Healthcare Stocks trail other sectors up 0.34%,  Energy  up 0.8%,  Financials up 0.73% and Technology up 0.77%

But biotech ETFs are in the Green

Biotechnology stocks were mixed today with the following winners among our large cap picks:

Gilead Sciences (GILD) up 1.26%, Roche Holding (RHHBY) up 1.08% and Regeneron up 0.58%. Our large cap portfolio still beats the S&P up 13.63% YTD. Other Rayno Biopharmaceutical movers were: Exelixis (EXEL) up 23%, Pharmacyclics (PCYC)  up 2.5%, and Albany Molecular (AMRI) up 1.19%. Exelixis (EXEL) announced positive top line results for a Phase 3 pivotal trial for their melanoma drug Cobimetinib in combination with Vemurafenib with BRAF V600 mutation. Speculation then rose that Exelixis’ partner Roche (RHHBY) would buy the Company.

Abbvie (ABBV) one of our recent picks under $50 is getting closer to another inversion deal with the $54B takeover of Dublin- based Shire  (SHPG) subject to other terms of the offer. According to the Wall Street Journal this transaction brings M&A healthcare deals to the $332.8M mark in 2014 YTD.Shire is focused in ADHD drugs with a transition to orphan and rare disease drugs.

Our mid-cap index of 50 biopharma stocks were mixed with winners balanced out by losers.

Rayno Diagnostics and Tools stocks fared better with several winners: Cepheid (CPHD) up 3.2%, Sequenom (SQNM) up 2.37%, Qiagen NV (QGEN) up 1.54%, and Pacific Biosciences (PACB) up 1.39%. Many smaller cap DX companies have taken a hit lately in line with the Russell 2000 so expectations for top line growth will be watched closely. It appears that speculation has been rung out of some high flyers but Illumina, Inc. (ILMN) remains near its highs.

Last week we urged investors to raise a little  cash to the 10-20% level as summer trading is likely to be choppy among smaller cap stocks.

 

 

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