March 24, 2016 5:19pm
I think right now we're in the “pull and push” mode. There's a lot of profit-taking, end-of-month and end-of-quarter trading!
Ranking Thursday’s end-of-day pre-open trading indications – 2 hits and 2 misses – always be aware of commentary that is “early”.
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There is one thing that everyone needs, and that's interpretation and translation of intelligence, not just news or information - we get too much!
- To that end, I report a matrix of variables designed for investor’s consideration concerning the stem, cell and gene therapy regenerative medicine portfolio to track and monitor its pricing metric;
The takeaway is that investor need to decide what actions to take, or not take, based on their specific situation.
U.S. stocks ended off session lows Thursday, the final trading day of the holiday-shortened week, as oil prices recovered from session lows and the U.S. dollar index gave back some gains
The NASDAQ closed UP +4.64 or +0.10% to 4,773.50 and the DOW closed UP +13.14 or +0.08% to 17,515.73.
A day in the life of the stem, cell and gene therapy RegMed (SCGT & RM) sector – the advance/decline line scenario of our 43 covered companies.
- Thursday, the stem, cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine sector opened negative with an A/DL of 10/31 and 2 flats;
- The 10:30 am mark reset the session positive with an A/DL of 31/10 and 2 flats;
- The mid-day stayed barely positive with an A/DL of 22/21 and 0 flat;
- The closing bell rang POSITIVE with A/DL of 23/18 and 2 flats
Earnings update:
Regenerative Medicine Earnings Scorecard - Q4/2015 - to date … http://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/8876
- StemCells (STEM) added
Henry’omics:
The stem, cell and gene therapy regenerative medicine (SCGT&RM) sector opened negative, swung positive at 10:30 am, stayed positive at the mid-day and closed … positive (of 43 covered companies).
- The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) reclaimed some of its earlier gains to close up nearly .47%.
Biotech stocks have been absolutely beaten up over the past eight months, even the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NASDAQ: IBB) is down over 20% year to date.
- The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded near 15 increasing from yesterday’s below 15.
To understand why “our’ universe will contract and take certain companies down, one must understand and accept why P1, P2 and P3 trials cannot be the litmus test of share price appreciation – they are still subject to enrollment issues and ultimately data read-outs that don’t meet current standards.
- Briefly, these are the two extremely powerful reasons why we will have slow growth!
I have declared that depreciation will take over the appreciation upside as it’s a trading market and not sustainable to investors.
My pet-peeve:
- High-frequency trading accounted for 49% of March's daily trading volume of about 8.05 billion shares, according <TABB Group>. During the peak levels of high-frequency trading in 2009, about 61% of 9.8 billion of average daily shares traded were executed by high-frequency traders.
Thursday’s handicapping the sector pre-open indications – 2 hits and 2 miss:
- Capricor (CAPR) closed DOWN -$0.24 – hit;
- Osiris (OSIR) closed UP +$0.03 – miss;
- Verastem (VSTM) closed UP +$0.04 – hit;
- Vericel (VCEL) closed UP +$0.82 – miss;
Dosing the sector – what a day for the 43 Patients:
- The market opened: NEGATIVE with 31 decliners, 10 advancers and 2 flats;
- The mid-day (12:30 pm: POSITIVE with 21` decliners, 22 advancers and 0 flat;
- Closing bell: POSITIVE with 18 decliners, 23 advancers and 2 flats
Review my fear gauge or the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) which is scary:
- Thursday traded near 15.5;
- Wednesday traded below 15;
- Tuesday traded above 14;
- Monday traded near 14;
- Friday above 14;
- Last, Thursday traded below 14;
Riding the indexes and ETFs roller-coaster:
The iShares Biotechnology Stocks ETF (IBB) closed UP on Thursday +1.19 or +0.47%
- Wednesday -8.84 or -3.36%
- Tuesday +6.61 or +2.58%
- Monday +5.15 or +2.05%
- Friday +4.25 or +1.72%
- Last, Thursday -3.11 or -1.24%
The NASDAQ Biotechnology index (NBI) closed UP on Thursday +14.65 or +0.55%
- Wednesday -93.34 or -3.39%
- Tuesday +69.98 or +2.61%
- Monday +50.02 or +1.90%
- Friday +46.39 or +1.80%
- Last, Thursday -31.69 or -1.21%
The Russell 2000 (IWM) closed UP on Thursday +0.32 or +0.30%
- Wednesday -2.01 or -1.85%
- Tuesday -0.13 or -0.12%
- Monday -0.26 or -0.24%
- Friday +0.98 or +0.90%
- Last, Thursday +1.64 or +1.53%
The SPDR SD&P Biotech ETF (XBI) closed UP on Thursday +0.18 or +0.36%
- Wednesday -2.61 or -4.97%
- Tuesday +1.66 or +3.27%
- Monday +1.18 or +2.38
- Friday was up;
- Last, Thursday +0.16 or +0.33%
Who was leading the declines – to of the bottom 5?
- bluebird bio (BLUE) closed down -$1.57 to $39.39;
- Regenxbio (RGNX) -$1.07 to $9.85;
- Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) -$0.45 to $32.43;
- Aduro Biotech (ADRO) -$0.35 to $12.12;
- Capricor (CAPR) -$0.24 to $2.71;
Who was UP – top 5:
- Vericel (VCEL) closed up +0.82 to $6.08;
- Intrexon (XON) +$0.48 to $35.94;
- Bellicum (BLCM) +$0.31 to $8.07;
- AxoGen (AXGN) +$0.14 to $5.44;
- Avalanche Biotech (AAVL) closed up +40.13 to $5.09
Who was FLAT?
- International Stem Cell (ISCO) at $3.75;
- ReNeuron (RENE.L) at $3.375;
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.
