Today is my first normal day this week as there are no elections and my husband is back on his feet. It is also a hot news day with no less than the risk of a new Crimean War after Russia claimed that it had targeted a British destroyer off the coast. The UK said this had not happened. I tend to trust the Brits but after their last move into the jaws of death, I am not sure they are fully informed.

Warren Buffett in today's wee hours resigned as a trustee of the Gates Foundation and gifted $4.1 bn in Berkshire Hathaway stock to it. He keeps his taxes low with charitable gifts. He also announced that he was buying geothermal stocks. We own one, but it may not be on his buy list.

Image Source: Pixabay

Thanks in part to Cathie Woods whose funds she says bought heavily, the leading crypto-currency recuperated late yesterday from a level below $30,000. Overnight it rose ~5%. It is now $33,907, about where it began the current year, up over 10%. It briefly was over $60,000 last month.

Meme stocks Gamestop GME and Torchlight Energy TRCH both did share sales to cash in on their share price rises.

Microsoft MSFT, a US share I own, has become the 2^nd company valued at over $2 trillion. The first is Apple AAPL.

Tel Aviv plans a trial for an ethereum digital shekel to be issued by the Israeli Central Bank. Hedge Fund White Square ran out of money, perhaps from shorting Tesla TSLA.

Drug dealers

It looks like several vaccines against Covid-19 product heart inflammation mostly in young. Now 1200 victims were spotted with myocarditis or pericarditis by the CDC after the Pfizer or Moderna jab.

*Glaxo Smith Kline of Britain held its investor day in the wee hours and as expected announced formally that it will spin off its consumer unit. There also will be an ADR for US owners, the least it can do given that Smith Kline used to be American. As forecast by Jim Cramer on CNBC, the dividend, formerly 5.56%, was cut. He expected a share price drop would cause a buy opportunity but this didn't happen because CEO Emma Walmsley, for all her allegedly weaknesses, had signaled that this was coming well before it was official. In fact, GSK wound uprising in UK pre-market trading. Whether or not this leads to a drop in the USA is something I will leave for Cramer to predict. The new dividend is 43 pence/UK share, down 31%. Right now the ADR is up 2.12% to $39.91 on hopes of a better growth future as it focuses “New GSK” in Walmsley's words, on “infectious diseases, HIV, oncology, and immunology. The spinoff will be 80% owned by a JV with Pfizer but parent NewGSK will retain 20%.

*Another drug major, Israeli Teva's migraine jab Ajovy with monthly or quarterly variants, won Japan approvals. It worked there with Otsuka Pharma. The Israeli firm also launched a generic formoterol fumarate inhaler for lung diseases in the US market. Teva rose in the pre-market and now is up 15%.

*Astra-Zeneca, added .31% here on news that its covid-19 jab may not protect against the delta variant which spreads fast. It has not been authorized in the US but was used in Europe, Israel, and Australia. AZN.

*Abcellera Biologics of British Columbia fell 8.93% overnight but recovered over half of that after revealing it had done a secondary offering. It is now down 4.19%. This was a private placement, not public. The ABCL problem is that it operates 4 hours after Wall Street closes.

*Medtronics, my largest drug holding, with partner United Therapeutics, ended their 4-year plan for an implantable injector to deliver Remodulin to patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. MDT.

*Beigene, BGNE, a US-China stock, won approval for its tocilizumab to treat lung and liver cancers from drug regulators in Beijing, which its share is named after.

*Eisai of Japan fell 5.9% despite or because of its oncology prowess shown by its deal with Bristol-Myers BMY on oncology drugs after Jefferies said its future earnings post-2025 launch will top ¥150 bn by 2030. ESALY is rated buy with a target price of ¥14,500 by the analyst.

*Takeda fell 0.9% in US trading. TAK is easier to trade than most other Japanese shares and Cathie Woods sold it last week. She has a following. It yields 5.04% which should stabilize the price.

*Bioline RX of Israel recovered from Tuesday's selloff, up 1.12% to $2.7 after opening higher. BLRX.

*The same thing happened to Compugen, CGEN, which opened up 3% but now is up 1.37%.

*Spinoff Organon (OGN) rose and then fell today. Its former owner Merck MRK did too.

*CERS, Cerus, topped the sector, up 2.25%. It will compete with Spain's Grifols, GRFS in plasma.

GRFS fell 1.88% but I think it has more clout than a startup. There is also a Spanish anger with Catalonia to consider after the rebels who wants to exit from Spain were released from prison. Grifols is proudly Catalan.

*Genfit, the French biotech was our worst performer because of competition coming to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. GNFT.

Food

*Aliementation Couche-Tard (ANCUF) of Canada had its consensus-estimated eps in the current quarter upped to 39.9¢ (US) from 36.3¢, a significant increase, and its rating to buy. It fell 1.32%.

*Nutrien shares fell initially after the Canadian fertilizer group said it was not focused on a deal on potash with BHP of Australia. The two firms operate in close proximity to each other in Saskatchewan where NTR has 6 mines. Rather than a JV with BNP, NTR plans to increase its own output of potash by 500-kilo tonnes this year. Potash is now in shortage because of sanctions against Belarus, a major exporter. Now NTR opened up 0.45% and now is up about 0.11%. It increased its full-year earnings guidance yesterday to $2.30-2.56 from $2-2.20 Canadian. This was not clear from the report by my broker Schwab-TDAmeritrade. The US$ rise was only an average of $1.95, up from $1.93.

*Soquimich also rose on potash potential, up 4.23%. We sold SQM last year.

*Mexican Grupo Bimbo, a global bakery giant traded rarely, rose 4.25% to $2.21 at the open today. GRBMF.

Energy

*Antofagasta of Chile whose primary listing and ADR are in London, gained 6% there today on news that autonomous vehicles will not be dominant there until 2030 to 2040. ANFGF here rose 6.77%. It mines copper, molybdenum, and gold in the Atacama Desert, which Frida visited. It also makes copper cathodes. The longer it takes for self-driving cars to dominate, the longer they will include copper.

*NIO is back in the winner's circle, up 3.71% to $45.73. It opened down 5.18%. I think it may be because of Tesla getting into charging stations which NIO has already pinpointed as a way to cut costs for its electric vehicle buys. TSLA is working with Weibo in China and will use solar power.

*PLUG Power, after rising Tuesday today fell back 3.66% today. It has widely different forecasts from analysts, ranging from $24 to $65 in the last quarter. Canaccord Genuity analyst Jed Dorsheimer today cut its forecast to $31 and rates it hold rather than buy, down 2 notches. It makes hydrogen fuel cells. PLUG opened down 4.88% so there already is a reversal on Mr. Dorsheimer's gloom.

*Azure Power Global of Mauritius, supplier of rooftop solar panels mostly to India, gained 2.15% today at the opening and is still up .8%+. It was tipped by Money Artist, a new site. AZRE.

*BP plc rose over 1% today. Royal Dutch Shell B, RDS-B, rose 1.48%.

*Energy Fuels, UUUU, gained 0.64%. The next move is a $64 question for this volatile share.

*Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, AY, a fund 45% owned by Algonquin Power, opened up 0.06% but now is down 0.2%. I may have triggered this by explaining the link yesterday. AQN fell .72%.

*Cosan fell 0.8% today. It is my stock of the year, CSAN of Brazil, which sold its service stations.

*Cameco, CCJ, which I strongly tipped yesterday, today fell on a Royal Bank of Canada downgrade to underperform. It is up by ~50% YTD but is vulnerable to nuclear fallout in China, however overstated.

*Canadian Solar, maker of solar its panels in China gained 2.15% as a rare firm not interfered with there. The US allegedly will ban solar panels from the PRC over human rights for Uighurs. CSIQ operates in dozens of countries and has a mixed board with plenty of western members including Ms. Lauren Templeton who has religious antecedents via Sir John. It has been on Q since 2006 and is audited by Deloitte. The fall in China shares came because China blocked Soulgate's IPO, a part of Softbank.

*Torchlight Energy which did a secondary after becoming a meme share, today fell 25.%. 

Tech & Tel

*Mercado Libre, an internet sales and payment site, gained 1.5% today. MELI operates in Latin America and rivals Amazon.

*Cognizant Tech and Oma Savings Bank plc, have dropped their 3-yr old plan to create a core banking platform. The deal required that CTSH pay euros 22 mn in fees for terminating but this has been dropped. It will continue to provide IT from its Samlink to Oma. CTSH is a US stock I sometimes write about.

*US Qualcomm was upgraded to buy from buy/hold. It is also a US share. QCOM.

*Coupang is being blamed for a warehouse fire in South Korea despite its having managed to rapidly get all its employees to exit the site because a fireman died putting the fire out. The stock lost 2% and is back near its lows at $39 and change. CPNG operates in Asian markets and rivals Amazon.

*BCE lost after opening up today, now $49.36 (US).

*Vodafone gained 1.5% at the opening but now is only up 0.9%. VOD is Britain's global telco.

*Telefonaktiebolaget Ericsson fell 3.7% after a Swedish court upheld the ban on Huawei 5G systems.

*Finnish Nokia Oyj fell in sympathy with ERIC although NOK is not directly affected. AT&T T opened up and then fell and now is up again. It also is not directly affected by the Huawei ban.

*Nintendo of Japan fell sharply, down 2.13% on no news. I have decided that games are tech. NTDOY.

Financials

*AIA Group of Hong Kong, insurers, gained 2.81% this week despite a Singapore Central Bank notice of violations. Sell AAIGF?

*Bank of Nova Scotia is up another 0.32%. BNS is an outrider as it is the Canadian bank least involved in the US and most involved in Europe, a function of its origin in Nova Scotia closest to Europe of the Canadian provinces.

*Mexican REIT Fibra Uno fell 8.18% today. I know not why. FBASF. It did lose 0.7% in Mexico but that is not comparable. It is due to report on its FY July 27. Perhaps Eduardo Garcia will tell up what's up.

*State Street Corp. STT of Boston which runs back offices for lots of funds and ADRs, today gained after creating a digital finance division. It will use technology from Canoe Intelligence for cloud-based machine learning. I dread what can go wrong.