It was an interesting day in the markets with NFP coming in under expectations. Rumors of a new ceasefire in the Ukraine and flash crashes in mega-cap companies. What is sort of interesting is that despite all of these events the market itself is basically flat, although I doubt it will stay flat and expect […]
September 4 Biotech Update
Markets are generally moving higher again this morning likely on the back of quantitative easing making its entrance into Europe. I expect a slightly stronger reaction to this news but it is still early, so I would not be surprised if the market strengthened throughout the day. Debates over the utility of QE aside, they […]
September 3 Biotech Update
So the market continues to make marginal highs and essentially is drifting higher as the path of least resistance remains slightly higher each day. At his point, however, we cannot discount the possibility of a correction as a lot of stocks have had good runs. Trying to time when these corrections occur is losing game […]
Quick Update
I have been out of the office all day and so have not had a chance to write anything. I wanted to write a brief note on the TTPH data given that I have been following it. I will have a lot more tomorrow on this and other stocks. Tetraphase released data from the lead […]
August 29 Biotech Update
It has been a little bit of a crazy week for me but thankfully there was not a ton of news as we head into the long holiday weekend. The sector seemed to be consolidating (or looking for a direction) and this also seems to be the case for the broader market. This is not […]
August 26 Biotech Update
It is Tuesday, so this will be a very short update. Luckily there is not a lot going on in the market. There seems to be some consolidation in the sector with the early trading but that can change on a dime especially with low summer volumes. 1. The one and only point I really […]
August 25 Biotech Update
I do not want to say this is a slow news day but outside of the ITMN deal, there is really not much else going on. The market is rallying and the sector is clearly moving with it if not taking the lead. Perhaps this will be the start of the long awaited catch-up in […]
August 22 Biotech Update
Biotechs have been weak despite a decent macro environment (at least it was not a very negative one) and it was odd. Then someone pointed out that Yellen was scheduled to speak this morning and speculated that traders are avoiding biotechs in case she launches another grenade at the sector. While I did not expect […]
August 21 Biotech Update
Another slow day on the news front, so this should be another short report. I usually like to begin the reports with a sense of the market but right now it feels like a market looking for direction. There does not seem to be consistent leadership between days and the high growth sectors like biotech […]
August 20 Biotech Update
Another slow news day with a more of the same market. What looked like a developing trend of strong small cap performance has morphed back into the run of the large caps. Perhaps that is simply a signal that we are entering into a stock pickers market as opposed to broad plays on sectors. In […]
August 19 Biotech Update
It was an odd start to the trading with the market fairly benign if not positive but many biotechs being sold and in the red. There was no real news to trigger the selling, so I suspect it is simply a technical move after a lot of strong moves in the past week. Assuming that […]
August 18 Biotech Update
The markets are rallying and taking everything with it (for the most part). The proximate reason seems to be that the Ukraine crisis did not escalate, which should not be a total surprise as I have been talking down that situation for awhile. That is not to say it could not escalate again but at […]
August 15 Biotech Update
More of the same in the market and the sector, although the large caps seem to have gotten more of a bid today with GILD breaking out yesterday and CELG threatening to do the same today. This is the first time in a little while that we have seen a strong bid in the large […]
August 14 Biotech Update
While the general trends have not changed much today, I do want to highlight one cautionary note. We are now through most earnings so that catalyst flow is going to slow and we all know that a biotech without a catalyst tends to underperform. The saving grace is that we are getting close to the […]
August 13 Biotech Update
It is really more of the same with the market drifting and large cap biotechs not really leading and the small caps having some nice moves. I know I have been talking about a potential scenario where small cap biotechs take over as the best performers in the space but it still seems up in […]
August 12 Biotech Update
It was another mixed start to the day, which was worse than I would have thought given the ICPT data. Even the stocks that were moving seemed to have relatively muted moves and were giving back a substantial portion of the initial bounce. While small caps were not really outperforming large caps, it was another […]
August 11 Biotech Update
A relatively mixed early day in the market. The open was modestly positive and biotechs seemed to participate but not dramatically. Again it seemed like it was the small caps that had more of a bid but it was not anything spectacular. The morning seemed dominated by news more than anything else. 1. TKMR is […]
August 7 Biotech Update
A good start for the market but biotechs seemed to not be participating. While nothing in biotech stood out as particularly strong in the morning, it seems like small caps were slightly better than large caps. This was a trend I want to follow as it would mark a significant change in the sector as […]
August 6 Biotech Update
The market had some volatility yesterday and inversions seemed to be dealt a blow this morning. As such, I will focus on these two topics as they seem to be driving the majority of trading. 1. If you were watching the market yesterday, then you may have noticed what seemed like a random and significant […]
August 5 Biotech Update
It was an interesting morning in the market. The broader market was down but biotechs seemed to hold up pretty well but oddly it seemed like it was the small caps that did better. This is interesting because it is the large caps that tend to outperform as a flight to safety (if you can […]
