BioBuzz Rolls On
After a bad day on NASDAQ yesterday with some profit taking in biotech there is a lot of green screen today. The sector is up 1% today and we are near all time highs like the XBI ($86.92). But to many investors, biotechnology is relatively unknown or still perceived as a speculative area except to the hedge funds who drive it and the participants who work in the industry. Over 16,000 industry leaders participated in the BIO International Convention in Boston this week with 65 countries participating and 2000 Exhibitors. If there is a global slowdown and fiscal constraints in Europe it apparently has not affected biotechnology partnering and investing.
Yesterday Barron’s commented on the resilience of life science ETF’s. Despite the concern of NIH budget cuts, imminent cutbacks in government sponsored R&D there is increasing evidence that the life sciences are a bright spot for job creation and new product innovation. This week in the Washington Post , Fareed Zakaria opines on how government support of R&D can generate economic activity.
There is surprising strength in our Life Science focus stocks today with robust trading volume and a number of upgrades. Sequenom (SQNM $4.14) is up over 7% today on an upgrade earlier this week, Illumina (ILMN $40.38) up 3.7% was added to the US Focus List at Credit Suisse, and Celgene (CELG $61) up 2.6% recovered from yesterdays’ losses as buyers blew off the bad news on yesterday’s Revlimid delayed filings in Europe. Our mid-cap biopharmaceutical index is up 1.45% as of mid-day trading with Celldex (CLDX $4.72) up 5.35%, ImmunoGen (IMGN $15.72) up 5.23%, and Nektar (NKTR $8.09) up 3.59%.
On as we get closer to the Supreme Court deciding our healthcare options, industry analysts and professionals will be assessing the industry impact