Immunotherapy ETF Heats Up

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Noah Kiedrowski - INO.com Contributor - Biotech - Immunotherapy


Immunotherapy Heats Up

The Immunotherapy space has ushered in a new class of therapies to combat a variety of diseases, most notably cancer. Immunotherapy has been emerging from the backdrop of oncology research for years most notably from smaller companies such as Dendreon, Kite Pharma and Juno Therapeutics as leaders in the space. Dendreon was first-to-market with its activated cellular therapy, Provenge® in 2010 followed by a 7-year gap until Novartis’ Kymriah® was approved in August of 2017 which was shortly followed up by the approval of Kite Pharma’s Yescata® in November of 2017.

Now, immunotherapy is at the forefront in oncology as a leading therapeutic which has been shown to cure cancer in previously untreatable patients. Immunotherapy ushers in a new class of promising therapies by harnessing the body’s immune system to recognize and eradicate debilitating diseases, specifically cancer. Immunotherapy has been shown to have a favorable side effect profile and best-in-class efficacy across many different disease states. These therapies may provide a powerful technology to contend with a host of diseases, and in a future state, may potentially serve as a preventative technology similar to a traditional vaccine. Immunotherapy has evolved into many different classifications with differing modalities over the past several years, which has given rise to a growing number mid and small-cap biotechnology companies. In late 2015, The Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF (NASDAQ:CNCR) and provides investors with an opportunity to invest in this unique cohort.

Immunotherapy – The Science

Generally speaking, cancer is immuno-tolerant, meaning these cancerous cells evade the surveillance mechanisms of the immune system and thus persist, proliferate and manifest disease within the host. The immune system cannot distinguish cancerous cells from normal host cells thus giving rise to malignancy and metastasis. Continue reading "Immunotherapy ETF Heats Up" →

Stocks Rise After Soft Opening

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. After a rough week where all three indexes ended lower the Monday open seemed to continue that trend with the indexes opening lower on the day. However, late morning brought about a turnaround, and the stock market is solidly in positive territory for the day. The reason for the turnaround? Speculation by traders that President Donald Trump's tough tariff talk won't translate into the most severe protectionist policies as many had feared.

Trump appears to be opening the door for negotiations on tariffs. In a series of tweets Monday morning, Trump said: "Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed," adding that "Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done."

Also, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was "extremely worried" about Trump's trade plan. Congressional leaders will not rule out potential action if Trump decides to move forward with his tariff plan.

Stocks Rise

Key Events Coming This Week

Continue reading "Stocks Rise After Soft Opening" →

U.S. Crude Production Eased In December

Posted on by Robert Boslego

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies - U.S. Crude Production


The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that December U.S. crude production averaged 9.949 million barrels per day (mmbd) in December, off 108,000 b/d from November. The primary cause of the decline was unexpected seasonal factors, which caused production in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to drop by 131,000 b/d and output in North Dakota to dip by 15,000 b/d. The EIA had expected a 30,000 b/d dip in GOM production. Meanwhile, production in Texas and New Mexico reached new historically-high levels of 3.933 mmbd and 556,000 b/d, rising 36,000 b/d and 26,000 b/d, respectively.

It is worth noting that EIA also revised its November estimate up by 19,000 b/d to 10.057 mmbd. As a result, November 2017 broke the November 1970 production record of 10.044 mmbd.

Even with December’s seasonal drop, the EIA-914 Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM) figure was still 193,000 b/d higher than the week data reported by EIA in the Weekly Petroleum Supply Report (WPSR), averaged for the month, of 9.756 mmbd. EIA’s model failed to forecast the surge in production which began in August and totaled 846,000 b/d through November. Continue reading "U.S. Crude Production Eased In December" →

Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery

Posted on by The INO.com Team

We've asked Michael Seery of SEERYFUTURES.COM to give our INO readers a weekly recap of the Futures market. He has been Senior Analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets.

Michael frequently appears on multiple business networks including Bloomberg news, Fox Business, CNBC Worldwide, CNN Business, and Bloomberg TV. He is also a guest on First Business, which is a national and internationally syndicated business show.

Gold Futures

Gold futures in the April contract settled last Friday in New York at 1,330 an ounce while currently trading at 1,326 down about $4 for the trading week. However, its currently trading up $18 as money flows are coming out of the equity market and into the precious metals as a flight to quality. I'm not involved in gold as this market remains reasonably choppy in my opinion as we did hit a two month low in yesterday's trade as the chart structure is very poor which tells you that the monetary risk is too high to enter into a bullish or bearish position. Gold prices are still trading under their 20 and 100-day moving average as the short-term trend is the downside with a possible double top created around the 1,365 level. I still see choppiness ahead so avoid this market at the current time and look at other stronger trends that are developing. The U.S. stock market has dropped about 1200 points over the last four days as that's what is finally starting to support prices. The U.S. dollar hit a six week high in yesterday's trade, and that is also keeping a lid on prices here in the short-term. I will wait for a better chart pattern to develop before entering into a position. If you take a look at the daily chart there is major support around the 1,300 level as in yesterday's trade we traded as low as 1,303, and I suspect that will be strong support in the weeks ahead.
TREND: MIXED
CHART STRUCTURE: POOR
VOLATILITY: SOLID
Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery" →

The Ultimate Buzz Word ETF

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs - Buzz Word ETF


On January 30th the team at Exchange Traded Concepts, an Exchange Traded Fund issuer, released the "Ultimate Buzz Word" ETF, the Innovation Shares NextGen Protocol ETF (KOIN). Alright, I’ll admit, the name may not be loaded with buzz words. But the fund’s concept is loaded with recently popular buzz words such as “Blockchain” and “Artificial Intelligence.”

The KOIN ETF is a fund that tracks an index that uses artificial intelligence to pick global stocks which have current or future interests in blockchain technology. On the surface, this ETF just feels like someone trying to take advantage of today’s hot investing buzz words.

Even after Bitcoin rose from under $1,000 to above $19,000 in less than a year, most retail investors didn’t fully understand what blockchain technology was. But they knew that while a lot of big-name investors and economist were skeptical of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies’, the one thing most people would agree on was that blockchain technology was great. Continue reading "The Ultimate Buzz Word ETF" →