Happy St. Patrick's day and Chag Purim. The two fun holidays nearly overlap this year. They represent the need for a break in Lent and the springtime.

Markets in Asia and Europe rose today on hopes for the Chinese to provide economic support to these markets after it paid its bond debt, we think. The money is supposed to have gone out but not all recipients got it.  

The horrors of civil war in Ukraine continue, although there are rumors of talks going on. Putin has been designated as a war criminal, which he may just want to escape. Other rumors say that more Russian troops have been moved there after the locals hit helicopters in the south of the country.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Worries about British and Canadian inflation rates also rained on the parade, British nearly 8% forecast, and Canada at a 30-yr high of 5.7%. Oil prices rose again by as much as 12.3% to a 20-yr high.

Here the price of gold rose again while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq lost traction. However, things can change during the market day.

Several of our stocks are down, with Shell RDS-B now expected to earn 1.85% in the current quarter rather than 1.86%; Lazard LAZ now a buy but with a lower TP of .905 rather than .921; E.ON SE down 0.17%; Petrobras down on Pres. Bolsonaro called upon the company to reduce its profits and prices for the sake of the country and again threatened management; Merck now rated buy but with a TP of $1.81 down from 1.82.

Other drug companies were higher, however. Eli Lilly (LLY) was tipped for its weight loss drugs. Moderna was boosted by a jab for Canadian kids aged 6 to 11. 

Higher UK and Jefferies forecasts helped European telcos, Swedish Erickson ERIC, now hold, and Finnish Nokia NOK, now a buy. U.S. shares were upwardly mobile because the Fed only boosted interest rates by 0.25%, although the odds are high that there will be lots of further rises.

An anonymous writer on seeking alpha calling himself Tradevestor tipped Qualcomm QCOM as underpriced. I like it too but I sign my articles.

Over 200 bn dollars worth of Russian oligarch money is reputedly in Swiss bank accounts.

My personal favorites remain Canada and financial-focused: Scotiabank and Manulife, in banking and insurance respectively; and BCE which is a western hemisphere telecom play. I also like Nutrien (NTR); Cenovus Energy (CVE) and Couche-Tard for their dividends, at C $2.46: C$2.49; and C$3.05 resp.