Biotech Stays on Sidelines
While the broader market has made respectable gains in 2009, Biotech stocks have stayed on the sidelines. The SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) is up 21% on the year while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) is actually down over 5% in 2009.
IBB
Pharmaceuticals Miss the Party
As the U.S. equity markets turn in a second month of gains, the pharmaceuticals sector has been left behind. After bottoming in early March, the market has turned in consecutive weeks of postive results with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) up 29% from the low.
iShares Moves Listings of 2 ETFs
iShares will transfer the listings of 2 of the firm’s ETFs on September 23, 2008. Barclays Global Investors, the manager of iShares, will transfer the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund (IBB) from the American Stock Exchange to The NASDAQ Stock Market.
Safe Harbor ETFs
In a market that is down for the year and continues to present an uncertain outlook, which ETFs have managed to hold onto their value at this point in the year? Setting aside the volatile energy and commodities sectors and the idea of shorting financials, we were still able to find five ETF categories that are unchanged or even higher from January levels.
Biotech Consolidation
The consolidation plays in Biotech have driven the index higher, making a good year even better for the industry. Roche bid to increase its stake in Genentech to 100% and then Bristol Meyers Squibb followed suit with ImClone Systems.