Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Among Healthcare's Biggest Movers on November 15, 2012

The market is currently down, with the Nasdaq falling 0.4%, the S&P 500 decreasing 0.3% and the Dow declining 0.3%. The healthcare sector is the category of stocks relating to medical and healthcare goods or services. This sector includes hospital management firms, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), biotechnology and a variety of medical products. Stocks in the healthcare sector are often considered to be defensive because the products and services are essential. Even during economic downturns, people will still require medical aid and medicine to overcome illness. Having a consistent demand for goods and services makes this sector less sensitive to business cycle fluctuations.

The Healthcare sector (XLV) is currently lagging behind the overall market, down 0.4%, and its current biggest movers are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Affymax (Nasdaq:AFFY)	$848.1 million	-5.5%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:VRTX)	$9.14 billion	-4.5%
Amarin Corporation plc (Nasdaq:AMRN)	$1.59 billion	+3.9%
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings (Nasdaq:ENDP)	$3.01 billion	+3.8%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:REGN)	$14.25 billion	-3.5%
Medivation (Nasdaq:MDVN)	$3.38 billion	-3.2%
Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ONXX)	$4.79 billion	-2.5%

Forex Broker Summary: Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)

Falling 5.5%, Affymax (Nasdaq:AFFY) is currently at a share price of $21.57. The company's volume for the day so far is 301,580 shares.

Slipping 4.5%, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:VRTX) is currently trading at $40.28 per share. This morning, 1.3 million shares have been traded,.

Increasing 3.9%, Amarin Corporation plc (Nasdaq:AMRN) is trading at $11.11 per share. This morning, the company's volume is 2.8 million shares. This is 0.8 times its current daily average.

After rising 3.8%, Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings (Nasdaq:ENDP) is currently trading at a share price of $27.40. So far today, the company's volume is 1.1 million shares, 0.4 times the average volume over the last three months.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:REGN) has fallen 3.5% and is currently trading at $142.40 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 361,700 shares.

Medivation (Nasdaq:MDVN) is trading at $44.49 per share, down 3.2%. So far today, 371,371 shares have changed hands, with trading activity in keeping with yesterday's while it was 812,088 shares yesterday.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ONXX) is down 2.5% to reach $69.59 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 873,871 shares. This is 0.6 times the current daily average.

The Bottom Line On any given day, a particular stock may see positive or negative change in its share price. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. However, these fundamental metrics must be analyzed with historic data, industry information in addition to firm specific financial statements.