The S&P Biotech Exchange Traded Fund and the
Nasdaq Biotech Index both have annual returns in the 18%-19%--not far off the Nasdaq 100 Technology Sector Index.
The
NASDAQ Biotech Index had its biggest one-day drop in seven years when President Trump announced his plan to lower drug prices in Medicare by tying what the U.S.
Financials and biotechs are weighing with the KBW bank index -0.8% and
NASDAQ biotech index -1.2%.
Biotech has been the best-performing niche in healthcare in 2017, with the iShares
Nasdaq Biotech index up 40 per cent year-to-date.
By comparison, the
Nasdaq Biotech Index (IBB) has fallen around 25% over that same time frame.
The
Nasdaq Biotech Index jumped 4.4 percent, rallying sharply before the end.
The
Nasdaq Biotech Index saw five pullbacks of more than 6.6% over a 14-month period ending in August, and each time the gauge recovered the loss within about a month.
The
Nasdaq biotech index gave close to 30 per cent returns compared to the MSCI world index, which gave close to 5 per cent.
Biotech stocks, as measured by the
Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI), have risen 50% over the past year, in part due to a spate of mergers and acquisitions as big pharmaceutical companies seek to bolster their pipelines of experimental drugs.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization reports that the
Nasdaq biotech index surged 46% in 2003, helping biotech companies amass $16.4 billion in new financing, up 56% from 2002.
After the March 13 announcement to that effect by President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the
NASDAQ Biotech Index lost one-eighth of its value in two days.
The
Nasdaq Biotech Index ended Friday up 0.9 per cent, gaining 4.6 per cent for the week.
