Equipment Check:
There is some notable bifurcation going on in the healthcare arena. As the biotech arena slowly has air deflating from its balloon the equipment space is happily inhaling it. A glaring discrepancy is taking place this week thus far with the IHI higher marginally, while the XBI is off 4%. With the IHI within spitting distance from an all time high, just 1% off it, the XBI is still hovering in correction mode, off by 10% from most recent 52 week highs. From a pure technical standpoint the IHI is trading very tight with the last 3 weeks all CLOSING within just 1.4% of each other. Its chart sports a bull flag formation just underneath the very round 300 figure, and a CLOSE above 297 carries a measured move higher of 30 handles. Some leaders in the space could take a cue from AAPL and TSLA and split their stocks, as ABMD is trying to maintain altitude above a bull flag breakout at the round 300 number. Peer MTD is honing in on 4 figures with the 1000 number. PEN and TMO round out the triple digit names, and kicking the tires within the equipment club is conveying everything is ok for the time being.