Today Wall St. is back in clover, with the DJIA over 35,000 despite having fallen in UK trading. Sterling was up sharply. The dollar is the key for explaining both moves, as the price of gold continues rising against the greenback, even as Britain now faces a potential move to repeat the referendum over Scottish independence. Legally the measure will have to be approved by England, not just Scotland, despite the kilted province having just voted a pro-independence majority for its own Parliament from the nationalists and the greens. The bad news is that the Indian variant Covid-19 appears to be more virulent than other mutations and risks causing renewed risks even for people who have been vaccinated. I hate to say this, but all human beings are at risk from a disease hitting some of them now because illnesses spread. Meanwhile, the haven dollar is looking fragile as gold is up a 4^th day in a row and the dollar is at a nearly 3 month low.

Commodities

*Nothing beats a hack attack on an essential but privately owned US pipeline for boosting oil stocks. The hackers are said to be criminals from Eastern Europe. That explains continued rises in one of my oldest holdings, Schlumberger Ltd, SLB. It rose because of a groundbreaking partnership with NOV Inc, (formerly National Oilwell Varco), a maker of oilfield equipment. Cash-rich SLB will help finance oil and gas production.  

*Mexican Orbia Advance Corp (still traded as MXCHF but not showing in my brokerage account) got $1.1 bn in its latest bond issue according to sentidocommun.com.mx, with which we exchange news. It issued $600 mn for 5 years paying 1.875% and $500 for 10 years paying 2.875% and the stock rose to $2.69 in Mexico. TD Ameritrade says it is a $2.43 bid, $22.44 ask. Don't accept such numbers.

*Gold is up to $2183.5 per ounce, up thanks to the risks of the US from slow growth, inflation, and higher yields. SPDR Gold, GLD, is up 0.5% while Kirkland Lake KL, a miner, is up 0.55%.

*Oil is not today's top commodity, according to Geohring & Rozencwajc, Canadian writers about resources. The top commodity bull market is copper, now trading at more than double its level 5 years ago at $4.15/lb. There is more to come according to the analysis. G&H expect copper prices to head for $15/lb but, as usual when such predictions are posted, they don't say when this will occur. The reason however is new: not demand but supply. G&H writes: “Our models today strongly suggest copper mine supply growth will grind to a halt this decade, pushing copper prices far higher than anyone expects.”

*Actually iron ore is the top commodity today, up nearly 10%.

*In London trading today, Antofagasta rose 3.44% despite an analyst down-grade for Chile's ANFGF. Its US share is up only about 0.75% however.

*BP plc gained 0.3% while Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) fell 0.84%.

*Targa Resources rose to $38.93, a 52 wk high. TRGP.

*Wood is back in favor. Weyerhaeuser, WY, a fund invested in the sector, opened up 3.81% today, hitting a new high at $41.67 in US trading.

*Cameco was penalized for poor results with an underperform rating from Royal Bank of Canada, and a target price of C$18 vs earlier $22. However, most of the rest of Bay St kept it at hold and CFRA upped its TP to C$22 from 18. In US trading it rose because of currency impact. CCJ.

*Energy Fuels, UUUU, jumped to over $6.40 at the opening and then fell to under $6. It was the most volatile of our small caps and now is at $6.07 (US), down 3.2% because there is no volume.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, is down 5.15%, the worst of the lot. It will report on Q1 May 20. It was tipped by Max Deml, an Austria-based green energy analyst and is very volatile as is the solar energy market as well. Analysts are in disarray but we are sticking with Max.

Food

*Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Quebec operator of highway food and gasolene stores, takes the “chutpah” prize for its plan to offer senior unsecured notes and “green bonds” exempt from US registration rules. The green bonds will replace existing notes and are supposed to finance “clean transportation, energy efficiency, renewables, pollution prevention and control, sustainable water and wastewater management”. ANCUF is up 2.3%, probably without deserving the green label.

*Nutrien, an Anglophone Canadian, was chopped to equal weight by Morgan Stanley but rose 1.4% to a new high of $62.31 in US trading. NTR.

*Global bakery, Mexico's Grupo Bimbo, gained 2.8% and is up YTD despite mixed Q1 results. GRBMF.

Drugs

*Pharma stocks are back in clover because it looks like the Biden plan to cut patent protection for vaccines will not work. Moreover, there was something like a panic sell Friday by Cathie Woods, the hot hands of the moment. She sold Takeda (TAK, up 1.05%), Roche (RHHBY, down 0.3%), and Novartis (NVS, up 0.36%). The US cannot force foreign drug-makers to give up their patents but she has a following all the same. Her fund suffered a sell-off today and is below its level at the start of 2021.

*US majors Merck (MRK) and Bristol Myers (BMY) and UK Glaxo (GSK) and Astra-Zeneca (AZN) also rose, AZN despite shareholders contesting its CEO's pay package at the AGM.

*Dr. Reddy's of India is up 1.9%. The ghastly outbreak there is not being blamed on the drug-makers. RDY.

*Grifols in Madrid rose 1.92% and is now in the black for 2021. GRFS reported on Q1 last week.

*Novo Nordisk of Denmark gained 0.85% today. NVO hit a year's high at $76.65.

*Teva announced it will present two new e-posters at the next virtual American Thoracic Society International Conference May 14-19. One of the two e-posters details data on increased short-acting beta-agonist use in patients with poorly controlled asthma, using Teva’s ProAir® Digihaler® (albuterol sulfate) inhalation powder, an inhaler for adults and children over 4 years old to prevent or treat bronchospasm which records inhaler use to prevent excessive use of inhalers. exercise-induced bronchospasm that automatically detects, records, and stores data on inhaler events. The other e-poster includes data on real-world uncontrolled COPD therapy. TEVA is down 0.6% because there is a crisis over east Jerusalem.

*The same probably applies to the drop at Compugen, CGEN, down 5.08%.

*And to BiolineRx, BLRX, down the most, by 9.54% because it was also a leader up. That's what I bought at $3.3684 today.

*Novacure, another high flyer from Israel (but listed from Jersey in the Channel Islands), fell but recuperated back to $190.45 before I got my order in part because TD Ameritrade is shutting down without recourse to customers. From double digits it is now only down 5.7%. NVCR.

Tech and Tel

*Naspers fell 4.4% today because of heavy selling of Tencent, which it is exiting from. NPSNY is primarily listed in Jo'burg, South Africa.

*Prosus, PROSY, the other back door to TCEHY, is down only 2.75%.

*Vodafone hit another 52-wk high at $20.35, up 1.52%. VOD.

*Nintendo, another sell by Kathie, rose 2.8% today at the opening and now is up 2.5%. NTDOY.

*Qualcomm, my accidental winner, lost traction today because Apple plans to make its own 5G modems rather than buying them from QCOM.

*South Korean website Coupang lost 2.23% today. CPMG is believed to be a target of US outfits, but I think they have enough on their plates.

Cement

*Cement maker CRH of Ireland hit a 52-wk high today at $51.47, up 0.47%.

*Mexican Cemex rose in tandem, up 1.04% to a new CX high of $70.71.

Finance

*New Ireland Fund is offering to buy 25% of the shares out for 98% of net asset value on May 13. This should boost the share price. IRL.

*Sampo Oyj of Finland lost 0.45% today. SAXPY.

*Investor A/B of Sweden lost only 0.23% today. IVSBF gains from its stake in Nasdaq, our stock market, a heritage of the former European arm in Sweden.

*Banco Santander gained 2.04% in European trading and is now at a new high of $4.04. SAN.

*CBOE Global Markets rose 2.4% to a new 52-week high of $111.02 but now is $110.69. I worried about luring people into this trading platform until it was tipped by Value Line, which is supposed to be for small investors.

*Bank of Nova Scotia gained 0.92% in US trading. BNS.

*Lazard, the fund mgr, rose at the opening but now is down a tad, while its fund, Lazard Global Total Return is up 0.32%. The fund manager is able to run a global fund with minimal staffing because it is now a fund of funds, buying the discounts. LAZ.

*Mitsubishi, MSBHF, is down 1.3% while Sumitomo Mitsui SMFG is up 0.75%.

*State Street Bank, a US custodial bank for funds and ADRs is up 2.22%. STT.

Utes

*AY, Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc, a yield fund part-owned by Algonquin AQN, a Canada ute we own, is off $1.32 or 3.66% on no news. It is rated outperform by Raymond James brokers.

*German EON.SE is up 1% today, EONGY.

*Veolia, the French water works, is down 1.4%, je ne sais pas pourquoi. VEOEY.

*BCE of Canada is up 0.92%.