Because we are going to a family Thanksgiving feast this coming week there will only be two days of reporting, so to make it up here is a Sunday file, titled:

Good News and Bad

• Exelixis yesterday put out a notification on its liver cancer trials of cabozantinib with an immune checkpoint inhibitor in trials against untreated advanced liver cancer at the ESMO Asia oncology week virtual congress. It turned out that the combo failed to hit statistical signifigance, but EXEL will be filing for an FDA license all the same.

• NIO lost nearly 10% until then but on Friday its share bounced after it revealed that it had completed its at the market offering of 53.3 mn new ADR shares and pocketed $2 bn in gross proceeds. NIO shares have suffered alongside Tesla but without the same insider selling. It mainly suffered from supply constraints hurting sales comparisons. But is did better than expected in Q3 thanks to getting electric vehicle credits, a one off. It cut its guidance because of supply risks going forward which zapped the stock. But note that there is plenty of demand, and we await its Nov. data coming out soon, and then the NIO Investor Day Dec. 10 which the Hong Kong listed company often uses to deliver good news. I expect this will uncover new models for 2022.

• UK Johnson-Matthey signed a memorandum of understanding with Hoeller Electrolyzer GmbH of Germany to provide catalyst coated membranes for their Prometheus range of proton exchange stakes for electrolyser systems. They will be used for green hydrogen production which JMPLY will no longer work on alone. Our company also will help cut emissions by creating closed loops in the electrolysis supply system to recycle and re-use raw materials used for catalyst coated membranes. Prometheus is not a good herald as the titan was chained to a rock while an eagle tore at his liver as a punishment for giving man use of fire stolen from Zeus. 

• Qualcomm, my largest US holding, is under the gun because some carmakers want to make their own self-driving batteries, QCOM already signed up BMW and GE. Most vehicle-makers will buy rather than make electric systems like Snapdragon from my stock which now earns $1 bn/yr but which QCOM expects will get sales of $3.5 bn by 2026.

• The number of covid deaths this year is already higher than those of last year at 770,780 according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, itself a center of the outbreak.