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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
U.S. Big Pharma Trends Lower In Early Action
Val Brickates Kennedy
MarketWatch Pulse
BOSTON -- Shares of U.S.-based major pharmaceutical firms trended lower early Wednesday, as the broader market slid for a third day on deepened concerns about the health of the U.S. banking industry. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index dipped 0.6% to 295.8 and the Amex Biotechnology Index declined 1.2% to 800.6. U.S. Big Pharma were the most notable decliners, with shares of Amgen Inc. , Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck & Co. all down around 2%.
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A specialist is a member of a stock exchange who works as an auctioneer for a specific stock and/or stocks. It can be an individual, partnership, corporation or group of firms.
The specialist works to maintain a "fair and orderly market" for respective stocks, matching up buyers and sellers by displaying the best "bid" and "ask" prices at its trading post. If buys are not equal to sells, the specialist evens the scale by buying or selling shares, accordingly. However, they cannot make their own transactions until all investor orders have been placed.
Gauging supply and demand, the specialist sets an opening price for the stocks in its domain. If a price has not been set by the time the market opens, the specialist can delay that particular stock's opening.
Specialists make money off the "spread," which is the difference between bid and ask prices on orders.
