Infographic – Biotech Index Down in Q1 2023

Click on image for full-size view (Nasdaq)

1 Apr. 2023. The end of the quarter yesterday means it’s time to revisit the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index or NBI, our indicator of investor sentiment in science-based companies. Since the beginning of 2023, NBI is down more than one percent, despite showing signs of life earlier in the year.

Tracking the NBI since the opening bell on 3 Jan. shows the index climbing throughout most of January to nearly 4,400 on 27 Jan., only to begin a slow decline through February. The news of Silicon Valley Bank collapsing on 10 Mar. only accelerated the downward trend, closing that day at 3,891. Since that low point for the quarter — and not just for biotech stocks — NBI recovered some of its losses closing yesterday at 4,125.

Looking at NBI over the last six months, however, shows signs of hope. As we noted in our 2022 year-end roundup, NBI made some gains in the last quarter of the year, which continued in Jan. 2023, only to come crashing down with Silicon Valley Bank in early March. But since Oct. 2022 and despite those gyrations, NBI is up eight percent.

For the first three months of 2023, NBI underperformed the Nasdaq Composite Index, an indicator of investor sentiment in technology stocks overall, which rose 1.7 percent since 3 Jan. NBI is calculated from the share prices of 271 biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

More from Science & Enterprise:

• Infographic – Tech Layoffs Jump This Year
• Infographic – 2022 Biotech Venture Funding Weakens
• Infographic – Mixed Signals on 2022 Venture Funding

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