Healthcare stocks declined Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Healthcare Index decreasing 0.4% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) shedding 0.7%.
The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) rose 2.2%.
In corporate news, IQVIA (IQV) shares fell 3.3% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the company to equalweight from overweight and cut its price target to $200 from $225.
Novo Nordisk (NVO) said it is aware of claims by cyber extortion group FulcrumSec that it stole company data and sought a $25 million payment, Reuters reported. Novo shares were up 1.8%.
Moderna (MRNA) plans to invest in production sites in Germany and is interested in the plants that BioNTech (BNTX) has slated for closure, according to a Google translation of a Wednesday report from German news outlet Handelsblatt. Moderna shares jumped past 8%, and BioNTech was up 4%.