Health-care ETF tumbles as biotechnology stocks weigh
The largest exchange-traded fund to track the health-care sector fell on Monday, dropping as the biggest declining industry of the day by far. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF was down 0.8%, its biggest one-day percentage drop since Dec. 14. The fund is coming off a four-day rally, and it hit a record on Friday. Biotechnology companies were the biggest drags on the sector on Monday. Celgene Corp. fell 3.2% after it agreed to buy blood-disease biotechnology company Impact Biomedicines for as much as $7 billion. Separately, Biogen Inc. shares fell 3.9% while those for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was down 3.1%. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF fell 0.8% on Monday. Thus far this year, the health-care fund is up 2.3%, compared with the 2.6% rise of the S&P 500 . The S&P was unchanged in Monday trading.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.