Amid the chip bear market, <a href="https://healthylife7.com/watch-mark-cuban-says-you-cant-fix-healthcare-until-every-price-is-known/” title=”Watch: Mark Cuban Says You Can’t Fix Healthcare Until Every Price Is Known”>healthcare is breaking out: Chart of the Day
Jared Blikre
Fri, August 21, 2026 at 3:30 PM GMT+5:30
3 min read
- MRNA
-23.55% - XLV
-1.87%
Moderna (MRNA) stock doubled on Wednesday and stole the show
But healthcare had already been quietly breaking out for months — just as chips were sliding into a bear market
Since semiconductors peaked on June 22, the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) has climbed more than 20%, and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) has gained roughly 16%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) has fallen just under 20% over the same stretch
XLV gave some of it back Thursday, turning in its worst day in five weeks after Wednesday’s 3.5% surge — its biggest one-day gain in more than a year
But neither Wednesday’s surge nor Thursday’s pullback is where this story starts
Healthcare’s rally also extends far beyond a single biotech moonshot
Excluding Moderna, roughly two-thirds of the healthcare stocks in a broad Yahoo Finance screen of more than 100 names are higher this week. Most biotech, pharmaceutical, and life-sciences tools stocks are participating, with Merck (MRK), IQVIA (IQV), Danaher (DHR), and Thermo Fisher (TMO) among the leaders
Not every corner is joining in. Managed-care stocks remain weak, keeping this from looking like a simple rush into defensive industries
The change in leadership is enormous in dollar terms
Since Aug. 14, Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), AMD (AMD), and Intel (INTC) have collectively shed nearly $500 billion in market value
Over the same stretch, Eli Lilly (LLY), Merck, AbbVie (ABBV), Moderna, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Thermo Fisher have added more than $200 billion
Chip leadership had already begun to showcracks earlier this summer. Now biotech is doing something it hasn’t managed in years
IBB has decisively broken above the area around its 2021 high near $178, which has repeatedly stopped rallies for almost five years. The ETF was trading above $210 Thursday afternoon, putting it well beyond that old ceiling
The price move looks dramatic. The money coming back into the sector looks much less dramatic
Healthcare ETFs suffered more than $20 billion of combined outflows from 2023 through 2025 chief ETF strategist at Baird Strategas. Healthcare ETFs have taken in about $4.5 billion so far in 2026
Even after the recent surge, healthcare’s performance versus the S&P 500 over the past three years still ranks among the weakest 10% of periods in Sohn’s historical data
