No DNA Found In IBB!

Over the past 6 weeks the most explosive company in the Biotech industry has been Genentech (DNA). I assumed when I was hearing the good news that I was participating in the gains through my investments in Biotech iShares (IBB)in my retirement account. But recently I pulled up a chart and saw that while DNA and the BBH (Holdr) had both skyrocketed to new yearly highs, IBB was still skidding along the lows for the year. I was in shock!

It turns out that ALL ETF's ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL!

In fact, the differences between BBH and IBB are absolutely striking! The reason I purchase IBB shares is because they accept fractional share purchases from accounts like FolioFN and Sharebuilder. But with such sharp differences in investment styles these two ETF's show absolutely no correlation to each other!

In BBH their position in DNA makes up just over 40% of their portfolio today and Amgen is the second biggest holding making up over 24%. When I searched through the daily holdings report for IBB I couldn't find any position in DNA! Could this be possible? The only large position in IBB is in Amgen and that is only 16%, the next largest position is 4.19% position in Gidead (GILD). A biotech ETF having no position whatsoever in the company that has pulled ahead of Amgen to the #1 Biotech Company in the world? It seems impossible but you can check for yourself and you can look at the charts below and see that it appears to be true! How disappointing...... From now on I will examine the fund holdings much more closely before investing.



Here is the chart for Genentech ( DNA )



Here is the Chart For the BBH Holdr over the same period



Sadly, here is the Chart for the IBB iShare ETF over the same period

SMH Held Bottom End Of Trading Range

The Semiconductor ETF (SMH) appears to have held support at the bottom of it's trading range which is $30. After a steep decline in 2004 SMH has been range bound between $30 and $35 for the past several months.

Oil Sector Appears To Be Topping

Oil prices plunged today as the weekly inventory report once again showed a higher than expected build in crude oil inventories. Supplies of crude oil are actually well above the 5 year average, but traders have kept the market near all time highs based on a shortage of refinery capacity. It appears that the spectulators headed for the exits after todays numbers.

"Oil plummeted $2.59 to $51.61 on the New York Mercantile Exchange following the government's weekly inventory report, which showed a 5.5 million barrel increase in crude supplies, but a 300,000 barrel draw on gasoline; analysts had been hoping for a build. The energy stocks in the S&P 500 collectively shed 2.58 percent on the news, according to the ETF that tracks the sector; Exxon Mobil Corp. dropped 1.5 percent, or 89 cents, to $58.38, making it Dow's worst performing stock for the day."

The XLE ( Energy Services ETF ) has been one of the best performing of the year, but closed down over $1 today on heavy volume.