After a trading lull last week, the markets have had a busy Monday with stocks trading high as a result of some deals in the health care sector. In particular, UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced that it would acquire the pharmacy benefit-manger Catamaran Corp for about 12.8 billion in cash. Catamaran’s shares have since skyrocketed 24% while shares of United rose 2.8%. Overall, the Dow Jones had a busy morning, rising 1.5% between 9:30am and 10:00am, before settling around 18,000 this afternoon.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-rise-1427717939?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
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I was reading earlier today how the stock market was buoyed by mergers in the health care industry. However, I think it was last week when many biotech companies posted significant single day losses- I wonder if last week’s drop had any impact on this week’s mergers.
U.S. stock futures fell today extending losses after the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its first quarterly loss in a year. I’ve seen in the news, though, that many investors maintain a positive outlook for the rest of the year.
Does the stock market contain any information useful for us macroeconomists? My claim is no!! — it’s a random walk, and the latest rise/fall is of no significance. That’s reinforced by our inability to get into the minds of traders (and those who failed to trade!) to understand the “why” part.
I act on that belief: I do not look at stock prices, even when prepping for my weekly 15 minute radio show.
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