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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Retail investors have flocked to shares of Merck since its announcement of an antiviral pill that cuts COVID risks. </li><li>Individual investors have bought $288 million worth of Merck stock in a wave of buying since last Friday, said Vanda Research. </li><li>While they buy Merck, some investors have sold shares of vaccine makers Pfizer, Moderna and BioNTech. </li></ul><p>Retail investors have flocked to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mrk-stock">Merck</a> stock since the company said its experimental antiviral pill significantly cuts key COVID-19 risks, prompting some of those investors to sell shares of vaccine makers to fund their purchases, Vanda Research said Wednesday. </p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mrk-stock">Merck</a> last week said molnupiravir reduces the risk of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/merck-stock-price-antiviral-pill-cuts-covid-19-hospitalizations-and-deaths-2021-10">hospitalization or death by about 50%</a>. Merck <a href="https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-ridgebacks-investigational-oral-antiviral-molnupiravir-reduced-the-risk-of-hospitalization-or-death-by-approximately-50-percent-compared-to-placebo-for-patients-with-mild-or-moderat/">made the announcement with the pill's co-developer</a>, privately held Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. </p><p>That news "triggered a wave of retail buying" into Merck shares that so far has amounted to $288 million since last Friday, said Vanda Research, whose VandaTrack tool monitors retail activity in more than 9,000 US stocks and ETFs. </p><p>Vanda said some retail investors have raised funds to buy Merck shares by selling stock in COVID vaccine makers including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/pfe-stock">Pfizer</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/bntx-stock">BioNTech</a> and<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mrna-stock"> Moderna</a>, leading to $49 million worth of redemptions in those shares. </p><p>"Considering the performance gap between vaccine companies and Merck, we expect them to continue chasing this emerging trend," Giacomo Pierantoni, an analyst at Vanda Research, wrote about retail investors in a weekly update. </p><p>Merck stock has climbed by 8.6% since last Friday through Tuesday's session. Meanwhile, Moderna and Pfizer shares have dropped about 14% and 1.6%, respectively, since last Friday, and BioNTech has pulled back by more than 8% during that period. </p><p>Merck and Ridgeback said they will<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/merck-covid-pill-fda-eua-authorization-antiviral-molnupiravir-drug-ridgeback-2021-10?nr_email_referer=1&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=Insider%20Healthcare&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20healthcare:%20Companies%20are%20racing%20to%20develop%20pills%20to%20treat%20COVID-19&amp;utm_term=INSIDER%20HEALTHCARE%20-%20ENGAGED%2C%20ACTIVE%2C%20PASSIVE%2C%20DISENGAGED%2C%20NEW0DISENGAGED%2C%20NEW"> seek emergency-use approval</a> for molnupiravir from the US Food and Drug Administration. The pills are already being produced and if approval is granted, Merck will supply the antiviral to the US through a deal with the government.</p>

Retail investors are dumping shares of COVID-19 vaccine makers and piling into antiviral pill maker Merck, data shows

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Merck stock surged 10% Friday after it said its investigational pill cuts the risk of hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients. </li><li>The company will file for emergency-use approval of molnupiravir from the Food and Drug Administration. </li><li>Merck is already making molnupiravir and expects to produce 10 million treatments this year. </li></ul><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mrk-stock">Merck</a> stock surged Friday after the drug maker said an experimental pill it codeveloped significantly cuts the risk of hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients.</p><p>The company said it will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/merck-covid-pill-fda-eua-authorization-antiviral-molnupiravir-drug-ridgeback-2021-10?nr_email_referer=1&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=Insider%20Healthcare&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20healthcare:%20Companies%20are%20racing%20to%20develop%20pills%20to%20treat%20COVID-19&amp;utm_term=INSIDER%20HEALTHCARE%20-%20ENGAGED%2C%20ACTIVE%2C%20PASSIVE%2C%20DISENGAGED%2C%20NEW0DISENGAGED%2C%20NEW">seek emergency-use approval</a> for its pill, called molnupiravir, from the US Food and Drug Administration. </p><p>Shares climbed 10% to $82.87 soon after trading began. Merck stock had lost nearly 4% through the end of the third quarter ended Thursday. Meanwhile, shares of COVID vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna fell 2.5% and 10%, respectively. </p><p>The pill reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by about 50%, Merck and its partner, <keyword id="12223929" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ridgeback-biotherapeutics" source="Orion">Ridgeback Biotherapeutics</keyword>, <a href="https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-ridgebacks-investigational-oral-antiviral-molnupiravir-reduced-the-risk-of-hospitalization-or-death-by-approximately-50-percent-compared-to-placebo-for-patients-with-mild-or-moderat/">said in a statement Friday</a>. </p><p>The emergency-use application will come "as soon as possible," the companies said. An independent data monitoring committee, in consultation with the FDA, recommended they stop recruiting for their late-phase trial of the pill based on results of an interim analysis. </p><p>Interim analysis of a phase 3 study of molnupiravir showed 7.3% of patients infected with <keyword id="11893194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus" source="Orion">coronavirus</keyword> who received the pill were hospitalized through day 29, compared with 14.1% of patients treated with a placebo who were hospitalized or died. </p><p>The companies said through day 29 that no deaths were reported in patients who received molnupiravir compared with eight deaths in patients who received a placebo. </p><p>Merck said it's been producing molnupiravir in anticipation of results from the MOVe-OUT trial, projecting it will make 10 million treatment courses by the end of this year and more courses in 2022. The pharma heavyweight earlier this year reached a procurement deal with the US government to supply it with about 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir upon securing regulatory clearance. </p><p>"This is a phenomenal result. This is a profound game-changer to have an oral pill that had this kind of effect, this magnitude of effect in patients who are at high-risk who are already symptomatic," former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb <a href="https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1443901508442071046">said Friday on CNBC</a>  about results of the interim analysis. </p><p>Merck said it plans to submit marketing applications for molnupiravir to other regulatory bodies worldwide.</p>

Merck jumps 10% as the drugmaker says its antiviral pill cuts the risk of hospitalizations and deaths in COVID patients

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Lucas Jackson</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Tech has gotten all the attention lately as stocks have hit record highs, and as the bull market has become the longest of all time.</strong></li><li><strong>But there are increasing signs that the bullish tide is shifting towards a new sector - one that appears to have great upside potential.</strong></li><li><strong>We break down a handful of simple, long-only trades that can help you get involved.</strong></li></ul><p>Stock investors have had a lot to celebrate lately.</p><p>The benchmark <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a> hit all-time highs on Monday, and the ongoing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-bull-market-longest-on-record-4-main-reasons-for-longevity-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bull market became the longest on record</a>.</p><p>And as those traders assess their good fortune, they keep coming back to one major driver: the exceptional outperformance of tech stocks - particularly the mega-cap consortium known as FANG (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/fb-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/nflx-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netflix</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/googl-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a>).</p><p>But as the party has raged in tech, another industry has quietly assumed the role of top performer: healthcare.</p><p>Consider this: Since the start of the third quarter, healthcare stocks in the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a> have returned 10% - two full percentage points more than any other sector, including tech.</p><p>When it comes to fund flows, healthcare has also dominated. Since the beginning of July, the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/etfs/health-care-select-sector-spdr-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPDR Healthcare Select Sector ETF</a> has absorbed a whopping $1.4 billion of new capital. Meanwhile, the fund's tech counterpart - the SPDR Technology ETF has seen $63 million of outflows over the same period.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider / Joe Ciolli, data from Bloomberg</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And then there's the matter of large institutional investors. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gs-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goldman Sachs</a> finds that hedge funds now have healthcare as their largest net sector tilt, having rotated away from - you guessed it - tech.</p><p>The firm also looked at mutual funds and found a similar dynamic playing out. Fed up with disappointing returns from financials, they shifted into healthcare, which Goldman says saw the biggest allocation increase during the second quarter.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Goldman Sachs</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This all begs the question of <em>why </em>healthcare has become so desirable to investors of all types. Goldman attributes it to three things: a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-stock-market-crash-merger-deals-on-record-pace-wall-street-commentary-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flurry of M&amp;A</a> activity, easing policy concerns, and volatility in the tech sector.</p><p>Going off this last point, it's important to note that the rotation out of tech and into other areas like healthcare is partially a byproduct of the sector's success. Tech has gotten <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-double-tech-bubble-valuation-one-measure-shows-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">historically extended</a> by multiple different measures, so it's only natural that traders would start seeking areas with more upside.</p><p>So how can you take advantage of this market-wide shift towards healthcare? You have a few options.</p><h3>Buy sector-wide exposure</h3><p>One way would be to go broadly long the entire sector, perhaps through the SPDR ETF mentioned above - also known as XLV.</p><p>This is ideal for someone who wants wide-ranging exposure to the entire sector without having to go through the trouble of identifying mispriced single stocks. It's a more diversified bet, which means there's less probability of taking a big hit, but can also cap upside.</p><p>This option is particularly appealing because of how inexpensive XLV looks right now, relative to recent history. The chart below shows XLV's implied volatility, which measures expected price swings in the asset.</p><p>As you can see, implied volatility is low, which suggests options traders aren't expecting the types of swings that can be profitable for well-positioned investors. And by that token, XLV is cheap, since options' prices increase when turbulence is expected.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider / Joe Ciolli, data from Bloomberg</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h3>Go after single stocks in thriving areas - with Goldman's help</h3><p>If you prefer single stocks to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/etfs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETFs</a>, Goldman has a handful of intriguing ideas.</p><p>Here are the companies the firm recommends, broken down into three convenient categories. All commentary on individual stocks are attributable to Goldman.</p><ol><li><strong>Pharma:</strong> Goldman expects the ongoing rally in this area to continue<ul><li><strong>Abbvie (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/abbv-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABBV</a>) </strong>- A popular hedge fund short getting squeezed. It's the cheapest name in the group, with the highest dividend yield.</li><li><strong>Pfizer (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/pfe-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PFE</a>) </strong>- A bellwether stock getting pulled higher by momentum on pharma. It has potential for significant gains around data that's set to be released on heart disease drug Tafamadis.</li><li><strong>Merck (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mrk-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MRK</a>) </strong>- Sentiment is shifting in positive fashion, and investors interest has picked up.</li></ul></li><li><strong>Medicaid managed care: </strong>Goldman is focused on upward earnings revision it calls "striking."<br /><ul><li><strong>Centene (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cnc-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNC</a>) - </strong>Improving sentiment around both M&amp;A optionality and fundamentals.</li><li><strong>WellCare Health Plans (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/wcg-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WCG</a>) </strong>- Same as CNC, plus a 2019 that's shaping up for outstanding growth.</li></ul></li><li><strong>"Cheap" laggards </strong>- Worth noting year-to-date underperformers, given overall healthcare momentum.<ul><li><strong>Mylan (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/myl-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MYL</a>), Abbvie (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/abbv-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABBV</a>), AmerisourceBergen (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/abc-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a>), Alexion Pharmaceuticals (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/alxn-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ALXN</a>), Bristol-Myers Squibb (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/bmy-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BMY</a>), Hologic (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/holx-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HOLX</a>)</strong></li></ul></li></ol><p class="tagline"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/ai-in-us-healthcare?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=dhealth_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=dhealth_ctgr_leadgen_ai_in_us_healthcare"></a></hr></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-note-9-review-worth-it-2018-8">The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is a $1,000 phone that's actually worth it</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

There's a new area of the stock market that's quietly crushing it - here are some simple trades that can get you in on the action

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Retail investors are dumping shares of COVID-19 vaccine makers and piling into antiviral pill maker Merck, data shows

Carla Mozée

Merck jumps 10% as the drugmaker says its antiviral pill cuts the risk of hospitalizations and deaths in COVID patients

Carla Mozée

There's a new area of the stock market that's quietly crushing it - here are some simple trades that can get you in on the action

Joe Ciolli

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