After the feasting, it is hard to buckle down to catching up on the news, particularly since we only got one newspaper today, our local NY Times. The stock market closed at 1 p.m. It is a good day for revealing bad news since many people are still recuperating from overeating yesterday.

I wonder how Donald Trump will manage a self-pardon like the one he gave to Michael Flynn.

The new Supremes decision against local regulations cutting worship attendance is a perfect recap of the Pilgrim Fathers, who escaped Britain to be able to worship as they pleased, spending the whole of Sunday on their knees and dining on warmed up baked beans because they would not use fire on the Sabbath any more than Orthodox Jews will today. The difference is that the pilgrims did not have a Shabat Goy they to discretely light fires to get warmth and warm foods without doing it themselves.

It reminds me of the Pilgrim Hymn I was taught as a child before that stuff was outlawed:

“We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing

He chastens and hastens His will to make known

The evil oppressors turn into confessors

Sing praises to His name, He forgets not his own.”

Maybe that will stop infections at churches and synagogues, but I think it unlikely.

China has opted to put tariffs at as much as 212% on Australian wine imports. We will have to fill in the gap by buying more ourselves. Oz got into trouble for questioning the official line on the origin of the corona-virus. Beijing doesn't accept criticism. The way Jack Ma was removed as CEO at Alibaba for criticizing banks confirms this. Do not mention Uigurs if you want to operate in China.

My broker Javier Lopez explained what Perform means in brokerage analysis at Oppenheimer & Co. It means the stock did as expected, and corresponds to neutral or hold. The foreshortened market is a good place for revealing bad news.

*Greencore GNCGF, sold, is down 15.69% today after a money-losing quarter. The Irish ready-meals firm fell 14.3% yesterday in London trading.

*After Monday's surprise, Astra-Zeneca is backtracking its claims over its virus vaccine and will rerun trials. The issues are the apparent failure of AZN's jab to do well for older people at risk from the virus, a key population. Moreover, the completed trial results which showed an unusual higher protection level when a half-lower dose is given before the full dose, in part was misstated because Brazilian and British cohorts were not separately reported. Since the overseer of Warp Speed is former drug company executive Moncef Slaoui, he is well placed to order a new round of tests, which will cost AZN, although he is stepping down. AZN is down 0.7%.

*Beigene BGNE is up 6.2% today on no news I can find except that the Administration plan to force drug firms to sell to the US as cheaply as they price their products elsewhere is not going through.

*Israeli startup Compugen CGEN is up 4.2% today.

*Japanese Eisai is up 1.2%. ESALY is in recuperation over its Alzheimer's drug but has lots of drugs.

*Spanish Grifols GRFS rose 2.25%.

*TEVA tacked on a 0.4% rise.

*Zymeworks, tipped by Martin Ferera, gained 4.98%. His new pick Aurinia, AUPH, added 1.93%

Tech & Tel

*Kenya stocks may be worth buying but there are no ADRs so you can't. I mention this because a writer on Talkmarkets is talking up Safaricom, the local cellphone firm which developed a money payment system now under threat from rivals. I tried to buy it in Nairobi some years ago using my step-great-aunt to make the purchase but because this would have had tax consequences for her she was stopped from doing so. The only way to play African telcos is with Multichoice, MCHOY, the spinoff from Naspers, NPSNY, or with an Africa fund.

*Israeli chip maker Tower Semiconductor, TSEM, is up another 2.6%.

*Trip.com ADRs rose 1.75% today. We think TCOM is the way to play revived travel in 2021.

Energy

Oil and oil stocks are back in the doghouse today. The usual suspects, BP, RDS-B, and SLB are lower.

*Future NYSE index stock Tesla was criticized by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration because the front suspension on many of its vehicles is defective. Luckily the Dow tracking index funds are buying TSLA today on auto-pilot. We sold half our NIO. It is up 1.5%.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, is up 4.2%. John Kerry will head the EPA, a serious person for the job.

*Azure Power Global AZRE was the big winner today, up 4.9% on no new news beyond its bang-up Q2 results earlier this month.

*The big loser was Cosan CZZ of Brazil which fell 2.66% on huge volume. We got out in time.

*Cameco of Canada, CCJ, is up another 0.8%, over $10 again because nuclear is the clean-energy answer. UUUU, Energy Fuels, is a loser, down 4.65%. Now in my IRA I will buy for my main acct.

*Eduardo Garcia writes in Sentidocomun.co.mx that Orbia Advance Corp made a first buy from its new risk capital startup fund, putting $3 mn into SeeTree, an agritech firm. MXCHF.

*Cross border power co Algonquin is up 0.8%. Its sister firm Atlantica Yield, of Britain, is down 2%. AQN is for growth and AY for yield. They are investing in Spanish windmills like Don Quixote.

*Veolia, VEOEY, is up 2.1% after a note about its Suez plans was published by Dow-Jones. It is a gamble as the result depends on the French courts. Yesterday the bailiffs seized documents from Engie, which it bought to get a position in the rival ute.

Finance

*Hong Kong's Hang Seng Bank, which runs the index there, gained 14.8% today. HSNGF is not being treated as badly as AIA Group Asia, AAIGF which rose at the opening but now is down 1.23%.

*Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterieur of Panama is down. The BLX accumulators of San Diego are not working today.

*Scotiabank is up 0.3%.

*Banco Santander gained a fraction. SAN.

*Virgin Money, sold, reported an after-tax loss of £141 mn. Our ADRs we not recognized by the UK company which was backed by Australian banks. VMUK owners got what they deserve.

*Our Japanese Buffett stocks are lower today, Mitsubishi (MSBHF) and Sumitomo (SMFG).

*My taste for the CBOE Global Markets stock is not dependent on puts or calls. It doesn't matter which are placed, because it gains from option volume. When he retired my father took courses in options trading and shared his conclusion with me: don't trade options. But the platforms are different.

Funds

*Swiss Helvetia Fund, SHF, cut its dividend by 2.03%.

Over the weekend I will be writing a new report on closed-end funds investing based on the erratic performance of these vehicles during the covid-19 crisis. I will also discuss the new trend for managed funds of fund investing in closed-end funds. They are either CEFs or ETFs themselves, and the costs can be high.

My main reason for tackling this subject is that CEFs are a recommended way for startup investors to build their international holdings out without the risk of individual share stakes. There also is a myth that experts can do well with funds during a crisis like the present. My own conclusion is that it is more likely to ruin reputations than enhance them.

This study will be a free bonus for new and renewing subscribers to Global-Investing.com. The latest target date for it going back on-line is Dec. 1 so there is a good reason to buy early. To do so you have to send a check (remember them?) to Vivian Lewis, 35 Sutton Place, New York NY 10022. The check should be made out to Agorot Ltd d/b/a Global Investing. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to restart our Authorized program from credit cards and we will be using a system not yet installed from google instead. It is more expensive than the Visa one we used to offer. All these systems are pricey because they have to protect against fraud, a big issue now.