Investors have convinced themselves, at least temporarily, that President Donald Trump is going to make drug stocks great again.
Two widely owned exchange-traded funds, iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB) and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) , closed Wednesday up 8.9% and 10.4%, respectively, their largest one-day gains since October 13, 2008.
Shares of Pfizer (PFE) , the stodgiest pharma company in the world, rose 10% at one point during the day before closing up 7%. Regeneron Pharma (REGN) , Incyte (INCY) , Vertex Pharma (VRTX) , Biomarin (BMRN) , Shire (SHPG) and Celgene (CELG) all notched 10% or greater gains Wednesday.
