Biotech stocks have had a very interesting past twenty four hours of trading, and the action seems far from over today. The largest fund in the category, IBB (iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology, Expense Ratio 0.48%) with more than $7.2 billion in assets under management gapped up to another new all-time on Friday, briefly trading as high as $374.97 before retreating sharply intra-day in a bearish looking short term intraday candle.
In today’s early action IBB is disappointing, down more than 1.5% on weakness in #2 and #3 holdings in the underlying index CELG (-2.8%) and GILD (-1.4%).
Those interested in Biotech stocks should also closely examine the trading volume in top IBB components like and BIIB, CELG, AMGN specifically, as there seemed to be a ton of possibly options expiration related trading occurring, dwarfing average daily volumes in these stocks.
Strong performance in IBB has only helped the fund grow in terms of assets under management, with >$444 million entering the fund year to date.
Earnings season is in the not so distant future for Biotech stocks, with BIIB reporting on 4/22 AM, CELG (4/30 AM), GILD (4/21 PM), and AMGN (4/21 PM). Shorts in the sector have benefitted at least in the very short term with BIS (ProShares UltraShort NASDAQ Biotechnology, Expense Ratio 0.95%), and the fund has seen decent inflows of >$38 million year to date.
Other prominent Biotech funds to focus on here given the volatility in the sector include XBI (SPDR S&P Biotech, Expense Ratio 0.35%, $2.3 billion in AUM), FBT (FT AMEX Biotechnology, Expense Ratio 0.60%, $3.3 billion in AUM), and BBH (Market Vectors Biotech, Expense Ratio 0.35%, $798 million in AUM) to name some of the larger funds in the space. Interestingly, BIB (ProShares Ultra NASDAQ Biotechnology, Expense Ratio 0.95%) has a huge asset base currently compared to its “Inverse” sister BIS, with $798 million in AUM.
iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF
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