There is little joy in stocks today as even companies reporting good results are being hit by fear of Ukraine sanctions. Hardest hit are companies that are energy users like travel, and shipping, plus finance. Gold is up to a year's high because unlike bitcoin it is a serious alternative holding.

Gold is the only thing you may buy now. Don't buy the dip because who knows how low things will go.

Oil prices here rose to $105 per barrel at one point.

In a televised meeting with the Russian president, Aleksandr N. Shokhin, the president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs said Russia needed to remain engaged in global commerce despite looming sanctions. Shokhin was visibly nervous as he asked Putin to take care to avoid doing further damage to Russia’s economy, with Russia promising to strike back against any sanctions imposed upon it over the Ukraine invasion.   

Free Stock photos by Vecteezy

Also up is BAE Systems, the fastest way to leave London because of BAESY's hefty sales of defense material to the USA. It earned 40 cents vs an estimate of 35. This won't go on. Sterling is as likely to hold up as the greenback. 

*Agnico Eagle raised its divvie by 14.3%. However, it missed the forecast eps by 9 cents.

*The worst performing stock in the world is Yandex which is down 55.02%. I hope Mr Putin owns some.

Funds

*Losers included ETFs investing in Russia like Franklin Templeton; Van Eck (Russian small cap plus large cap); and MSCI Russia Fund. 

Pharma

*Irish Theravance reported (TBPH) lower losses, $56.2 mn vs $76.5 mn in the prior quarter year beating by 45.45%. There also was a rush of divestiture from insiders. It is developing PIFR which stands for peak in respiratory flow rate for chronic COPD patients and expects to become cash-flow positive in the 2nd half of this year. It spent much less on R&D.In this market it fell.

*Irish CRH fell $7 in sympathy. 

*Europeans AstraZeneca AZN fell 5.5%. Glaxo GSK fell 2.73%. 

*Indian Dr. Reddy's lost 3.14%. RDY.

*Israel's TEVA fell 4.12%. 

*Moderna gained on its results. MRNA.

Emerging markets

*Fanuc fell 2.52% despite its sales beat and lower loss per share in 2021 from 2020. FANUY.

*Ormat ORA beat with earnings of .437 vs .383 but naturally fell in the wake of worries, and because its full-year sales forecasts were lower than before, at $725-750 vs $772 earlier. 

*Global Net Lease missed, losing 8 cents where the estimate was a gain of .017 cents. GNL.

*MercadoLibre was given another cut in estimate now $1.43/sh vs 1.46 for the March quarter. MELI.

*Naspers of South Africa fell 6.29%. NPSNY.

*Brewer BUD crashed 3.6%. We are out of that one. 

*That Russian troops were hitting Chernobyl (where a nuclear bomb is covered with concrete in Ukraine), boosted the price of Cameco which mines uranium in Canada.

*Brazilian VALE fell 4.81%.  Mexican Fibra Uno lost 6.7% but recovered to be only down 2.68%. Emerging markets are most vulnerable.

*Azure Power of India gained 5.15% overnight. It won't last. AZRE.

Finance

*Banco Santander fell 9.15% despite good results. It later recovered to be down only 4.4%. SAN.

*Silicon Valley Bank fell nearly 18.8 % the worst for banks.

*Kennedy Wilson, a gold-miner, earned 1 cent per share while consensus called for a loss. KW.

Energy

*Hoegh LNG is buying out its LNG partners and they saw a gain of 2.77% in their share price. We own the ordinary shares. HMLP.

*New combo Coterra missed forecast eps of 92 cents with only 83 cents earned. It is in the energy business. CTRA.

Talk is cheap

*Nokia lost 5.4% in UK trading. It has subscribers in Russia. NOK.

*Albemarle in London fell the hardest, 27%. ALB.