Markets are down because the perennial optimist President Trump now fears there will be many US deaths after all. This chopped the US opening for Q2. He also finally agreed to do some classic pump priming using infrastructure investment as he had promised in his inauguration three years ago--before conventional Republican deficit hawks stopped him from improving highways, bridges, railways etc. Now we will spent $2 trillion which will actually do some good.

We have a stock for that. The infrastructure stock for the USA is CRH of Ireland, which makes cement and aggregates to repair and build roads and railways. It sells lots to the USA.

Your editor is flush now as a Long Island firm my high school classmate Mary put me into is up 34.5% today because it has developed a point of care blood test for diagnosing coronavirus antibodies. This will find people who were exposed to the virus who never became sick, whose blood can help others overcome the disease. The US firm is Chembio, CEMI. Thanks Mary.

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ADR Banks
Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a bank stock specialist, named JPMorgan Chase and BoNY Mellon as likely to outperform as bank earnings fall 58% from prior estimates this year and 50% next year. Another depositary, Deutsche Bank, did not make the cut.

Asia

NIO lost 4.5% after its chief engineer resigned. China is closer to reviving its electric vehicle business than most other countries.

Minor International after months of no movements rose 2.42% to $13.55 probably thanks to a buy by Ellwood Heinecke, the Thai firm's founder and chief booster. MNILY owns stakes in hotels and restaurants in Asia, Europe, and Cuba, which led its ADR to be delisted because of sanctions. Ellwood the improbable Thai is the son of the Vietnam-era CIA station chief who opted to become Thai. I tracked it via Aurora Investment Trust in London but sold AIVTF last week as it was halting my change of brokerage to Merrill. AIVTF fell some more.

Europe

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund with $950 under management, today said it would sell stocks and bonds this year unlike in 2008-9 when it was a buyer on the cheap, because companies are suspending their dividends. Last year it collected 243 bn kroner from dividends. Unlike the last time the kroner is weak as an oil currency.

Our Norwegian stock, Tomra Systems (TMRAY, TMRAF) delayed its NOK 2.75/sh dividend for 2019. The company makes recycling machines and sorting systems sold worldwide and was a unique green stock for Oslo. We are up 93% on Tomra.

UK banks will halt dividends, bonuses, and buybacks to use funds to help troubled borrowers. This hurt Banco Santander which is big in Britain as well as state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland.

Bavarian Nordic closed an ill-timed capital increase yesterday. We sold the Danish stock earlier but if you didn't you now have fellow shareholders like Nordea Bank ABP and Citigroup, each at 5% and Johnson & Johnson at 3.16%.

 Vodafone will give monthly customers free access to mobile data for 30 days in Britain, aiming at the poor. VOD also is a co-developer with a German institution of a bluetrack system tacking the cellphone contacts of people with the virus using bluetooth tracking, called Pan European Privacy Preserving Proximity Tracing or PEPP-PT. Those who don't own a cellphone will bet a bluetooth capable armband as the program is now being run by Oxford University for Britain. Despite this, VOD is down in Britain because of the failure of near-bankrupt UK mobile telephone sellers Dixon's Carphone which could not pay money owed to the O2 sub of Spanish Telefonica. BUY. I did.

Remember Roche on which we made 40% plus YTD. Remember Novo Nordisk which is up 52%.

GlaxoSmithKline in India exited its consumer nutrition (Horlicks) business as Unilever bought it.

 Our FDA has asked makers of generic Zantac to withdraw all of it from US markets because of contamination with N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a carcinogen. Zantac was from GSK and generics were made by Novartis, Teva, and Dr Reddy's. However respectable generics began withdrawing the drug six months ago.

BP plc promised there will be no job cuts for three months or even longer.

Examination of Chinese tests of malaria drug hydrochloroquinine to treat Covid-19 were "inconclusive" because the patients receiving the drug were not randomly matched with those who did not get it, according to UBS. It is fine for cleaning your fish tank.

Americas

Schlumberger Ltd of Curacao had its target price chopped by Stifel Nicolaus to $24 from $34 but it was kept a buy. As I have owned SLB since 1966 I cannot afford to sell it and pay taxes on it, but you may be in a different situation

The Canadian banking supervisor cut its stability buffer to free up C$300 billion in extra lending capacity. Loans not repaid within 6 months can be deferred and treated as performing without any capital backup. After six months they will count as non-performing. This applies to Bank of Nova Scotia.

Microsoft was the only Dow Jones stock which gained in Q1, but only 1 cent.

Like Horlicks, deals closed on the Alcoa spinoff of Arconic and other pipeline deals but there won't be many new ones coming.

Fibra Uno the Mexican REIT is off 2.6%. I can stand it.