Today's stocks to watch in the news include JUNO, LLY, and BIIB
U.S. stocks are cautiously lower after closing at record highs last night. Among specific equities in focus today are biotech stocks Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO), Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY), and Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB). Here's a quick look at what's driving JUNO, LLY, and BIIB.
- After being halted in pre-market trading, JUNO is trading 33% lower at $19.95, and now resides on the short-sale restricted (SSR) list, after two patients in its leukemia drug trial died. The company is currently working with U.S. agencies to decide whether trials of JCAR015 will continue. JUNO shares have dropped more than 55% since their June highs, and touched a new all-time low of $19.40 out of the gate today. Even though JUNO is on the SSR list, over 19% of Juno Therapeutics Inc's float is already sold short -- an amount that would take two weeks of trading to cover, at the equity's average daily volume.
- LLY is down 14.4 % at $65.03, and on the SSR list, after its Alzheimer's drug failed a late-stage trial. J.P. Morgan Securities cut its price target to $85 from $95 after the drug trial news. LLY shares are now down 22.8% in 2016, and plummeted to a new two-year low of $64.18 at the opening bell today. In the option pits, Eli Lilly and Co's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.35 sits at an annual low, indicating near-term option players haven't been more call-skewed in the past 12 months.
- BIIB -- which also has an Alzheimer's drug in the works -- is down after LLY's disappointing drug news, giving up 6% to trade at $299.91. Today's move puts Biogen Inc shares 2.3% below year-to-date breakeven, and back beneath their 20-month moving average -- a trendline that has stifled rally attempts over the past year. Option buyers have been betting on more downside, with BIIB's 10-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 1.03 sitting higher than 88% of all other readings from the past year.
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