Top COVID-19 Vaccine Stories of April Put Biotech ETFs in Focus Zacks.com 5/4/2021
The world’s largest economy has started to witness a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases. In fact, the seven-day average of daily cases dropped to under 50,000, down 17% from the previous week (as of May 1), per a CNBC article. There has been a decline in the number of hospitalizations as well along with a decreasing death toll from coronavirus infections.
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In fact, former U.S. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb is predicting a “relatively quiet summer when it comes to coronavirus spread,” as mentioned in a CNBC article. Going by the same article, he has said on CBS News that “look, the situation in the U.S. continues to improve, and I think in the coming weeks we are going to see an acceleration in the decline in cases.”
Biotech exchange-traded funds rallied Monday as the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine across America shed a bullish light on the industry. The First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund FBJ jumped 4% by the afternoon, while the Defiance Nasdaq Junior Biotechnology ETF IBBJ,
-1.01% and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF XBI,
-0.01% both gained 3.5%. The VanEck Vectors Biotech ETF BBJ, gained 2.7%, and the Global X Genomics & Biotechnology ETF GNOM,
+1.29% was 2.3% higher on Monday but has gained the most - 56% - in the year to date among the funds noted here. FactSet data show that among all U.S. domiciled ETFs, the Van Eck fund has the most exposure to Alexion