Update-1 10:40am EST, NASDAQ off 0.75%, S&P 500 off 0.82%

Caution in biotech and healthcare stocks with disruptive announcement from J.P.Morgan, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway with XLV down 2%.

The three companies announced Tuesday that they would form an independent healthcare company to serve their employees in the U.S. Few details were provided but look for new partnerships to attack high healthcare costs. Many pundits and analysts feel this consortium is well equipped to take out bureaucratic costs and develop new models including a focus on wellness and data analytics.

IBB off 1.10% at $117 near highs, XBI off 1.31% at $95.76.

Take a little off considering the huge runs in drug and biotech YTD.

Update on market Thursday.

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Biotech Stocks Higher on Earnings: Abbvie (ABBV) and Biogen (BIIB)

IBB up 1.231% to $118.04 a 12 month high, XBI up 0.82% to $96.19

Rayno Biopharmaceutical Portfolio Strong: AMGN up 3.12%, BIIB up 4.01%, GILD up 5.26%.

Biotech stocks soared again today to new highs driven by Abbvie Inc.(ABBV) earnings and overall sector strength. Momentum was strong in the general market with NASDAQ up 1.28% and the S&P up 1.18%. The M&A theme should be the driver in 2017.

Mid-caps were also strong with notable momentum in Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT) up 5.15%, Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) and Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) up 4%. One large cap Regeneron (REGN) took a 4.46% hit. Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) was up 2.48% despite being hit hard on Wednesday.

Technology up 1.7% and healthcare up 1.36%- sectors led the market. The IBB is up 10.56% YTD and the XBI is up 13.34% YTD. The generalist investors have appeared to move into biotech stocks.

Abbvie,Inc. (ABBV) was up 13.77% to $123.21 on EPS growth of 14.6%, an adjusted EPS of $5.60 share with a 10.1% growth in 2017 full year.  Revenues of $28.216B. Full year Global HUMIRA Sales were $18.427B up 14.4% on an operational basis.

Biogen (BIIB) released results yesterday showing full year 2017 revenues of $12.3B a 7% increase over last year. Full year GAAP net  income was $2.5 B with an EPS of $11.92. The restructured Biogen is now focused mainly on neurodegenerative disorders after the successful spin-out of Bioverativ (BIVV).

We will update this article over the weekend. See our posts from the 2018 J.P.Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Disclosure long ABBV, FBIOX, GILD

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