Technical Bottom is in for the Sector-Buying Opportunity for IBB

Yesterday was one of the craziest trading days of the year triggered by the Chinese Yuan surprise reset. The Dow was down as much as 300 points before finishing flat for the day. Biotech stocks as tracked by the (IBB) ended up 0.81% to 370 after hitting a low of 357 at around 11a EDT. Biotech stocks have been weak even before the yuan currency slide yesterday and were in a in a steady sell-off losing 10% since the July 20 high. The more volatile XBI also recovered today at about the same magical hour of 11a EDT but still down 7.9% over 5 days.

NB: review our posts and updates from earlier this week on ” broken momentum” in biotech.

Many of the stocks we track were too volatile to trade recently but there were huge shorting opportunities near the July tops. But we still believe momentum is broken making it much harder to trade small cap stocks over the short-term. For those underweight healthcare or biotech stocks we would recommend the IBB and XLV for a Q4 rally.

Here is a brief review of Rayno Biopharmaceutical stocks YTD:

Rayno Large Caps: all except Roche (RHBBY) up 3.2% YTD, rallied today to the green; here is performance YTD after considerable damage in August:

Abbvie (ABBV) up 5%

Alexion (ALXN) up 3.2%

Amgen (AMGN) up 7.11%

Biogen (BIIB) is down 6.69%

Gilead (GILD) up 23.3%

Regeneron (REGN) up 41.2%

Rayno Mid Caps recovered today and are doing well YTD:

Albany Molecular (AMRI) up 30.4%

Alkermes (ALKS) up 15.9%

Clovis Oncology (CLVS) up 41%

Seattle Genetics (SGEN) up 39.4%

Vertex (VRTX) up 15.9%

Rayno Small Caps are mixed and volatile with some notable winners today:

Array Biopharma (ARRY) is way off highs but up 26.8% YTD.

Celldex Therapeutics (CLDX) was crushed today and is now down 9% YTD.

Fibrocell Science (FCSC) was up 11% today and is up 172% YTD.

GlycoMimetics  (GLYC) is flattish but holding up 5.5% YTD.

Ignyta (RXDX) is off highs for the year but up 37.9% YTD.

Assumptions for balance of 2015:

1. Two major 10% corrections have hit the sector in 2015 but the long-term biotech bull market trend is intact.
2. Large and mid-cap earnings are in with only one negative surprise Biogen, Inc. (BIIB). Future risk would be related to Q3 earnings misses or currency issues.
3. Small caps have lost momentum so remain cautious with trades.
4. Volatility with emerging mid-caps has increased with early stage "immuno-oncology", or platform plays such as CAR-T,  cellular therapy and gene therapy.
5. Major technical reversal yesterday at monthly bottom creates support and a buying opportunity.

2015 Rayno Biopharmaceutical Portfolio