June 18, 2020 6:47pm

Friday’s quadruple witching period could further a continuing jerky market path including the rebalancing of Russell indexes which concludes on June 26

News: Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE) and Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4151), a global specialty pharmaceutical company announced the U.S. FDA has approved Crysvita® (burosumab) a human antibody that blocks excess activity of FGF23, a hormone that causes phosphate urinary excretion and suppresses active vitamin D production by the kidney.

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The Dow closed DOWN -88.74 points (-0.34%), the S&P closed UP +1.85 points (+0.06%) while the NASDAQ closed UP +32.52 points (+0.33%)

 

Henry’omics:

The Dow fell for a second straight day, the S&P closed barely up and the NASDAQ ended in positive territory on Thursday as investors counted the rising number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. alongside disappointing unemployment data.

Initial U.S. weekly jobless claims rose more than expected last week, coming in at 1.508 million after an expected forecast of 1.3 million.

The major averages head into Friday’s session with solid weekly gains.

The Dow was up 1.9% through Thursday’s close for the week while the S&P 500 has gained 2.4% in that time period. The Nasdaq has jumped more than 3% week to date. <CNBC>

 

RegMed/Cell and Gene therapy 35 covered equities’ Advance/Decline (A/D) lines: progressions and regressions …

  • Thursday opened positive at 19/15 and 1 flat, continued positive at the mid-day at 18/15 and 2 flats closing positive at 20/13 and 2 flats;
  • Wednesday opened positive at 24/9 and 3 flats, was negative at the mid-day at 15/18 and 2 flats, closing negative at 13/21 and 1 flat;
  • Tuesday opened negative at 28/5 and 2 flats, strayed positive at the mid-day at 29/5 and 1 flat, closing positive at 23/8 and 4 flats;
  • Monday opened negative at 13/21 and 1 flat, strayed positive at the mid-day at 25/9 and 1 flat, closing positive at 28/5 and 2 flats;

 

Key metrics:

  • Sector volume continued LOW with 4 out of the 20-upside having higher than the 3-month average volume and 3 out of the 13-downside having higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Thursday’s percentage (%) of the 20-upside were +0.27% (VCEL) to +17.52% (MDXG) while the 13-downside ranged from -0.16% (RGNX) to -13.18% (SGMO); 

 

Hammered in today’s market:

  • ReNeuron (RENE.L), Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO), Cellectis SA (CLLS), Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), bluebird bio (BLUE), to name a few the 13 slipping of the 35 covered

Jumping with pricing momentum:

  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Editas Medicine (EDIT), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), Fate therapeutics (FATE) and MiMedx (Pink sheets: MDXG) to name a few of the 20 trading up of 35 covered

 

The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) and the SPDR S&P ETF (XBI) indicators:

  • Thursday, the IBB closed up +0.50% and XBI also closed up +1.07%
  • Wednesday, the IBB closed +0.37% and XBI also closed up +0.08%
  • Tuesday, the IBB closed +1.83% and XBI also closed up +1.54%
  • Monday, the IBB closed +1.99% and XBI also closed up +2.82%

 

Thursday’s (top 10 of 20) incliners:

  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY +$5.32 after Wednesday’s +$4.41, Tuesday’s +$3.88 and Monday’s +$2.99)
  • Editas Medicine (EDIT +$2.56 after Wednesday’s -$0.99, Tuesday’s +$1.94 and Monday’s +$1.95);
  • Sage Therapeutics (SAGE +$2.03);
  • Fate Therapeutics (FATE +$1.45 after Wednesday’s +$0.17, Tuesday’s -$0.33 and Monday’s +$1.16);
  • CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP +$1.01);
  • Ultragenyx (RARE +$0.99 after Wednesday’s +$0.69 and Tuesday’s +$1.59);
  • MiMedx (Pink sheets: MDXG +$0.82 after Wednesday’s +$1.15 and Tuesday’s -$0.12);
  • uniQure NV (QURE +$0.63 after Wednesday’s +$0.98, Tuesday’s -$0.17 and Monday’s +$2.12);
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS +$0.54 after Wednesday’s +$0.65 after Tuesday’s -$0.21 and Monday’s -$1.16);

Thursday’s (bottom 10 of 13) decliners:

  • ReNeuron (RENE.L -$6.50 after Wednesday’s +$3.00, Tuesday’s +$11.00 and Monday’s -$5.00)
  • Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO -$1.43 after Wednesday’s -$0.50);
  • Cellectis SA (CLLS -$0.59);
  • bluebird bio (BLUE -$0.37 after Wednesday’s +$1.36, Tuesday’s -$0.44 and Monday’s -$0.39);
  • Mesoblast (MESO -$0.19 after Wednesday’s +$0.83);
  • AxoGen (AXGN -$0.13);
  • Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA -$0.08 after Wednesday’s -$0.30);
  • Athersys (ATHX -$0.07);
  • Solid Biosciences (SLDB -$0.07);

Closing flat: 2 – Biostage (BSTG) and Stemline Therapeutics (STML – acquired)

 

Percentage (%) movement/range statistics: look closely …

  • Thursday’s percentage (%) of the 20-upside were +0.27% (VCEL) to +17.52% (MDXG) while the 13-downside ranged from -0.16% (RGNX) to -13.18% (SGMO); 
  • Wednesday’s percentage (%) of the 13-upside were +0.09% (CRSP) to +32.58% (Pink sheets: MDXG) while the 21-downside ranged from -0.34% (SAGE) to -10.02% (PGEN); 
  • Tuesday’s percentage (%) of the 23-upside were +0.46% (AXGN) to +8.80% (RENE.L) while the 8-downside ranged from -0.20% (VCEL) to -5.31% (ATHX); 
  • Monday’s percentage (%) of the 28-upside were +0.67% (SLDB) to +17.36% (BCLI) while the 5-downside ranged from -0.09% (SGMO) to -3.85% (RENE.L); 

 

Sentiment and a few daily indicators:

As businesses and borders slowly reopen, global economies continue to feel the effects of coronavirus shutdowns.

  • Another 1.5 million Americans filed for initial unemployment benefits last week, according to data released Thursday, notching the 13th consecutive week above 1 million claims.

The number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases: every day I get sadder as I post these numbers …

  • Thursday 2.16 million
  • Wednesday 2.14 million
  • Tuesday 2.11 million
  • Monday 2.09 million

Thursday’s death rate escalated to a total of 117,717 after Wednesday’s 117,129, Tuesday’s 116,341 and Monday’s 115,732 <Johns Hopkins University>

 

Upside volume stats: 

  • Thursday: 4 out of the 20-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Wednesday: 3 out of the 13-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Tuesday: 6 out of the 23-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Monday: 7 out of the 28-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;

The CBOE Volatility Index (VVIX: INDEX) tracked:

  • Thursday was down -0.53 points or -1.58% at 32.94;
  • Wednesday was down -0.20 points or -0.59% at 33.47;
  • Tuesday was down -0.73 points or -2.12% at 33.67;
  • Monday was down -1.69 points or -4.68% at 34.40;

Downside volume stats:

  • Thursday: 3 out of the 13-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Wednesday: 4 out of the 21-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Tuesday: 1 out of the 8-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Monday: 1 out of the 5-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;

 

June

Thursday closed positive with 20 advancers, 13 decliners and 2 flats

Wednesday closed negative with 13 advancers, 21 decliners and 1 flat

Tuesday closed positive with 23 advancers, 8 decliners and 4 flats

Monday (6/15) closed positive with 28 advancers, 5 decliners and 2 flats

Friday closed positive with 25 advancers, 8 decliners and 2 flats

Thursday closed negative with 2 advancers, 31 decliners and 2 flats

Wednesday closed negative with 15 advancers, 17 decliners and 3 flats

Tuesday closed negative with 14 advancers, 19 decliners and 2 flats

Monday (6/8) closed positive with 22 advancers, 9 decliners and 4 flats

Friday closed negative with 16 advancers, 19 decliners and 0 flat

Thursday closed negative with 5 advancers, 30 decliners and 0 flat

Wednesday closed negative with 9 advancers, 25 decliners and 1 flat

Tuesday closed positive with 21 advancers, 13 decliners and 1 flat

Monday (6/1) positive with 23 advancers,10 decliners and 2 flats

 

The Bottom line:  Quadruple witching, a pandemic, a recession, and a stock market that is … poking around for to add some reasoning to this modulating recovery from the impact of the Wuhan, China based coronavirus or COVID-19.

  • Quadruple witching, occurs this Friday and refers to the simultaneous expiration of single-stock options, single-stock futures, and stock-index options and stock-futures.

These factors have made the market and sector volatile today and coming Fridays!

 

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.