Just in time for Christmas the market decided to go up today pretty much across the board, the S&P, the Dow Jones, and Nasdaq in reverse order of rises. The triggers were first of all a lower peril from the Omicron variant which seems to be less able to elude covid-19 jabs and pills than initially expected, notably the Moderna booster.  Pres. Biden seized the initiative over testing for the new variant by offering free kits.

Another trigger came over energy stocks. They will not sell as much transport as had been expected at year-end but there still are huge gaps in the global oil supply.

US oil drilling is rising to fill the demand.

The big loser was Genfit GNFT after its rise over the Ipsen deal when most stocks fell. Another smaller reversal hit AT&T T.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Oil patch

*Shell, BP, Schlumberger Ltd, and Energy Fuels (UUUU) were winners, notably the latter, up 4.54%. Plug Power PLUG rose 3.33. 

*French Total Energie is building the largest battery energy storage system out there.

*Aker BP is buying XL under-sea oil search company.

*Azure Power was given a new eps forecast of 0.021 cents from earlier 0.017 cents and raised to buy by an analyst. AZRE.

*Antofagasta rose 3.2%. ANFGF.

*Cameco rose 3.66% in the UK and is still up 3.37% here. CCJ.

Drugs

*Apart from the chance to fight Omicron, the pharma industry is planning new work in other areas. TEVA gained 2.62%. 

*Eli Lilly was upgraded to buy with a modestly lower target price in the UK over its atopic dermatitis drug in the UK. LLY.

*Pfizer rose on its HIV jab outlook. PFE.

*Merck gained on its partner IMV's cancer studies results. MRK.

*French Sanofi bought Amunix for $1 bn. SNY.

*Vir was downgraded to underperform by Baird brokers. VIR.

*Novacure gained 3.66%. NVCR.

Finance

*Banco Santander is up 1.46%. SAN.

*Mitsubishi Finance gained 2%. MUFG. 

*Sumitomo rose 1.65%. SMFG.

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