Pres Biden has withdrawn support for a gun control advocate who was disliked by Senators Joe Manchin and Angus King. The jobless level fell to 310,000 whereas the consensus forecast was for 335,000, so risks of inflation are higher. The Delta variant continues to cause fear. 

Hydrogen

To some extent, the impact of the Jewish holiday hiatus was reversed today as the hydrogen alternative to fossil fuel came into focus. The US so far does not have a program for electric vehicle charging, unlike the visible parking area chargers we saw in London. They were funded by Siemens, a German firm, which may not be heavily present in the USA. The hydrogen alternative led to a 1.7% jump in the shares of Schlumberger Ltd (SLB), a Dutch Antilles firm owned mostly by the French. Our Plug Power (PLUG) rose $2.05 as a hydrogen play (up 1.96%). According to the Royal Bank of Canada, Energy Storage from up north is doing a deal on metal hydrogen with SLB. The price of natural gas keeps rising which boosts hydrogen alternatives. Tower Semiconductors, TSEM, which is Israeli, gained 1.57%.

Another bounce came in the business of telephony with Ericsson up 1.44% and Nokia up 1%, ERIC, and NOK. 

Image Source: Pixabay

Pharma

Drugs were mixed. The White House is aiming to cut prescription drug prices, a negative for pharma. But several firms got breakthrough designations for their products. 

*Astra Zeneca's (AZN) lung rescue combo of albuterol and budesonide met phase III targets. This offset concern about side effects of covid-19 jabs which may lead to lymphoma. Eli Lilly's (LLY) Jardiance got FDA breakthrough status for its heart failure medication. 

*Novo Nordisk (NVO) reported sales up 5% in Danish Kroner and profits up 9% in constant currencies but down 1% in DK. Its Semaglutide now is okayed for weight loss. It raised its full-year outlook to 10-13% in constant Kroner from 6-13% earlier and its profit target was raised to 9-12% from 5%. 

*Swiss Roche is buying TIB Molbiol Diagnostics of Germany, a private company it has worked with for 20 years, for an undisclosed price. RHHBY.

*Compugen (CGEN) gained 4.13% today to $7.05/sh after the Jewish holiday closing. 

*Novocure got FDA breakthrough designation for its liver cancer tumor treating field drug TTF-200R and the NVCR stock gained 3.5%. TEVA fell a half percent. Cerus rose 2.22% (CERS). So Israelis were variable.

*Zymeworks, which is run by an Arab, ZYME, rose 0.66%. 

*Bristol Myers lost nearly 0.7% on the US move on prices. Glaxo Smith Kline fell a half percent. BMY, GSK.

Other Sectors

*Carmaker NIO was very volatile after it announced a secondary issue yesterday. It will be done on a continuing basis, not in one fell swoop as I mistakenly wrote last night. It also won a turbo-taxi mandate against Tesla. That's the good news. The bad is that Nio cut its Q3 sales targets to 22.500-23.500 vehicles, down from prior estimate of 23,000 to 25,000. It also said it would delay its Hong Kong listing till 2022. The stock lost 1.94% at the opening here. 

*BAE of Britain landed another US Navy contract for a system for distinguishing friendly and enemy aircraft using a beamforming network's antenna control. BAESY.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, rose 1.73% on what may be a follow-up to hydrogen or not. 

*South Korean Coupang (CPNG) lost nearly 2% on no news. Mercado Libre fell 0.44% (MELI). 

*GE gained over 2% on no news. 

*Bank of Nova Scotia gained a half percent on no news. Lazard gained 1.17% on no news. BNS, LAZ. 

*South African Prosus was our worst performer, down 5.15%. PROSY is a backdoor to Tencent whose charms are fading with Chinese crackdowns on tech. 

*Japan is in clover with Mitsubishi up 2.43% (MSBHF), Sumitomo Mitsui (SMFG) up .15%, and Fanuc (FANUY) up 1.8%. 

*Gold is down a bit, 0.09% but miners like Kirkland Lake (KL) are down more.