Yesterday was brutal to say the least. There really was nothing to like about it. The XBI seems to have broken below its range and the IBB is rushing to the bottom end of its range. I have been talking about the XBI as the early warning index for the IBB and unless it can […]
October 2 Biotech Update
There is not a lot of news today, so I will keep it relatively quick. I am really not starting to like the way the sector is trading. The XBI continues to act like crap even as the IBB trades near the upper end of its range. If the XBI cannot rally and rally fast, […]
September 27th Biotech Update
We continue to see the disconnect between the IBB and XBI, where the large caps are outperforming the SMID. Given that the previous range break on the IBB did not hold, I suspect we will need greater SMID participation but it is not crazy to see investors first put money to work in large caps […]
September 25 Biotech Update
The sector appears to be gaining some momentum but we need to see the strength continue and ideally broaden. Positive data being rewarded is good as there have been times where positive data got nothing than a quick spike only to be sold later in the day. The IBB is back at the high end […]
September 5 Biotech Update
The hurricane thankfully missed us, so back in the office. The sector had a rough day yesterday but it only took us to the area that should act as new support. A quick dip under 120 or so would not be bad but it has to be quick. Honestly, we have already tested the support […]
September 4 Biotech Update
Another slow start to the week. Sometimes there are expectations for deals after long weekends but the sector continues to disappoint in terms of M&A. Given how important M&A was to many sector theses at the start of the year (and that includes me), it is impressive to see the performance. Explaining the performance is […]
August 20 Biotech Update
I understand that it is still the summer but this is an absolutely no news start to the week. We remain in a choppy market until proven otherwise and this lack of news makes it difficult to discern anything under the surface. Ideally, you would want to see how stocks react to news but we […]
August 16th Biotech Update
The sector was pretty weak yesterday but remained in its range. While there is nothing to dissuade me from the summer chop, there are some warning signs. First, we are close to breaking through the support on both the XBI and IBB. Second, the early morning bounce was quickly sold. Obviously it remains early but […]
August 15th Biotech Update
A pretty weak open for the sector but again this is nothing more than low volume chop as I see it. Unless it breaks below 113 on the IBB and then retests that as resistance or above 120 and then retests that as support, I will continue to argue that the sector is directionless. Of […]
July 17 Biotech Update
The lack of news continues as well as a generally weak market. While it certainly was not strong yesterday (and to start today), it feels more like indifference than a strong push by the bears. This does not mean it could not morph into something more meaningful but at this point it seems more like […]
August 4 Biotech Update
I am back from my last trip of the summer and to be honest it is going to take me the weekend to catch up on all the news. That being said there are a couple of points I can make that are essentially the frame I will use to look at the recent news. […]
Tax Inversions: Regulation Chasing Corporate Tax Loopholes Part 6
Proposed solution and conclusion Finally, I’d like to draw some conclusions and offer a different solution. First of all, it is clear that the corporate tax structure is way too complicated. Its provisions seem to be more focused on assuring tax revenue instead of focusing on economic efficiency and keeping America competitive in the international […]
Tax Inversions: Regulation Chasing Corporate Tax Loopholes Part 5
Proposed Policy Actions to curtail inversions All policy actions taken so far have been attempts at adjusting the tax code to greatly discourage inversion, but falls short of eliminating the incentive to invert. The Congressional Budget Office points to three policy options that are being considered for passage: Move significantly toward a purely worldwide system […]
Tax Inversions: Regulation Chasing Corporate Tax Loopholes Part 4
The incentives to invert Now that we have determined that inversions are not in America’s best interest and that multinational corporations are now actively seeking to invert, we must critically consider how to stop inversions. However, it is prudent to first understand the full scope of the incentives to invert. Results have shown that inversion […]
Tax Inversions: Regulation Chasing Corporate Tax Loopholes Part 3
A brief history of corporate tax inversion In 1982, McDermott Inc., an industrial company making nuclear reactor parts for the US Navy as well as deepsea oil and gas production facilities, decided to expatriate to Panama where one of their subsidiaries were located and renamed themselves McDermott International (Hines, 1991). This was done by having […]
Tax Inversions: Regulation Chasing Corporate Tax Loopholes Part 2
Corporate Tax impact on the Economy It is well documented through economic circles that taxes skew relative prices by shifting the supply curve to the left in a standard supply-demand model to create a deadweight loss. The deadweight loss is the area of the subsequent triangle with the endpoints at the pre-tax equilibrium, the supply […]
Tax Inversions: Regulation Chasing Corporate Tax Loopholes Part 1
The following was a research project completed for my Economics of Regulation class about tax inversions, the implications, and proposed solutions. Since this is a large paper, it will be split into 6 parts and published daily. Abstract – Corporate inversions have grown in popularity in recent years, and has drawn quite a bit of […]
Dave Trading – Where is the value?
Dave gave me one line when I asked him about value… “not much value. Maybe write about how to make profit in a momo market while not risking too much.” Sure thing Dave! IBB is still well off its highs, but in the large cap space it may not be worth selling puts with such […]
Catatonic Economics – Unpacking a Trump win
On October 9, 2016, I made a prediction about this election that has come true. Hillary would lead the polls by 5 points throughout the election, and Trump would win. Trump’s campaign expressed the anger of the Americans who have been disenfranchised for 20 or so years. It is the opposite pendulum swing of Obama’s […]
Catatonic Economics – No one is talking about the greatest risk to America
Financial markets talk about a lot of headwinds to the economy. China devaluation, negative S&P earnings, presidential race, central bank actions, European banking problems, Japan, oil, etc. One that should be frontline news… more than the Trump tape, more than Kim Kardashian being (fake?) mugged, more than a backup QB kneeling for the national anthem. […]
