Most of the leading biotechnology stocks have been very weak over the past couple of months. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSE:XBI) and iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:IBB) have both declined by more than 10 percent since early April 2019. Unfortunately for this industry group there looks to be more downside in the cards, near term.
Technically Weak
One particular biotech stock that has been under pressure recently is Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), which traded as high as $196.87 a share on April 5, 2019. Today the stock is trading at $168.72, so traders and investors can easily see that it has declined sharply in a short time span. Shares of AMGN are now trading below their 200-week moving average, which puts the stock in a weak technical position and signals further declines to comes. Amgen looks to have a lot of support around the $160 level – an area that should be defended when initially tested. It is also a level that was supported in June 2017 and that tells me this trade area should provide a nice bounce for the stock.
