Monday, April 25, 2016

Healthcare ETFs Confront Election Year Blues

Thanks to a latest rally, the Health Care SPDR (ETF) XLV 0.54% and comparable healthcare exchange-traded funds have nudged larger on a year-to-date basis. Compared to how it looked a few weeks ago, XLV's 0.1% year-to-date gains seems decent.


Relative to how XLV performed over the past few years, the ETF is yet in a funk. A combination of factors is weighing on the healthcare sector, the 3rd greatest sector weight in the S&P 500 this year. Among those factors are slumping biotechnology stocks. For instance, the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) IBB 1.02%, the greatest biotechnology ETF, even with the help of a recent surge is off 14.7 percent this year.

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