Stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday, as a health-care selloff and a downbeat earnings report from IBM kept a lid on gains in other sectors.
The biotech etf IBB sold off nearly 10 points or 3.1% today. High flyer JAZZ dropped 10 points or 7.67%. Biogen (BIIB) announces earnings tomorrow morning, so that should have an impact on IBB as it is a top 5 holding in the etf.
I’m seeing some material weakness in biotech stocks and the market has turned unforgiving on the group. Going forward, earnings will matter for the big companies like BIIB, CELG, AMGN, GILD and REGN.
All of the major indexes backed off at resistance today and continue to chop sideways.
CMG disappointed in after hours trading and the stock is down over 50 points. There were a few other minor disappointments on earnings after the close and so far earnings season, as expected, has been fairly horrendous.
I mentioned last night that I thought biotech looked weak based on the chart. If you look at the general healthcare etf XLV it is also in a bear wedge on the daily. This could be a group that easily implodes if earnings don’t go their way. Stay tuned.
I haven’t been doing much lately as you know, and I’m hoping for a sustained change in direction once earnings get out of the way or at least slow down. Nothing much grabs me here and trading out of boredom is horrible habit to get into, so I’m hand sitting for now. That can change on a dime though as you know.
See you in the morning.