In this edition, good buys in semiconductor manufacturing still exist; Flutter looks to have wings; US unemployment uptick no reason for panic; and BRP, Smartsheet, and Nio.

Global stocks are gaining, if not at the pace of domestic equities. While the S&P 500 has risen 17% year to date, the EAFA index of large- and mid-cap stocks based in countries other than the U.S. and Canada has gained 9.5%. Over the past five years, the performance gap has been wider, with the S&P 500 advancing 94% compared to a 32% gain in EAFE. But the underperformance has given global stocks a valuation advantage, particularly in the area of dividends. Consider that the EAFE dividend yield of 2.9% is 170 basis points higher than the comparable S&P 500 dividend yield. We think global dividend stocks now offer opportunity, particularly given the endless speculation over the direction of interest rates in the U.S., which has created market-timing headaches for equity income investors, who have endured recent wide swings in prices for rate-sensitive equity in areas such as utilities, REITs and MLPs. In our view, investing in international income stocks is one way to increase portfolio diversification while reducing sensitivity to volatile U.S. interest rates. Investing in overseas stocks carries its own set of risks, including the impact of currency exchange and geopolitical turmoil. But there are also a number of positives in this asset class for U.S. investors, including a wide selection of companies that pay dividends, robust industry diversification, and, as we have mentioned, higher yields and lower valuations. Argus has recently boosted its global coverage, and recommends the following international dividend stocks, each of which has at least a long-term BUY rating from an Argus analyst. Note this list of approximately 25-30 companies offers exposure to eight of the 11 major industrial sectors. The list includes companies from 10 countries.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd., headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, was founded in 1987 and pioneered the pure-play foundry or 'merchant fab' model. The company serves both integrated semiconductor producers who outsource a portion of their production as well as 'fabless' semiconductor producers who outsource all manufacturing. Taiwan Semi serves over 500 semiconductor customers, producing more than 11,500 distinct products while providing a broad range of advanced, specialty, and advanced packaging technologies.

Money continues to flow into small caps and out of Big Tech. The Russell is up slightly. The Nasdaq is down nearly 1%. Chips were making a comeback earlier from the massive selloff yesterday but that momentum has not held, even with good news from Taiwan Semi. Back to small-caps and some perspective, the total market cap of the main small-cap index, the Russell 2000 (ticker IWM) is said to be only as large as one of the multiple $3 trillion market-cap stocks in the 'Magnificent 7.' But let's not spoil the party. Over the past week, IWM has soared more than 10%.