Continued Uncertainty

Today my computer crashed while I was writing my blog and I had to start all over again.

Fear of another Fukushima yesterday late in the market day led to a rush out of energy-related shares, which included many without any nuclear risk at all. There was news of a possible radioactive gas leak from the Chinese-French reactor at Taishan, in the heavily populated area near Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong. The French are the champions in nuclear electricity and rely heavily on power plants using uranium fuel. It is because I lived in France so long that I am not particularly frighted by nuclear power. The panic was a combo of Chernobyl and Fukushima and 3-Mile Island.

The Trump-boosted Lordstown electric vehicle factory and the stock sank after management walked out of RIDE.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan-Chase Bank JPM, said he will build up cash because of fear of inflation.

That is a response to the 6.6% rise in May producer prices, the highest rise ever reported, and the continued uncertainty about new hires. Are they not taking jobs because they lack the qualifications needed, or because they are getting too big unemployment benefits? I suspect it is the former. To cut the number of out-of-work Americans we should offer them training, either for free if they are destitute, or with payback terms starting after they are hired. That way everybody wins. And those who are looking after small children or elderly relatives should get benefits in the short term. I think Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett and all the millionaires who pay no taxes would chip in to help cover this program.

Today a kind of recovery in the nuclear arena resulted from the Administration's decision to fund uranium stockpiles to switch away from carbon polluting oil and gas.

I finally managed to sell part of my Höegh Ltd Partnership preferred A shares HMLP after the parent company opted to compete with its sub. I also suffered a delisting of Swedish Investor A/B which now trades only on the US pink sheets so it will be harder and costlier to track and trade. IVSBF as it now calls itself is a significant shareholder in Nasdaq, which uses Sweden as its European base. So it is not really being smart about US listing as I think it could have gotten a deal from Q.

Pink sheet stocks incur fees that can be very high when they are sold or bought and in some cases, their dividends are taxed at source as well. We run into this issue with Sampo Oyj, a Finnish financial conglomerate less worldly-wise than Investor which belongs to the clan Wallenberg. SAXPY.

Drug Dealers

*Astra-Zeneca AZN rose today. So did Glaxo GSK, another Brit.

*US Bristol-Myers and Merck MRK and the Merck spinoff Oraganon also rose, OGN the most in %. *Japanese Eisai, ESALY, and Takeda, TAK, gained.

*Swiss Roche and Novartis, RHHBY and NVS, rose. So did Danish Novo Nordisk NVO.

*Israeli TEVA fell.

But small-cap drug companies almost all fell. The exceptions include Zymeworks ZYME, a large small-cap; and Enlivex ENLV which has developed novel macrophage reprogramming immunotherapy against sepsis and diseases which got an EU patent today for its Allocetra.

*Even Novacure, NVCR, which electrifies cancer cells, lost about 0.75%.

Oilpatch

*Royal Dutch Shell B RDS-B rose 3.2% because it is divesting assets at a higher price than expected, thanks to oil rising in price. Shell got upgraded by Zacks to buy from hold. Its fellow British firm, BP Plc, also rose, but less dramatically, up 2.8% in London but only 1.2% here. Schlumberger, SLB, which helps find oil and gas for drillers, rose 0.4%.

*However the worry bout nuclear hurt other carbon-saving energy firms like Ormat, and Plug Power (PLUG). Indian and Chinese solar outfits Canadian Solar (CSIQ) and Azure Power (AZRE), dropped.

*Earthstone Energy ESTE opened up 14% but closed up only 9%. It is buying out minority shareholders in its Eagle Ford Texas bailiwick.

*Our only nuclear stock is not Cameco, CCJ, but Energy Fuels, UUUU, the Canada miner of uranium, and associated rare earths. It rose sharply.

Financials

*JP Morgan Chase is not the only bank looking forward to inflation. Other which gained include Scotiabank, Banco Latino, Santander, etc. BNS. BLX. SAN.

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