[The Epoch Times, December 30, 2021](Comprehensive report by The Epoch Times reporter Zhang Dongguang) In the few trading days that will end in 2021,US stocksThe rally to record highs has not stopped. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% on Wednesday (29th), setting a new all-time high for the 70th time in 2021. The Dow rose 0.3 percent, or 90 points, to close at 36,488, in line with a record high. The Nasdaq edged down 0.1%.
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Healthcare stocks led gains on Wednesday, with the main theme being the Korea Economic Daily’s report that Samsung Electronics intends to buy biotech stock Biogen at a premium of 50 trillion won ($42 billion), which surged 9.46 on Wednesday. %, driving the Dow health care index up 0.54%.
Samsung, which bought auto electronics maker Harman International Industries for $8 billion in 2016, is now looking to buy Biogen for $42 billion, the largest overseas acquisition in Samsung’s history.
The origins of Samsung Group and Biogen began in 2012 when the two parties jointly established Samsung Bioepis, which in 2019 achieved outstanding sales in the European market due to the development of three autoimmune biosimilar drugs, including Benepali, Imraldi and Flixabi, and made a lot of profits. rich.
Despite this, Biogen has recently faced operational challenges. Although its new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm was approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June this year, its annual course of treatment of $56,000 was criticized as being too expensive, leading to sales of the drug. In the downturn, the company halved the price to $28,000 in December and plans to cut thousands of jobs in 2022 to cut operating costs.
Brokerage Jefferies said in a report that Biogen’s $42 billion acquisition price is quite reasonable. The stock currently trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.8 times, with a total market value of $37.9 billion, which is pretty close to Samsung’s $42 billion takeover price.
On the other hand, Samsung Electronics fell slightly by 1.42% on Wednesday to close at 78,800 won, down 5% this year. It seems quite lonely in the atmosphere of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index continuing to hit highs and surging 43% this year, showing that Samsung Electronics must try to cheer up to Awaken the favor of investors. The company’s total market capitalization now stands at $445 billion, less than TSMC’s $579 billion, but higher than Intel’s $210.2 billion.
WednesdayUS stocksIn addition to the relatively outstanding performance of biotech stocks, other mainstream technology stocks have performed relatively dull. Apple Inc. edged up 0.05%, while Alphabet, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Tesla and other index stocks all fell slightly, with a decline of 1.2%. 0.02%～0.95%.
Energy stocks also saw profit-taking selling, with oilfield service providers Schlumberger and Schlumberger down more than 1 percent on Wednesday and ConocoPhillips down 0.27 percent.
Airline stocks are also in the doldrums as the epidemic continues to record highs and downturns. Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines, which canceled hundreds of flights due to the pandemic and weather, fell 1.2% and 1.44%, respectively, on Wednesday. The seven-day average of confirmed cases in the U.S. reached 262,000 on Tuesday, surpassing the previous peak of 251,000 in January.
The Dow rose for six consecutive trading days on Wednesday. Although the gain of 1.5% this week was not high, it reached a new high after more than a month of default, indicating that investors are generally optimistic about the future market. Wells Fargo predicts that the S&P 500 plus dividends could return 10% to 12% in 2022.
Responsible editor: Ye Ziwei#
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