Gst, I'm blaming it on the bio-techs. Everything else is in place.Don't you think?
THE BUZZ AT THE BELL
The Nasdaq Composite tried hard to rally today, but biology
was against it - biology technology that is. After Monday's
drubbing, the Nasdaq rose swiftly this morning, up 106 in
the first hour. But a major sell-off of biotech stocks
dragged it back down. The Nasdaq fell 200 points today, its
second biggest point drop ever. But money deserting Nasdaq
didn't flow to the Dow, which also endured a bad day -- a
135-point loss.
Recently, biotech has been one of the sectors
leading Nasdaq. A week ago, the Biotechnology Index stood
at an all-time high of 806. Since then it has lost about 30
percent. Today's biotech sell-off was touched off when
Britain and the U.S. announced that the two countries would
share information from the unraveling of the human genome.
The news rattled many investors (mainly at the retail level)
who fear that making the information public would undermine
the proprietary advantages of some biotech companies. Celera,
which is racing to unravel the genome, for example,
plunged 21 percent today. You rascal, Genetics! The fate
of some companies, like the fate of some people, may lie
in the genes. |
