Gilead Shares Reacting To Death Of Patient

Joel Elconin is the co-host of Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep, a daily trading idea radio show.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD shares were trading lower by $2.00 (2 percent) at $100.29 in Monday's session. The catalyst for the decline is a warning from the company that two of the drugs that account for more than half its sales may cause abnormally slow heartbeats. The warning coincides with the death of Hepatitis patient on one the company's heart medications.

Upon the release of the unfavorable news, traders wasted no time in rehashing the implications of the headlines and immediately sent the issue to the depressed level of $92.41. That low coincides with its low from December 26, 2014, at $92.31.

Related Link: Why This Analyst Thinks Gilead's Technicals Are Setting Up For A Break

From that level, it rallied right back to the $100.00 level and has spent the majority of the regular session vacillating above and below that key psychological level. So far, it has been unable to reach Friday's intraday low ($101.70) or close ($102.29), only reaching $101.19.

On the downside, its has found support at $99.25, which is considerably above the pre-market low and the lowest level for the issue since it bottomed on March 18 at $98.54.