There is a lot of news today most negative. The UK and the EU are unlikely to reach a deal by the Sunday deadline, so Britain will do a no-deal exit from the European Community. Senate Republicans are digging in their heels against another stimulus round, cutting the odds of new funding before Biden takes office.

We have a stock buy at the end of this blog and another at the beginning.

image source

Drugs

COVID-19 news is mixed, good, and bad. Deaths are rising fast. The Australian HIV vaccine from CSL failed to block corona-virus. The virus vaccine from French Sanofi with Glaxo adjuvants failed to protect older people from infection, and therefore they are doing new tests which willl take months more to try to get a recombinant jab that stops covid-19. Older people need the protection more than young ones. UK inoculation with the Pfizer vaccine now approved for use in the US revealed that people with allergies are at risk of having dangerous reactions to the jab. That's the bad news.

Here's the good news. Britain and Russia are cooperating on a trial of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine with the Sputnik one to see if getting 2 different jabs will improve outcomes. Canada is setting out to develop a vaccine which will be developed by its National Research Council and drug companies Immunoprecise (a specialist in antibodies) and Vancouver's Zymeworks (ZYME).

*Our portfolio is both in the good and the bad news column. We own Glaxo, GSK, a British drug major, and ZYME, down 1.25%. GSK had good news on another plague, HIV. Its ViiV sub, with partners Pfizer and Shionogi, won EU OK for Rukabra (fostemsavir) to treat multi-drug resistant HIV.

*Martin Ferera writes from Canada: "Antibody developer AbCellera Biologics Inc will list in the US as ABCL. Its ipo has been over 20x oversubscribed according to The Globe & Mail. It will issue some 30 mn shares at $20/per, raising $600 mn plus a 15% greenshoe add, one of the biggest biotech IPO's ever. It will overtake ZYME as the biggest Canadian pharma stock. Peter Thiel is joining its board, adding to the allure. It artificial intelligence discovery engine spots antibodies which can be developed into drugs. It partnered with Eli Lilly earlier this year to develop bamlanivimag, an emergency transfusion for early Covid-19 infection. The US has since ordered 950,000 doses for $1.19 bn and Canada 26,000 doses for $32.5 mn. AbCellera will collect royalties. It has partnered with drug firms on 94 discovery programs and signed 71 deals. Moreover, ABCL is already profitable, a rarity among newly listed stocks in this sector. It was founded by Carl Hanson using technology developed by the U of British Columbia which will own nearly 25% of the shares and will not sell any. It is shooting out of the gates today. BUY." Vivian put in an order at $56.7261.

*Astra-Zeneca AZN is up because its Russia trial is hopeful.

*The Chinese partner of western drug firms, Beigene, gained 3.05% today, BGNE.

*Aurinia Pharam, AUPH, tipped by Martin Ferera, is back at $15 here. It had a poor quarter but Martin thinks it has a strong future.

*Enlivex is up 2.72% on optimism about Allocotra Immunotherapy against Covid-19. ENLV is in phase II trials of a block to cytokine storms from donor blood to against infection inflammation.

*Israeli drug stocks are mixed. TEVA is down 1.25%. Tel Aviv is closed on Fridays so there is no way US negativism can be overcome. This applies to optimism too. Apart from new pick ENLV, both BiolineRX, BLRX, up 4%+ and Compugen, CGEN, up 2.15%, are strong here.

*Dr. Reddy's of India, an Abhimanyu Sisodia pick, gained a fraction more today, hitting $68.44. RDY.

*Japanese Takeda TAK jumped 1% after its treatment for hereditary angio-edema Takhzyro injection was approved for use in China. However, Eisai, ESALY, fell 1%.

*Spanish Grifols fell back 1% today after rising this week. GRFS is an antibody specialist.

Tech and Toys

*There is also bad news for other companies in our portfolio. Qualcomm, my accidental win, lost 7%+ today on news that Apple will stop buying QCOM modems and make its own. Yesterday QCOM rose 8.7% after its object storage platform won approval from Amazon.

*Danish Novo Nordisk NVO is up despite a challenge from Swiss Roche RHHBY via a deal with French Diabeloop to create a diabetes automatic pump treatment.

*Nintendo, maker of consoles and games, found for us by Abhimanyu, was tipped by Zacks and gained 2.25% as the holidays approach.

*Both Prosus and Naspers are up today perhaps because of the tribulations of Facebook. PROSY is Dutch and NPSNY is South African. Spunoff African media firm Multichoice, MCHOY, fell.

Finance

*Today both our Japanese keiretsu stocks gained, Sumitomo SMFG and Mitsubishi MSBHF.

*AIG Group Asia Hong Kong (AAIGF) rose 2.15%.

*Banco Santander crashed back 1.9% today on heavy volume here. SAN.

*Gold miner Kirkland Lake, KL,  expects to produce 1.3-1.4 mn ounces of gold next year, roughly flat. The stock lost 2%. t

Energy

*BP, Shell RDS-B, and Schlumberger SLB all fell in trading today after the higher oil price boost in their value came under question as covid-19 infections jumped. But BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust rose 32%.

*This boosted alternatives like solar. Canada Solar, CSIQ, gained 0.9%.

*Earthstone Energy hit $4.14 before losing part of its gain. ESTE is at $4.07 now.

*However Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO will sell 69 mn new ADR shares in the USA to raise capital, which took its stock down 6%. Tesla TSLA fell too.

*Energy Fuels Inc, UUUU, up 17% Thursday, fell 5.4% and is back under $3.

*Ormat ORA, geothermal energy firm, is up today. IA US firm is partly Israeli-owned.

*However another hybrid, Tower Semiconductor Ltd, TSEM, is lower after hitting a 52 week high early this week.

*Azure Power AZRE of Mauritius, which sells rooftop solar to Indian, is up 0.55% today. There is no single rule for valuing alternative energy.

*Ute Algonquin of Canada fell 4.4% while British Atlantica Yield rose 0.77%. Oops. Harry Geisel pointed out that I misstated the relationship between the two. AQN owns a stake in AY, not the reverse.

Funds

*Aberdeen Asia Pacific Income Fund, FAX, rose 1.15% today while Aberdeen Global Income Fund fell 1.3%. Standard Life Aberdeen is up on news of changes in its platform managers. SLFPY.

*After cutting our risk with Korea Fund yesterday, I am putting the proceeds into Taiwan Fund, NYSE-TWN mainly because of insider buying. I paid $27.77/sh. The NAV is $33.08, so it is a bargain, at a discount of 15.66%. We are eligible to collect the 5.27% dividend ex-div Dec. 27. The pay out is next Jan. 10. Like Korea Fund, it is part of the Allianz stable of funds, which the German insurer is exiting. Like many CEFs it is managed by State Street Bank of Boston, which I own shares of.

The fund is not rated because of political risks from China which I want to ignore. It is no longer listed in Barron's for the same reason. China's nastiness is becoming so excessive that it is going to hit its market ambitions. Monday it detained for endangering national security a Beijing-based Bloomberg reporter of Chinese heritage, Haze Fan. I also am buying Australian wine (but not Oz wine shares.)