Here’s what we’re watching ahead of the opening bell on Monday.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 slipped 0.9%, indicating the benchmark may fall from the all-time high it closed at on Friday. Contracts tied to the Nasdaq-100 edged 0.9% lower and those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9%.
Political rancor remains front and center, as the House may move to impeach President Trump as soon as this week.
What’s Coming Up Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks on the economic outlook at 12 p.m., and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speaks at a virtual town hall at 6 p.m.
Jan. 11, 2021 5:30 am ET Bluebird Bio Inc., a biotech pioneer in the field of gene therapies, plans to split itself in two later this year, spinning off its cancer-drug unit into a new, publicly traded company so it can focus on rare diseases.
Bluebird Chief Executive Nick Leschly will helm the new cancer company and assume a new position as executive chairman of Bluebird. Andrew Obenshain, currently Bluebird’s president of severe genetic diseases, will become its chief executive, the company said.
The separation is expected to close in the fourth quarter, the company said.
“We built this powerful product engine, and the question is: ‘What is the best way to think about the next five to 10 years?’ ” Mr. Leschly said in an interview. “We don’t believe the past is the best way to head into the future.”
Instead of taking his listeners through a leisurely survey of the outlook for
Sarepta Therapeutics, CEO Doug Ingram dove into a Monday talk for investors with a review of what went wrong in Sarepta’s trial of its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The study’s failure to show a statistically significant strength improvement in children who were treated caused Sarepta stock (ticker: SRPT) to drop by half on Friday.
“I was not merely disappointed.” Ingram told his audience at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. “I was, to be frank, utterly gobsmacked.” Analysis soon convinced Ingram and his colleagues that the study’s failure to prove a benefit resulted from bad luck, not the treatment’s failure.