July 9, 2020 7:07pm

Another I told you so … from this a.m.’s post, “new and newer highs always tell me to say bye.”

Pre-open indications: 8 HITs and 0 MISS

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The Dow closed DOWN – 361.19 points (-1.39%), the S&P closed DOWN -17.89 points (-0.56%) while the NASDAQ closed UP +55.25 points (+0.53%)

 

Pre-open indication results: 8 HITs < Sell into Strength, Toxic Sell Biostage (BSTG +$0.02), Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM -0.41); BioLife Solutions (BLFS -$0.05), CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP -$0.41), Editas Medicine (EDIT +$0.02), Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT +$1.11), Pluristem (PSTI -$0.09)  - SELL - Regenxbio (RGNX -$0.40) > and 0 MISS

 

Henry’omics:

Indexes abruptly turned negative (except the Nasdaq) Thursday as fears over the economic outlook following an increase in coronavirus cases resurged.

The Dow and S&P 500 wiped out their week to date gains.

Pent-up demand and the return of millions of workers to their jobs in May and early June gave a big jolt of adrenaline to the economy, but a renewed rise in coronavirus cases in some states may have robbed the recovery of its momentum.

Many U.S. companies might have to close for good and some are deciding they won’t bring back all their workers because the demand simply isn’t there.

The coronavirus situation worsened further in some parts of the US based on new data Thursday. Florida reported a record 120 deaths among residents over a one-day period. In the US, confirmed cases topped three million to comprise more than 25% of the global total. California reported its largest one-day jump in new cases yet at 11,694 as of Wednesday. <Yahoo>

“Adding to the bearish sentiment Thursday was a Supreme Court ruling saying the Manhattan district attorney can look at President Donald Trump’s tax records as part of an investigation.” <CNBC>

 

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

  • Thursday opened positive at 18/14 and 3 flats, dropped precipitously negative at 10:18 a.m. to 7/27 and 2 flats, was negative at the mid-day at 10/24 and 1 flat, closing negative at 10/24 and 1 flat;
  • Wednesday opened positive at 22/11 and 2 flats, stayed positive at the mid-day at 24/10 and 1 flat, closing positive at 28/5 and 2 flats;
  • Tuesday opened positive at 16/15 and 4 flats, stayed positive at the mid-day at 23/9 and 3 flats, closing positive at 18/12 and 5 flats;
  • Monday opened positive at 21/11 and 3 flats, stayed positive at the mid-day at 22/12 and 1 flat, closing positive at 19/15 and 1 flats;

 

Key metrics:

  • Sector volume was LOW with 5 of the 10-upside having higher than the 3-month average volume and 1 out of the 24-downside having higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Thursday’s percentage (%) of the 10-upside were +0.80% (BSTG) to +3.57% (ATHX) while the 24-downside ranged from -0.16% (CRSP) to -5.66% (CLBS); 

 

Hammered in today’s market:

  • Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Fate Therapeutics (FATE), Regenxbio (RGNX) and Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) to name 5 of the 24 declining of the 35 covered

Jumping with share pricing momentum:

  • ReNeuron (RENE.L), Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), uniQure NV (QURE), Brainstorm Cell therapeutics (BCLI) and Vericel (VCEL) to name 5 of the 10 trading up of 35 covered

 

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

  • Thursday, the IBB closed down -0.17% and XBI also closed down -0.57%
  • Wednesday, the IBB closed up +0.54% and XBI also closed up +1.50%
  • Tuesday, the IBB closed up +0.44% and XBI also closed up +1.88%
  • Monday, the IBB closed up +0.65% and XBI also closed up +0.03%

 

Thursday’s (10 of 10) incliners:

  • ReNeuron (RENE.L +$2.50 after Wednesday’s-$2.50);
  • Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT +$1.11 after Wednesday’s +$1.45, Tuesday’s -$0.64 and Monday’s -$0.29);
  • uniQure NV (QURE (+$1.06 after Wednesday’s +$1.08, Tuesday’s +$0.93 and Monday’s -$0.73);
  • Vericel (VCEL +$0.38 after announcing preliminary financial results for the quarter ended 6/30/20, and provided business updates);
  • Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (BCLI +$0.34 announced their P2a trial (BCT-201-EU) is expected to enroll approximately 40 patients with prodromal to mild AD. It will be taking place at medical centers in France and the Netherlands);
  • Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO +$0.32);
  • Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC +$0.13);
  • Athersys (ATHX +$0.10);
  • Mesoblast (MESO +$0.15);
  • Biostage (BSTG +$0.02 with 1,330 shares traded);

Thursday’s (bottom 10 of 24) decliners:

  • Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE -$2.05 after Wednesday’s +$2.12, Tuesday’s +$1.13 and Monday’s +$0.71);
  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY -$1.39);
  • Fate Therapeutics (FATE -$1.36 after announced today that the U.S. (FDA has cleared their Investigational New Drug (IND) application for FT819, an off-the-shelf allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19+ malignancies.
  • Regenxbio (RGNX -$0.55 after Wednesday’s +$1.20, Tuesday’s +$1.50 and Monday’s -$1.89);
  • Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM -$0.51 after Wednesday’s +$1.16);
  • Intellia therapeutics (NTLA -$0.36);
  • Voyager Pharmaceuticals (VYGR -$0.33);
  • AxoGen AXGN -$0.30);
  • Sage Therapeutics (SAGE -$0.290;
  • Cellectis SA (CLLS -$0.26 after Wednesday’s +$1.33, Tuesday’s -$2.73 and Monday’s +$0.40);

Closing flat: 1 - Stemline Therapeutics (STML – being acquired)

 

Percentage (%) movement/range statistics: look closely … notice percentage (%) movements are declining

  • Thursday’s percentage (%) of the 10-upside were +0.80% (BSTG) to +3.57% (ATHX) while the 24-downside ranged from -0.16% (CRSP) to -5.66% (CLBS); 
  • Wednesday’s percentage (%) of the 28-upside were +0.26% (ALNY) to +8.15% (CLLS) while the 5-downside ranged from -0.40% (BSTG) to -6.09% (FIXX); 
  • Tuesday’s percentage (%) of the 18-upside were +0.03% (GBT) to +10.93% (BLUE) while the 12-downside ranged from -0.33% (BLFS) to -15.83% (CLLS); 
  • Monday’s percentage (%) of the 19-upside were +0.13% (FIXX) to +9.14% (MESO) while the 15-downside ranged from -0.02% (IONS) to -8.09% (AGTC); 

 

Sentiment and a few daily indicators - cases:

The number of initial jobless claims fell by almost 100,000 in early July to a four-month low 1.31 million, but the pace of layoffs is still quite high and appears to be bogging down an economy recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Initial jobless claims, a rough gauge of layoffs, dropped to 1.31 million in the seven days ended July 4 from a revised 1.41 million in the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. <MarketWatch>

If all eight state and federal assistance programs are included, continuing claims totaled an unadjusted 32.9 million in the seven days ended June 20, the most recent data available. That marks an increase from 31.5 million in the prior week.

  • Thursday 3.05 million cases
  • Wednesday 3 million cases
  • Tuesday 2.93 million cases
  • Monday 2.89 million cases

Thursday’s death rate totaled 132,309 after Wednesday’s 131,594, Tuesday’s 130,306 and Monday’s 130,007 <Johns Hopkins University>

 

Upside volume stats: 

  • Thursday: 5 out of the 10-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Wednesday: 7 out of the 28-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Tuesday: 7 out of the 18-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Monday: 4 out of the 19-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;

The CBOE Volatility Index (VVIX: INDEX) tracked:

  • Thursday was up +1.18 points or +4.20% at 29.26;
  • Wednesday was down -1.35 points or -4.59% at 28.08;
  • Tuesday was up +1.49 points or +5.33% at 29.43;
  • Monday was up +0.26 points or +0.94% at 27.94;

Downside volume stats:

  • Thursday: 1 out of the 24-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Wednesday: 1 out of the 5-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Tuesday: 2 out of the 12-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Monday: 3 out of the 15-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;

 

July

Thursday closed negative with 10 advancers, 24 decliners and 1 flat

Wednesday closed positive with 28 advancers, 5 decliners and 2 flats

Tuesday closed positive with 18 advancers, 12 decliners and 5 flats

Monday closed positive with 19 advancers, 15 decliners and 1 flat

Friday was a market holiday;

Thursday closed positive with 18 advancers, 14 decliners and 3 flats

Wednesday (7/1) closed positive with 24 advancers, 7 decliners and 4 flats

 

The Bottom line:  It was time for a decline ... as I stated last night, “Volatility is king while volume is on the low side.”

It was proved today, “the trend is NOT your friend and sooner NOT later the electronic algorithmic trading machines are going to CUT into the upsides!”

I’m always a worrier yet, by systematically realizing profits adds to the POWER and cash position for re-invest in your portfolio!

 

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.