Read intro here.

Affected companies were up, down, and sideways at the end of last week. It is not because I brilliantly predicted how markets would react to the Trump measures that I am posting this as my first weekly blog--because the POTUS is totally unpredictable and has a small attention span (as well as small hands). I am posting this widely because my paid subscribers reacted with more enthusiasm to my Friday blog than ones earlier in the week.

Readers should be careful buying small cap foreign stocks on which we report here, because we already own them. These pink sheet American Depository Receipts are often traded at huge spreads. The best way to buy is using a limit good-till-cancel order somewhere between the bid/asl, or where possible only trade when the foreign market is open.

*Many buys over the past few days have not been executed because of my panic late Thursday (after my issue went out) over the measures being threatened in Washington. But I did buy back Barrick Gold (ABX) common at $17.77 on Jan. 25. ABX is a way to cover systemic risks from stocks and bonds, be it inflation or incoherence, by using gold. Its global business, and low costs of production and all-in-costs make this Canadian gold major a safer bet than smaller, seemingly cheaper miners.

*I also bought more Greencore Group, GNCGF, at $2.83. The Irish food processor (whose primary listing is in London) was hit by Tesco buying a wholesaler and concern about Irish ability to continue retail spending as Britain starts competing with Ireland as an on-shore tax haven. Neither of these worries is correct about Greencore but the UK stock market is aiming at movable targets. Worries about US consumption of ready meals under its takeover of Peacock Foods here are probably wrong because in the small cap universe, mergers are very carefully planned. It may also be down because of below-consensus results at its oldest US outlet for ready meals, Starbucks (SBUX).

*More about trades not completed in funds.

IT

*Renishaw (RNSHF), the UK laser metrology firm reported operating profits up by a third from its core business yesterday. Its ADR remains flat with a huge bid-ask spread despite its gaining coverage from a first US brokerage, Morgan Stanley. Watch this one, and buy if it loses altitude, writes Martin Ferera.

*Infosys (INFY) is gaining despite border blockages because competition from other Indian IT firms is being talked down by Dow-Jones, Wipro in particular. Indian analysts also think INFY will be the last man standing if Trump hits US visas for Indians. INFY was up ~1.5%+ in part also because many Asian markets are closed for Chinese New Year and Japan is falling.

*Less brilliantly, SAP was also up.

*Nokia (NOK) was both up and down after it announced an investment in WorkFusion, a startup supplier of intelligent automation, machine learning and digitization. NOK is Finnish. It also launched a digital assistant for telephones, called Mika, a rival to the ones offered with computers. Mika stands for multi-purpose intuitive knowledge assistant and I hope it is not as annoying as others. NOK also aims to create Predictive Repair which uses the same platform as Mika, to warn of hardware failures 14 days before they happen. Nokia owns over 90,000 patents in cellular telephony. Credit Suisse last week argued that it is not a Johnny-come-lately in cloud IT, as I wrote. I withdraw my comment.

*Israeli Mazor Robotics (MZOR) was up sharply last week (while the TASE is shut), recovering from earlier worries over its dependence on robots which help perform US back surgery for future sales.

Drugs and Health

*Roche (RHHBY) won US FDA priority review for its sub Genentech's Actemra (tocilizumab), a biologic to treat giant cell arteritis, a rare disease, a form of auto-immune disease vasculitis. This follows last year's breakthrough designation. It is the first new treatment for GCA in 50 years and a biologic, which is significant. GCA which affects older women can lead to blindness or stroke and is currently treated with high dose steroids which have bad side effects. Actemra will be administered with steroids in decreasing strength. RHHBY is Swiss.

*I also bought more Novo Nordisk (NVO) at $34.79 on the assumption that it may gain from problems of other insulin makers, notably Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) as reported last week. I keep getting notifications from securities lawyers about an alleged failure to properly forecast losses which I think are unlikely to play out in class-action suits. NVO is Danish.

*Teva (TEVA) was also up 2.6% despite Tel Aviv being closed, just over my most recent buy level (but of course well up from my original buy price.)

*Benitec Biopharma of Oz is $1.79 bid $1.84 ask. I want to be a market-maker with spreads like that.

Finance

*Banco Latino-Americano de Comercio (Blaex) of Panama is fluctuating in the Trump Mexico wake off marginally one minute, up marginally the next.

*More serious is the 0.5% fall in Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), despite its being the least exposed to US business among the Big Five Canadian banks. It yields 3.8% and paid last week. It also launched its “Digital Factory” in Toronto which will house engineers and specialists to help its Canadian corporate customers get what they want from Scotiabank via artificial intelligence and digital banking and borrowing. Companies will be invited to test what the lab comes up with before it goes live. The selloff may be because BNS plans to open similar facilities in Pacific Alliance countries Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia—potential victims of Trumpian protectionism.

*Banco Santander (SAN) is assumed to be likely to gain from Washington's negative attitude to Latin America, which will stimulate colonial memories about Spain. It was up last week despite SAN going ex-div. It was one of the shares tipped by Dow Jones last week in an article about the recovery of European bank shares.

*Despite a paean to its Chairman by a magazine, Sampo Oij (SAXPY) traded both up and down last week. It yields 5.4%. Its key bank holding, Nordea of Sweden, reported a 30% rise in 2016 profits there was a sharp jump in prices for ABB, one of its holdings.

*Barclays preferred D non-cumulative US$ preferred shares were up last week.

*Also up are Royal Bank of Scotland NC US$ preferred F and L shares in our portfolio.

*Virgin Money (VRGDF) was trading up at $3.77 bid, $4.10 ask (prices from before the London closing.) I want to be a market-maker.

*Standard Life was trading up sharply at $17.96 bid $18.30 ask. SLFPY and VRGDF may be gaining from Theresa May meeting the US President or from the fact that they were tipped here last week.

*A sub of Alibaba (BABA) last week announced buying Moneygram for $800 m. Moneygram, a major US supplier of cross-border transfers for people without bank accounts (or legal domicile.) It may be brilliant or bad timing given the Wall and the ban on emigration. I'm not sure.
BABA is a share we have resisted owning.

South of the Border

*Presidents Trump and Peña Nieto chatted on the phone although their tete-a-tete was canceled. They know each other because Trump visited his Mexican counterpart during his campaign.

*Mexichem (MXCHF) rose beyond my buy price to $4.83.

*Also swinging up and down is Vale (VALE), the Brazilian iron ore miner, subject of a favorable Fitch report on its finances.

*Cemex is up either because it will build El Muro or because of its Cementos de Chihuahua potential profits reported by Eduardo Garcia from Mexico.

Funds

*Herzfeld Caribbean, despite political uncertainty, was acquired for $6.80 and is up despite its heavy investment in Mexico and (among other overlaps) in Cemex of Mexico (CX) and Banco Latino (cf above). It trades on the pink sheets where spreads are high.

*I executed on my $14.74 (US) purchase of more Canadian General, CGRIF, a closed-end fund. Fear that Trumpish nastiness to even our nice neighbors hurt Canadian stocks and the loony.

*Mexico Equity & Income Fund got away rising over 2%.

*Fibra Uno, FBASF, the Mexican REIT, was up an improbable 7.04% last week and at $1.42 bid, $1.59 ask. The group invests mostly in offices and retail sites in Mexican cities which get global tenants, and borrows heavily in US$. Its US shares have now recoupled all their losses after Trump won the White House. FBASF is run by the El-Mann real estate clan (Mexican Trumps?) who also offer portfolio management to other property investors and off-market acquisitions. They also develop new properties.​