Another heavy news day on Lag b'Omar, a traditional break in the Jewish version of Lent, the period between the Exodus of the Hebrew children from Egypt until their receipt of the Ten Commandments 49 days later, at the Feast of Weeks. This year in Israel it produced a tragedy because the 33^rd day celebrates not St. Patrick, but Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his teachings. Or the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans. By tradition Ashkenazic Jews on Lag b'Omar do all the things they are not allowed to do during the Omar like getting haircuts (especially the first one for little boys), lighting bonfires or flying from home to England. Pilgrimages head for Rabbi Shimon's grave at Meron in north  Israel This year things went very wrong and the pilgrimages led to stampeding and crushing mobs at Meron which killed and wounded participants, both adults and children. I think it was overbooked because of the quarantine for covid-19. So far 44 dead have been counted according to the NY Times.

The EU economies lost in Q1, unlike the USA. Meanwhile copper, oil, and iron ore are rising in price worldwide. 

China is doing more to stop its tech giants from dominating the home market with their financial clout. That is because Communism needs to control finance whereas capitalism doesn't worry that much about normal links and payments. And the EU says Apple is violating competition laws with its App Store on spotify payments. To get even, my google went down after a British court opted to allow a class action suit against Google. I am still in New York but I got cut off all the same today.

Another heavy news day, unusual for a Friday. We start with the largest company's lamentable report, follow with another confusing result, a hopeful drug company report and an update on a Canada play in my portfolio but not yet in the model portfolio. Plus other news of course.

To read the full report, exclusively on TalkMarkets, click here.