Diamonds and Dogs

2/5/20

Healthcare having a good day. Biogen (BIIB) is jumping 17% after winning a long-awaited decision on a patent case defending its multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera against a challenge by Mylan. The drug has been Biogen's top seller since 2015. That's good news for Biogen, which has seen its shares rocked in recent months amid the drama over its experimental Alzheimer's disease drug aducanumab. The HMOs are also performing well with UnitedHealth Group up 5%, Humana is up 6% and Anthem is up 6%. It looks like the Iowa caucus or the State of the Union has the sector higher.

Merck (MRK) is one of the few Dow components and healthcare stocks trading lower. Merck is down 3% to three-month low following earnings. Merck beat by a penny as sales rose 7.9% to $11.87 billion. Merck also modestly raised guidance for the full year and will spin off the women's health, trusted legacy brands and biosimilars products into new company with $6.5 billion in revenue, but Wall Street doesn't seem to like this idea.