January 28, 2016 5:34pm

 

Issue, CEOs are blaming the market for many of their issues however, the total lack of <company> communication, guidance and commentary about the year to date has generated most of the negativity.  

 

If CEOs don’t step up to the microphone how can they expect to be heard?

 

RegMed Investors’ willingness to provide the facts in evidence gets results that have surfaced reality and veracity.  Subscribe for actionable ideas … http://www.regmedinvestors.com/create-account   or take your losses without complaining!

 

Reiterating, Investors are always asking me, what’s the most difficult call you’ve ever made?  I always say it’s the call I’m making at the moment. But there are many that really touch the nerves of some CEOs … so who are the canary in the coal mine?

As James Baldwin once put it, “the most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”

I say the truth will set you free and some CEOs should put an ear to this door to figure out what is going on or should be!

 

 

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday, as a rise in oil and gains in Facebook outweighed pressure from declines in biotech stocks and concerns about economic growth.  The major averages ended off session highs but recovered from an intraday dip into negative territory.

The mid-day NASDAQ closed UP +38.51 or +0.86% to 4,506.68 and the DOW is also UP +125.18 or +0.79% to 16,069.64.

 

 

A day in the life of the stem, cell and gene therapy RegMed (SCGT & RM) sector – the advance/decline line scenario …

  • Thursday, the stem, cell and gene therapy RegMed sector opened negative with an A/DL of 20/22 and 1 flat while the mid-day was also negative with an A/DL of 14/27 and 2 flats while the closing bell rang with another positive A/DL of 14/27 and 2 flats.

                                                                                                       

 

Henry’omics:

The stem, cell and gene therapy RegMed (SCGT&RM) sector opened negative, stayed negative at the mid-day  and closed negative (of 43 covered companies).

  • As of the close Thursday, IBB was down 22% for January and the year so far, on pace for its worst month ever. Year-to-date, the NASDAQ was off 10% while the S&P 500 was down 7.37%. Health care fell 2.3% as the only S&P decliner Thursday and was the third-worst performer in the index for the year so far.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) closed at 3.66% lower after earlier falling more than 5%.

  • The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology exchange-traded fund (IBB) is market-cap weighted, and therefore heavy on the large caps.

As of Thursday, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) was down more than 20% for the year so far.

  • The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI), on the other hand, gives equal weight to large and small caps alike. It’s fallen nearly 30% so far this month alone -- about seven percentage points more that the market-cap weighted ETF.

The problems in “our’ universe are NOT temporary and will not be fixed easily!

 

 

My fear gauge or the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market traded

·         Thursday closed near 22.5;

·         Wednesday traded near 23;

·         Tuesday traded near 22.5

·         Monday traded near 24;

 

 

Dosing the sector – what a day for the 43 Patients:

  • The market opened: NEGATIVE with 22 decliners, 20 advancers and 1 flat;
  • The mid-day (12:30 pm:  NEGATIVE with 30 decliners, 11 advancers and 2 flat;
  • Closing bell: NEGATIVE with 27 decliners, 14 advancers and 2 flats

 

 

Thursday’s indications – 3 hits and 4 miss:

  • Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC) closed DOWN -$0.51 – miss;
  • bluebird bio (BLUE) closed DOWN -$2.87 – miss;
  •  Fate Therapeutics (FATE) closed UP – hit;
  • Intrexon (XON) closed UP – hit;
  • Kite Pharma (KITE) closed DOWN – hit;
  • Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) closed DOWN – miss;
  • Verastem (VSTM) closed DOWN – miss;

 

 

Riding the indexes and ETFs roller-coaster:

  • The iShares Biotechnology Stocks ETF (IBB) closed DOWN on Thursday -9.93 or -3.66% after Wednesday’s -8.68 or -3.08% after Tuesday’s decline of -1.12 or -0.40% following Monday’s decline of -4.82 or 1.67%;
  • The NASDAQ Biotechnology index (NBI) closed DOWN on Thursday -100.32 or -3.51% after Wednesday’s -93.67 or -3.17% after Tuesday’s -12.78 or -0.43% following Monday’s -49.67 or -1.65%;
  • The Russell 2000 (IWM) closed DOWN on Thursday -0.02 or -0.02% after Wednesday‘s -1.39 or -1.37% after Tuesday’s advance of  +1.99 or +2% following Monday’s decline of -2.255 or -2.22%;
  • The SPDR SD&P Biotech ETF (XBI) closed DOWN on Thursday -1.94 or -3.76% after Wednesday’s -2.48 or -4.58% after Tuesday’s -0.38 or 0.70% following Monday’s decline of -0.82 or -1.48%

 

 

Who was DOWN – low 5?

  • Kite Pharma (KITE) -$3.64 to $44.85;
  • Bluebird bio (BLUE) -$2.87 to $39.66;
  • Juno Therapeutics (JUNO) -$2.14 to $27.17;
  • Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) -$1.99 to $25.58;
  • Aduro Biotech (ADRO) -$1.27 to $15.15

 

 

Who was UP?

  • Intrexon (XON) +$2.63 to $29.00;
  • VistaGen (VSTA) +$0.50 to $8.50;
  • Capricor (CAPR) +$0.19 to $2.52;
  • uniQure (QURE) +$0.17 to $18.21;
  • Brainstorm (BCLI) +$0.16 to $2.43

 

 

Who was FLAT?

  • ReNeuron (RENE.L) at $2.875;
  • Vericel (VCEL) at$2.11

 

 

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.