FOMO Trend Caught On

Today the market bounced up some more as the FOMO trend caught on. It is a normal reaction to a good day on Wall Street but the pattern usually ends with another reversal. Once again there is movement in the pharmaceuticals sector, my main overweight.

Here is some good news for our shares:

Energy Users

*Today Hindenberg short-seller won confirmation that Nikola management under Trevor Wilson misrepresented its ability to run an electric truck by rolling it down an incline 2 years ago. It also covered up the labels for components from other companies it depended upon. This took NKLA down 8% in the bull vs bear stakes despite Mr. Wilson buying $1.28 mn worth of its stock. It also hurt GM which made a deal with Nikola. But other electric vehicle startups did well, not just Tesla, but also NIO of China, our play, which gained another 5.7% at the opening. It hit a new 6-mo high but then fell back.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, was tipped by Max Deml who says to warn you that it is of Chinese ownership. I am prepared to buy China stocks that are listed on a major market and have GAAP reporting rules. It rose 5.1% today. I own Chinese shares outside the military and minority regions.

*BAE Systems got an order from Aerion Supersonic (ASZ) for fly-by-wire systems for small planes, which means BAESY will scale down and cut weight for computers and electronics in flight control.

*Mauritian Azur Power despite meh results is up 7.4% today. I got a 450-page annual report from AZRE, the worst waste of paper in my investment life. AZRE is effectively controlled by the Caisse de Dépôt, the official Quebec retirement fund with another big stake by the World Bank private business arm, the International Finance Corp.

*Algonquin Power of Canada rose 1.9%. but is still off from its pre-COVID-19 highs. AQN

Drugs

*There was hot news from one of my pharma shares, Exelixis, a US firm which announced pre-clinical data with Iconic Therapeutics for treating solid tumors with a combination of anti-tissue factor antibody and a linker-payload, EXEL did a deal in May 2019 to get an exclusive option and license for ICON-2 in oncology. As Martin Ferera reports from Canada, there is another winner in this hoped-for cancer breakthrough, the linker-payload maker which is a Canada stock he covers, Zymeworks.

As I pointed out yesterday there is a new trend for drug majors to pay heavily for cancer pioneers, which ZYME qualifies for. Martin argues that its CEO, Ali Teherani, did an important presentation of its two cancer-fighting products which helped people focus on Canada. Again stocks react to other news in their sector. Bulls win. After its precipitous rise, ZYME is off 0.6% today.

*Like CSIQ Beigene is a listed Chinese which behaves itself. BGNE is up 2% today, a new high. It is listed in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, plus Nasdaq.

*Japan's Eisai is up 1.3%. ESALY is setting up a US-style campus in New Jersey.

*Embattled Teva TEVA published in Neurology long-term data on its Ajovy against migraine based on follow-up in the US, Israel, Europe, and Japan. This product works and really helps sufferers. However today also the patent office of the EU invalidated its Copaxone patent and assigned it to Mylan and its partner Sython. Now the Copaxone multiple sclerosis franchise is not worth very much. Teva rose by 1%.

*Israeli Compugen CGEN is propelling higher, up 1.7%.

*BiolineRX BLRX stock gained 1.15%. All are in demand because they have new markets in the Gulf.

Banks

*Swiss bank UBS and Crédit Suisse are again in talks about a merger reports the NZZ, the local newspaper. This is a perennial hope among overbanked Swiss. But it does throw some light on the need for consolidation in European banking which can affect other banks, among them Santander SAN of Spain. It also boosted our Swiss Helvetia Fund, SWZ, up 1.2%.

*Our two Mme Butterfly stocks, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, SMFG, the longer held, is up and Mitsubishi Corp, MSBHF, is down. Both are Berkshire-like outfits without US election risk.

*Banco Latino-americano de Comercio Exterior, BLX of Panama, is raising $400 mn with an international bond issue under rule 144A and Regulation S, neither of which is open to retail investors until seasoned. This has boosted the price of the common stock we own by 0.6%, but in fact, the bonds jump to the head of the queue. BLX is not a merger target because it is owned by public entities like our Ex-Im Bank and foreign counterparts. But it does accept new investments from banks.

*Scotiabank allows its retail borrowers to defer payments. In August this affected C$39 bn of loans, down from $41.5 bn in July. The bank reports that 96.8% of borrowers pay up and 99% of mortgage borrowers do. BNS stock gained 0.7% on the news.

Wells and Mines

*BP plc and Microsoft are joining forces is digital energy innovation to move to zero net carbon. BP will supply renewable energy to MSFT and will be paid with Azure Cloud Services fees. I own both.

*Singapore's Petronas echoed the theme BP started, of much lower oil demand. The next expected dividend cut is from Exxon Mobil XOM.

*Schlumberger Ltd of the Dutch Antilles is rising 1.44% because of French support as it shifts its operations to global oil search from the Americas.

*Our recent gold-stock add, Kirkland Lake, KL, tipped by BofA Merrill, is up some more. The thundering herd no longer covers Canadian shares unless, like KL, they are dual-listed on the NYSE.

Asians

*The designated new hub for Tencent TCEHY will be Singapore, it announced today. One result is that Naspers NPSNY fell sharply in London although nobody could have expected Capetown to become the hub.

*Franklin Templeton had to freeze and wind down $63 bn in high yield high-risk India bonds in funds sold to local retail investors. Now it is under investigation by the SEBI regulator. Not like TEI.

Mexicans

*Goldman Sachs today rated Cemex to a buy. CX is a play on infrastructure investment in Mexico and the USA. CX issued 10-yr bonds rated BB by Standard & Poors plus credit lines for a total of $1.1 bn with provisions for sustainable offerings of $80 mn now offered in euros, and $300 mn now in Mexican pesos. Both were in $s earlier. CX is aiming at ESG funds and rose 2.2%. Source: Eduardo Garcia.

*Fibra Uno FBASF has not traded today. Nor has Grupo Bimbo GRBMF.

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