Looks like the sector was saving the fireworks for today with a lot more news. The reaction so far seems a little tepid given the positives but it is early and I think some are a little worried about the broader market. The collapse in oil may unfortunately signal a return to the macro market […]
July 28 Biotech Update
The sector looked like it would be off to a good start but it faded quickly. I would still argue that any movement before the GILD earnings can be quickly changed, so the trading action tomorrow is much more important than anything today. Not a ton of major news but a decent amount of tidbits, […]
June 18 Biotech Update
The summer is seasonally weak, especially after the EHA and ASCO- right? I am not sure of the exact catalyst for the move today but it is certainly moving the sector higher (with the broader market as well). There was not a lot of news, so perhaps this is simply the end of the buyer […]
May 22 Biotech Update
Yesterday sort of followed the potential new pattern of gaining strength throughout the day but volumes were a little low as we approach the holiday weekend. I suspect today will be even worse, so I will refrain from making any real interpretations of the moves given the lack of volume. 1. There is a lot […]
April 28 Biotech Update
So it ended up being a bad start to the week with a significant drop straight down to support with follow through early this morning. The sector seemed to find some support at support levels yesterday but it felt tenuous. Keep in mind that we have yet to have the big scary correction this year […]
The Week Ahead in Earnings
A second busy week of earnings is due out in the space this week. We will see 3 of the 4 remaining large caps report (Gilead, Celgene, Vertex) and a smattering of big pharma reports as well. Given the sell off today, earnings reports could stem the fall, or exacerbate it further with poor results. […]
April 15 Biotech Update
It is a busy day so I am going to try and keep this short but every time I write that it seems like I write the same amount if not more than usual. The sector basically looks in-line with the broader markets and large caps actually seem to be participating in the move higher, […]
April 14 Biotech Update
A weak start to the day that essentially appears to be a continuation from the late selling yesterday. It still seems to be the case that large caps are underperforming the SMID, which has been the case for awhile. I suspect that is going to be a difficult trend to break but for the long […]
March 25 Biotech Update
A rough start to morning for the sector with a biotech bubble article in the WSJ not helping. There was nothing new but the headline is the headline (it also had some odd numbers like CELG P/E over 50, which is much higher than the numbers I usually see when calculating CELG P/E). Of course, […]
March 23 Biotech Update
A weak start to the week but it is also a continuation from the weak ending of last week. Everyone is waiting for a pullback. The bulls expect a moderate pullback to consolidate the move, the bears expect a more significant move to purge a lot of the excess valuation, and the bubble callers are […]
February 11 Biotech Update
Another slow day in the market in terms of news, so I want to round out a couple of ideas today. Nothing has really changed in relation to my views in that the next move will be higher (remember that is a very low conviction view) with continued chop regardless of the ultimate direction of […]
February 10
Who order gains and losses with a large side of chop? This is a market clearly looking for direction and positive signs one day turn into negative signs the next. A stock that you expect to be an early tell of market sentiment ends up just being another victim of the chop. Markets like this […]
February 6 Biotech Update
Well, I can honestly say that on Wednesday I did not think the sector would be looking this good on Friday. The economy seems to be improving, the macro (outside of the Greek noise) seems benign, and the sector seems to be shrugging off the hep-C discounts. I am a little surprised but you also […]
January 27 Biotech Update
A bad start for the market in terms of earnings, economic data, and price action. It appears that FX and the capital spending decline coming from oil prices is creating a significant headwind. Despite the gap down, biotechs were basically unchanged if not higher. That is quite the odd scenario as risk off should hit […]
January 8 Biotech Update
A great continuation for the markets but I do not see a lot of great action in the biotech sector. We spiked higher but those original moves have not held and we seem to be retracing the gaps. If those gaps in the sector cannot hold with the markets running, then that is certainly an […]
November 26 Biotech Update
The trading is winding down as we approach Thanksgiving and I suspect today is going to be slow and get slower. The market will be open again on Friday but will likely be even slower as many will likely take the half trading day off. I suspect this also means that news flow will also […]
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 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 […]
July 29 Biotech Update
I had a great email last night that asked me to compare FMI and ILMN and so today I will go a step further and have a day of rumbles with FMI vs ILMN, CNAT vs GALT, and MRK vs PFE. I would talk a little about the broader market and sector but at this […]
