Today there are lots of negative hitting the market, like a surge in US covid-19 cases from the Omicron variant, and renewed concern about inflation risks. The seemingly good level of joblessness at a mere 184,000 turns out to be less wonderful than it appears, at the lowest since 1969. In fact, the level of joblessness is low because employers are keeping people on their payrolls for fear of labor shortages to come.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Drug dealers

*The sector is under a cloud because of fear of price controls on drugs in the USA. In fact, price controls may help boost sales which may wind up neutral in their impact on earnings. Non-US drug makers seem to be quite happy adjusting to controlled prices.

*Zymeworks and Beigene have begun to test zanidatamab in Asia trials against HER-2 positive gastro-esophageal cancer in South Korea, resulting in ZYME getting a $8 mn payment. The product is a bi-specific antibody that binds to HER2 cancers.

*British Glaxo Smith Kline hit an all-time high after its jab was approved for 16-17-year-olds. GSK.

*Several drug firms were given new forecasts. Eli Lilly, LLY now has a TP of $270 but is still rated neutral. The company plans to spend 4.8-5.8 mn on CAPEX next year.

*Bristol Myers was given a TP of $58 and also rated neutral. BMY.

*Pfizer, (PFE) was rated overweight with a TP of $60.

*Merck also was given an overweight rating with a $90 TP. MRK.

*Biogen Idec, BIIB, was rated neutral but its TP is $250.

*Novartis presented its charms to investors directly noting that it pays dividends in Swiss francs and that it also does deals and buybacks. NVS.

*Compugen rose 0.43%. CGEN, being Israeli, tends not to trade on Friday when Tel Aviv is shut for Sabbath.

*Austrians who do not get vaccinated against Covid-19 are subject to a fine of euros 3600.

Energy

*Azure Power fell 4.4%, again for no reason I can figure out. The price of oil is down. AZRE.

*Israeli Delek sold its Tamar field and other assets to a US bank. DELKY.

*Hoegh Partners' offer for its buyout is too low according to an analyst. HMLP.

*Mexichem MXCHF is up 10.82% but I cannot trade it with my US account at TD Ameritrade. Long-held foreign stocks I own as part of the global-investing.com portfolio are now being subject to US taxes on gains abroad. It is penalizing me for what I am trying to do for my readers and I intend to fight this hard. One of the stocks I own in the UK, purchased in 1964 when I lived there is Tesco, Victor Value when I bought it, and it is up hugely. It is in my British husbands bank in my name. I cannot believe that Uncle Sam is now retroactively (illegally) fining me for this and I intend to fight back. The stock was of course part of our global portfolio we reported about for 15 years, hardly a sneaky way to avoid taxes. I just own it too long!

*Tower Semiconductor (of Israel) remains attractive as chips are hard to get. TSEM.

Telcos

*Qualcomm, a US firm, hit another new high, up 2%. QCOM.

*Vodafone is buoyant because of rumors that it will be sold to a fund manager at a reasonable price. VOD.

*Nokia rose 2.54% today in Britain although most stocks fell in London. NOK has a 40% margin on its ADR but I am not sure if this applies in Britain where it trades under a different ticker symbol.

*Amazon was fined $1.3 bn (in euros) by Italy for misleading its readers. AMZN.