My favorite sector, drug startups, was mixed today, with the kerfuffle over whether or not Jews are allowed to pray at Al Aqsa mosque hit the Israelis among them. For the record, both for political and religious reasons Jews are not allowed to pray or even enter Al Aqsa, to which Mohammad came on a flying carpet on his way to heaven. The reason is that nobody knows where the Holy of Holies in the former building there, the Temple of Jerusalem, actually stood. So entering the mosque means you may be standing on top of a holy sacred place where you are not allowed to stand under Jewish rules.

Today is “claw-back” day according to TD Ameritrade-Schwab market strategist JJ Kinahan. Pre-open the DJIA gained 100 points and it opened up 400 points. The rally was pretty general except for stocks that reported bad news and not necessarily even then. Among the big fallers yesterday, by 6.8%, was Autoliv ALV of Sweden which missed on its Q2 earnings and cut its full-year sales volume forecast. Yet this share, which we sold some years ago, actually rallied back up about a quarter of the 6.8% it fell yesterday, up 2.01% at the opening. While European markets went up, both the Nikkei in Japan and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong copied Wall Street and fell.

The rally was just as irrational as the selloff. Among the triggers: the price of a barrel of Brent crude fell by $5 and the futures market was even less upbeat about energy demand because hedge funds cut their shorts so much at the price fell to $66.42/bbl. Another irrational move.

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US majors like IBM (which is reported yesterday) GE, and American Express (AXP), and foreign ones rose, but energy stocks were mixed because of the oil price confusion. More follows:

Olé

*Orbia Advance, the former Mexichem, was today's biggest gainer, up 18.64% on news that it will report its earnings next week. This stock is hard to cover because despite the change in its name and the rising international crop feeding systems it is acquiring, it continues to be quoted in the USA under its former ticker symbol, MXCHF. It will report on July 28. Ask why it is hiding behind a bushel basket.

*No. 2 was another Mexican, Fibra Uno, a REIT, which gained 8.5%. FBASF is a dollar debtor and the properties it owns or leases are mostly top-line retailers in posh parts of the country. This is not just a reflection of a better economy south of the border. It also is a signal that despite a socialist presidente, Mexico is very in-egalitarien.

*My top US performer was KeyCorp, a bank, amidst a general rise in the sector. KEY.

Pharma

*Teva, the Israeli drug major, rose 2.5% starting in European trading. It may be the result of Chris Lau on seekingalapha telling his readers to buy whenever TEVA fell below $10. It was $8.72 after jumping in UK trading.

*Israelis were mixed. BiolineRX fell 1.6%. But Evogen rose 2.43%; Novacure 3.3%.Compugen 1%. BLRX, EVGN, NVCR, CGEN.

*Takeda, TAK, the Japanese major, rose 1.1% today. Eisai (ESALY) rose 0.42%

*However Enlivex ENLV of the Cayman Islands crashed down 5.25%. Danish Novo Nordisk NVO fell 1.03%.

Energy

*Schlumberger Ltd gained over 2.5% in UK trading and it is up even more in the US, by 2.74%. SLB.

*Colombian Ecopetrol, EC, sold, fell 2.5%+ following the oil price.

*Plug Power, PLUG, rose 1.4% after a writeup yesterday by Chris Lau on seekingalpha.

*Oil companies Royal Dutch Shell B RDS-B and BP plc were lower because of the oil price drop which makes alternative energy, which they are concentrating on, less competitive.

*Our top non-Mexican performer was Israeli-American Ormat, ORA, up 6.02%, whose systems produce and store geothermal energy. It can replace windmills which some farmers hate.

*Azure Power which supplies India with solar panels rose 4.2% to $23.55. AZRE.

*Energy Fuels, UUUU, rose 4.35% because of a deal to produce rare earths in Europe, reported last week.

*The London Metal Market will trade lithium which should help producers in our portfolio.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, gained 0.55% today. It has been bunched with Chinese stocks under Beijing pressure but it is

*Cameco, CCJ, is up 1.21%

Financials

*Taiwan Fund, TWN, reported on its Q2 yesterday. Its NAV closed June at $37, up 3.91/share from prior report and the price of the share was $31.55, a 14.73% discount. Despite the gains the discount was higher than the previous one, because of Chinese threats against Taiwan which is gaining some support from Japan, the USA, and me.

*Unusual options activity was reported today for SPDR Gold, GLD. It is being pushed by the Oxford Club, from the Agora Group of Baltimore run by Bill Bonnor. He funded the start of this blog.

*French Veolia is offering to buy any shares of Suez on offer for cash. We own VEOEY but not Suez.

*Lazard the fund manager's shares rose 3.8% today. LAZ.

*Our new yield pick Algonquin B preferreds, AQNB, is up 1.8%.

Tech & Tel

*Mercado Libre is up 2.5% to $1534.2. MELI is the Amazon of the Amazon.

*T, a US telephone giant, is selling its Xandr division in India to InModi because it has left Alphabet for its new websites from Google and Facebook. I own shares of AT&T like most Americans.