May 16, 2019 8:17am

Prepare for some slimming of share pricing

Pre-open indications: 3 BUYs and 3 SELLs

If you think you understand perception, think again and then again. Liquidity remains a cause for concern!

 

Framing the headlines … perception which becomes reality!

 

Dow futures are UP +0.31% (+79 points), S&P futures are UP +0.33% (+10 points) and NASDAQ futures are UP +0.27% (+21 points)

 

Futures point to higher open as focus remains on US-China trade tensions

  • Trade tensions continue to weigh on investor sentiment. Trump plans to postpone auto tariffs by up to six months as the White House faces a Saturday deadline to decide whether to slap duties on car and auto part imports over national security concerns <CNBC>.

Data docket: housing starts, weekly jobless figures, and a Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook at 8:30 a.m. ET.

European markets traded lower after CNBC revealed that the U.S. plans to delay auto tariffs on EU imports by up to six months.

Asian Pacific markets were mixed;

  • On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the addition of Huawei Technologies and its affiliates to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, making it more difficult for the Chinese telecom giant to conduct business with U.S. companies;

 

Henry’omics:

Key words today: watch your 'six"!

Dow futures pointed to a gain of more than 100 points at the open, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes were also higher.

From Wednesday’s closing bell post, “sector is on the rise yet breath still espouses caution. The question remains how long to hold (?) when profit appears; in that I don’t trust this market’s upside.”

  • Wednesday’s range of the 29 upside was +0.04% (AXGN) to +12.28% (BTX) while the 14 downside ranged from -0.14% (RARE) to -8.229% (AGTC);
  • Tuesday’s range of the 30 upside was +0.50% (IONS) to +17.05% (VSTM) while the 13 downside ranged from -0.17% (BLCM) to -34.35% (SLDB);
  • Monday’s range of the 4 upside was +2.94% (AGTC) to +4% (CUR +$0.0165) while the 39 downside ranged from -0.10% (HSGX) to -6.55% (BLUE);

Q2/19 so far:

  • In May, there were 6 negative and 5 positive closes;
  • In April, there has been 10 positive and 11 negative closes;

In two (2) sessions, the IBB was up +2.02% - watch for the “downers” or the “perceived” overbought.

 

Companies in my headlights – It’s your decision; I provide an idea and context: post earnings release:

Aduro Biotech (ADRO) closed down -$0.01 to $3.28 after Tuesday’s $3.29, Monday’s $2.98 and last Friday’s $3.20. ADRO has a negative -$0.47 or -14.33% aftermarket indication – SELL;

Biostage (BSTG) closed up +$0.18 to $ after Tuesday’s down -$0.10. Who is buying this cash bankrupt company – fraud is deception and this CEO and CFO have the practice down pat. Just wait the evolving “story” is yet to be totally outed! Many questions surround unpaid quarterly liabilities to manipulate their reporting of their cash position, runway and lack of regulatory standing.  How many excuses does this CEO have left after too many BAD decisions affected past stake and shareholder’s equity? – Maintaining SELL;

Solid Biosciences (SLDB) closed down again -$0.41 to $5.91 after Tuesday’s -$2.43 to $6.32 and Monday’s -$0.33 to $8.85 and a negative -$0.13 or -2.20% aftermarket indication. New set of safety issues after reporting dismal responses from a small cohort of patients receiving its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy – Maintaining SELL;

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) closed up +$0.19 to $66.74 after Monday’s -$2.73 to $66.56 and Friday’s -$1.92 and exceeding “street” expectation – Maintaining BUY;

ReNeuron (RENE.L) closed up +$18.00 to 290.00 after Tuesday’s +$7.00 to $272.00, Monday’s -$5.00 to $265.00 following Friday’s -$6.00 at $270.00. RENE.L has a time differential trading of +$17.00 – BUY;

Verastem Oncology (VSTM) closed up +$0.04 to $1.54 and has a positive +$0.03 or +1.95% aftermarket indication. VSTM announced a poster highlighting dose modification data from the P3 DUO study evaluating COPIKTRA (duvelisib) in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) after at least two prior therapies. The poster, entitled “Effect of dose modifications on response to duvelisib in patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) CLL/SLL in the DUO trial,” will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2019 Annual Meeting, taking place May 31 – June 4, 2019, in Chicago. COPIKTRA, an oral inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), and the first approved dual inhibitor of PI3K-delta and PI3K-gamma, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this same indication in September 2018 – BUY;

 

 

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice.

Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.