Diamonds and Dogs

12/27/17

 UPS (UPS) keeps going up. The United Parcel Service company rose a percent thanks to strong year-end demand. The U.S. holiday shopping season is on track to break sales records on the back of surging consumer confidence. Online and in-store spending this year rose to more than $800 billion. The world's largest package delivery company said today it's on track to return a record number of packages this holiday, having handled more than 1 million returns to retailers daily in December.

Celgene (CELG) slides lower today. One of the best and then worst biotechs for 2017, Celgene dropped 2% on a downgrade at Bernstein. The analyst downgraded the stock to a market perform saying pipeline setbacks have crushed much of the stock's potential upside. Celgene said last week a trial of cancer treatment Revlimid as a treatment for follicular lymphoma failed to meet its main goals. The drug, which currently accounts for $8.2 billion of Celgene's sales, was expected to grow to $13.8 billion by 2023, partly because of its use in treating that condition. The news comes after Celgene announced plans to abandon 3 clinical trials for its GED-0301 therapy in Crohn's disease, shedding a part of its inflammation and immunology portfolio that was viewed as having strong potential.