Market Caution - US Biotech Stocks Look OverHeated

  

ARE BIOTECH STOCKS IN A BUBBLE?

   

ARE BIOTECH STOCKS IN A BUBBLE?

 This is a question that is being asked. According to an article by Bloomberg (Biotech Index in Nosebleed Territory - Up 500% In 4-years, Trades At 10X Revenues – Bloomberg Business, March 8, 2015) the 269 Biotech companies that are listed on the NASDAQ are up more than 500% in the past four years. The Biotech companies have the biggest weighting on the NASDAQ at 11.2%.

A 500% gain is impressive. The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NBI) is up a more modest 338%. The TSX Health Care Index (THC) is up an even more modest 187% in the same period.  It appears that some of the really high flyers are not even in the NBI. As to the THC, it has been led primarily by one stock – Valeant Pharmaceutical (VRX-TSX). VRX is up 665% in the same period. Read More.

Be Extra  Cautious As Rumors Began Last Year 

SURE SIGN OF A MAJOR CRASH

Average Wall Street bonus highest since 2008 crash: report

 By Pat Bailey

The average bonus paid to Wall Street employees shot up 15 percent last year to $164,000 — the most since the economic collapse in 2008, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli reported Wednesday
.
The sharp increase in bonuses came despite profits for the industry falling 30 percent, to $16.7 billion.

Workers were able to realize a jump in the much-anticipated bonus payouts thanks to compensation they deferred from previous years, DiNapoli said.


The total bonus pool swelled to $26.7 billion
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Despite the drop in profits, Wall Street revenues remained “strong” when compared to previous years’ receipts, DiNapoli said.

Wall Street has 165,200 jobs — about 12.6 percent of total payrolls — since the Great Recession.
The industry generated about $3.8 billion in city taxes in fiscal 2013 and $10.3 billion in state taxes.

“Whatever anyone’s opinion of Wall Street, it is still an important part of the city’s economy,” said DiNapoli, speaking in Manhattan in front of the Association for a Better New York. (READ MORE)

Those were the days ....

And then there was...