October 20, 2017 7:23am
Yet the flavor of the day is to end the week with some speculation to buy versus continue to sell
As the short-term oversold are crying for attention
What’s the gauge of pricing expectation – monetization of information!
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Pre-open indications: 3 SELLs and 1 BUY
Trades in sector equities are precursors of news, not the other way around!
Higher open expected
Dow futures are UP +0.37% (85 points) and NASDAQ futures are UP +0.23% (14.25 points)
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a strong positive open Friday, as investors geared up for another batch of earnings, while awaiting comments from leading Federal Reserve officials.
European markets were slightly higher as earnings season and political turbulence in the region continued to dominate discussion.
Asia markets closed higher after shaking off negative sentiment seen earlier in the day. Wall Street had wobbled and European stocks had taken a stumble overnight.
Issues that will affect the trading day: the U.S. Senate passed a budget proposal Thursday night that allowed Republicans to move closer to eventually passing tax reform. The measure was passed with a vote of 51-49.
Data docket: existing home sales figures for September are set to be published at 10 a.m. ET.
The cell therapy sector closed NEGATIVE on Thursday and Wednesday, POSITIVE on Tuesday, NEGATIVE on Monday and last Friday.
The cell therapy sector’s record over the last 5 sessions (of 43 covered companies):
· Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 16 advancers and 3 flats;
· Wednesday closed NEGATIVE with 23 decliners, 18 advancers and 2 flats;
· Tuesday closed barely POSITIVE with 19 decliners, 20 advancers and 4 flats;
· Monday closed NEGATIVE with 29 decliners, 11 advancers and 3 flats;
· Last Friday closed NEGATIVE with 32 decliners, 9 advancers and 2 flats;
Henry ’omics:
From Wednesday night’s closing bell post, “yesterday’s decline fit expectation. More trouble ahead? We’ve been there and done that, move on as many oversold will re-find their footing and some overbought will feel some pain of hype
Reiterating, “ there are lot of challenges as markets … gyrate, the sector has already experienced many of the same warnings and depreciation. The threat “our” universes “rushing to an exit” should be reassessed, the doors been held open all week.”
Let’s just end it and come back for the oversold to recognized for this loss of value!
You’ve made it to the office, turned on the monitor, having just gotten your coffee and it hits you - what could be today’s trades?
Watch list:
- The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB) the aftermarket indication was a NEGATIVE -0.85% but, did NOT indicate in Friday’s pre-market;
- The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) is indicated a NEGATIVE -0.02% in Friday’s pre-market;
- The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) is NOT indicating in Friday’s pre-open;
- The iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) is indicating a POSITIVE +0.36% in Friday’s pre-open
Companies in my headlights:
Athersys (ATHX) closed down -$0.11 to $1.84 with 1.6 M shares traded after Wednesday’s -$0.105 to $1.945 with 1.5 M shares traded after Wednesday’s -$0.05 to $2.05 with 820.6 K shares traded after being down -$0.07 to $2.10 with 990.2 K shares traded <3 month average = 1.13 M shares>. ATHX had not communicated to shareholders that they agreed to settle their patent fight with Garnet Biotherapeutics and pay Garnet $500K and issue it 1M shares of common stock plus $250K in each of the next four quarters and it will deliver an additional 500K shares of stock. Now there are even MORE questions re their cash position and how are they going to pay for their future – another depreciated offering post the 11/8’s Q3 results? – Maintaining SELL;
BioLife Solutions (BLFS) closed up +$0.26 to $6.36 with 1.6 M shares traded <3 month average = 171.4 K shares>. Too much to the upside over a very short time; what was the impetus – the fact that a client received an FDA approval – SELL;
Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) closed down -$1.21 to $80.79 with 482.7 K shares traded after Wednesday’s $82.00, Tuesday’s $82.97, Monday’s $85.53 after last Friday’s $84.23 <3 month average = 540.7 K shares>. Last Thursday, an FDA Advisory committee unanimously recommended an approval of Investigational LUXTURNA™ (voretigene neparvovec) for patients with Biallelic RPE65-mediated Inherited Retinal Disease. This market is selling off many of the “ups”; the aftermarket indication is a negative -$0.69 or -0.85% - BUY to SELL;
uniQure (QURE) closed up +$5.69 to $15.16 with 8.57 M shares traded after Wednesday’s down -$2.20 to $9.47 with 517 K shares traded after Tuesday’s -$0.31 to $11.67 with 337.8 K shares traded <3 month average = 154.8 K shares>. QURE has acquired a patent family, with claims issued in the U.S., that broadly covers a hyperactive variant of Factor IX carrying an R338L mutation (often referred to as “FIX-Padua”) and its use in gene therapy for the treatment of coagulopathies, including hemophilia B. This patent family was acquired from the inventor, Professor Paolo Simioni, a renowned hemophilia expert at the University of Padua, Italy, who is widely recognized as the first to identify this mutant. QURE also announced that following multi-disciplinary meetings with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the company plans to expeditiously advance AMT-061, which combines an AAV5 vector with the FIX-Padua mutant, into a pivotal study in 2018 for patients with severe and moderately severe hemophilia B. The pre-market indication is a positive +$2.29 or +15.11% - 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. 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.
