The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund (NASDAQ:IBB) underperformed all other non-leveraged, non-inverse exchange traded products in the U.S. today on a percentage basis, producing a -1.96% one-day return and trailing the wider markets by a total of 1.61 percentage points.
Behind The Losses
IBB closed today at $274.52 per share, down $5.49 (-1.96%). Putting this move in context, the S&P 500 index — largely considered the most popular and useful benchmark for equity performance — closed down a much more palatable $0.80 (-0.35%) on the day.
IBB’s trading volume today was a total of 2,128,242 shares, which was an increase of 6% versus its average daily trading volume of 2,003,889. Rising trading volume generally an indicator of increased demand for a particular security, and is typically associated with a specific news event or trend that draws investors into or out of specific asset classes, or sectors or subsectors within those classes. In IBB’s case today, its volume was very close to the average.
Including any dividends as well as today’s losses, IBB has now fallen a total of -3.44% year-to-date, versus a +1.22% gain in the S&P 500 during the same timeframe.
A Look Under The Hood
iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund is an Equity-focused product issued by BlackRock. Its expense ratio of 0.47% makes it the #19 cheapest ETF among 35 total funds in the Health & Biotech ETFs category.
IBB currently boasts $8.26B in assets under management (AUM), placing it #2 of 35 ETFs in its category, and #67 of 1920 total ETFs in the U.S. exchange traded universe. This is a very large fund and its big move downward will be felt in many portfolios.
The investment objective of the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF is to track the investment results of an index composed of biotechnology and pharmaceutical equities listed on the NASDAQ. A number of those equities were off again today amid continued policy fears surrounding drug prices.
IBB SMART Grade
IBB currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of B (Buy), and is ranked #15 of 36 funds in the Health & Biotech ETFs category.