Despite a strong finish to a strong week last week, on top of a pretty good start this week, the bears ambushed unsuspecting bulls today. After hitting new record high this morning, the S&P 500 fell 0.41% on Monday to close at 2,108.92.
And for some stocks (and ETFs), it was much, much worse. Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN), the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (NASDAQ:IBB) and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) all took on more than a little bit of water today. Here’s what happened.
Starbucks (SBUX)
Good news for anyone who couldn’t get a caffeine fix at their nearby Starbucks Friday afternoon — the company has fixed its cash register problems. In fact, most Starbucks that closed Friday because they couldn’t ring customers up were open again early Saturday.
SBUX investors are less than pleased the company could be so vulnerable to such widespread gaffes in the first place though, and sent SBUX shares down nearly 2% as a result.
Werner Enterprises (WERN)
Truth be told, Werner Enterprises shares were already in a downtrend that began right after the trucking company posted last quarter’s earnings on Wednesday morning. WERN is a prime example, however, of a case of “the worse it gets, the worse it gets.”
Werner’s earnings were OK. Though revenue of $495.7 million came up short of the estimated $516.8 million, earnings of 32 cents per share of WERN topped expectations of 31 cents.
Having had some time to think about it though, and emboldened by Thursday’s downgrade of WERN by Wolfe Research, traders continue to increase the pace at which WERN is being shed. Today’s near-6% slide brings the four-day loss to a total of more than 11%.
iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB)
Does an ETF belong on a list of the market’s worst stocks? Usually not. But there are always exceptions, and a closer look at the setback iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology fund suffered today is one of them.
All told, IBB fell more than 4% on Monday. As for the reason, a swath of concerning news from several of the market’s key biotechs could get the blame.
For instance, Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) rejected a relatively generous acquisition offer from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) that apparently some investors felt it should have accepted, given the 6% slide from MYL. Meanwhile. Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) may have fallen more than 3% on the heels of news that the FDA isn’t all that keen on its T-Vec drug as a treatment for melanoma.
A closer look at the biotech industry’s biggest names, though — constituents of the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF — reveals there wasn’t actually a great deal of bad news for the industry on Monday. IBB was falling mostly because it was ripe for a pullback following a 69% rally since about this time last year. The sharp pullback from IBB is worth noting, however, as the sheer size and depth of participation in the selloff may well mean that long-term rally has run its course and is now reversing.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
