Today the big news is that Cubans are protesting against power cuts and lack of vaccines along the seafront Malecon which we visited 25 years ago when Fidel Castro was still running the country with Russian support. Now the country's boss is Diaz Canel who lacks allies and charisma like the Castros had.

The UK market fell today on worries that the rise in delta variant cases of covid-19 may lead to PM Boris Johnson delaying further the planned reopening of the country July 19. We desperately want to visit our newborn grandniece and her family in London but not at the cost of a 12-day paid lockdown in a hotel and paid virus checks costing $100 each here. We were vaccinated in Jan. 2021 but the Brits don't recognize jabs by foreign doctors, even in the USA. Once upon a time you got a yellow folding card to put into your passport as a proof of having been inoculated against smallpox and other diseases. A similar yellow card was carried for Jet Lewis, our dog, showing she had been jabbed against rabies. Why can't the world go back to something similar now?

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Our focus is on mining and material stocks for a change, including a company report. The price of oil fell about 1% today.

Miners and Energy

Kirkland Lake Gold, KL, reported on its Q2 today. It hit a new record in gold production at 379,195 ounces, up 1.15% from the prior Q2. Total sales of gold came in at 364,575 oz, up 1.06%. It reiterated its production quidance for the full year to 1.3-1.4 mn oz with its Fosterville mine likely to beat guidance at 400,000-425,000 oz according to CEO Tony Makuch said Reuters. KL stock hit $40.26, up 2% but fell back to $40.11 midday. SPDR Gold (GLD) saw heavy options trading for its month-end.

*Chile's Senate is preparing a bill to cut copper productions royalties back from the Chamber of Deputies level of 75.%, after which there will be a reconciliation by the upper and lower chamber. One of the deputies told Dow Jones “we don't want to scare off investors.” Our UK- listed Antofagasta is a key player here as it is Chilean-owned despite being listed in London. ANFGF.

*Swiss ABB opened up but fell later. It is expected to gain from wind turbine generation of electricity, a growth area

*Trans-Siberian Gold, which we owned and recommended, has ended trading. It was acquired by a Russian group from the Harvard grads in Cambridge, England who tipped me to it. It mines for gold in Siberia.

*Canadian Solar, CSIQ, opened up 5.68% and now is up 6.11% after it bought a lithium and energy storage site in Barranquilla, Colombia by public tender. It will store 45 megaWatts/day of power once it goes live in June 2023 and run for 15 years to 2028. This is the first storage tender won in the Colombian auction.

*Norway's largest bank, DNB, bought into NIO and Plug Power last week. It invests in alternatives for Norway after it runs out of oil or ceases producting it. NIO, which already operates in Norway, added MsYu Long, as an independent director as it prepares to do a secondary listing in China and Hong Kong, along with the NYSE. Its CEO William Li is resigning. NIO stock gained also because it will open its charging stations (in China) to other electric car-makers. PLUG stock fell 3.2% on the news.

*Brazilian Cosan, my pick for stock of the year, rose 5.91% today. It is 1.28% held by Nordea Bank NRDBY which also is setting the table for lower oil and gas production, its 3^rd largest institutional investors. The 4^th and 5^th are State Street Corp STT and Lazard LAZ, which I own shares in, at 1.01% and 0.92%. CSAN is also a pick of emerging markets funds.

*Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) will sell carbon neutral LNG to PetroChina under a 5-yr deal. Price unknown.

*Algonquin Energy and Atlantica Sustainable were tipped on Seekingalpha, despite AQN's high pe ratios because of regulation and their carbon cut hedge value. The writer, Trapping Value, also mentioned an AQN fixed to floating subordinated note of 2019 which runs to 2079, and will yield 6.2% up to Q4 2024. This is a worthwhile buy, AQNB. I just bought paying $28.12 for the lovely yield. AQN reports on August 12.

Pharma

*Danish Novo Nordisk is buying into US small-cap, Prothena (PRTA) programs for antibody PRX004, in phase II trials, and a broader amyloidosis portfolio for $100 mn upfront and up to $1.2bn in milestornes. NVO provide insulin at low prices to Walmart. Its drugs can help cut obesity. It's up .23%.

It bought another small-cap about a year ago, Corvidia, which was spun off by Astra Zeneca with drugs against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

*Brit Astra-Zeneca rose 2.07% today because AZN is on the meme list, according to Barron's.

*Barrons wrote up CVRx a mere week before it was acquired by Glaxo, up 1.1% today. GSK.

*Alkermes insider Christine Buchman bought 10.33% of its shares out. ALKS.

*TEVA gained 1.08% at the opening and kept about half that. It reports July 28.

*Roche gained 1% on no news. RHHBY is Swiss.

*Theravance jumped 6% today after the consensus forecast shifted to strong buy. TBPH.

*Novacure reports on its H1 and Q2 July 29 before the opening. It is now rated hold by 4 analysts, sell by one, and buy by two according to Vickers, mainly because of insider selling. It is Israeli but listed in the Channel Islands. It rose very sharply in Q2 and its backers are insecure. NVCR.

*French Genfit recouped 2.37% today after falling for no good reason. It is now rated moderate-buy by the consensus of two analysts. GNFT.

*The second best holding of China Biotech, CHB, an ETF, is BeiGene's ADR which is also the best performer among shares that can be bought by US retail investors. BGNE is not a 144 share like the other winners.

Tech & Tel

*Multichoice, the South African video, and entertainment firm reported on its FY 2021 but there is a charge for reading its results. MCHOY is up another 2.15%. I am leaving the matter for Harry Geisel to sort out. It has invested in 20% of BetKing which sells to gamblers as well as programs about love, murder, and other major draws. It sells programs in French from Canal+ and in Afrikaans to HBO. It also provides pop-up channels for distant cultures for Africans, from Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey. It is shifting its contents to Rands from dollars. It sells decoder and funeral insurance on the internet. Its subscription fees in rands fell compared to last year because of Covid-19, mostly in the premium market, while the mass market was up 9% and the mid-market up 15. It is expanding in Nigeria and Angola. It is growing fastest in Ethiopia where slaes are up 143% because of a rebellion, followed by Nigeria, but currency effect and a civil war probably cut earnings.

Revenues were up 4% in rands and profit was up 44% organically and 28% in absolute terms. Free cash flow rose 10% maninly because of higher subscription revenues while ad revenues collapsed 35% because of Covid-19. It lost in its homeland because sports events were canceled by the pandemic. Rigorous cost controls helped keep revenue up. It still loses money but 45% slower than in the prior FY. But in dollars it is losing more because of currency drops.

Over to Harry.

*Verizon and Huawei are settling their patents suits against each other, according to Reuters. VZ.

*Zacks notes that Nokia and Ericsson are gaining market share because of Huawei risks. NOK fell 0.54% today while ERIC rose 0.6%. ERIC reports this Friday.

*Microsoft bought RiskIQ, a security software firm dealing with global attacks. I had been looking for a foreign stock in this area but as an MSFT owner I don't need to bother.

*Both parties in a planned Chinese merger, Huya and Doyu, terminated their deal after its was criticized by the Chinese State Administrator for Market Regulation. Both have ADRs and are part-owned by Tencent which backed the combo. They also dropped their plan to issue a $100 mn dividend on the completion of the meerger which was announced late in 2020.

*TikTok's IPO is on hold after a PRC warning was issued late in June.

*Qualcomm is up 0.5% because of unusual options trading. It just named a new VP and chief marketing officer, Don McGuire. It leads in US 5G radio.

*Fanuc was tipped by “reliable research” on new constructs and rose 3.81%. FANUY makes factory robots in Japan. The stock had been weak because of warnings that it had gotten ahead of itself by Jefferies. Robots are about 50% used to make autos and it is expected to suffer from the lack of chips for cars. I am sticking with FANUY which I wrote about the first 7 years ago. The consensus is neutral.

*Taiwan Semiconductor reports Thursday. It is TSM. Not TSEM, which is an Israeli mid-cap. 

Finance

*AIG Hong Kong, AAIGF, is losing traction because China is backing home-grown insurers.