Another day, another blog. I have hopes that this time my system will not crash and force me to start all over again. The real problem is that my writing program is no longer saving what I have written, trying to force me to use Microsoft. While I own its shares I don't like its pushing its products online.

What yesterday's late blog omitted because I was running out of time was the excellent showing of our Japanese stock holdings. We have a modest number of shares traded in Tokyo, in part because our reporter there, an American, is very cautious. Despite this, no fewer than 4 of our holdings gained substantially on Tuesday.

This afternoon our Fed chief Jerome Powell predicted there will be 2 interest rate hikes in 2023, faster than before when the hikes were only coming in 2024. The news hit US stocks, gold, and bitcoin hard.

Putin and Biden have decided to again tackle nuclear cuts and also agreed to exchange ambassadors.

Image Source: Pixabay

Japan

*Now here is the good news for the paying contingent. The Japanese winners Tuesday (in local currency) were: Eisai, ESALY, which gained 700 yen to 11405; Fanuc, the game pick by Abhimanyu Sisodia who overruled Chris Loew, FANUY, up 1120 yen to 27165; Takeda, TAK, another pharma play, up 63 yen to 3800; and Mitsubishi UFG Finance, MSBHF, up 4.1 yen to 608.8. Moreover they are up again today in dollars here: ESALY up 1.7% to $102.19lost 1.22%; FANUY up 0.41% to $24.93; and MSBHF up 0.47%. However, the easiest stock to track in our list is down, TAK, down 0.35%. These moves reflect worries about the greenback as well as company outlook.

Brazil

*We escaped a bit of bad Brazilian behavior by selling our former holding in VALE over the initial failure to pay compensation for victims of its tailings dam breaks in Sanmarco, its joint venture with BHP of Australia. The two owners now propose to pay the fines subsequently imposed by the government by raising reais 1.2 bn (about $238 mn) with a debtor in possession deal which is opposed by the other 80% shareholders in Sanmarco. It will pay interest at 9.5%. Vale stock lost 2.52% today and BHP lost 0.33%. This kind of operation is tolerated in Brazil but not in the real world. The two owners already restructured 50 bn reais in debt earlier this month by creating preferred shares in lieu of cash payout.

*Cosan gained 1.61% as its gas station divestiture saga continues. CSAN later lost some of that.

Healthcare

*Yesterday I averaged up my holdings in Novocure, NVCR, an Israeli-Channel Islands company developing an electric system for killing tumor cells. I paid $216.93. Today NVCR revealed that it is doing 4 studies in Europe for a new flexible torso and abdomen array for tumor treating fields which is easier to use, more mobile, with better skin adhesion, and less likelihood of causing irritation. The usability studies will conclude in the 3^rd quarter of this year and should add to sales. Its shares here rose to $217.6.

*Today the great state of Mississippi started a lawsuit against Novo Nordisk of Denmark, Sanofi of France, and Eli Lilly of the US for alleged price-fixing insulin used by diabetics. After making a new high, the Danish share fell as much as 0.47% this morning but now is only down 0.33%. The lawsuit is not likely to get far, in my view. NVO signed up for Aalgam's insulin titration app today.

*Aurinia Pharma AUPH of Canada gained 1.62% to $12.54 (US) on a new board member, Dr. Brinda Balakrishnan, Ph.D. VP of BioMarin Pharma. She is an expert in lupus and has degrees in biomedical engineering from MIT and got her MD from Harvard Medical School.

*Today Compugen, an Israeli high-flyer, fell to $7.69, because of a spate of new drug IPO's in Tel Aviv. CGEN.

*TEVA fell 2.35% despite launching a generic ivermectin rosacea treatment.

*Israeli Enlivex Therapeutics ENLV fell 5% today after registering for patent protection for Allocetera in the EU. The drug is used to reprogram macrophages back to their homeostatic stage and is being tested against cancer, sepsis, covid-19, and other diseases. It may also have been hurt by new IPO's.

*Zymeworks gained 0.3% today on no news. ZYME.

*Dr. Reddy's today hit a new 52-week high in UK trading, at $74.41, up nearly 1% but fell to $73,66 here later, up only 0.15%. RDY.

Carbon cutters

*Azure Power of Mauritius which sells solar systems to India, gained 5.82%+ today. AZRE hit $23.28 after it reported on its earnings for Q4 2021 but I could not get the transcript from my broker.

*Canada ute Algonquin Power rose 0.5% to hit $16.16 and its 20% holding, Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc gained 1.3% in US trading. AQN, AY.

*Investor panic ended at Cameco of Canada which early this week was zapped over fear of uranium mining over a possible leak in China. CCJ is back up 0.5% to $20.19. Eneergy Fuels, UUUU, which really does mine uranium, rose 3.18% to $6.80 (US).

*BP plc fell 1.55% to $27.93 here. Royal Dutch Shell B lost 1.22% to $39.85. Schlumberger Ltd, dropped 1.07% to $33.88. BP, RDS-B, SLB.

*Ormat, which produces geothermal power, rose 0.3%. ORA is US-Israeli.

*PLUG, Plug Power, bought last week, rose 1.65% at the opening but later fell back. It is now up 0.4% at $29.31. Analysts are more bullish than not but TP's range from $65 to $24.

*NIO, the Chinese challenger in electric vehicles, fell 2.6% today to $44 and change. It will include Lidar (laser data) from Innovusion in its ET7 sedans, allowing autonomous or self-driving up to 500 meters ahead. It is also optional on cheaper cars. The Chinese firm is challenging mainstream European automakers like Mercedes, BMW, and Audi with these offerings.

Tech & Tel

*South Korean Coupang gained 0.01% today hitting $38.73. CPNG. Mercado Libre MELI of Argentina rose 0.44% to $1415.35.

*Multichoice of South Africa rose 4.64% on no news I can fund. MCHOY.

*Ericsson gained 0.44% today. ERIC is Swedish. Nokia NOK, which is Finnish, fell 1.23%.

*Investor A/B, IVSBF, which now trades on the pinks rose 0.55%.

*British Vodafone VOD lost 1.7% despite or because of its creating a JV with Amazon.com AMZN for Edge business computing, according to Reuters. It will start in London, Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, and Cardiff and hit Scotland next year.

*Naspers ADRs gained 0.2% on no news I can find on the South African news company. NPSNY.

Yum yum

*Grupo Bimbo gained 6.13% today to reach $2.25/sh. GRBMF is a Mexican powerhouse in bakeries.

*Reverse vending and sorting machine maker Tomra Systems gained 5.42% for TMRAF and lost 3.25% for the TMRAY shares. This is ridiculous.

Finance

*Lazard will pay a dividend of 0.11512/sh on July 24. LAZ.

*Korea Fund KF hit a new high of $46.87. We sold to buy Taiwan Fund TWN.