April 18, 2005 Stocks turned in a so-so performance on Monday, refusing to either refute or confirm the dramatic sell-offs of the last three days. With 30% of the S&P due to report earnings in the remainder of the week, perhaps investors are doing the sometimes popular wait-and-see routine. After trading lower all day, the Centient Biotech 200 closed at 3161.59 , which was a loss of almost 19 points or .59%. Broader market indexes were slightly higher, with the NYSE Composite up .15% and Nasdaq rising .25%. A host of companies reported good news today. Citing positive data, Bayer and Onyx ended their renal cancer trial early, CV Therapeutics said Ranexa reduced angina attacks, Protein Design reported a newly acquired drug helped patients with decompensated congestive heart failure, Tarvacin from Peregrin reduced solid tumors in the lab, Eli Lilly beat the street’s estimates by two cents, and the GVAX vaccine from Cell Genesis increases the effect of Avastin in the lab. In negative releases, Neurochem said Fibrillex failed a Phase III test, and Parexel announced its numbers would be short of expectations. We give details...
