Drug ETFs Affected by Elections
November 13th at 8:30am by Tom Lydon
The democratic Congress may effect pharmaceutical exchange traded funds (ETFs). Shares of big pharmaceutical companies slid as the House was taken over last week. Pharmaceutical HOLDRs (PPH) was down 3.4% for the week and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Pharmaceuticals (IHE) was down 1.4%.
Most analysts are calm with the fact that real change is unlikely reports Judith Levy at Seeking Alpha. Nancy Pelosi, expected Speaker of the House, is an advocate of legislation that would allow the government direct negotiation with the drug companies for Medicare. This is more of a threat to the smaller drug companies as well as to those new drugs in the pipeline. The good news is most analysts agree this impact will be brief.
