Diamonds and Dogs

3/3/15

Small biotech Orexigen Therapeutics (OREX) surged 32% to a four-year high on enormous volume Tuesday on news that its obesity drug might not only make people look better but also help them live longer. Late Monday, Orexigen disclosed that an interim analysis of an ongoing trial looking at cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes in patients on its drug, Contrave found a 41% reduction in events for patients on the drug vs. those on a placebo.  An analyst at Piper increased his price target to $26 from $16 following the patent news. Looks like Orexigen could a diamond for a number of days to come.

Widespread fake ordering, known as "brushing," at the Chinese websites run by Alibaba (BABA) is the latest problem weighing on the stock of China's top e-commerce company, making it our dog of the day. Shares in the company dipped as low as $80.03, the lowest price since Alibaba went public in September, before recovering slightly to close the day at $81.58 down 2.88%. Adding to Alibaba's problems, the Taiwanese government asked Alibaba to withdraw its operations from that country within six months for violating investment rules there. Long term Alibaba should fix these problems, but in the short term the company and stock are under pressure.