Tag Archives: $IBB

Markets Mauled Today: A Rareview Macro-Strategy View

July 10, 2014 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

Below excerpt courtesy this a.m.’s edition of macro-strategy newsletter “Sight Beyond Sight”

Today is the first time in recent memory that investors are waking up to a meaningful gap down in US equity index futures.

By virtue of the fact that S&P 500 futures were down ~1.0% at one point this morning, the 57-day streak with no 1% up/down move in the index level has finally been broken today and that is clearly a talking point.

The other interesting observation for US equity participants is that Russell 2000 futures (symbol: RTAU4) are currently down -2.2%. That is much more than the German DAX -1.6%) and commensurate with the weakness in the Spanish IBEX (-2.5%) and Italian MIB (-2.15%) indices.

Given that investor sentiment is also very fragile at the moment, and despite this being a very immature approach to investing and nearly always misguided, the fact is a 2-3% move lower in the index always triggers calls for a larger 7-10% correction.

Our view is different. Continue reading →

ETF News

Did You Say “Biotech!”? Unheralded and Under The Hood

April 11, 2013 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

Courtesy of SeekingAlpha and Benzinga.com ETF Professor

Another day, another set of fresh all-time highs for the major biotechnology ETFs. Biotech investors were treated to the same feat in late March, but as healthcare has continued to be a market-leading sector, faster-moving biotech funds have flourished.

Heading into the start of trading Thursday the Market Vectors Biotech ETF (BBH) was leading the way with a year-to-date gain of over 21 percent. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund (IBB), the largest biotech ETF by assets, has not been a slouch with a gain of 20.5 percent while the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund(FBT) has returned 19.7 percent this year.

The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI), an almost equal-weight play on the sector, has jumped 15.2 percent.

All are higher by at least 1.3 percent in midday trading and all are touching new all-time highs. With performances like that combined with the notion that four biotech ETFs are probably enough, it is easy for other funds to get lost in the shuffle.

Such is life for the PowerShares Dynamic Biotechnology & Genome Portfolio (PBE), though that does not mean PBE is a bad ETF. Quite the contrary. PBE was up 14.8 percent year-to-date at the start of trading Thursday. Less than months shy of its eighth birthday, PBE also joined the new all-time high club today.

In a crowded field of biotech ETFs, a fund such as PBE that does not reside among the previously mentioned big four needs to stand out in some way. PBE does that. For starters, PBE is not dominated by the big four biotech stocks. Those being Amgen (AMGN), Biogen (BIIB),Celgene (CELG) and Gilead Sciences (GILD). Continue reading →

ETF News

Healthcare ETFs–Free Prescriptions Here…

February 22, 2013 MarketsMuse Staff Reporter Leave a comment

Courtesy of “The ETF Professor”–his work appears courtesy of Benzinga.com, and is also re-distributed through leading publishers

Conservative investors and risk-takers alike have been rewarded for owning U.S. health care stocks and ETFs focusing on those names in recent years.

The data supports that assertion. A look at three major health care ETFs, all of which do things a little bit differently, shows significant out-performance of the S&P 500 over various time frames.

For example, the Health Care Select SPDR (NYSE: XLV) is up 30.3 percent in the past five years compared to 12.3 percent for the S&P 500.

Since December 2011 when it became a Market Vectors fund, Market Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF is up almost 20 percent. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ: IBB) has nearly doubled in the past five years.

Bottom line: Investors have done well when staying at home with U.S. health care stocks, but that does not mean there are not global opportunities worth considering. After all, some of the biggest health care companies in the world are not U.S. firms.

France’s Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) and Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA) stand as just two examples.

Here is a look at some international developed market health care ETFs to see if going global with this sector is a better idea than staying domestic.