Cantor Morning News | Healthcare

Nice follow thru from yesterday's big rally. Most healthcare stocks rallied into the close to their best levels of the day, after marking time for most of the session. Not a lot of leadership from our sectors - we were definitely the trend followers. In the large cap world, AMGN, MRK, and CI were three of the few that finished in the red. Unemployment numbers and continued merger activity will be the focus on the last day of the summer vacation season.

Macro/Technicals

XLV: 28.9; .15; .52
DRG: 291.98; .55; .19
HMO: 1489.6; 6.5; .44
BTK: 1111.95; 18.52; 1.69

Leaders: VVUS OREX REGN DNDN NKTR KERX
Laggards: MNTA CI BEC NBIX MRK

Sector News, M&A, Capital Raises

Barron's Weekday Trader is positive on UnitedHealth (UNH) and WellPoint (WLP) ($32.86)

The article notes that both companies have strong brand names and diverse businesses that generate significant amounts of cash to fund acquisitions and take market share from smaller rivals that may not be able to withstand healthcare reform. In addition, the stocks sport P/E multiples (~8x-10x) near multi-year lows.

ABT - Abbott drops plans to sell European flu vaccine business, WSJ reports -

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) won't now sell its European flu vaccine business as

initial bids came in below company expectations, reports the Wall Street

Journal.

Cantor Flows

BIOTECH/PHARMA:AFFY, OREX, PFE

HEALTH SERVICES: HMA, AMMD, AMRN, THC, MCK, HSP

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