December 2, 2015 6:28am
Short-term trading inhibits investor’s near and long-term decisions
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Critical information ahead of the “our” universe’s open!
DOW futures are UP +0.01 and NASDAQ futures are UP +0.02%
U.S. stock futures inched higher early Wednesday, helped by Yahoo Inc.’s jump as investors waited for fresh signals from the Federal Reserve
European stock markets are sent higher, on track for highest close since August, after disappointing eurozone inflation data build the pressure on the European Central Bank to launch more stimulus
Asian shares rise on hopes for stimulus as the yuan holds steady. The rally comes after manufacturing gauges signal continued slowdown in China’s factory activity, lifting hopes for easier monetary policies.
Data docket: The Fed’s Beige Book survey is due at 2 p.m. A reading on U.S. private-sector employment is expected at 8:15 a.m. ET, followed by a report on productivity and costs at 8:30 a.m. Other Fed signals due Wednesday include a speech by Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart at 8:10 a.m. ET in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as well as remarks by Fed. Gov. Daniel Tarullo at 9 a.m. at an event in Arlington, Va.
- Fed chief Janet Yellen is due to speak twice on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., giving opening remarks at an event for college students at 8:30 a.m. ET and then talking about the economic outlook at 12:25 p.m. ET.
The RegMed sector closed NEGATIVE on Tuesday and Monday following POSITIVE closes on Friday, Thursday (Holiday) and last Wednesday.
Tuesday closed NEGATIVE with 26 decliners, 15 advancers and 2 flats following Monday’s NEGATIVE close with 24 decliners, 15 advancers and 4 flats.
The question for the stem, cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine (SCGT&RM) sector - what about expectations?
- Pricing appears to be headed lower or a best sideways as I look to years-end and notice that expectations are notably weakening.
I suspect that “our’ universe is NOT finished with over-reactions caused by volatility, duress or continued fluctuations!
Wednesday’s indications:
- bluebird bio (BLUE) has been feeling the pain; having closed down on Tuesday -$8.41 with 3 m shares traded<following Monday’s -$3.85> to $80.34 with 1.194 M share traded <3 month average = 1.35 M shares>. Tuesday aftermarket reflects an upside of +$0.42 – Oversold -BUY;
- Capricor (CAPR) closed down again on Tuesday -$0.32 with 41 K shares traded following Monday’s -$0.12 to $3.90 with 41 K shares traded <3 month = 20.7 K shares>after being down -$0.16 on Friday. With a financing on the horizon, CAPR needs to show greater price sustainability since being down since March. The CEO has a lot to answer for starting with accepting payments from the institution they support research <also her husband> and why is the Chairman being paid $10 K a month to “oversee” the operations – Maintaining SELL;
- Harvard Apparatus RT (HART) closed down on Tuesday -$0.33 to $2.90 with 3.95 M shares traded after being up on Monday+$1.05 to $3.25 with 18.5 M shares traded <3 month =910.2 K shares>. Short-term volatility, volume and price appreciation period sets off alarms about the context of its appreciation origination. Day traders and speculators desert the ship on any weakness while the company should have gone after sold fund candidates who tend to stay if … management preserves relationships –Maintaining SELL;
- Juno Therapeutics (JUNO)closed down -$0.82 to $55.57 on Tuesday with 896 K shares traded after closing up on Monday+$0.06 with 937 K shares traded. The aftermarket indication is positive at +$1.67. JUNO will present data from its product candidates and process development activities with six oral and poster presentations at the upcoming 57th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. The first of two oral presentations will report updated data from the ongoing trial of JCAR014 in adults with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This translational clinical research trial focuses on how optimization of the pharmacokinetics or exposure of JCAR014 relates to clinical outcomes. The second presentation will discuss the implications of prior allogeneic stem cell transplant and achievement of minimal residual disease negative complete remission in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with JCAR015. Additionally, initial data from the anti-CD22 chimeric-antigen receptor (CAR) product candidate in pediatric and young adult relapsed or refractory ALL will be highlighted in one of four poster presentations. Oversold - BUY;
- Kite Pharma (KITE) closed down -$6.32 to $76.05 with 1.826 M shares traded on Tuesday and -$4.06 on Monday with 1 M shares traded <3 month =865.1 K shares>. KITE plans to complete construction of a new facility in its home state of California by the end of next year and has shortened the production process time from 12 days to as few as 6 days, lowering the cost by more than half. With pricing pressure on drug makers mounting in the U.S., keeping manufacturing costs down is the key to keeping the treatments both profitable and affordable. Oversold – Maintaining BUY;
- Northwest Bio (NWBO) closed up +$0.28 to $4.90; that I am amazed that the share price appreciated as no answers have been rendered by the newly designated but not invested director. Maintaining SELL;
- uniQure (QURE) closed up +$1.02 on Tuesday with 646.1 K shares traded following Monday’s decline of -$3.72 to $18.78 with 1.549 M share traded <3 month average =360 K shares>. Financial results were released Monday - the net loss for Q3/15 was € 25.8 M, or € 1.08 per share, compared with € 9.1 million, or € 0.51 per share, for Q3/14. A consortium consisting of Institute Pasteur, INSERM, the French Muscular Dystrophy Association and Vaincre les Maladies Lysosomales, have clinically demonstrated proof-of-concept for safely treating a severe lysosomal storage disease, Sanfilippo B, with a gene therapy construct developed by QURE. The study has shown encouraging signals of clinical benefit. By the second week of January 2016, QURE hopes to announce preliminary top-line results in its Hemophilia B trial. On August 10, 2015, uniQure announced the receipt of an additional $53 M from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) in accordance with the companies' collaboration agreement. Included in the total was a $15 M target designation fee triggered by BMY’s selection of three new collaboration targets, in addition to S100A1 <antibody> for congestive heart failure. BMY also acquired an additional 1.3 M ordinary shares of uniQure priced at $29.67 per share, providing aggregate net proceeds of approximately $38 M. Gains/losses were a loss of €1.6 M for Q3, compared to a gain of €3.6 M for Q3/14. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, other gains/losses were a loss of €2.5 M compared with a gain of €3.7 M in the same period of 2014. The loss was primarily attributable to the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on the Company's dollar-denominated deposits and the periodic revaluation of outstanding warrants. Maintaining 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.
Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.
