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A second week in a row saw a big drop in stocks on Monday, while the Delta virus variant was blamed for the selloff last week, this week the cause is a big Beijing regulatory crackdown on Chinese tech and education companies. The latter were already in a target for Chairman Li Jinping Friday when tutoring sector companies were ordered to stop earning profits for preparing children for key exams. Now the range of companies being regulated moved against the tech giants spared before, like Tencent, down 7.72% after its music sub was ordered to drop its exclusive contracts with performers.

Other Chinese tech firms suffered in the wake of this new interference with large-cap global shares. Alibaba, already a target earlier, lost 6.4%. Meituan, a new one, fell 13.76% because investors had not anticipated an attack. The Hong Kong HangSeng index fell 4% scooping up other stocks which may become targets. Even companies unlikely to be hit fell in the panic, including ones we own. Another problem was the pricing of bitcoins which hit a new low for the month.

A negative for markets was the problem Tesla is having with its factory site near Berlin, being hit by German concern for wildlife and the environment. Your editor predicted that it wouldn't be easy when the lease was first set up in a wasteland near the capital. Germany is far from an open door for foreign investors thanks to its strong Green party and homeland rivals who hate competition.

Tokyo reopened its market after a holiday and Japanese stocks gained. And so did oil-related shares on the news that there had been 4 weeks with increased rig count this month.

Chinese stock crash

*When Tesla runs a temperature, other electric vehicle companies look healthier. So today Nio (NIO), despite the China risk, rose 3.5% at the opening after the NY Times reported that Tesla's $7 bn factory supposed to be operative by now has more than 6 months to go, and may never get OK's because of a protected local lizard species. NioChina links are unique, but the rise did not last. It fell with the Great Wall later. TSLA will report today.

*Another victim of Chinese panic was BeiGene which won a 2nd Canada approval for its Brukinsa, (zanubritinib) this time to treat mantle cell lymphoma in adult patients who didn't respond to at least one prior therapy. BGNE in March got Canadian authorization to use Brukinsa to treat people with Aldenström macroglobulinemia.BGNE fell 6.75%. Note that China has hitherto been very tolerant of healthcare companies listing abroad.

*Following Tencent both Dutch Prosus and South African Naspers took on water because PROSY fell7.25% and NPSNY 10%. Both are considered backdoors to the Chinese company but also have their own businesses. The panic is overdone.

Mexican stock jump

*Orbia Advance, still trading under its former ticker symbol in the US, MXCHF jumped 18.4% today to $3.50 because a market-maker posted a trade on the pink sheets. Most of the time these remain hidden. My broker says there are 15 market-makers and he shops around if I want to trade.

*Grupo Bimbo (GRBMF) rose 11% today on no news, except that a market-maker posted prices traded on the pinks.

*Fibra Uno (FBASF), the Mexican REIT, rose 5% for the same reason.

Energy

*Earthstone Energy (ESTE), rose sharply because it is expected to grow its earnings this year by over 29%. It may not succeed with a merger against the wishes of a large Canadian rival Brookfield but will get paid handsomely.

*Schlumberger Ltd (SLB) is up over 3% today because of the jump in rig counts noted above. It helps map drilling sites.

*Volatile Energy Fuels is back in the plus column today, up 2.8% to $5.24. UUUU mines uranium and rare earths.

*Royal Dutch Shell B (RDS-B), and BP plc rose on the energy news, by 2.82% and 3.1%.

*Plug Power (PLUG), gained 1.83% after being tipped by Citi analysts with a $35 target price.

*Azure Power of Mauritius (AZRE) which sells solar panels mostly to India fell some more today. It opened down over 5% but recovered and is only down 4.5%. It counts as an India play and the virus is awful there.

*Ecopetrol (EC) (sold) gained 2.5% today. The Colombian Govt has taken the oil firm over.

Tech

*Coupang of South Korea fell over 4% today despite winning an outperform rating from Zacks.

*Vodafone was rated buy by CFRA despite the overhang of losses from its JV in India. VOD is British and they are ex-colonials there, giving them more clout and more outs perhaps. As we also own VOD bonds this matters. CFRA also put a buy on Taiwan Semiconductor earlier.

*Nokia (NOK) gained 1.3% today in Finnish trading.

*Microsoft (MSFT) reports tomorrow.

*Finnish reverse vending and sorting machine firm Tomra Systems gained 1.35% today.

Guns

*BAE Systems sold Lockheed a $117 mn contract for autonomous long-range anti-ship seeker missile target systems without a traditional navigation system. They go off on their own. BAESY is British and sells lots of weaponry to the US military.

*CAE which makes aviation training systems and which is expanding into new areas rose.

Drug Dealers

*Teva (TEVA) is up 0.7% today after being tipped by ValueLine last week as a buy-hold.

*However Compugen (CGEN), an Israeli small-cap drug discovery firm, fell 5.09%. Oops, I bought more last week when it began its second phase 1-2 trials of its 2-prong treatments for diseases.

*Glaxo (GSK) failed to rise despite its getting US approval for its shingrex herpes vaccine for immuno-compromised adults over 18. The prior okay was for people aged over 50 so this is a big market gain. It takes 2 doses to work.

*Japanese Eisai (ESALY), recuperated by 1.63% after the hiatus. It is dissociating from its US partner in Alzheimer's disease.

*Zymeworks (ZYME) fell 4.5% as it still hasn't been sold despite rumors this was coming. It was tipped by Martin Ferrera who covers British Columbia drug stocks but he never said it was on the block.

Finance

*Banco Santander (SAN) gained 2.58% today, en route to again being in the black.

*Bitcoin hit a new low at $730,000.