RegMed Daily Dialogue, Mid-Day, 9/16/11, early rally barely holds on to gains
The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it…
Stocks on Friday, 9/16/11 climbed for a 5th day, readying for what could an S&P’s 500 Index’s winning streak in more than … 2 months.WOW! What a long period … my newest non-joke!
EconRecon: With improved views of the current economy, a gauge of consumer sentiment rose in September after tumbling to a 3 year low in August. The preliminary sentiment reading for September increased to 57.8 from 55.7 in August. The August reading was the lowest level since 11/08 withWashington’s protracted debt-ceiling negotiations taking a toll on consumers.
The sentiment reading, which covers how consumers view their personal finances as well as business and buying conditions has averaged about 87, so at 57, this element of major indicators still … S**KS. Now that is an evaluation! The level of the index remains very low consistent with the major dip in consumer spending!
Household debt in Q2 dropped for the 12th consecutive quarter. Household debt declined by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.6%, dragged lower by a 2.4% decline in mortgage debt as consumers took out fewer mortgages, paid off or how had debts forgiven. Now, my checkbook could have informed you that … Yet … the corporate sector continues to stockpile cash, reaching a record $2.05T (trillion) at the end of Q2, up from $1.96T at the end of Q1and as little as $1.4T in 2008.
Mid-Day: The NASDAQ is UP +13.72 (+0.53%) to 2,620.79. The Dow is UP +79.47 (+0.70%) to 11,512.65. The merry-go-round keeps moving …
Mid-Day Movers: Aastrom (ASTM), BioMimetic (BMTI), Neuralstem (AMEX: CUR), ImmunoCellular (OTC BB: IMUC), NeoStem (AMEX: NBS), ReNeuron (LSE: RENE.L), Pluristem (PSTI) and ThermoGenesis (KOOL) …
What’s new in the regenerative medicine/stem cell market … NOT MUCH … on a quadruple witching Friday … TGIF … !!!
New Class of Stem Cell-Like Cells Discovered in Spinal Cord Offers Possibilities for Spinal Cord Repair: Collaborative study using Allen Spinal Cord Atlas finds previously overlooked cell type with implications for treating spinal cord injury and disease. The Allen Institute for Brain Science announced today the discovery of a new class of cells in the spinal cord that act like neural stem cells, offering a fresh avenue in the search for therapies to treat spinal cord injury and disease. The published collaborative study, authored by scientists from the University of British Columbia, the Allen Institute for Brain Science and The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University and titled “Adult Spinal Cord Radial Glia Display a Unique Progenitor Phenotype,” appears in the open access journal PLoS One. The bottom line, neural stem cells have been discovered, the newly identified class of spinal cord radial glia run along the edge of the spinal cord, is an incredibly convenient location for activating them with minimal secondary damage to help the spinal cord repair during disease or after injury. Identifying these cells and the genes relevant to activate them opens fresh new pathways to explore effective therapies to treat spinal cord injury and several types of neurodegenerative disease.
Merck & Co to invest in biotech startups with $250M via Merck Research Venture Fund: that will invest $250M in early-stage biotech firms and enable the drug maker’s scientists to offer expert advice to such companies. David Nicholson, Merck’s SVP, will lead the new fund. The venture fund is in addition to the $250M Global Health Innovation Fund, which was established by Merck earlier this year aims to infuse funding into non pharmaceutical health care firms.
Good Article on Dendreon (DNDN) … The endless debate has affianced many people, including science writers, biotechnology analysts, critics, daily traders, biotech fans and both positive and negative investors. Getting confused rather than informed … http://seekingalpha.com/article/294055-the-dendreon-debate
MY REMEDY FOR THE WEEK … Melt some ICE CUBES in the potion of your choice!
