President Trump Calling Off A Planned Military Strike On Iran; Slack, The Messaging Platform Shares Do The Work, Soaring On The First Day Of Trade
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from London, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know. Mission aborted. President Trump calling off a planned military strike on Iran. No slacking. The messaging platform shares do the work, soaring on the first day of trade; and taking on the trolls, Facebook and Twitter get set for the 2020 Democratic debates. It's Friday, let's make a move. A warm welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Great to be back, and we've got a busy hour ahead. The focus, of course remains on the tensions in the Middle East following reports that President Trump approved a military strike against Iran and then decided to reverse that call. We will walk you through the latest on that and try to gauge the risk of direct military action, what of course that also means for investors. Let me give you a look. Right now, stocks around the globe are performing pretty well. It's always tough to price this kind of conflict and uncertainty on Wall Street. U.S. futures right now a touch softer. The S&P 500 of course hitting record highs in Thursday's trading session. The Dow now just half a percent away from making its own fresh record highs. It's a prospect, of course of fresh rounds of global stimulus that's clearly exciting investors at this moment into buying assets and having a bit of a tranquilizer effect, I'll call it that amid the heightened tensions in the Middle East. Both factors, though, are playing into the rally that we're seeing in gold. Right now trading -- where are we now? Well, just below that $1,400.00 an ounce level that is near a six-year high. Also giving you a look at what we're seeing for our 10-year bond yields just above that two percent figure, as you can see. What about oil prices? Front and center. Right now we can see solid gains more than one percent of Brent crude. It's actually risen more than eight percent since the attacks last week on those two tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The other recent catalyst for the escalation that we've seen. U.S. crude up some 10 percent over that period, too. All right, that's exactly where we're going to begin the drivers. Let's get to it. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a military strike on Iran, only to call it off again. That's according to a U.S. official. The change of mind was first reported by "The New York Times." It would have been an act of retaliation for the downing of a U.S. drone on Thursday. Sam Kiley in the Gulf of Oman in the UAE for us. Sam, great to have you with us. What exactly do we know about this decision, this order of a military strike and the apparent U-turn? Walk us through it?</s>SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it came last night, our time, when -- and I'm speaking to you from the Emirates when there was a decision taken in the White House to trigger this military retaliation. Before any weapons were launched, though, there was another decision taken, Julia, in the White House to stand that operation down. Now, we're not exactly sure why that decision was taken. It is conceivable there may have been some diplomatic overtures or some level of intelligence that may have come through. But it's very clear that prior to that decision, Donald Trump was reaching for reasons not to take it when he said that he believed or that there was some chance that a rogue element within the Iranian administration, within the military had triggered the downing of the drone. That has been rejected flatly by the Iranians, who say no, it was a very deliberate act to take down that drone because it was in Iranian airspace. Of course, the Americans say it was in international airspace, but I think there is a real sigh of relief that has gone around the region because whatever people's attitudes on this side of what they call on this side, the Arabian Gulf, the Iranians call it the Persian Gulf, there is a sense that the retaliation, a military retaliation over the downing of what is a flying robot could be seen as something of an overreaction, and would certainly, in many people's view here trigger the chain reaction, which could have been really catastrophic.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, and that's to the heart of the matter here at this stage, Sam. I mean, the President is caught between hawkish Republicans on the one side, Democrats like Chuck Schumer saying the risk carries is that we bumble into a war situation. What are the Iranian saying light of this news and what next? Because I think everybody here has to be very careful about how they handle what we're seeing here.</s>KILEY: Well, the Iranians recently have said that they had the opportunity to shoot down a manned spy plane with some 20-plus crew members on board, and elected not to do it. Now, true or false, I think that indicates a degree to which the Iranians are calibrating how they're reacting, how they're putting low-level military pressure to try to achieve diplomatic ends. And by that I mean, Julia, if the Iranians as the Americans and the U.K. suspect were behind the bombings of six super tankers behind me in the Gulf of Oman over the last few weeks, and then moreover, the downing as they admit of this drone, what they're doing is they're showing military capability without killing anybody. The moment it comes into spilling a blood, all bets are off, and there is a real chance of a very rapid escalation, what they're trying to feel their way towards, and I think there are indications that the Americans who keep sending messages through third parties are also trying to do is to get to the point at which they can negotiate. The problem there is that the Iranians won't negotiate effectively until the Americans come back on board and start recognizing the terms of the deal that they signed with the previous administration, and many other nations, but which the Trump administration abandoned last night and that, of course, was a deal to lift sanctions in return for suspending their nuclear program.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, you're right, though. A catalyst here in the sequence of events. We'll talk more about this later on in the show. But for now, Sam Kiley, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed with the story. The latest events, of course, in the Middle East, also impacting airlines around the world. The U.S. aviation regulators banned American carriers from flying through the airspace in the region it deems unsafe. The FAA says a commercial plane was less than 90 kilometers away from the American drone that was shot down on Thursday. Anna Stewart joins us now, and she has been tracking all of the details. So what exactly do we know about where the restrictions are? Because it's a whole host of different airlines that do operate in this airspace. And now obviously, we have to be very cautious.</s>ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: So of course, all morning, we've been contacting all the airlines trying to work out who has done what, so we knew from yesterday, very quickly, United Airlines suspended their flight from New York to Mumbai that flew through this bit of airspace. Now, we can tell you that Emirates, KLM, Qantas, British Airways -- all rerouting some of their flights to avoid the area. It is very specific. As you see from the map, its Iranian controlled airspace over the Persian Gulf, over the Gulf of Oman. It's not hugely heavy traffic for international airlines. But obviously it now is an airspace that's got to be avoided. It's very complex, of course for the airlines in this area.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, and we're showing you what you can see now and we see the dispute over where in the airspace it took place. I mean, the two issues for me here; one, we didn't know how long this conflict, this standoff, the risks here that the FAA directly are citing here will continue? What about cost when you're talking about the extra miles to be traveled to avoid these specific areas now that are deemed unsafe?</s>STEWART: It's really hard to quantify. For instance, the United Airlines is spending a flight indefinitely that will have X amount cost. However, when you're looking at all the other airlines that just have to reroute, as you say, it depends how far they have to. And this is the problem with the Middle East or airlines generally, it's very, very complex, plenty of international disputes, just between different countries, for instance, Qatari Airlines cannot fly over Saudi Arabia. Some of them reroute like a thousand kilometers -- very costly, indeed. As I said, this area isn't hugely trafficked by international airlines. In fact, since the Iraqi conflict, that's when we saw lots through this area, now not so much. So it shouldn't have a huge impact for many international airlines. But these things always do have a cost in terms of how many hours for jet fuel, for staffing, and of course, the passengers, you have to have much longer flights as a result.</s>CHATTERLEY: You remember that you mentioned that the Qataris, obviously, Etihad Airways, what are they specifically saying? Because even -- it's only been just about the actions that they take, it's about how they specifically respond when they're asked questions, so they are just avoiding the subject completely and just continuing with the routes that that they're going.</s>STEWART: Currently, the only flights that I can see in this airspace are Qatari airlines and Iranian airlines, and that is all I've got from the real time data. But I'll be watching that all through the day.</s>CHATTERLEY: That you will. Anna Stewart, always great to have you with us. Thank you. All right. We've had Donald Trump tweeting in the last few moments, several of them in fact here. In part he said, "On Monday, they shot down an unmanned drone flying in international waters. We were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on three different sites. When I asked how many will die, 'A hundred and fifty people, sir,' was the answer from a general. Ten minutes before the strike, I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone." "I am in no hurry. Our military is rebuilt, new and ready to go. By far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting and more were added last night. Iran can never have nuclear weapons, not against the U.S.A. and not against the world."</s>CHATTERLEY: So the President there suggesting that he was told lives would be lost, and that that was not proportional to taking down a drone that, of course, the United States believe Iran did, so any further tweets from the President, we will bring it. But there you go, from the President himself and the decision last night to abort a mission to attack three different sites in Iran. All right, let's move on to the next driver. Slack ready for another star turn on Wall Street set to open high on its second day of trade. The workplace messaging app is the latest tech unicorn to earn an ovation on the New York Stock Exchange. It's now worth more than $20 billion dollars after its stock rocketed more than 50 percent from its opening price on Thursday. Paul La Monica joins us now and has been watching the action. Paul, that is pretty stellar performance for a first day of trading, $20 billion valuation. I make that more than three times the valuation that it raised money at just what? Nine months ago in the private market. There are some very happy investors watching the price action over the last 24 hours.</s>PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, definitely. Slack, obviously, a success in its first day of trading, and there has been a steady stream of companies that cater to, you know, corporate customers that have done well as of late and in the IPO market. And obviously, Slack is a bit of a different story here because it's not technically an IPO, it's a direct listing, which is different. They sold shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange. But make no mistake, Slack is doing extremely well, it has a lot of momentum. But I think there are going to be some concerns going forward that people have to look at. The revenue growth is starting to slow a bit. They're not profitable. And then there's Microsoft in the background, which has its Teams collaborative software tool, and when you think about Microsoft, they've also got Office. They have LinkedIn. They have Skype. It's going to be interesting to see whether or not Slack can fend off competition from Microsoft. And if not, could Slack become an acquisition target down the road?</s>CHATTERLEY: I love when we get worried about the prospect of revenue growth slowing to between 40 and 50, four zero and five zero percent here. But you also make a great point about the fact that the key difference here to what we've seen from other IPOs in recent weeks is that these guys didn't need to raise money. So I know there's been a lot of commentary on whether or not this is perhaps a model for other tech giants. Perhaps you go direct rather than the traditional IPO model. But the point is, if you need more money, hey, you don't have a choice, Paul?</s>LA MONICA: Yes, you probably need to go public at some point. We've seen that obviously this year, Julia, with Uber and Lyft going public. A lot of these unicorns have been private for a long period of time and it is now you know, the point where they have to graduate to the public markets. But if Slack can continue to do well as a publicly traded stock, I think it's going to be interesting to see the unicorns that are left out there. Companies like WeWork and Airbnb, will they now consider a direct listing as opposed to a traditional IPO? Because for all the merits of you know, going public through Wall Street investment banks, it hasn't really helped Uber all that much, or Lyft for that matter. So one could take a step back and say, "Hey, look at what Slack just did without the support of investment bankers and Wall Street, why not we try that route as well?" Of course, Spotify also did a direct listing and hasn't been as successful because they've had to face tough competition from Apple.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, do all your borrowing in the private market and then just go direct? It's an interesting question, isn't it but I have to say, each story and each individual name trades differently, and we just have to value them appropriately or at least try. Paul La Monica, thank you very much for that. All right. We'll see how it opens up today, too. All right. Let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world. Protesters in Hong Kong once again gathering in the central business district blocking the city's financial heart. Demonstrators a surrounding the police headquarters accusing officers of acting with brutality during earlier protests. Let's bring in Ivan Watson who is in Hong Kong for us. It's not just about police brutality here. They want the Chief Exec Carrie Lam to step down and they want the permanent removal of this Extradition Bill. The question is, are they going to get it, Ivan? How did the executive here react?</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, most of what we're hearing for the past two hours that we've been monitoring the situation is a lot of anger being vented at the police force here in Hong Kong. This remarkable scene of thousands of protesters surrounding the headquarters of the Hong Kong Police chanting "Shame," and if you can see right next to the sign there where the escalator is turning the facade there into an omelet with dozens of eggs being hurled at it.</s>WATSON: The police throughout this have adopted a very passive, almost submissive posture, and even have slowly withdrawn while having eggs thrown at them. So this is a dramatic turn from what we saw a week and a half ago here in Hong Kong on June 12th when police were very aggressive. They fired more than a hundred rounds of tear gas canisters, pepper spray, rubber bullets, baton charges, detained protesters, and there were violent clashes in these very streets. It is that violence that has angered so many of the people here who are demanding their fellow protesters be released. They're calling for an investigation into allegations of excessive use of police force. However, there are some questions being raised by members of society that were previously part of this coalition that was protesting against the extradition law that you mentioned, Julia, among them, the Catholic Church here, which had joined in opposition against the law. But now we've had a prominent Bishop raising questions about these very tactics, take a listen.</s>JOSEPH HA CHI-SHING, BISHOP, CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF HONG KONG (through translator): You have all done a lot. You have all been very clear about your goal and demands, but I'm very worried about your safety. I wish your actions would not affect the interests of the public. Because if so, you will turn the people against you. And this is not good to the entire development of the event.</s>WATSON: So there we get a warning from a previously sympathetic voice to this grassroots opposition movement. It doesn't have one single leader. I've talked to people who are mobilizing the crowd. They say there's no one plan here because it is very grassroots, very young. I talked to a 17-year-old girl who came here after school to join in the protest. The signs are is that the crowd grew as people got out of work. They also ground life in the center of this international commercial hub to a complete halt by stopping one of the main thoroughfare through the city. As one of the opposition lawmakers has put it, there is this stalemate right now in Hong Kong between the protesters and the city authorities -- Julia.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's interesting. I think if the authorities don't move more here, then we need to brace for some more disruption. We'll see. Ivan Watson, thank you so much for that update there. We can hear that chanting behind you. All right, so let's move on. The British Prime Minister has suspended a member of her government after he was filmed grabbing a Greenpeace protester by the neck and marching her out of a dinner in London. Mark Field, the Foreign Office Minister tackled the woman when she and other activists interrupted a speech by Finance Minister Philip Hammond. Greenpeace has accused Field of assault. He apologized for grabbing the woman, but said he did it because he thought she may have been armed. A huge fire broke out an oil refinery in the American city of Philadelphia. At least one explosion shook the ground. Balls of gas and flame lit up the night sky. The blaze started in a vat of butane at America's 10th largest refinery. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on FIRST MOVE, but coming up not so crude, oil markets making moves reacting to heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran. And the lesson in fearlessness, philanthropist Jean Case joins me in the "Chatt Room." Stay with us, that's coming up.