The R&D Index for the week ending June 7, 2019 closed at 4,494.35 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 1.53% (or 67.57 basis points) from the week ending May 31, 2019. Twenty-four of the 25 R&D Index members gained value from 1.56% (Bayer AG) to 9.35% (Sanofi SA). Only one of the 25 R&D Index members lost value last week with Alphabet/Google dropping -3.45% to 1,068.37. Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook stocks were all victims of anti-trust fears early in the week with the Justice Department supposedly gearing specifically up for a Google anti-trust probe.
Following the large stock declines during the week ending May 24 and six consecutive weeks of stock declines, the Federal Reserve last Tuesday reversed that trend by indicating they may cut interest rates as early as by mid-June, but more likely (if at all) at their July 30-31 regular meeting. Stock finished last week with their best showing in more than six months. Adding fuel to the Fed’s comments was a report by the Labor Department that U.S. hiring has slowed to about 75,000 jobs in May, well below analysts’ expectations.
In its continuing reorganization, R&D Index member Bristol-Myers Squibb’s R&D chief (Thomas Lynch Jr.) will step down later this year following completion of BMS’s acquisition of Celgene. The BMS R&D duties will be split between a Celgene research executive and an incoming chief medical officer hired from R&D Index member Novartis. BMS obtained several drugs in the Celgene pipeline that were in the late stages of development. BMS stock was up 3% last week, but is still down 10% from January 1.
R&D Index member Pfizer announced last week that it has hired Calico executive Jeff Settleman to replace retiring oncology R&D head Robert Abraham.
R&D Index member Sanofi announced last week that its new CEO, Paul Hudson, has been hired from R&D Index member Novartis (its chief British pharma executive).
The Trump Administration last week canceled medical research funding for NIH scientists using fetal tissue, along with a contract with the University of California that involves research using fetal tissue derived from elective abortions to test HIV therapies. The ban involves about $20 million in research funding for the NIH.
R&D Index Week Ending June 7, 2019
| Ticker | Exchange | 2018 R&D millions U.S. $ | 05/31/19 | 06/07/19 | 6/7/19 to 5/31/19 | 6/7/19 to 12/31/18 | |
| Amazon | AMZN | NASDAQ | 26,750 | 1,775.07 | 1,804.03 | 1.63% | 20.11% |
| Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 18,796 | 1,106.50 | 1,068.37 | -3.45% | 2.24% |
| Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 14,037 | 175.07 | 190.15 | 8.61% | 20.86% |
| Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 13,702 | 44.04 | 46.03 | 4.52% | -1.92% |
| Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 13,558 | 123.68 | 131.40 | 6.24% | 29.37% |
| Roche Pharm | RHHBY | OTC | 12,284 | 32.88 | 34.24 | 4.14% | 10.17% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 11,493 | 131.15 | 138.55 | 5.64% | 7.36% |
| Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 11,323 | 79.21 | 82.46 | 4.10% | 7.92% |
| Volkswagen AG | VWAGY | OTC | 10,915 | 15.78 | 16.37 | 3.74% | 4.94% |
| Toyota | TM | NYSE | 10,848 | 117.58 | 122.39 | 4.09% | 5.44% |
| Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 8,934 | 85.64 | 88.06 | 2.83% | 2.62% |
| Honda | HMC | NYSE | 8,180 | 24.61 | 25.58 | 3.94% | -3.29% |
| Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 7,942 | 41.52 | 42.92 | 3.37% | -1.67% |
| Daimler | DDAIY | OTC | 7,615 | 51.76 | 54.01 | 4.35% | 2.35% |
| General Motors | GM | NYSE | 7,278 | 33.34 | 35.49 | 6.45% | 6.10% |
| Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 7,001 | 50.60 | 53.26 | 5.26% | 17.96% |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 6,981 | 45.37 | 46.75 | 3.04% | -10.06% |
| Eli Lilly Co | LLY | NYSE | 6,769 | 115.94 | 118.35 | 2.08% | 2.27% |
| GlaxoSmithKline | GSK | NYSE | 6,394 | 38.64 | 39.80 | 3.00% | 4.16% |
| Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6,009 | 52.03 | 55.93 | 7.50% | 29.08% |
| IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5,842 | 126.99 | 133.31 | 4.98% | 17.28% |
| Bayer AG | BAYN | OTC | 5,743 | 14.75 | 14.98 | 1.56% | -14.74% |
| Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 5,483 | 37.38 | 39.02 | 4.39% | 2.74% |
| Qualcomm | QCOM | NASDAQ | 5,183 | 66.82 | 68.69 | 2.80% | 20.72% |
| Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 4,694 | 40.43 | 44.21 | 9.35% | 1.84% |
| Total | 243,754 | 4,426.78 | 4,494.35 | 1.53% | 11.59% | ||
| Biopharmaceutical | 662.91 | 689.34 | 3.99% | 2.75% | |||
| Automotive | 243.07 | 253.84 | 4.43% | 3.88% | |||
| ICT | 1,745.73 | 1,747.14 | 0.19% | 8.50% | |||
About the R&D Index
R&D Magazine’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in research and development. The top 25 industrial spenders of R&D in 2017 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2018 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (11 companies), automotive (5), ICT (8) and conglomerate (1) organizations who invested a cumulative total of more than $209 billion in R&D in 2017, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spent in the world by government, industries and academia combined, according to R&D Magazine’s 2019 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D Index are tabulated from NASDAQ, NYSE, XETRA and OTC common stock prices (in U.S. dollars) for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the publication of the R&D Index in R&D Magazine’s R&D Daily eNewsletter.
