June 2, 2016 5:20pm

 

… Can it be sustained and what and which catalysts will get us higher from here.

Pre-market indications – 4 hit and 3 miss

Out and about: MESO

 

Do you care what happened today, you should … because it has implications to Friday's sector activity?  

 

 

There are two things that investors need - interpretation of news and translation of related market metrics concerning the stem, cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine sector to substantiate share pricing.

 

 

U.S. stocks traded mildly higher Thursday, with health care stocks leading, as traders awaited the employment report due Friday morning.  Health care traded more than 1% higher to lead the S&P 500, which topped the psychologically key 2,100 level.

The NASDAQ closed UP +19.11 or +0.39% to 4,971.36 and the DOW closed UP +48.89 or +0.27% to 17,838.56.

 

 

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.   

  • Opened positive with an A/DL of 26/13 and 4 flats;
  • The mid-day stayed positive  with an A/DL of 24/17 with 2 flat;
  • The closing bell stayed positive  with A/DL of 24/16 with 3 flat

 

 

Henry’omics:

The SCGT&RM sector opened positive, stayed positive at the mid-day and closed positive.

  • Short sellers may not be rushing to get back in taking down a fragile and depressed sector – it’s better to wait <I have been told>!

Shorting and selling on strength is preferred and some believe if traders and speculators can run this a little more, strength will be stronger to sell into!

  • Selling is more about previous buying binges.

I say this because of valuation concerns in regard to market comparables … because of low cash positions in many small cap companies.

  • The risk is just too great, the sector is cheap yet, investors have a limited interest in buying the dip, but they do have a greater impetus in selling into strength.

 

 

Pre-market indications – 4 hit and 3 miss

  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS) closed DOWN -$0.09 – hit;
  • Bellicum Pharma (BLCM) closed UP +$0.96 – miss;
  • Cesca Therapeutics (KOOL) closed DOWN -$0.09 – hit;
  • Intrexon (XON) closed UP +$0.05 – hit;
  • Kite Pharma (KITE) closed UP +$4.00 – hit;
  • Opexa Therapeutics (OPXA) closed DOWN -$0.06 – miss;
  • Regenxbio (RGNX) closed UP +$0.94 – miss;

 

 

Out and about:

Shares in Mesoblast limited (ASX: MSB and NASDAQ: MESO) are still locked in a trading halt with the company set to announce “material corporate developments with respect to certain assets of the company.

 

 

Today’s Bottom Line:

Everyone's going to be holding their breath for the jobs number tomorrow!

 

 

Review my fear gauge or the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX):

  • Thursday traded 14.1;
  • Wednesday traded near 14.4;
  • Tuesday traded above 14;
  • Monday was a holiday;
  • Friday traded near 13.3;
  • Last, Thursday traded near 13.8;

 

 

Most active sector stocks + and -:

  • Fibrocell (FCSC) -10.53%;
  • ImmunoCellular (NYSEMKT: IMUC) -9.43;
  • Cytori (CYTX) -6.41%;
  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS)-5.63%;
  • Histogenics (HSGX) -5%

Versus …

  • Stemline (STML) +8.40%;
  • Kite Pharma (KITE) +7.86%;
  • Bellicum (BLCM) +7.75%;
  • Regenxbio (RGNX) +7.38%;
  • Brainstorm (BCLI) +6.33%;

 

 

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.