Robots

white robot near brown wall

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The inevitable reversal of markets grabbed hold today and the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and above all the Nasdaq indexes dropped. Another casualty appears to be cryptocurrencies which fell over the weekend. Bellwether foreign markets like Hong Kong and London were mixed, mainly because a new IPO for Ant may or may not becoming. It all depends on how Jack Ma, now in the China dog house, plays his stake in Alibaba. For what it is worth, your editor has essentially exited the internet leaders in China, because of politics. Unlike many enthusiasts, I can recall Chairman Mao and his lady because when I was in college I dated a Jewish Communist who backed China over Russia because there was less antisemitism there. That intellectuals like him might be attacked seems to have not occurred to him. These days I can sniff the gunpowder meant for me from 70 paces.

India, the other Asian market thriller, is down after it was barred for travel by the former imperium, Britain. PM Boris Johnson canceled his trip there today.

Drug dealers

*Teva of Israel is suffering from fear of the legal risks of its opioid misselling which is overriding good news of its newer drugs. Last week TEVA reported data to the American Academy of Neurology (virtually) showing that its migraine drug Ajovy cuts the days sufferers have headaches by 46.2% if they receive the drug every 3 months and by 66.2% for those getting it every 6 months. The opioid drug trial opens in California, however so Teva fell 1.56%. Now it is down 1.72% to $10.56. It has lost 80% or so in value in the past 5 years, although I own it for longer and am ahead, having discovered the share first in Israel in the 1960s because its CFO was the son of a German-born classmate of my father's, and then thanks to an Edmond de Rothschild analyst in Paris. I cannot afford to sell because my gains are in 4 figures.

*Ladies are under fire today. First of all, Zymeworks is losing its female Chief Medical Officer Diana Hausmann, MD. She will advise the board and be replaced by a man. This has chopped the ZYME price by 9.51% at the open and it is now down 10.15%. ZYME will present at the Bloom Burton Healthcare Investor conference starting tomorrow.

*More significantly, the position of Dame Emma Walmesley as head of Glaxo Smith Kline is under the gun because of the arrival of Elliott Management on the scene. Walmesley is fundamentally a market expert and may not be the best pharma judge around. But she wants to remain at GSK rather than hopping over the over-the-counter side of GSK which is being spun off. The prospect of a battle royal (Ms. Walmesley is a fighter) has boosted GSK stock by about 0.6%.

*Canada will use the Astra-Zeneca virus to inoculate people over 40 years old. AZN is UK-listed.

*Another anonymous writer called Biogen compelling in its risk-reward profile over an Alzheimer drug aducanumab. My preferred way to play this is with Eisai Co (ESALY), its development partner for the drug which Japan needs more than the US does, having a much older population. Biogen (BIIB) reports Weds.

*Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reports tomorrow.

*Grifols (GIFLF) is up 1.33% in Spain today. It may rise more.

*If you didn't learn it here, Israeli-Channel Islands drug stock Novacure (NVCR), was a top performer on Q last week, up 45.7%. It makes electric panels that stop cancer cells from proliferating which it rents to patients.

Green and Black Energy

*Johnson Matthey will create a JV with Finnish Minerals Group to produce LNG cathode materials with up to 30,000 kilotonnes of capacity, They will source their nickel and cobalt from nearby Russian Norilsk and their lithium from SoQuiMich of Chile. SQM (sold) is also a target of Brazil's buyout firm IG4 Capital is buying $915 mn of SQM stock, sold too soon. We do own JMPLY.

*Leaving the driving of your electric vehicle to the automatic can kill you as two Texans discovered with a Tesla. The share fell on this astonishing news after the car hit a tree. Meanwhile, Nikola (NKLA) hit a speed bump according to Wedbush analysts. We are still in Nio (NIO) which an anonymous writer in seeking-alpha.com tipped as his or her pick today.

*The oil glut is ending as the recovery picks up here, and the US rig count hits new high West Texas Intermediate is up 0.3% to $63.15/barrel.

*German EON SE (EONGY), is up 2% as natural gas power overtook coal in EU markets last year, according to the Emissions Trading System. Gas in turn will also be phased out but not as urgently.

*Energy Fuels (UUUU) was our worst performer last week, down 19.1%. Its nuclear fuel scares people and its rare earths are modest compared to China's.

Tech & Tel

*Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) will gain from Intel's Taiwan foundry says an anonymous writer on Seeking Alpha. I am buying. An analyst downrated Qualcomm but TWS is different. Buy TWS at $115.5 or less. It fell 3.2% last week. Taiwan will be kept from selling to the PRC and it has stupid railroad disasters and bad floods but it beats China in chips.

*Microsoft (MSFT) is investing $1 bn in a Malaysia data center. My local tech support provider is from there and I fear he may leave for home.

*Anonymous tipped Canada BCE for its high yield and resilience to the pandemic in seekingalpha.com. We told you 1st.

*Coupang of South Korea is hiring in Singapore to move away from its single-country focus. CPNG is down, viewed as a one-horse pony. I think it is more like Mercado Libre (MELI).

Finance and Funds

*Banco Latino-Americano de Comercio Exterieur yields 6.74% and there is no real currency risk as BLX operates in US$s, the currency of Panama.

*Weyerhaeuser (WY), one of my Canadians, was written up by Barrons' Jack Hough this weekend. I have been shy about this one as I think wood sounds very old-fashioned.

*Lazard (LAZ) the fund manager is up fractionally today and its cheapo-managed fund is up 66% in the last year thanks to the selloff a year ago. We recommend both now.

*State Street Boston was kept overweight by Morgan Stanley. It is down a half percent today.

*Banco Santander was recommended for its likely win of control of its listed Mexican sub by two analysts. The Mexican sub did a deal with HBO of the US to bring on 5G. Its dividend will produce a 5.7% yield for the Spanish bank. I was unaware of this when I said SAN was paying a high premium.

*Mexican REIT Fibra Uno (FBASF) lost 2.6% today in London to MPN 24.35. It no longer is quoted here daily.

*Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure PLC (AY), a green fund, is down 5.92% today. I have an order in. It is a source of funds to Algonquin which is down 1.54%.

*Kirkland Lake (KL), gold mining pick, is down 0.6% today.

*Barron's closed-end fund's data is now supplied again by Tom Herzfeld but his own fund, CUBA, for investing in the Florida and Caribbean area is now providing data on its net asset value. I cannot imagine why not. Maybe Raul Castro's departure has lost Tom a source of information.

*Mysteriously, Value Line has tipped a stock I always worry about small shareholders buying because it is such an institutional favorite, CBOE, down 1.15% today. CBOE is the former Chicago Board Options Exchange, now a global trade outfit. I checked with a Value Line expert (not my son the CFA), who says the service likes to pick a share with the low following and good prospects.

CBOE is now buying Chi-X Asia Pacific from JC Flowers, to operate in Japan and Australia markets. It also will launch auctions for periodic trading US equities on its exchanges here to offer interday pricing similar to what it does in Europe. It got US SEC permission for this. Both will start later this year. It was rated attractive over the weekend by New Constructs which uses robots to pick stocks with strong upside potential, however, based on hefty income and book value adjustments up and down, mostly up. The NC service pegs its cash-flow yield at 3-10% and its growth potential at the same level. Its price is 1.1-1.6% below its book value, according to the robot. Take CBOE in small doses.

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Comments

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William K. 3 years ago Member's comment

As always his article is both informative and enjoyable. A very good writer who is able to share and be interesting at the same time. And evidently quite an expert in an area of expertise far from my area of expertise. Thus a great source of insights. Thanks for being V.L. But I do not see where the title "Robots" applies here.