The big weekend news is that Barron's devoted its issue to cyber currency after the launch of Proshares' ETF but with its long list of rivals coming into the market (BCH; ETH; GBTC; BITO; etc.) actually pushed the cyber IPO price down.

Canadian stocks are particularly buoyant and not just in energy which is a riser today because the loony is up against the buck.

Image Source: Unsplash

Pharma news:

*Talk of a bid from Bristol Myers raised the price of Aurinia Pharma, AUPH, by nearly 30% over the weekend and today. Confirmation today led it to rise some more. It is a wow performer and moreover is Canadian. However, the rest of the sector is not doing all that well. There may be other bidders for AUPH including AZN. BMY also is partnering with Merck and Nanobiotic on a radiation therapy for head and neck cancers. BMY gained 0.7% after opening up nearly 0.9%.

*Alkermes plc of Ireland, ALKS, rose over 1% because it won US FDA fast-track approval for its Nemvaleukin Alfa with Pembrolizumab for treating platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. It reports its earnings Weds.

*Astra Zeneca fell on US markets despite its Imfinzi meeting endpoints in its phase 3 trial against biliary tract cancers. It also will test its Deruxtecan with Keytruda from Merck against non-small cell lung cancer alongside Daiichi Sankyo of Japan. Merck reports Thursday as does Novocure.

*Walgreen Boots was downrated by me last summer but now it has been chopped to hold with a $56 TP by Truist's David MacDonald. I visited its London store at Canary Wharf which had no customers and not very helpful staff.

*Bioline RX fell 1.7%, BLRX is Israeli. Compugen (CGEN) of Israel fell 0.48%.

*CAE gained 1.9%but it may not have been the pharma side that caused it. it is Canadian.

*Merck is up 0.6% today.

*Swiss Novartis is lower by 1.6% today. Roche fell less, down 0.27%. NVS and RHHBY are both Basel Switzerland drug firms.

*Cayman Islands-based Theravance rose sharply at the opening but fell back later and is now up only 0.65%.

*Zymeworks which is recuperating gained another 2.9% today. ZYME.

Energy

*Albermarle partner Mineral Resources will restart the Wolgina lithium mine earlier than expected, in Q3 '22, and ALB gained 3.84%.

*Algonquin Power, a ute, fell 0.36% because it does more business in foreign currencies like the dollar than in Canadian loonies. However, its AQNB share and Atlantica Yield rose. They are its hedges.

*Azure Power Global of India is still trying to decide if it wants to rise or fall from Friday's close. AZRE last week got approval from a fellow Indian firm, Solar Energy to build a 120-megawatt wind plant in Karnakata to be completed in early 2023.

*BP plc gained fractionally as oil prices failed to rise even more. Royal Dutch Shell B gained 1.17%.

*Ecopetrol, sold, was upgraded to buy by Piper Sandler and Schwab. It is controlled by the Colombia govt.

*Earthstone Energy rose 6% despite all its oil operations being in the USA. ESTE later fell by about a third of the rise.

*Schlumberger Ltd was tipped by ATB Capital with a target price of $45.5. No idea who this is.

Winners

*Tesla stock rose 2.4%, to over $1000/sh and a trillion-buck market cap. It will get a larger lithium ion battery from Japanese Panasonic. Its rise boosted that of NIO by 6.05% despite China worries.

*Patched together oil firm Coterra rose 5.25%, the 2nd best in the oilpatch. I own this US entity, CTRA, successor to Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex. It is being dissed by a website out of Oz called Simply Wall St. which I think is ill-informed.

*The best showing was by Plug Power, up 5.68%. But now it is only up 3.35%.

Finance

 *Bank of Nova Scotia gained 0.5% on loony strength. BNS.

*Lazard the fund manager is up1.22%, LAZ.

*Finnish Sampo sold another 162 mn shares of Nordea bank which US persons are not allowed to buy despite the underwriters being BofA and Citi.

*Investor of Sweden gained 0.85% today on no news. IVSBF owns a chunk of Nasdaq.

*Gold is up and so is Kirkland Lake Gold, KL, by 1.4%.

Miscellaneous

*Alimentation Couche-Tard, which sells food and groceries at gas stations, gained over 1%. Canada's ANCUF also earns forex but can raise prices faster than drugmakers can.

*Antofogasta which mines copper, gold, and fertilizer in Chile, but is listed in London, fell on a US federal ban on its Minnesota Twin Metals copper-nickel mine. ANFGF rose last week by 3.6% despite Chilean labor troubles. Now it has US environmental troubles.

*Nutrien, another Canadian food supplier, gained 0.69% today, NTR.

*Coupang gained fractionally after a deal over Korean fast delivery was inked last week. It started off up 6% but then wiser folks said this was baked in already. It was tipped by Investors Chronicle, a UK newspaper, today.

*Mercado Libre gained 2.3% after BNS raised MELI's rating to outperform from hold and upped the target price 2.2% to $2100.

*Nokia was downgraded to underperform by BofA today with a target price of $5.02.

*Nintendo fell 1.2% because it is not upgrading its OLED Switch sold by Amazon. NTDOY has lost a third of its value YTD.

*Norwegian Tomra Systems gained fractionally. It makes sorting and recycling machines.

*Tower Semiconductor of Israel rose 1.45%, TSEM.