Protection is weird these days. We are hoping still to hop over the pond for a month to get into real life in London. However, we now learn that despite having been inoculated against Covid-19 back in Jan. 2021 we still need to schedule a test for the virus within 72 hours before boarding our airplane. Then on landing in London we will need to quarantine for 2 weeks according to my nephew the cop, with his colleagues hopping over to our place there to make sure we are not buying groceries or getting a haircut or visiting his parents or new niece. This sounds like belt and suspenders to me, overdoing British protection against American visitors, comparable to the rumors about bleach-covered US chicken exports which the British believe is poisoning them. We are considering delaying our visit till summer. The US Supreme Court is examining the constitutionality of New York's restriction on hidden firearms. Living in New York, I don't want to be shot for the sake of the 2^nd amendment.

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Today's news:

Finance

*Santander was up 2.53% today after announcing that it will do stock underwriting for UK large companies with brokerage Peel Hunt. Terms were not released. It will cover mergers and acquisitions funding and secondary issues, but not initial public offerings, and not bonds which SAN can do solo. This kind of partnership is common in Japan. SAN is now up only 1.75%.

*The new name for the Aviva funds in Britain is ABRDN, a virtual digital brand site. There has been insider selling. We sold new manager Standard Life Aberdeen 2 weeks ago, SLFPY.

*In reply to a reader, I hesitate to buy Crédit Suisse on the dip because there are still more negatives to come as shareholders seek executives to punish for the losses from Archegos and Greensill which ate their dividends.

*Banco Latino-Americano de Comercio Exterieur of Panama is up another 0.41%. BLX.

*CBOE is up 0.75% and close to going into the black. It runs alternative market sites, is owned mainly by institutions (who have to keep below fixed levels of ownership), and was tipped by Value Line.

*AAIGF, Asia AIG of Hong Kong, is up 1.7% over acquisitions in Oz and Singapore via BEA Life.

*Both our Sumitomo Mitsui and Matsushita (Financial Groups) in Japan are down today.

Oil and alternatives

*Eduardo Garcia reports in sentidocomun.com.mx that the Mexico is cutting the price of regular gasoline, raising the price for diesel (used by trucks that deliver around the country), and leaving the price for premium unchanged. For a populist like Pres. Lopez Obrador this sounds regressive.

*Delek Drilling, sold, headed by a Mizrahi (Arabic-speaking) Israeli, Yitzchak Tshuva, born in Libya, is selling 22% of its UK offshore gas fields to the Abu Dhabi state oil company Mudalaka for $1.1 bn. I would love to be part of this historic deal but we sold when Delek group became over-extended. DKDRF.

*Schlumberger Ltd, which reported last week, got upgraded by Evercore to buy with a target price of $33, raised from $30. SLB stock is up nearly 3%. It hired new execs to cover sustainable energy and new emissions businesses. It added the former chief of Orsted Wind to its board.

*BP plc is up 1.31% on the expectation that it will report good Q1 results tomorrow thanks to higher oil prices, at $61/bbl vs $44 in the prior quarter. Analysts expect its replacement cost profit to be $1.64 bn vs $1.15 bn in Q4 2020 and net profit to hit $2.06 bn vs $1.36 bn in the prior quarter.

*Royal Dutch Shell B shares rose 7% in the wake of the Chevron deal to develop US hydrogen fuel supplies, storage, and fuel cell cars with Toyota. RDS-B is already working on hydrogen in Europe.

*Autoliv, sold, because we did not know there would be boosted demand for cleaner auto exhausts for old cars, rose 0.64% yesterday, 14% YTD, and 81% in the past year. The Swedish share was sold too soon. ALV.

*William K., a reader, thinks computer-driven cars are a bubble because of barriers (patents; costs) to control software. “The bubble will burst and there will be no buyers.” Being into electric vehicles like NIO makes, I am not sure that the barriers are as high as William thinks. NIO opened up 5.1% today, linked to its getting a bullish call last week, the 7^th day in which it rose in stock markets, a run not seen in the last year. We sold 2/3 early this year and I am letting this one ride. It is $42.99 now, up 4.7%.

*Today Tesla earnings beat but sales while up failed to do the same. TSLA.

*AY, Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Fund of Britain, is up 0.9% more today. It is a bellwether for Canada's Algonquin, a part-owner of AY, up 0.15% today.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, gained another 0.9% today. The Chinese firm is the partner of Entergy, which has been cutting greenhouse gas emissions since 2001, the first in the USA, in the Sunflower Solar project in Mississippi, and also is supplying solar panels and storage batteries to Japan. It was tipped by Max Deml who writes a green newsletter. China is hitting more tech firms with antitrust, today Meituan MPNGF.

Mining and Manufacturing

*The new president and CEO of Tomra Systems, which suffered a boardroom coup, is Tove Anderson, former executive VP of Yara International, producer of crop fertilizer. There are only a limited number of Norwegian executives. His arrival took the price of TMRAF down 1% to $49.71 but the price of TMRAY is flat at $49.59. Norwegians don't arbitrage.

*Vedanta VEDL, the Tamil Nandu, India copper plant we used to own, is converting its mine and factory to produce oxygen for treating Covid-19 patients in hard-hit India. Separately, the Modi government is allowing vaccine makers to raise the prices. Copper prices have nearly doubled in the last year but mining in India has been shut in.

*Antofagasta of Chile, primarily listed in London, is up 6.53%. It mines copper and last week narrowly missed target output because of covid-19. ANFGF has tripled in price in the last year.

*UK Vodafone is one of the companies seeking the Ethiopian mandate for wireless phones. VOD is up. Ericsson is down 0.2%, Swedish ERIC. Nokia is up 0.24%, Finnish NOK.

*Brazilian Cosan is up 0.43% despite desperate Covid-19 outbreaks along the Amazon. CSAN.

*UUUU Energy Fuel is back down today.

*Hoegh LNG Partners, HMLP, which Joe Shaeffer and I bought independently in Jan. is up 17%.

Pharma

*Despite the European Union suing Astra-Zeneca for delivery shortfalls of Covid-19 vaccines, the stock is up 0.22% to $52.38, because AZN will get UK help. The US will share AZN jabs worldwide.

*Israeli generics maker TEVA rose 4.35% today to $10.69 after announcing the launch of a copycat of Canasa (mesalamine) suppositories to reduce the pain of ulcerative rectal colitis from which about a million mostly older Americans suffer. Canasa is extremely expensive but coupons are offered for up to 80% off the list price. It is now up only 3.5% but is still a big winner today.

*AbCellera, ABCL, is up 4.2%. It will report on Q1 May 13.

*Israeli BioLineRX BLRX gained 4.83% today. It pancreatic cancer drug CXCR4 inhibitor Motixafortide is in phase II trials with Keytruda in patients with and without liver metastases. Merck MRK, the maker of Keytruda, is down 0.25%.

*Spanish Grifols recouped 1.22% of its loss last week and is now in the black for us. GRFS.

*Novacure of Israel and the Channel Islands is up another 4.94% today. We are ahead over 30% on the electricity system for killing cancers discovered by a professor at Technion in Haifa, where both sons of my Israeli first cousin studied. Alas, my British cousin with pancreatic cancer opted not to try it. NVCR.

*Thermo Fisher Electron, maker of tests, TMO, is up another 1.44%. It is my largest US holding and was recommended today by Cerity Partners' Jim Lebenthal.

Tech

*Nasdaq's gains have not only boosted Swedish Investor, IVSBF, but also Latin American Mercado Libre, MELI, up 0.7%, and Korean Coupang, CPNG, up 0.04%. It was tipped Friday by Motley Fool.

*Qualcomm is up 2.7%. QCOM. Microsoft MSFT which reports tomorrow is up 0.3%.

*Chip-makers Taiwan Semiconductor, TSM, and Israeli-American Tower Semiconductor, TSEM, are up 1.6% and 2.06% resp. Taiwan fund, TWN, is up 5.75%, our best performer today by percentage.