MLK Day Global News

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This week's Barron's shows how well or poorly we are doing with our oddball picks. Our big loser is Energy Fuels, UUUU, down $1.2 or 14% along with other nuclear firms. We like it for its rare earths. Our other losers were Pfizer, PFE, down 1.4% or 0.77 cents; and Microsoft, MSFT, down 1.2% or $3.84%. More pharma below.

*Our big winners include Taiwan Semiconductor, TSM, up 13.9% or $17.16; AT&T, T, up 3.4% or 0.89; NIO, up 5.6% or $1.65; and Qualcomm, QCOM, up 4.6% or $8.28.

*Barron's also tipped a competitor for TSM which we already own, Tower Semiconductor, which is Israeli, thanks to its 300 basis points or 3% increase in gross markets and its deal with Jupiter Networks for a new silicon photonics product to come next year.  It is also a Jewish holiday, the Biblical ancestor of Arbor Day, the birthday of trees and plants, so the impact will only show tomorrow.

*Unauthorized withdrawals from Crypto.com led to a pause in trading for fear of hackers. No, Virginia, cryptocurrency trades are not secure against crooks. 

*One of our oldies, Liberty (a UK telco) was tipped by Phillip Martinelli for its recent move to buy Sunrise, which he says will boost earnings 44% this year. LBTYA is the former Virgin Media we owned in Britain. 

*Mexico saw $3.32 bn in exits from its stock market in 2021, which probably had something to do with the election of lefty Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. 

*China did not come out better because in Q4 its GDP growth rate halved to 4% which in India they say means it "degrew". To right the balance today China cut 1-year interest rates by 10 basis points to 2.85% and 7-day reverse repo fees by 10 basis points to 2.1%.

*Gold rose on the holiday.

Drug dealers

*Pres. Biden's Thursday announcement that the US will double the number of free covid-19 test packages available and use military medicos to treat cases led to a US Army deal with Swiss Roche, RHHBY, for $340 mn for at home covid antigen tests to be made in Indiana and another with US Abbott, ABT, for $306 mn to be made in Orlando, Florida.

*Pfizer signed a deal with French Novasp of Lyons to provide API (advanced pharma ingredients) for its Paxlovid covid-19 pill.

Alternative energy

*Ferrari (RACE) fell to $245 today down $40 despite having been tipped as top pick by Morgan Stanley Friday, ahead of Tesla and GM

*A stock I have avoided, Tesla, on Friday revealed that its electric truck won't be on the market this year as forecast after it signed up with a Mozambique firm because of slow rollout in India.

*Britain's SSE (SSEZY) is developing wind energy with funding from the Royal Bank of Canada, starting with a Dutch partner. That's logical because the Dutch have windmills.