Wednesday's Loser: Hospital Stocks

Hillary Clinton isn’t the only big loser on Wednesday. Hospital stocks Universal Health Services, Inc. UHS, HealthSouth Corp HLS, Tenet Healthcare Corp THC and Community Health Systems CYH were down between 4.3 and 23.9 percent in early Wednesday trading on fears that the new Republican government will follow through on its promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.

Newly-elected Donald Trump has pulled no punches when it comes to his plans for Obamacare.

“Obamacare is a disaster. You know it. We all know it,” Trump said at last month’s debate. “We have to repeal it and replace it with something absolutely much less expensive.”

Trump has provided few details on what that replacement could look like.

Health insurance stocks are plummeting as well. Centene Corp CNC shares were down 17.2 percent and Molina Healthcare, Inc. MOH was down 12.0 percent.

Biotechs/Pharmaceuticals

While hospital investors are fretting over the uncertainty, pharmaceutical stock investors are breathing sighs of relief on Wednesday. Clinton had made drug pricing a centerpiece of her campaign and had even called out drug companies Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX, Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD and Mylan NV MYL by name for their pricing practices. All three stocks are up by more than 2.4 percent on Wednesday.

At Last Check

• Centene was down 18.78 percent at $54.20.
• Community Health was down 20.29 percent at $4.74.
• Gilead Sciences was up 6.23 percent at $78.65.
• HealthSouth was down 5.99 percent at $38.59.
• Molina was down 15.11 percent at $49.88.
• Mylan was up 5 percent at $38.97.
• Tenet was down 23.53 percent at $15.50.
• Universal Health was down 6.71 percent at $119.47.
• Valeant was up 5.81 percent at $15.85.