The R&D Index for the holiday-shortened week ending February 22, 2019 closed at 4,348.28 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 0.86% (or 37.26 basis points) from the week ending February 15, 2019. The stock of 20 R&D Index members gained value from 0.05% (Astra Zeneca) to 3.75% (Daimler). The stock of five R&D Index members lost value from -0.27% (Alphabet/Google) to -3.22% (Sanofi SA).
The Federal Reserve stated last week that it would consider changing its policy framework to encourage periods of modestly higher inflation. The Fed stated that consumers and businesses need to guard against anticipating low inflation, lest their expectations become self-fulfilling. The Fed’s 2.0% inflation target has been consistently undercut since 2021.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week established a new committee to set scientific guidelines for editing DNA. The committee, which includes Chinese representatives, plans to meet in March to examine the scientific, ethical, social and legal challenges associated with editing human genes and make recommendations to the research community. These guidelines will create an understanding on how to promote transparency, accountability and risk assessments that should be made before signoffs are granted on DNA-based experiments. However, analysts state that the committee’s recommendations are not likely to be enforceable.
AT&T announced last week that it would discontinue support of 3G service in early 2022. The currently available 4G (or LTE) service allows users to download data 10 times faster than with 3G systems.
Increasing trade disparity data released last week between Asian countries such as Japan-China and Korea-China point to the declining economic growth in China. Analysts note that this data overwhelms any trade agreement that might be obtained between the U.S. and China. The only cure to the fading global growth malaise, according to analysts, lies in the success of China’s internal economic stimulus efforts.
R&D Index member Johnson & Johnson last week received subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department seeking documents related to the safety of its talc powder. More than 13,000 lawsuits have now been filed against the company over the past several years citing ovarian cancer and mesothelioma injuries. The lawsuits claim J&J knew for decades that the talc contained cancer-causing asbestos, which was concealed from regulators.
R&D Index Week Ending February 22, 2019
| Ticker | Exchange | 2018 R&D millions U.S. $ | 02/15/19 | 02/22/19 | 2/22/19 to 2/15/19 | 2/22/19 to 12/31/18 | |
| Amazon | AMZN | NASDAQ | 26,750 | 1,607.95 | 1,631.56 | 1.47% | 8.63% |
| Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 18,796 | 1,119.63 | 1,116.56 | -0.27% | 6.85% |
| Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 14,037 | 170.42 | 172.97 | 1.50% | 9.66% |
| Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 13,702 | 51.66 | 52.49 | 1.61% | 11.85% |
| Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 13,558 | 108.22 | 110.97 | 2.54% | 9.25% |
| Roche Pharm | RHHBY | OTC | 12,284 | 34.02 | 34.73 | 2.09% | 11.74% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 11,493 | 136.38 | 136.60 | 0.16% | 5.85% |
| Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 11,323 | 79.81 | 80.77 | 1.20% | 5.71% |
| Volkswagen AG | VWAGY | OTC | 10,915 | 16.61 | 17.14 | 3.19% | 9,87% |
| Toyota | TM | NYSE | 10,848 | 121.15 | 121.82 | 0.55% | 4.94% |
| Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 8,934 | 89.88 | 90.78 | 1.00% | 5.79% |
| Honda | HMC | NYSE | 8,180 | 27.37 | 28.17 | 2.92% | 6.50% |
| Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 7,942 | 42.40 | 42.96 | 1.32% | -1.58% |
| Daimler | DDAIY | OTC | 7,615 | 57.11 | 59.25 | 3.75% | 12.28% |
| General Motors | GM | NYSE | 7,278 | 39.09 | 39.99 | 2.30% | 19.55% |
| Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 7,001 | 51.72 | 52.48 | 1.47% | 16.23% |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 6,981 | 51.67 | 50.98 | -1.34% | -1.92% |
| Eli Lilly Co | LLY | NYSE | 6,769 | 122.48 | 124.00 | 1.24% | 7.16% |
| GlaxoSmithKline | GSK | NYSE | 6,394 | 41.24 | 40.55 | -1.67% | 6.12% |
| Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6,009 | 49.43 | 50.11 | 1.38% | 15.65% |
| IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5,842 | 138.03 | 139.25 | 0.88% | 22.50% |
| Bayer AG | BAYN | OTC | 5,743 | 19.30 | 18.91 | -2.02% | 7.63% |
| Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 5,483 | 40.92 | 40.94 | 0.05% | 7.79% |
| Qualcomm | QCOM | NASDAQ | 5,183 | 51.98 | 53.12 | 2.19% | -6.64% |
| Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 4,694 | 42.55 | 41.18 | -3.22% | -5.14% |
| Total | 243,754 | 4,311.02 | 4,348.28 | 0.86% | 7.97% | ||
| Biopharmaceutical | 700.65 | 702.40 | 0.25% | 4.70% | |||
| Automotive | 261.33 | 266.37 | 1.93% | 9.01% | |||
| ICT | 1,741.09 | 1,747.95 | 0.45% | 8.55% | |||
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.
