The stock market tried for another record after Thursday's late blowout over the infrastructure deal between the White House and Congress yesterday but it didn't stick today except for Nike NKE which had better sales than expected. Unable to see their accounts people could not trade stocks higher—or lower.

Moreover the Dept of Commerce today reported slower than expected person consumption expenditure last week. Several of our companies reported important news and one of my favorites got upgraded to buy by Goldman Sachs analysts. And non-US infrastructure plays rose on the day after.

The DA in Manhattan told Trump's lawyers it may bring criminal charges against his family business.

Her Majesty's Revenue Collection sent tax bills to 1200 companies.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

More follows, but this blog is incomplete. All data is from the opening not later. So I am broadcasting it to all.

Technology

*Israeli-American Tower Semiconductor (TSEM) which already plans a new Arizona fab factory, will also add capacity in Europe under a deal in Italy. This will triple its capacity for 900 mn chips per year. The fab goes live in the 2^nd half of next year. It will add $350 to 500 mn in revenues. TSEM stock rose all of 15 on the news mainly because Tel Aviv is shut. It gained 6.2% late Thursday.

*Another bit of Israeli news affects our NIO, an electric vehicle maker in China. It is shipping to Israel vehicles equipped with mobile internet to be used as taxis. Nio fell 0.44% because Chinese electric vehicle stocks were compared unfavorably to Tesla by analysts. All the Chinese outperformed US Tesla because Elan Musk's outbursts hurt TSLA. Both need to catch up with the best Chinese startups.

*Finnish Nokia was upgraded from hold to buy by Goldman Sachs analyst Alexander Duval this morning because its Q1 earnings this year were 8¢/sh vs only 1¢ last year. While it doesn't have insiders who own a lot of its stock, the Reddit-meme focus on NOK led many on Wall Street to open naked shorts in NOK. On Jan. 28 this led the NOK share to drop 52% from its then high at $9.79. It fell to what Duval believes to be a support level of $5.15 last Friday, June 18. Today it opened up 6.4% at $5.43 and may have further to go. But it may have to fall to $5.18 before this. The Goldman note led NOK to unusually heavy trading which caused NOK's 8-day average to cross over its 200-day average, supposedly bullish. If it doesn't rise it risks falling to $4.86. I am not a chartist because NOK is traded heavily in Europe and has been a meme favorite, neither fitting the $ charts.

*Swedish Ericsson rose 0.56% with no chartist comments. ERIC.

*Vodafone of Britain fell another 2.06%. It is the more international UK phone firm. VOD.

*Our Canadian Solar, CSIQ, rose 4.5% today after it proved its solar panels are not made by Muslim prisoner Uighurs in western China.

*Mercado Libre rose 1.18% at the opening hitting $1570. MELI is the Amazon of Latin America.

*Coupang of South Korea only gained 0.2%. It is the potential Amazon of Asia but was IPO'd too high. CPNG.

Materials & Energy

*CRH of Ireland, which trades in London, was up 2.11% on US infrastructure spending hopes.

*Schlumberger Ltd presented at the JP Morgan Energy conference and SLB stock gained 0.51%.

*Atlantica Infrastructure, AY, was boosted 1.36% by the infrastructure deal yesterday but its 45% Canadian ute owner Algonquin (AQN) only rose 0.26%. AY is traded in $ in Britain.

*Cemex of Mexico gained 1.8% at the opening, not just because of infrastructure but also because the Mexican peso was boosted by an interest rate hike yesterday. CX.

*Brazilian Cosan, my stock for the year, which spun out its gas stations, gained 0.6% at the opening. CSAN.

*BP plc rose 0.71% but RDS-B only rose 0.65%. Sterling is stronger than the euro these days because of a better handle on covid-19.

*Azure Power of Mauritius gained 1.56% on hopes India, AZRE's primary solar market.

Pharmaceuticals

*Eisai and Bristol-Myers will jointly work on developing an anti-folate receptor alpha antibody, MORAD-202, to treat advanced solid tumors. ESALY of Japan will actually make the drug but they will jointly sell it in major developed markets.

*Astra-Zeneca's juvenile diabetes drug beat placebo at 24 weeks but longer-term trials continue. Exenatide treats type 2 diabetes in children aged 10-17 who cannot take adult drugs. It is a glucagen-like peptide-1 receptor agonist to GLP1-RA. The data from Bydureon Medical Lead and Yale prof William Tamborlane were presented to the virtual American Diabetes Association session. The children lost weight and had reduced fasting glucose. Side effects included colds and abdominal pain, but the same effects also were seen in the control group. AZN gained 1.1%.

*Teva fell 0.67% after opening up 0.33% but there was a boost to the prices of its bonds. As an Israeli stock, TEVA has to be traded for real on Fridays and cannot be arbitraged until Sunday.

*Compugen CGEN rose 8.9% here today, attributed not to a takeover bid (my guess yesterday) but to its monotherapy cancer drug COM701 being developed with BMY, a different JV than that with AZN. It was tipped today by Silicon Valley Bank-Leerink because its lung cancer treatment is similar to that of Arcus Biosciences which is part-owned by Gilead Sciences (GILD). Again this is a bit of a long shot buy I cannot view all the news.

*Evercore says that US Merck MRK and its recently spun-off Organon are very dependent on Keytruda and need new drugs. OGN fell 1.44% today on this comment. I plan to own both and recent rounded up my OGN drug holdings. Louis Navallier's Investor Place tips OGN which he claims should be higher a month after its arrival. It also makes naxalone to treat opioid overdose coming here in H2.

*Hikma Pharmaceuticals which mainly operated in the Middle East today launched doxycycline injection in the USA for treating pneumonia and respiratory tract infections. It has serious side effects and should not be given to pregnant women. Hikma is the No 3 US supplier of generic injectables accounting for 17% of jabs here. While formally Jordanian it's run from London and Cherry Hill NJ after buying a US small-cap HKMPY now earns 60% of its revenues in the USA.

*Theravance fell 8.8% on its doing a secondary offering but recouped some of that later. TBPH.

*Japanese Eisai, ESALY gained 1.23%, while fully listed Takeda, TAK barely moved.

*Dr. Reddy's of India regained 1.13%. It alternates between hope and despair of the virus. RDY.

*Channel Islands-Israeli Novacure rose another 1% hitting $226.83. NVCR.

Finance

*Both John Hancock and Aberdeen Standard are merging formerly separate bond funds to improve their return in the low-payout environment write Citywire from London. We used to own UK Aberdeen.

*Major US banks were cleared to resume paying dividends or doing buybacks after acing a Fed stress test. Financials have lagged software by nearly 4% YTD. Scotiabank gained 1% at the opening as Canadian banks are heavily into the USA. BNS.

*Insurer AAIGF, AIA Hong Kong, gained 1.2% today.

*Sumitomo Mitsui, SMFG, gained 0.57% today. Mitsubishi (MSBHF) did not trade.

*Lazard gained 1.76% as it counts as a bank while LAZ's fund of funds, LGI, gained 0.5%.

*Mexican REIT Fibra Uno gained 9.5% today on peso strength. Its funding is mostly in $s. FBASF.