Friday we had a nice surprise which kicked up the stock market. The US jobs report showed that rather than the anticipated decline, in the 2^nd half of May 2.5 million non-farm workers were hired. The expected 8.3 million job losses for the month did not materialize. Unemployment levels fell to 13.3%, not something to cheer except against the consensus forecast, which was for 19.5% unemployment rates, the highest since World War II. [Ed. note: The numbers have since been adjusted.]

Naturally the stock markets which love to jump at good news did so Friday, starting in Asia and Europe. By the time Wall Street opened the Dow Jones Industrial Average had achieved a 700 point rally.

Our own readership also won a big gain discussed below and several boosted forecasts. It was a good news Friday.

Danish Novo Nordisk (NONOF) has won a battle against obesity with its injected Semaglutide step one trials on which it reported today. The 2.4 mg injections over 68 weeks led to weight loss in 16.9% or 14.9% of those who got the jab, compared to 2.4% with placebo. The two numbers differ because of compliance changes but are both dramatically higher than those for the placebo arm. 86% of the recipients of the drug lost at least 5% of their weight. The stock has barely budged, because the Copenhagen bourse closed for the weekend before the news came out. Strong buy at $64.06. I just bought some in honor of weightwatchers I know.

Extraction Industries

Other shares rose with the jobs report and hopes for an economic recovery. Chilean Antofagasta gained ~3% in London today where it has its primary listing. Dr Copper is healthy again (although Chile overall is still sick with viruses, it has kept mines open with testing.) (ANFGF)

Schlumberger Ltd (SLB) topped 17% in gains in Europe where it doesn't trade daily, but only rose 9.3% here, to $22.22. SLB results have been poor because a drooping economy needs less oil and gas, which its systems help extract.

BP plc (BP) rose 8.7% to $27.92 because of hopes for more oil demand—despite its offering to reduce the price of North Sea assets it is selling to Premier Oil.

Canada's Computer Modelling whose technology maps oil and gas reserves for drillers, gained 4.9%. (CMDXF).

Royal Dutch Shell B shares gained 6.6%. (RDS-B) is the one whose dividends, while cut, are not subject to withholding at source, why we prefer them to the A's.

Canadian fertilizer firm Nutrien (NTR) rose 3.75%.

Tech

Abu Dhabi, Mubadalah Investment Co. which invests for post-oil earnings, paid the equivalent of $1.2 bn for a 1.85% stake in Jio, the hot Indian telco run by Mukesh Ambani, who has been every oligarch's favorite for months. But the next time the Gulf mini-state invests, it will be back to petroleum.

Amazon's (AMZN) plan to invest in Bharti Airtel in India, a telco rival of Ambani's, led by Sunil Mittal, made it the best performer in Bombay this fiscal year to date. Our own Vodafone (VOD) with a huge tax bill to pay on its joint venture with Idea, is another possible platform for world video and e-commerce buyers in India, I hope. While Jio has the big numbers its rivals have higher bandwidth and richer customers. VOD is up 2.6%.

Qualcomm (QCOM), bought in order to access an unlisted Israeli medical diagnosis company, rose 3.44% on a buy recommendation by Rosenblatt Securities, a well-regarded analysis shop, whose target price is $105. It is under $89 now. We only bought its Qualcomm Ventures arm is a backdoor way to own Tyto. QV invests in digital health, artificial intelligence, 5G ecosystems, and internet of things. The main reason QCOM is being tipped is that it owns a stake in Zoom which is planning to list.

Netease (NTES) plans a secondary listing in Hong Kong. Its share has gained by a third YTD. I turned down an article on NTES offered by one of our writers.

Finnish Nokia (NOK) is up 4.8%.

Africa TV and ads seller Mulitchoice, spun off by , is up another 4.8% today. (MCHOY).

Nintendo (NTDOY) is up despite the prospect of less leisure time. NTDOY of Japan is just under $53.

CAE which will go back to training pilots when the crisis ends, is up 8.6%. (CAE)

IBM, Microsoft, and even GE are up. Some of this is scary as FAANG stocks are lagging. (IBM) (MSFT) (GE)

Finance

Banco Latino-Amerciano de Comercio Exterior of Panama gained 9% today on hopes of comercio exterior (BLX).

Bank of Nova Scotia of Canada is up 3.7%. (BNS)

Hong Kong stock market index maker, Hang Seng Bank (HSNGF), a sub of disgraced HSBC plc of Britain, rose 9% today. HSNGF cannot leave Hong Kong even if its parent does in deference to Beijing.

The biggest banking winner today was Banco Santander (SAN) of Spain, up 10.2% to $2.875. We are still down half from our SAN basis.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) was upgraded to outperform by Daiwa today. We bought SMFG to own a non-ADR firm which recycles car batteries for street lighting. It rose

Standard Life Aberdeen (SLFPF), insurer and fund manager, gained 4%+. SLFPF is Scottish.

Insurer AIA Group (AAIGF) of Hong Kong, AAIGF, is up another 3.7%.

Healthcare

BeiGene (BGNE) gained 2%. BGNE is Chinese but respects patents.

India's Dr Reddy's (RDY) gained 1,6%.

Teva (TEVA) rose 2.5% in the pre-market. Generics retain their appeal. Now it is up 1.8%.

However, most pharma stocks are flat today because the market is interested in other sectors for a change.

Utes

Azure Power (AZRE) which installs solar in India is up 8.3%.

E.On of Germany fell a fraction. (EONGY)

Algonquin of Canada rose 1.8%. (AQN)

Ormat of Nevada gained 3.33%. (ORA) is at $71.65. It is a US firm thermal power firm owned by Israelis.

French waterworks firm Veolia is up 3%+. (VEOEY).

Country Funds

Alliance Bernstein Global, (AWF), is up 1.25%.

Canadian General Investments, (CGRIF), gained 1.3%.

Western Assets Emerging Markets, (EMD), rose 0.8%.

Templeton EMF jumped 3.2%.

Templeton EM Income Fund, (TEI), rose 0.5%.

Aberdeen Asia Pacific, (FAX), added o.5%.

Aberdeen Global Income rose 1.62%. (FCO).

Korea Fund, (KF), popped up 4%.

Lazard Global Total Return, (LGI), added 1.94%.

Japan Smaller Cap rose ~1%. (JOF).

Investor A/B rose 0.52%. (IVSBF) is Swedish.

These moves are all because of the declining dollar, not reflected in other trading today.