It seems like the market does not like 19th century economic policies, although I think it is likely more than simply the tariffs. The market has risen despite numerous political risks and now it seems to be more accurately reflecting the risks that arose the past 18 months. So it is not just the tariffs, […]
March 22 Biotech Update
Sector is down, although it is not clear if that is the sector or the prospects of a trade war with China that is bringing down the whole market. Between trade wars, the hawkish fed, and other potential macro issues, it seems that we might be entering into another period of macro trades affecting sector […]
March 16 Biotech Update
The sector did not really have an encouraging day yesterday. Instead of broadening out the rally, the previous leaders slipped and nothing picked up the slack. There was a chance for the large caps to move the rally forward but they did not do so. Of course, no one should worry too much about a […]
March 2 Biotech Update
Between continued hawkish fed speak and a potential trade war, the market is going to have trouble getting its feet, which includes the sector. The market has been able to shake off a lot of issues the past year or so and perhaps this will be yet another wall of worry to climb but at […]
February 23 Biotech Update
The market is looking a little shaky. It is not as if the selling is sending it down but every single spike in the past couple days has been sold. I see that as a lot of overhead supply of stock for sale, which is not great. On the plus side, the support below these […]
February 22 Biotech Update
A little pick up in the news flow but clearly the sector has been tied to the broader market in the immediate term. The spike in interest rates caused by the Fed minutes took the market and the sector down. While the direct impact of raising interest rates on the sector is minimal, it does […]
February 20 Biotech Update
There is some news to start the week but mainly some minor partnerships and some data. Not the large scale M&A that people always seem to hope for after a long weekend. It remains to be see whether the market forgives this pause in the M&A or whether these more minor events are enough to […]
February 14 Biotech Update
It is a pretty active morning for news, so I will dive right into the events as they are pretty interesting. I am not convinced that these will be enough to break the sector out higher but they are all generally positive in the longer term. 1. The least interesting news was NBIX earnings that […]
February 13 Biotech Update
The market had a nice follow through yesterday, although for some reason I do not really trust this rally (yet). It would be nice to see a couple days of flat trading but clearly we are in a different regime with volatility this high. Expect more wild intra-day moves even on the days that end […]
February 12 Biotech Update
The rule of thumb is that markets never bottom on a Friday but we at least got a short term bottom as the market rallied into the close. Whether this was simply the bottom of a dead cat bounce or “the” bottom of this correction remains to be seen but given heavily oversold conditions, it […]
February 7 Biotech Update
So it looks like we are going to be tied to the broader market for a little while. We are still in the middle of earnings (although most large caps have reported) but it seems unlikely that anything meaningful will be coming out in the near term that would drive meaningful relatively under or over […]
February 6 Biotech Update
There is not a ton of sector specific news but the broader markets are taking everything down. The XIV is closing, which might have unknown consequences. It is only a relatively small ETF but who knows if it will cause short covering and forced liquidation of other positions. It is possible that the collateral damage […]
February 2 Biotech Update
It looks like the correction continues. Fundamental news does not seem to be matter a lot this week, which seems like typical price action during a correction. This does not seem sector specific and I doubt that it becomes anything more than a correction in a larger bull market but that does not mean it […]
January 26 Biotech Update
The market is relentless. Just as it is important to buy when the market seems to be going down forever, it is also important to sell on these sort of rips higher. The selling at the high levels is always more difficult for me, so I want to spend some time today talking about potential […]
January 18 Biotech Update
We had a little ice storm down here that has shut the town down for a couple days (I snuck into the office today), so I missed some interesting news. I will focus on the M&A as there are a couple of aspects that make it interesting. 1. Reports were that CELG was in negotiations […]
January 3 Biotech Update
Yesterday had a nice start to the year, which seemed to be part of a broader rotation in the nasdaq. There was some “news” that I want to highlight but the bulk of today will be another non-consensus 2018 idea. 1. The FAERS released an update to its database of adverse events reports and it […]
January 2 Biotech Update
Welcome to the New Year full of hopes and questions. In the lead up to JPM (and likely a slow build up in news as companies try to take the spotlight earlier and earlier every year), I will spend the week on broad 2018 themes and thoughts. Of course, if news happens I will focus […]
December 8 Biotech Update
Finally, he sector responded well to good news and held those gains. That bodes well heading into ASH (assuming more positive news) but we obviously cannot give all the gains back today. There is not a lot of news heading into ASH but that is likely to change this weekend. 1. GILD bought a private […]
December 6 Biotech Update
The sector and stocks are going to give everyone whiplash. Despite their being some out performers, it seems like every move higher gets smashed later in the day. There are too many stocks to count that make a nice move higher only to end the day red. As I noted yesterday, it is unclear the […]
November 29 Biotech Update
The sector seems to have gotten its footing a little and while that does not mean it will shoot higher, it does seem to have stopped the decline. As I noted before both ASH and JPM can be stock moving with JPM usually a very strong period for the sector as companies save good news […]














