Stock Commentary - New York week to Nov 27

NEW YORK: equities moved marginally higher for the first two days in the reporting week to November 27, but then went into decline after the Thanksgiving Holiday on November 23, with the Dow Jones slumping 1.3% on the last day, as investors returned only to take profits. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors were decimated, after the previous week's rebound, with 33 of those tracked falling and only seven seeing a rise.

After Medtronic reported its second-quarter results ahead of both estimates and the consensus, based on gains in the implantable cardioverter defibrillator market analysts at Banc of America said they were maintaining their buy rating on the stock. The target price is set to $56, they said, noting that a majority of the ICD market share gains are likely to be sustained going forward. They also feel that any downward movement in the shares of stent makers as a result of upcoming hearings should be seen as a buying opportunity. The stock rose 7.9% on the week. Medarex stock fell 7.2% on news that it had received a warning from the Nasdaq that its continued listing on the exchange has been jeopardized by its failure to file quarterly reports on time. The company is reviewing its historical stock options practices and is restating annual financial reports for a number of years. Several weeks ago, the company had noted that it expected to receive a milestone payment from Amgen after one of its antibodies moved into clinical trials. ArQule stock was off 5.5% after a company director, who is also the president and chief executive of Aveo Pharmaceuticals, resigned. Both firms are working on cancer drugs, noted a statement from ArQule, which had recently reported positive results in an early trial of an anti-tumor drug, ARQ 197. Millennium Pharma, which edged up 0.6%, was one of the stocks that saw a ripple after a report that The Medicine Company's Angiomax (bivalirudin) worked as well as other drugs (a combination of heparin plus glycoprotein IIa/IIIb inhibitors), but with a 47% lower risk of major bleeding in maintaining blood flow in heart attack patients or those with severe chest pain. Millennium's similar drug, Integrilin (eptifibatide), is marketed by Schering-Plough.