Douglas Estadt submits:

Delcath Systems (DCTH) is a biotech stock that does pose some risk, but with Phase III results just around the corner, we couldn’t help but take a look and ended up buying. They develop and manufacture devices to give high doses of chemotherapy and other cancer therapies directly to diseased organs or areas of the body.

Their PHP system (which is their leading candidate product) is in phase III clinical trials. This system allows physicians to deliver higher doses of chemotherapy directly to the liver at 100x as much as IV doses. They offer a minimally invasive approach to targeted areas that causes much less side effects than current chemo treatments. More importantly, the procedure can be repeated for follow up treatment without the high risk to patients associated with repeating other cancer therapies.

Complete Story »

The Pragmatic Capitalist submits:

Curious timing here for the largest sell-off in several weeks (amazing that a 0.33% sell-off is “large” in this environment). There have been rampant rumors of window dressing, prop desk trading and risk asset purchases on the back of the Fed’s MBS program in recent weeks and as the quarter comes to a close and the Fed’s purchasing program ends the buying appears to have died down substantially.

Whether this is a sign of things to come or not has yet to be seen, but it is certainly curious. The market appears strenuously overbought and is pricing in very optimistic earnings and economic data in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, investors have been very complacent in recent weeks.

Complete Story »

Prieur du Plessis submits:

I posted a short article “Picture du Jour: Keep an eye on small caps” about 10 days ago, arguing that small caps, a leading performer since the lows of March 9 last year, seem to be tiring. This is illustrated by the relative chart of the Russell 2000 Index versus the S&P 500 Index below. (A rising relative-strength trendline indicates small caps outperforming and vice versa.)

Complete Story »

Eddy Elfenbein submits:

Twelve million percent — that’s what micro-caps have done since the Great Depression.

Here’s a breakdown of market performance by size decile. The smallest have done the best and the biggest have done the worst.

Complete Story »

Microcap Speculator submits:

Complete Story »