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Friday, May 17, 8:13 AM Thomas Lee lifts his year-end S&P 500 (SPY) forecast to 1,715 from 1,580 as the bull has already outrun his expectations. His team sees clues economic performance is picking up, including the outperformance of semiconductors (XSD) vs. transports (IYT), and the steepening of the 10 year/30 year Treasury curve. Risk/reward is particularly appealing in tech (XLK), healthcare (XLV), and financials (XLF). Comment!
Thursday, May 16, 11:42 AM The Dow and S&P 500 are flat, but the Nasdaq gains 0.4% late morning behind a 12.5% jump in Cisco post-earnings and Apple bouncing from the last 2 days' drubbing, up 1.5%. Dragging the Dow is a 2.1% decline in Wal-Mart post-earnings. The notably weak sector today is the year's hottest, healthcare (XLV -0.8%). 1 Comment
Monday, May 6, 7:27 AM The S&P 500 (SPY) is fairly valued, says Goldman, but opportunity lies in cyclicals (XLY, XLE, XLI, XLB) which are more undervalued vs. defensives (XLU, XLP, XLV, XTL) than at any time in the last 15 years. "Given the 4 P/E multiple point head start, even a slight valuation normalization should translate into outperformance of cyclicals over defensives during the next 12 months." 1 Comment
Friday, April 26, 8:34 AM The beginning of a bigger move? Two of the year's three strongest performing sectors - healthcare (XLV) and consumer staples (XLP) - are down on the week as the three weakest sectors - energy (XLE), materials (XLB), and tech (XLK) - post gains of 3%-4.5%. 2 Comments
Tuesday, April 2, 1:22 PM Already the best sector YTD, Healthcare widens its lead even further thanks to hikes in Medicaid Advantage rates. The XLV's 17.1% gain is more than 200 bps greater than 2nd place Consumer Staples (XLP), and about 700 bps better than SPY. Getting a relative drubbing are Materials (XLB) and Tech (XLK) - each up less than 4%. Comment!
Friday, March 22, 10:39 AM The health care sector (IYH, XLV) is outperforming the S&P 500 (SPY) through the year's first 11 weeks for the first time in 15 years as companies cut costs and investors bet whatever emanates from D.C. will be good for all involved. "Most of the big drug companies have experienced patent cliffs and are now repositioning themselves for growth," says one fund manager. 2 Comments [Healthcare]
Tuesday, January 8, 6:04 AM Healthcare spending rose at a record low pace of 3.9% to $2.7T in 2011 as patients continued to cut back on medical services amid the economic slump. The growth was the same as in 2010 and 2009, and well below the 8% prior to the financial crisis. However, there are signs the rise in spending could be speeding up again, with expenditure on drugs increasing by 2.9% in 2011 vs 0.4% in 2010, and on doctors' visits by 4.3%. Comment! [Healthcare]
Monday, January 7, 5:33 PM The return of $10B-plus drug deals may be here as pharmaceutical companies appear to be gearing up to start buying again. Five of the largest U.S. drug makers have spent the last several years building up their cash positions in anticipation of expiring patents. Now, with nearly $70B in cash equivalents at their disposal, all eyes are on JPMorgan’s annual health-care conference in San Francisco, where the big drug makers will likely be on the hunt for assets to fill revenue holes left by expired patents. 2 Comments [Healthcare]
Wednesday, January 2, 9:44 AM The Street's Adam Feuerstein makes 13 biotech stock predictions for 2013, with his number one being that the U.S. launch of Arena Pharmaceuticals' (ARNA) and Eisai's weight-loss pill Belviq "will be a major disappointment." Feuerstein also reckons that Belviq will fail to receive European approval. 17 Comments [Healthcare]
Tuesday, January 1, 6:49 AM The number of drugs that the FDA authorized in 2012 rose to 39 from 30 last year and 21 in 2010, with the figure the highest since 53 in 1996. It also includes 10 medicines with fast-track status. The increase in approvals should help offset the patent cliff, which cost major U.S. and European drug companies $31B in revenues last year. (graph of approvals) Comment! [Healthcare]
Sunday, December 9, 2012, 2:27 AM The Supreme Court will review a "pay for delay" case in which Solvay, now owned by Abbott Labs (ABT), paid three generic drug companies to up to $40M a year, including Watson (WPI), to postpone making copycat versions of Solvay's Androgel testosterone treatment. The case has industry wide ramifications, with the FTC saying the practice costs customers $3.5B a year. (previous) 1 Comment [Healthcare, Top Stories]
Monday, November 19, 2012, 10:01 AM President Obama's re-election did not, as some believe, bring an end to the battle over Obamacare, write James Capretta and Yuval Levin in the WSJ. That's because the Administration is reliant on states for two key elements of the the reform: health-insurance exchanges and expanding Medicaid. Some GOP governors have already said "they won't do the federal government's bidding." Capretta and Levin explain why they agree. Comment! [Healthcare]
Saturday, October 6, 2012, 9:00 AM The financial (XLF) and healthcare (XLV) sectors were the big winners this week, both adding to their gains relative to the S&P YTD. Another YTD outperformer, tech (XLK) combined with energy (XLE) to be the weakest sectors this week as both Apple (post-iPhone 5) and oil (post-QE∞) can't shake their hangovers. The defensive utility area (XLU) - which had a big (and worrying to some) run from mid-Spring to mid-Summer - continues to lose ground to the broader market. 3 Comments
Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 9:58 AM Around 12M people will buy $55B worth of health coverage in 2014 via the insurance exchanges being created as part of Obamacare, PWC predicts, adding that the figures could rise to 29M people and $205B respectively by 2021. Most of the money will be new, although some will come from other parts of the market, such as from people whose employers had paid for coverage until now. 1 Comment [Healthcare]
Saturday, August 25, 2012, 10:00 AM Southern Co. (SO) and Verizon (VZ) may be the "poster children" among high dividend-payers as the quest for yield takes the utility (XLU), telecom (IXP), and consumer staples (XLP) sectors to frothy levels. The flip-side are health-care services (XHS), autos (CARZ), housing (IYR), and tech (XLK) - lower payers, but with relative valuations that have rarely been this cheap. 17 Comments [Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 3:23 PM The sector ETFs most above their 200-day moving average are all defensive plays, notes Reuters' John Kozey. Health Care (XLV) is 8% above, Consumer Staples (XLP) 7% above, and Utilities (XLU) 6% above. YTD performance vs. SPY, which is right at its 200-day moving average. Comment!

PTH PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector Portfolio ETF

PTH

PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector Portfolio ETF