Markets are generally moving higher again this morning likely on the back of quantitative easing making its entrance into Europe. I expect a slightly stronger reaction to this news but it is still early, so I would not be surprised if the market strengthened throughout the day. Debates over the utility of QE aside, they […]
August 20 Biotech Update
Another slow news day with a more of the same market. What looked like a developing trend of strong small cap performance has morphed back into the run of the large caps. Perhaps that is simply a signal that we are entering into a stock pickers market as opposed to broad plays on sectors. In […]
Recent Option Activity (7/29 ~ 8/1)
The following stocks had recent and notable activity in their options: $EXAS (7/29): 8,000 OCT 20.0 Strike Calls were sold (stock at $15.78) for 0.50 or total proceeds of $400,000 against a 800,000 share position (this was a covered Call). Trade provides $0.50 of protection to the downside (and takes position out above $20). $DEPO […]
July 28 Biotech Update
Earnings season is off to a good start with both a nice quarter from BIIB and the positive phase III data from PBYI. It is encouraging that good news is being rewarded but the key is going to be how well this spike maintains over the next days and weeks. Given the positive pin action […]
July 11 Biotech Update
Despite a weak macro market, biotechs actually performed pretty well yesterday. That was a surprise albeit a pleasant one. Clearly biotech has its mojo back as three or four months ago, the sector would have been down 5% on a day like yesterday. I have been talking about reactions to earnings as a signal about […]
BMY – In The Inflection Point
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) –NYSE Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) had a wild year, up from the lows of $41.11 in late August 2013 to reach a new 12 years high $57.49 in early March 2014, as investors were anticipating the anti PD-1 data coming at ASCO-2014 and with high expectations for BMY’s data of […]
July 2 Biotech Update
A tough end to USA soccer in the World Cup but another good morning for biotech stocks. I have some follow up discussion from earlier this week as there is not a ton of new news this morning. I suspect that will be the case as we get closer to the long weekend (but we, […]
July 1 Biotech Update
It was a good morning in the sector with some positive news and momentum, although we seemed to have faded a little. As I have been saying for awhile, I think the sector has a good shot to hit new all-time highs as long as the macro environment does not turn bearish. I do not […]
June 11 Biotech Update
Another relatively slow summer day in the market in terms of trading but the sector seemed to outperform the broader market. Even with that marginal outperformance, I would not read anything new into in that I still believe that the macro is going to drive the next move. That being said I would not be […]
June 10 Biotech Update
Yesterday was a busy day and ended up being a little crazier than I planned but I am not back in the office and ready to think about some biotech. I did not have a chance to check the market yesterday so I am not sure how it traded but it seems like it is […]
June 5 Biotech Update
Basically a mixed day in the sector, which is perhaps to be expected with so many traders focused on the ECB decision. Oddly it seemed that most thought there would be a significant move but the market basically yawned away the decision. The day, of course, is still young so perhaps there are more fireworks […]
June 4 Biotech Update- The Post-ASCO Blue
So another ASCO is in the books and it seems like a fairly bland conference with relatively few significant stock reactions. Over the next couple of days I will sort out both what I saw as the major themes in the data but also the elusive “buzz.” In other words, there are the facts as […]
Biotech Fund Action in the Run Up to ASCO
(This is a guest post by Emory Redd and the disclosures are his at the bottom as well. I also apologize for the table formatting. They actually look much better in word but I cannot figure out how to get them to work in wordpress. I was running out of time to get this out […]
May 30 Quick Biotech Update
I am in the midst of finalizing everything as I get ready to leave for ASCO but I wanted to send out a very quick note on CLVS. I have talked about it as a potential high risk/high reward ASCO play and there was a lot of activity in the calls yesterday (mainly the $65 […]
May 29 Biotech Update
Generally a good day in the market and it is nice to see small caps participating in the rally. All of my previous caveats apply as to where the market may go. I would also note that the sector generally sells off after ASCO. So even if we get a continuation of this positive price […]
May 28 Biotech Update
Of course, there was a storm last night that knocked out the entire internet connection at LSU, so this is going to be later than usual and I have not been able to follow the market at all. I am getting this posted by hook and crook and hope to be back to normal tomorrow. […]
May 15 Biotech Update- The ASCO Deluge Begins
So there is a lot to talk about with the ASCO abstracts and I will divide this up over a couple of days (I am trying to write quickly to get this out so excuse typos and poor grammar for the next couple of days). In general, I think the sense is that these are […]
May 6 Biotech Update- The Slow Week Cotinues
It was another pretty blah day in biotech land. I guess this is making up for all the news we have had the past couple of weeks. As I expected, the biggest news of the days is MRK business update (you can download the slides here) and the early verdict is that they are making […]
April 30 Biotech Update
It is not Tuesday so the selling continues. It seems like the turnaround Tuesdays happen but have no sticking power. At some point that trend will change and that should be an important tell. Whether that happens today or in a couple of months is not clear at this time but as long as the […]
April 29 Biotech Update- A Day of Steady Progress
The rollercoaster continues as we swing up and down in seemingly ever tighter time frames. In some ways, that seems good in that base building is a messy process with fairly rapid swings. I still think the sector needs the macro environment to be at least neutral in order to really set in a base […]
