual summit, the first g7 after donald trump's four years in office where he bickered with long-term allies, pulled the u.s. out of climate accords in the iran nuclear deal and famously ripped up the communique at the end of the 2018 meeting in canada despite having earlier agreed to it. as boris johnson plays host to the summit, his government is keeping a close eye on rising covid-19 infections. british health officials say there are now more than 42,000 cases of the delta variant and the u.k., up nearly 30,000 in a week. the prime minister has to decide by monday whether to proceed with the final stage of reopening the economy later this month. bloomberg has learned the fda is prepared to release 10 million doses of the johnson & johnson coronavirus vaccine produced by emergent biosolutions where it can hold up to 6 million jobs
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owned by the u.s. government with most of the rest owned by j&j. they have been awaiting authorization to produce the vaccine, allowing shots to reach the public. it has more than 100 million doses worth of vaccine substance . meanwhile, the block will not release any johnson & johnson vaccine made at the same time with contamination of the astrazeneca shot occurring in the u.s. authorities say the move is precautionary and do not believe any of the batches were affected by the incident. it was revealed in march that there had been cross-contamination between the j&j vaccine substance with ingredients from the aftershock at a baltimore facility. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is bloomberg.
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amanda: welcome to bloomberg markets. lisa: i am lisa abramowicz. here are the top stories we are following around the world. u.k. prime minister boris johnson welcoming g7 leaders, kicking off the first day of the summit. we have the latest from the ground in cornwall. plus, we speak to the ceo of the largest bitcoin minor by capacity, jason less, of riot blockchain, who recently met with elon musk on climate concerns around mining. flying taxis could be closer than you think. vertical aerospace winning three contracts in the likes of american airlines and a major commercial breakthrough. we speak to the ceo.
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amanda: amazing. i don't know if i am getting on one soon, but we will find out from the ceo if it is a good deal. we are hovering near record, but another day where there isn't a ton of momentum. if anything, a bit of weakness. you can see the s&p 500 just under the tech discretionary, holding their own, and you are seeing weakness from real estate, health care, energy is flat it is worth noting, west texas about $71 on the day when the international agency -- energy agency is confirming the global demand will surpass pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year. a better outlook than many have expected. in the optimism of reopening made vaccines, we saw images from the g7 summit, boris johnson welcoming leaders to the
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u.k. today. we imagine that covid and talks of donation vaccines will be front and center. bloomberg's guy johnson is there. in terms of what is dominating the agenda, we do think covid will play a big role. what are you learning? guy: absolutely, covid front and center. you have the three c's, covid, climate and china. covid is one of the big features of the first day. we have seen a commitment basically from the g7 leaders that they will provide millions of doses, trying to vaccinate 80% of the world population by the end of next year with huge economic benefits. what is the market impact of it? i think i have finally figured out potentially the long market impact. you look at what is happening in terms of the reopening trade in the united states, europe, if you expand that worldwide, particularly to asia, where we have seen a lack of vaccines or distribution of vaccines, maybe
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that would have an economic impact. maybe we see the rallies we are seeing at the moment being propelled into 2022. in terms of what is happening right now, amanda, have all disappeared. they are going to meet the queen tonight. there has to be some ceremony associated and not all hard work. amanda: they all left and are going to party, talk, go for drinks, whatever they are doing. what has gotten done when it comes to the global minimum tax rate or other economic issues that are more controversial than vaccines? guy: the vaccine story definitely a big feature, but, as you say, what we have seen this afternoon is building back better. we are looking for progress when it comes to the tax deal. we have yet to see evidence of that thus far. we hope to get details on what exactly has been discussed. we are also looking for details on what is happening in terms of providing financial assistance
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to foreign countries. this is something the g-seven has talked about in the past. now, we need to see more concrete evidence because the pandemic basically has put us in a situation where the economic recovery, we would have anticipated, has not happened for many countries. they need more aid. the aid meant to be there will not be enough. i'm sorry, the virus has not let many countries get back on their heels and now there is a requirement for the g-7 g-7 two maybe help them. we will wait and see the details. that is one area you can look forward to. i think the vaccine is the biggest impact from the meeting and where it will be felt. lisa: i think we can agree probably an easy win in a communique post meeting. . ofte -- you mentioned china.
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often, most the -- most of the important work does not make it into the communique. how relevant might china be and what should investors know about it? guy: well, joe biden has turned up here. he wants to push back on china and once the country's to come together and push back on china. europe has moved in his direction, but there is certainly a sense amongst the europeans that they want to take a sightly different approach. the europeans had a meeting earlier, trying to form a single policy. mario draghi is influential within that group. since he has become prime minister of italy, italy was really trying to lean towards china. since he has taken over, he has backed italy away from the alta road initiative. i wonder under his leadership with angela merkel may exiting, that you could see europe taking a tougher line on china going forward from here. we recently saw them backing off the trade deal they struck. that will not be ratified.
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north america. jason les met with elon musk to talk about green mining. we now have the pleasure of speaking to him, who joins us from california. you are a former professional heads-up poker player and have a host of experience. i would like to start with your meeting with elon musk, especially after he raised issues about the energy usage of that coin mining. what did you talk about? jason: it was a very casual exchange of information. elon musk had tweeted thoughts around bitcoin and energy usage lately. it was a forum for a number of bitcoin minors to talk about what they are doing relative to bitcoin mining in north america and their relationship with noble energy. i think that is a story that does not get told enough -- with renewable energy. i think that is a store that does not get told enough. 76% of the coin miners
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utilize renewable energy. 40% estimation, about 40% of bitcoin mining is powered by renewable energy. there are a couple of key reasons for that. one is, bitcoin mining takes energy as an input. that is what helps drive security for bitcoin. it is an important tool that allows is connected parties all over the world to run this financial system without having to trust each other, and the story that needs to be told his you find this energy, you find low-cost energy where there is a surplus and where energy is not being consumed because there is a renewable generation source stranded out there, congested, that does not have a buyer of that energy. bitcoin miners are the buyers of last resort. so, the discussion with elon was really for a number of large bitcoin miners to talk about
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what they are doing relative to their energy makeup. amanda: i have to challenge you on a couple of points, jason, because they flew by and we have to be careful statistically and how it can be sliced and diced. bitcoin miners are not the largest universe of renewable energy. i think what you mean is on a per capita basis, more miners as a percentage may use some renewable energy than the broader industrial base? i'm not quite sure. there is clearly a problem of carbon intensive and nonrenewable energy use, a lot of it, coal, the problem with bitcoin. in other words, you said a bunch of stuff that suggests there is an issue. there was a huge problem with the carbon footprint of bitcoin mining. jason: i would disagree respectively. the coin mining is a very, very small part of local emissions. bitcoin mining consumes about less than 1% -- 1/10 of a
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percent of the world's energy, and in doing so, it creates an open and free financial system. it is a very noble use of that energy. on average, it is using more renewable sources and other major industries, more so than other industries like gold-mining. bitcoin energy is a lot less than gold-mining. i think that is driven by bitcoin mining's indifference to location and time of operation. amanda: ok. again, we have to challenge you on what you said, i apologize and don't need to keep challenging you, but bitcoin mining may consume less energy than the aerospace energy. i don't know if that is true, but the concerns are real and valid. elon musk has raised some, but so have many investors. this is a decentralized operation. cannot necessarily control the energy resources of what is going on in the mining of bitcoin. how do investors in the space
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who want to know that they are being looked after on sustainability feel comfort when it comes to riot and when it comes to other big miners that you are taking it seriously? jason: let me answer your question this way, actually, the outcome of the discussion with elon musk was a group of miners decided we need to be more transparent with the energy makeup and telling the story to the market our relationship with renewable energy is. that is what a lot of us do individually already. riot has 98% -- 90% electoral hydric power in new york. we have another growing and growing abundance of solar and wind energy on the grid in texas. the resulting conversation with elon musk was miners coming together to start what is being called bitcoin mining council, open forum for all miners to join, and we are working cooperatively to disclose our energy makeups and tell a story
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to the market, let investors see for themselves the generation mix of the miners and if they are considering investing them. lisa: would you like to see more regulation as it would lend more credibility and transparency to some of the efforts? jason: i think when you look at an energy market like ercot, you see a model market with low energy cost and renewable sources growing, and that is driven by a deregulated marketplace. economics drives it, not politicians. that lack of regulation has made texas -- i'm sorry, the largest state when it comes to wind generation, and the rapidly growing solar generation. without regulation, ercot went from 80% coal in 2020 to 13% coal in 2021 so far.
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it is expected that is going to continue to decrease because it has a marketplace that fosters renewable development. solar wind is increasing rapidly year over year and that market and i think market incentives are driving a result people are looking for in renewable innovation absent government intervention. amanda: one of the appeals for some of the space, to own and use bitcoin, is to stay beyond the reach of government. yet, as china has shown, government still have a lot of influence. some have really weighed in on what they're going to do about currencies particularly. how big is that risk? jason: i think one of the main risks around the bitcoin industry is regulatory risks. governments can step in, and they can make life difficult in the industry, but what is important about bitcoin, it is a tool for censorship resistant money and when that gives the calming individual control.
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while governments can come in and regulate fiat on ramps and offerings, they can reduce reporting requirements. ultimately, this is a free and open global financial system that is at a point that has grown to such a network offense that it ultimately, i believe, cannot be stopped. lisa: great to have you with us. we appreciate your time. jason: thank you for having me. lisa: jason les, thanks again. breaking news from moderna. they're having concerns, as many know, about the side effects some of the vaccines, pfizer and moderna, on young people. moderna says if its vaccine does not cause the slowing of the heart, which was the cause of concern, we are watching shares of moderna today. we are back after this.
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amanda: this is bloomberg markets, i am amanda laying along lisa abramowicz. we are keeping our -- amanda lang alongside lisa abramowicz. we are keeping our eye on vertical aerospace. big hitters from companies like virgin atlantic. they plan to go public later this year. it was a merger, a blank check company. ceo stephen fitzpatrick is with us now. let's start with the opportunity. where are you in your own flightpath? stephen: thanks for having me. vertical it launched in 2016, so
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we are six years and, and we are partnering with american and virgin. it is passenger piloted, and we reduced and we will start flying later. lisa: there is a question on how feasible it is for flying taxis. i probably will not hop in and drive one. nobody wants to see that. also, whether this caters to the common man and woman. can you give insight into how you saw flying taxis fitting into the transportation ecosystem? stephen: sure. people here are skeptical, and that is justified. these are new aircraft, and we have a lot to prove. one thing i would say is the technology we are using, it already exists today. this is not based in some new factory system or new electric motor that we need to invent.
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all of this technology we use in today's existing technology. most of it developed for the automotive sector and now we are repurchasing up her airspace. but, we still -- repurposed seeing it for airspace. but we need to make sure they have the same safety standards as today's commercial airlines. that is a really, really high bar. airplanes have extremely challenging regulations, to me, so that is the challenge for us and all similar companies. the benefits are huge. if you think about how they run for 50 or 60 years, that have a lot of problems, they are dirty, noisy, high emissions, expensive, and they are dangerous. if you look at transportation that is 100 times safer than a helicopter, same standard as a commercial airliner, 100 times
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quieter, and it is a bit of the price. it is about one dollar per passenger mile, which, in europe, that is about the same price as a real fair. in the u.s., the same about taking it taxing on your own -- taking a taxi on your own. this is going to democratize urban air mobility. and you are talking about jfk to manhattan, 12 minutes and $40 a ticket. so really affordable for every man. amanda: let me ask, we have about one minute left, take airlines are interested and investing. they see something here right around the world. is that last mile appealing? how long before lisa is hopping on it in an air taxi and people are using the service and it is affordable? stephen: we think certification is going to be around 2024, 2025. like i said, we are using existing technology, and we are already well through the certification program.
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you are going to see a relatively slow wrap up. obviously, they will need to be city permitting, a local airspace regulation, but this is reality in the next five years. airlines are already getting well into this to see how this will change their business models and how to connect passengers to their airports. amanda: pretty exciting stuff. great to have you with us. appreciate it. stephen fitzpatrick is the ceo of vertical aerospace. lisa is going to get on it because you go first, lisa. from lisa abramowicz, i am amanda lang, this is bloomberg markets. ♪
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by new covid-19 outbreaks are rippling through global supply chains. the disruption is causing further pain for global shippers, already struggling with pandemic related supply interruptions and the ships grounding in the suez canal earlier this year. and one of the final official forays will force stepping aside, chairman angela merkel will be hosted by president biden at the white house next month. the trip comes as the two sides look to move past the dispute over the nord stream 2 gas stream pipeline. the u.s. tried to block the almost completed projects, which will carry russian natural gas into germany and begin testing today. the u.s. is concerned it will make germany too reliant on russia. the debate over how to pave the nation's roads, bridges and transit systems continues on capitol hill. disagreements on whether motorists or corporations should foot the bill threatening tampa negotiat
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