Today the proverbial whatever hit the fan after joblessness and payroll data fed the fear of inflation. Gold, despite being an inflation hedge, fell because the greenback fell more, now at $1876 per ounce. The unemployment claims fell to 393,000, the first time since covid-19 hit that it was under 400,000. The private payroll count, which measures employment rose by 978.000, much higher than consensus estimates of 680,000. The only good news, if you need some, is that the revised employment level for April is now 654,000 down by 88,000 from what was stated last month.

The 10-yr US treasury yield rose to 1.6% again. Later in the day, a rally was attempted, mostly for the meme shares.

Adding to the malaise before the opening, crude prices inched up because inventories appeared to have fallen because OPEC countries had failed to boost production as expected last month. Several oil drilling projects in Africa were canceled by US majors. Oil hit a 15-mo high before Saudi Arabia added fuel to the fire by raising prices for Asia customers. Moreover, the UK removed Portugal from its list of countries Britons could visit without having to quarantine on their return home. We used to vacation regularly in the Algarve when we lived in Paris.

The impact on stocks was high with only shares traded before the US data came out, mostly in Europe and Asia, spared falling. They will play catch-up on price drops tomorrow or with their ADRs unless Wall Street reverses course.

Image Source: Pixabay

Today I plan to buy into Plug Power on news that it will be making hydrogen fuel vans with Renault. Roth Capital analysts have a $65 target price on PLUG. I am buying ahead of its next earnings report on June 15. I paid $30.42. It is a US firm. More energy below.

Drug dealers

*Pfizer's corona jab appears to have led to myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, when given to males aged under 20, now the target in US inoculation, according to Israeli sources. Israel is one of the few places to have already massively inoculated teenagers. The impact on PFE stock so far has been minimal but Moderna rose 2.62%. I have 2 under-20 male grandchildren who are getting jabs now. Their other grandparents are both MD's who presumably will take charge.

*Astra-Zeneca rose on news that the White House will allow it and rivals Novavax and Sanofi, to distribute jabs to emerging markets to stop variants as they see fit. AZN is $56.21, a new high. Glaxo, GSK, rose 0.51% in sympathy.

*TEVA presented new longer-term results at the American Headache Society for its migraine drug Ajovy. The drug cuts migraine episodes by half in users treated for more than a year.

Separately, Teva licensed a sub of ABBVie, Ironwood, to produce a generic for its constipation drug Linz533 in the 7 mg size. Teva rose initially but lost most of its gains later.

*Carl Icahn is reported to have heavily increased his stake in Bausch Healthcare of Canada, BHC, on its plan to spin off its eye medicines. BHS rose at the open but now is nearly at yesterday's level.

*My largest US stock in the sector, Medtronic MDT, which turns out to be Irish, had mixed results. It won FDA approval for its UniD patient-specific rods. These are used with spinal systems, designed for each patient prior to surgery with an artificial intelligence-driven pre-operation plan. This aligns the patients' spines when treating scoliosis, trauma, tumors, and complex degenerative conditions in adults and adolescents. The match helps avoid follow-up operations.

However, MDT today also withdrew its HVAD implantable heart pump because of safety concerns. The stock is down.

*Dr. Reddy's RDY fell fractionally. The Indian market has been very upbeat with people buying for the expected recovery while death tolls from the 2^nd covid-19 outbreak rise.

*Merck MRK fell 3%+ today on the spinoff of Organon, OGN, which dropped below the issue price by 4.5% to $33.69. It will specialize in women's health, mainly to extract Merck from abortion risks.

*Swiss Roche, RHHBY, was tipped by a writer and rose 0.9% today.

*Fellow Swiss Novartis with no write-up gained 0.31%. Its juvenile arthritis and plaque psoriasis drug Cosentyx (both) got FDA approval. NVS.

*Danish Novo Nordisk rose 0.91%. My secret theory is that people are buying the diabetes leader because Nestle admitted that most of its products are unhealthy and over-sugared. NVO.

*Grifols rose in Madrid but fell 4.13% here. It launched a hepatitis B globulin treatment. GRFS.

*Aurinia fell 5.12% on heavy bearish $13 call option trades today. AUPH.

*Israeli Compugen dropped4.4% to $7.39.CGEN.

*Eisai (ESALY) rose 2.63% on hopes for its Biogen partner's aducanumab vs Alzheimers. The FDA is shtum. Takeda, TAK, is down 0.4%. Both are Japanese drug majors.

*Novocure finally ended profit-taking and is up 0.13%. NVCR is Israel-Channel Islands-registered and makes electric field alternators that may stop cancers growing. Now in trials against glioblastoma.

Energy

*NIO was boosted by news of more recalls by Tesla overtires and seat belt problems in its China line. It also is looking good after China Yuchai had a boardroom crisis and sold itself to Sunlong Bus. However, it is still on the sites of rivals aiming to make nice to China. TSLA how plans to build a battery plant in Shanghai for its electric vehicles with CATL. CYD is also now a bigger threat.

*Schlumberger Ltd rose another 2.4% after Susquehanna raised its TP for SLB by $5 to $41. It is now at $36.31 so obviously $5 is not a target for SLB bulls.

*Raizen, the Shell-Cosan filling station arm in Brazil and Argentina, filed with the local São Paulo bolsa to register for an IPO. It is unclear what if anything ADR owners will get. CSAN fell over 4% here.

*Bravo Patty the Biotech Maven. CAE is up ~10% so far in June. It trains pilots virtually and we will be needing them when the virus is conquered. CAE is Canadian but trades in US$ on the NYSE.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, fell 2.6% today over a secondary priced at the market share offering aiming to raise $150 mn. It is not among the 59 US-banned state sector Chinese stocks.

*Energy Fuels, UUUU, is down 2.9%. I am buying this share too.

*GE continues upward thanks to its sales to Airbus and maybe also its life-sciences prowess.

Finance

*Canadian General, CGRIF, closed May with net asset value of C$53.78 but its share price was only C$36.97, meaning it is a bargain. Its top holding sectors are information tech; industrials; materials; and consumer discretionary and its top holdings are Shopify; Canadian Pacific (in merger deals); 1^st Quantum Minerals; Franco Nevada (gold miner); NVIDIA; West Fraser Timber; Lightspeed Intl; TFI Intl; Amazon (Canada); and Bank of Montreal.

*AIA Group Hong Kong (AAIGF) was among the recommendations from Hong Kong analyst on the insurance and banking but it fell 3.65% today all the same.

*Both Lazard and Lazard Total Return Fund dropped today, LAZ by 0.08 and LGI by 0.84%.

*Banco Latino-Americano de Comercio Exterior of Panama rose 1.32% today. BLX was bought by institutional investors.

*Scotiabank, after a mixed report, is down 0.4% in US trading, not as bad as I feared. BNS.

*Santander gained 0.6% today after a couple of months of lower prices. SAN is $4.28. Its YTD high is just a dime above this.

*My horrific bill from American Express AXP was not from the company but from associates of the pickpocket. I have now got the credit card company to, finally, cancel the stolen card and issue me with a new one. Moreover on only owe under $45. The whole thing was the work of a criminal conspiracy and I blamed the credit card firm. Its shares rose 0.28% today. I am still well down on my holding.

*Mitsubishi (MSBHF) is up 0.55%. Sumitomo Mitsui (SMFG) is up 0.1%.