Ebb & Flow

It was an especially dour week for biotech in spite of decent earnings news. The BioCentury 100 index slipped almost 11% on the week to 1323, despite seven out of eight profitable product companies meeting or beating their EPS estimates. In addition to meeting its EPS numbers, bellwether Amgen (AMGN) bumped up its '02 product sales estimate, saying it can post growth in the low 20% range, compared to previous guidance in the high teens (see "Caught in the Crossfire," below).

The sector's weekly slide included a 4% dip on Thursday to 1360.06, which put the BioCentury index below 1400 for the first time since November 1999. Declines in other indexes looked almost rosy by comparison. The NASDAQ Composite fell 7%; the S&P 500 lost 4%; Dow Jones Industrials slipped 3%; and the AMEX Pharma Index fell 2.5%...