Nasdaq’s Biotech Index Outperforming the Broader Market

Each week a team member from Nasdaq Global Indexes provides insight into what is happening across a variety of investment theses. From index and ETF performance, to analysis of market trends, our experts will cover what’s hot in the world of passive investment strategies.  

This week, Mark Marex, CFA, discusses the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and performance: 

Highlights: 

 

• The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index(NBI) has closely tracked, if not outperformed, the market-leading Nasdaq-100 since the bear market in March. 
• Gilead, Regeneron, Moderna and Sanofi, all among the 15 largest constituents in the index, have played key roles in the advancement of Covid-19 treatment and prevention. Gilead, with its Remdesivir, has aided treatment of Covid patients, and Regeneron, Moderna and Sanofi are all researching a vaccine treatment to prevent the spread of the virus. 

• Within the last 1 year period and/or 3 year period, a substantial proportion of patents were generated by NBI companies across at least 7 different subthemes within Healthcare, in some cases as much as 50-75% of all global corporate activity within a subtheme. This very strong patent contribution in the index shows an increase in the importance of the companies tracked by NBI in the Healthcare industry. 

• For investors, the ETFs tracking NBI have rebounded substantially from multiyear lows set in March 2020, nearing $10 billion in assets under management as of the end of May. 

 

For more information on Nasdaq Indexes, click here. For more Nasdaq index research and analysis, view our articles here. 

Other Topics

BioTech

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