May 20, 2019 7:27pm

Volume is extremely light, percentage (%) change of the up and downsides are marginal and breath is weak while volatility jumps!

Think risk, sentiment and conviction ...

Pre-open indications: 5 HITs and 0 MISS

It’s not hard to be right so often, it’s about refining expectation, defining insight and NOT being indentured to ANY financial institution! That’s why my “quantamental” blend of the two styles has become common parlance among investors and traders.

 

RMi outlines the potential prelude to the daily dosage of facts and objectivity!

 

Markets and indexes:

  • The Dow closed down -98.68 points or -0.38% to 25,764.00

  • The S&P closed down -19.30 points or -0.67% at 2,840.23

  • The NASDAQ was down -113.91 points or -1.46% to 7,702.38

 

Henry’omics:

What more can I say … we are in an uncontrolled period of time!

Volume is extremely light, percentage (%) change of the up and downsides are marginal, and breath is weak while volatility jumps!

Sector equities and market indexes fell on Monday as the intensifying fallout from a U.S. crackdown on Chinese telecom giant Huawei pressured markets.

Pre-open post, “it appears to be another bad day in the NASDAQ block. Another session in “dreary” land; portfolios need a “fix” of upside while suffering a lack of “umpf”.

Fear has hit stocks hard this month; the S&P 500 is down 3.6% for May while the Dow has lost -3.4% and NASDAQ has lost 4.95%.

A slew of U.S data expected to release this week, as well as the minutes from the Fed’s latest policy meeting, should provide the market with some updated clues. But it is still too soon to see any impact of the escalation of the trade war on data, which explains why investors are reacting so strongly to headlines!

 

Bottom Line: Think Tuesday and Wednesday, after every drop, there is usually a pop!

 

Monday’s advance/decline line scenario of 45 covered companies:  

  • The open was negative with the A/DL at 9/33, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);
  • The mid-day was negative with an A/DL of 11/30 and 2 flat and 2 acquired;
  • The close was negative with an A/DL of 11/31 and 1 flat and 2 acquired;

 

Upside volume stats:  review the numbers, there is a message …

  • Monday: 2 out of the 11 upside had higher than the 3 month average volume;
  • Friday: 1 out of the 8 upside had higher than the 3 month average volume;

Downside volume stats: here is where the session landing is expressed …

  • Monday: 6 out of the 31 downside had higher than the 3 month average volume;
  • Friday: 6 out of the 33  downside had higher than the 3 month average volume;

 

ReNeuron (RENE.L) fled to the downside (-$22.50 after Friday’s $14.50, Thursday’s+$27.00, Wednesday’s +$18.00 and Tuesday’s $7.00) followed by bluebird bio’s (BLUE -$6.86 after Friday’s-$2.46, Thursday’s +$5.97 and Wednesday’s -$11.85) while the upside welcomed uniQure NA (QURE) +$1.34 and BioLife Solutions (BLFS) +$0.47 after Friday’s +$0.48.

 

Pre-open indications: 5 HITs and 0 MISS

  • Athersys (ATHX) closed down -$0.11 – hit;
  • Biostage (BSTG) closed flat again $2.58 – hit;
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) closed up +$0.06 – hit;
  • ReNeuron (RENE.L) closed down -$22.50 – hit;
  • Verastem Oncology (VSTM) closed up +$0.01 – hit;

 

Cell and gene therapy company’s worst-performers were:

  • Monday: RENE.L (-$22.50), BLUE (-$6.86), SAGE (-$4.56), RARE (-$2.89) and RGNX (-$2.72);
  • Friday: RENE.L (-$14.50), BLUE (+$2.46), SAGE (-$2.35), VYGR (-$2.33) and GBT (-$2.22);

Sector equities posting gains were:

  • Monday: QURE (+$1.34), BLFS (+$0.47), ADRO (+$0.11), AXGN (+$0.08) and IONS (+$0.06);
  • Friday: ADVM (+$0.92), BLFS (+$0.48), BCLI (+$0.06), ONVO (+$0.015) and CUR (+$0.0053);

 

The week’s percentage (%) indicators: 

  • Monday’s range of the 11 upside was +0.02% (ONCE) to +3.66% (PSTI) while the 31 downside ranged from -0.21% (XON) to -7.51% (BLCM);
  • Friday’s range of the 8 upside was +0.22% (FIXX) to +11.32% (ADVM) while the 33 downside ranged from -0.39% (MESO) to -9.52% (VYGR);

 

1 flat –BSTG with 2 acquired (AST & OSIR) and the Spark Therapeutics’ (ONCE) acquisition by Roche still being delayed

 

The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) indicator:

  • Monday closed down -1.40%
  • Friday closed down -0.64%
  • Thursday closed up +1.04%
  • Wednesday closed up +0.91%
  • Tuesday closed up +1.11%
  • Last Monday closed down -3.50%

 

May’s sessions:

Monday closed NEGATIVE with 31 decliners, 11 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Friday closed NEGATIVE with 33 decliners, 8 advancers, 2 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Thursday closed POSITIVE with 12 decliners, 29 advancers, 2 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Wednesday closed POSITIVE with 14 decliners, 29 advancers, 0 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Tuesday closed POSITIVE with 13 decliners, 30 advancers, 0 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Monday closed NEGATIVE with 39 decliners, 4 advancers, 0 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Friday closed NEGATIVE with 22 decliners, 21 advancers, 0 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 23 decliners, 20 advancers, 0 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Wednesday closed POSITIVE with 18 decliners, 24 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Tuesday closed NEGATIVE with 36 decliners, 6 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Monday closed POSITIVE with 8 decliners, 32 advancers, 3 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Friday closed POSITIVE with 4 decliners, 37 advancers, 2 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 23 decliners, 17 advancers, 3 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Wednesday (5/1) closed NEGATIVE with 30 decliners, 12 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice.

Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.