Today there is good news over the price of oil, going down in low double digits.

Nuclear risks are up because Russia appears to have attacked a power plant in the south of Ukraine. The official line is that there is no leakage but US nuclear shares like Azure Power are rated lower all the same. The exception for now is Azure Power but it will not last.

The impact on stock prices in the sector was mostly negative because the power industry is not going to be able to extract fuel more cheaply.

Another negative I have to admit I did not anticipate is the US Justice Dept.'s investigation of chicken companies sharing wage data to keep down their payrolls illegally. This has hit Brazil Foods, BRF, a recent buy which fell 5.63% today. I liked it as a potential takeover candidate. Not as a violator of chicken competition laws. 

Another blow to Brazil came as its President Bolsonaro called upon Telebras to cut its profits to help people phone up. The stock fell nearly 3% on this populist move.

The US new jobs report was highly positive with many more place but the market was not interested in good news. A total of 678,000 new jobs were

filled vs an estimate of only 440.000. 

*Erickson revenues gained 25% in Swedish crowns and income rose 34%. The stock did not gain much, only .56 krona.

*Banco Santander fell nearly 5% despite its beating forecasts on revenues and profits for Q4.

*Truist, a US bank, despite rising estimates, saw its stock fall. 

 *Mercado libre had its estimate raised but the Latin American website stock MELI  failed to rise.

*Naspers fell to $10.33 today in a make up session, a disaster if you paid, as I did, nearly $50 per share.

*Algonquin Power and Utilities, AQN of Canada, fell to C$ 21.61 (about US$ 17.05). Remember our basis is $14.25. Please read on.

Canada's appeal

*With a global mandate I am increasingly interested in our near neighbor Canada, however boring an idea it is. First of all there are real yields up north.

Ponder AQN's 87 loony cents dividend, C$4.88%. Do you really need the money? If not you can reinvest the divvies with AST Trust, a Canada market maker. In this case the dividend 5% is at a discount from the valuation of the stock, another reason to reinvest.

In some cases you even can add money to your DRIP.

*The Investment Reporter in Toronto, which frequently quotes me, favors Cenovus Energy, CVE-NYSE, as a buy.

*CAE (NYSE-CAE) can be a winner despite covid to Konark Gupta of Scotiabank. We own it.

*Scotiabank itself (Bank of Nova Scotia, BNS)  yields 4.3%. BNS can allowed to peddle its own shares if you want to boost your holdings.

*BCE, the telco, is a favorite of CIBC World Markets as it keeps upping its divvie. Right now it is about 5%

*Manulife Financial also lets you reinvest your dividends.

*Brookfield Asset Management pays out about 1% but you can reinvest that too.

*And you can buy gold sometimes (but not now) at an el cheapo price too.

*If you want a new canuck share, consider adding another gold firm. One topped recently by a smallish Canada brokerage, Echelon Capital (reported on in Investor's Digest of Canada) which mines for silver and gold in Jalisco Mexico, GoGold (GCD-Toronto). 

Echelon also wrote up Freeman Gold Corp. FMAN-TSX Venture market after it exited the main Toronto market. It also trades here on the OTC Quote Board and in Frankfurt. This is a riskier play.