June 3, 2016 4:54pm

 

… It’s tough to get optimistic; expectations for the summer are weak as interest wains

Pre-market indications – 4 hit and 0 miss

Out and about: MESO

 

Do you care what happened today, you should … because it has implications to Monday'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 closed slightly lower Friday, as gains in utilities offset declines in financials after a sharp miss on the May jobs report.

The major averages came well off session lows to close slightly lower on the day and narrowly mixed for the week. The Dow closed about 31 points lower after earlier falling 148 points while the NASDAQ composite closed down 28.85 points.

The NASDAQ closed DOWN -28.85 or -0.58% to 4,942.52 and the DOW closed DOWN -31.50 or -0.18% to 17,807.06.

 

 

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 negative with an A/DL of 14/26 and 3 flats – the opposite of yesterday;

 

  • The mid-day stayed negative  with an A/DL of 15/28 with 0 flat;

 

  • The closing bell stayed negative  with A/DL of 16/26 with 1 flat

 

 

Henry’omics:

The SCGT&RM sector opened negative, stayed negative at the mid-day and closed negative – the opposite of yesterday, Thursday.

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

 

 

My pet peeve:

High-frequency trading accounted for 49% of June's daily trading volume of about 6.52 billion shares <according to 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.

 

 

Pre-market indications – 4 hit and 0 miss

  • Biostage (BSTG) closed DOWN -$0.01 – hit;
  • Bellicum Pharma (BLCM) closed DOWN -$0.33 – hit;
  • Cesca Therapeutics (KOOL) closed DOWN -$0.04 – hit;
  • Regenxbio (RGNX) closed DOWN -$0.78 – hit;

 

 

Out and about:

Mesoblast limited (ASX: MSB and NASDAQ: MESO) is 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:

Stocks are pieces of paper that bounce around; ownership gets devalued and then is availability to be bought at a further discount. The issue of investing is figure out what an entity is worth and when it is worth it.

 

 

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

  • Friday traded at 13.4;
  • Thursday traded 14.1;
  • Wednesday traded near 14.4;
  • Tuesday traded above 14;
  • Monday was a holiday;
  • Last, Friday traded near 13.3;

 

 

Most active sector stocks + and -:

  • StemCells (STEM) -11.15%;
  • bluebird bio (BLUE) -6%;
  • Regenxbio (RGNX) -5.70%;
  • Brainstorm (BCLI) -5.56%;
  • Kite Pharma (KITE) -5.08%;

Versus …

  • Reneuron (RENE.L) +8%;
  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS)+5.30%;
  • Athersys (ATHX) +4.83%;
  • Northwest Bio (NWBO) +4.53%;
  • ImmunoCellular (NYSEMKT: IMUC) +4.17;

 

 

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.