Biotech stocks are breaking out. How Josh Brown is trading them

Cnbc · Aug 24, 2026 · 1640 words · By Josh Brown; Sean Russo; Joshua Brown

Technical Analysis Market Sentiment Biotechnology Investment

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Daily briefing

What to know about Technical Analysis

(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — You probably hear Sean and me talk about gaps a lot.

Claims checked 15

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

1 source compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — You probably hear Sean and me talk about gaps a lot.

Why it matters

They are the place on the chart where you can see buyers and sellers jumping ahead to a fast repricing, usually in response to company-specific news that suddenly and unexpectedly changes everyone's minds.

Common ground

Edwards and Magee spent decades classifying them, and the most important distinction is between a breakaway gap and everything else.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Technical Analysis story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that It's [Merck] up about 15% since then [July 6] and roughly 30% YTD?
How does this story connect Technical Analysis with Market Sentiment over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/24/biotech-stocks-are-breaking-out-how-josh-brown-i…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 80% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 15 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 5

verified Verified By Reference 3

check_circle Corroborated 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 1

verified Verified 1

verified

Claim 1: “It's [Merck] up about 15% since then [July 6] and roughly 30% YTD.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While there is evidence about Merck's general business and earnings dates, none of the provided sources confirm the specific stock price percentage increases since July 6 or the YTD figure of 30%.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_&_Co.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and a presence in 66 countries. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_Group

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Merck family is a German noble family of industrialists and bankers, known for establishing the world's oldest pharmaceutical company Merck, its American former subsidiary Merck & Co. (MSD), which…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_family

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 2: “Merck and Moderna reported that a Phase 3 trial of "intismeran autogene" combined with Keytruda (MRK's big money maker) hit its primary goal of recurrence-free survival in patients with stage IIB–IV melanoma.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (Merck/Moderna announcement, NTx Bio via LinkedIn, and Wikipedia) confirm that the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of intismeran autogene combined with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) met its primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival in stage IIB-IV melanoma patients.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer occurring in about three thousand persons per year in the United States. It is also known as cutaneous APUDoma, primary neuroendocrine carcinom…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkel-cell_carcinoma

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Intismeran autogene (previously known by its investigational drug name mRNA-4157/V940) is an mRNA based cancer vaccine encapsulated in solid lipid nanoparticles. The 34 mRNA sequences in mRNA-4157/V94…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intismeran_autogene

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Therapeutic, diagnostic and preventive monoclonal antibodies are clones of a single parent cell. When used as drugs, the International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) end in -mab. The remaining syllables …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_therapeutic_monoclonal…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “Three of their main drugs Repatha, Evenity and Tezspire were up 37%, 38% and 42% respectively.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 4: “This is the first time an mRNA therapy and a checkpoint inhibitor have worked together in a Phase 3 trial for any cancer.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The search results for this claim only provide dictionary definitions of the word 'first'. There is no medical or financial evidence provided to confirm if this is the first time such a combination worked in a Phase 3 trial.

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web search NEUTRAL — 4 days ago · The meaning of FIRST is preceding all others in time, order, or importance. How to use first in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/first

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web search NEUTRAL — adj [ticket, carriage] → de première classe She has booked a first-class ticket → Elle a réservé un billet de première classe.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/first

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web search NEUTRAL — FIRST is the premier organization and recognized global leader in incident response. Membership in FIRST enables incident response teams to more effectively respond to security incidents - reactive as…
https://www.first.org/

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Claim 5: “Q2 revenue was $10.1 billion, up 10%, with product sales up 9% to $9.5 billion, net income of $2.4 billion and $3.5 billion of free cash flow in the quarter.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 6: “It also improved distant metastasis-free survival”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources, including Pharmacy Times and a news report on mRNA melanoma vaccines, confirm that the trial also improved distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS).

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ivonescimab is a humanized bispecific monoclonal antibody currently being trialed for use against non-small-cell lung cancer. Developed by Akeso, it has been approved in China for the treatment of epi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivonescimab

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, is a humanized monoclonal antibody, more specifically a PD-1 inhibitor, used in cancer immunotherapy to treat many types of cancer. It is administere…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pembrolizumab

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 7: “mRNA-linked names added roughly $100 billion of market value on the news.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm the $100 billion increase in market value for mRNA-linked names.

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Claim 8: “the company [Merck] reported a $4.2 billion GAAP net loss”

VERIFIED

The Motley Fool explicitly reports that Merck reported a GAAP net loss of $4.2 billion in the first six months of 2026.

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web search NEUTRAL — The company reported a GAAP net loss of $4.2 billion in the first six months of 2026, compared to an income of $10.9 billion in the same period of 2025.Merck reported $6.89B in cash and cash equivalen…
https://www.fool.com/quote/nyse/mrk/

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web search NEUTRAL — Merck beats Q2 2026 earnings estimates with $16.6B revenue, driven by KEYTRUDA and WINREVAIR growth. FDA approves LIPFENDRA, first oral PCSK9 inhibitor.
https://thedailyupdate.co/2026/08/04/merck-reports-strong-q2…

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web search NEUTRAL — 3Merck reported a GAAP net loss of $1.335 billion, or $(0.54) per share, driven by a $5.7 billion R&D charge from acquiring Terns Pharmaceuticals, but raised full-year sales guidance to $66.3 billion …
https://getbiobrief.com/story/merck-evaxion-evb3-ai-vaccine-…

verified

Claim 9: “As of Aug 24, there are 217 names on The Best Stocks in the Market list.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence consists of generic stock market information, a YouTube video from 2021, and general Wikipedia entries. None of the sources mention a specific list called 'The Best Stocks in the Market' or the number 217 as of August 24.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In business and investing, a megacap stock (also mega-cap or mega cap) is a stock whose market capitalization (market cap) is among the very largest. These are stocks of the largest publicly traded co…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacap_stock

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Wall Street crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major stock market crash in the United States which began in October 1929 with a sharp decline in prices on the New York Stock Excha…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_crash_of_1929

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of the largest daily changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1896. Compare to the list of largest daily changes in the S&P 500 Index.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_daily_changes_…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 10: “Management raised full-year revenue guidance to $38.2–$39.4 billion and non-GAAP EPS to $22.30–$23.50, a $0.50 raise at the midpoint, with operating margin guided to 45%–46%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 11: “Moderna went up over 175% in a day, then gave back 20% of it Thursday.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (ChainCatcher and TikTok/Social media reports) mention Moderna's stock soaring over 175% (specifically 177%) in a day following the trial news. However, the specific 'gave back 20% on Thursday' part is not explicitly detailed in the snippets, but the primary surge is corroborated.

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web search NEUTRAL — According to Gate market data, Moderna MRNA.O stock price soared a record 177%, with a market value increase of 44 billion dollars.
https://www.chaincatcher.com/en/article/2283903

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web search NEUTRAL — The sharp rise in stock prices has resulted in approximately $5.5 billion in paper losses for short sellers of Moderna shares.William Blair analyst Miles Minter upgraded Moderna’s stock rating from “m…
https://en.oninvest.com/article/moderna-s-stock-price-nearly…

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web search NEUTRAL — Moderna stock rose over 175% yesterday after they announced a successful Phase 3 trial for their personalized cancer vaccine #stocks #stockmarket.Moderna shares have skyrocketed 177% in one day! Disco…
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/me-wishing-id-bought-moderna…

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Claim 12: “rare disease was up 21%, oncology was up 18% and biosimilars were up 29%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 13: “Amgen... It's up about 17% since then [March 9] and 35% YTD”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 14: “XBI is up 34% YTD after gaining 36% last year”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The search results for this claim are completely irrelevant, returning travel guides for Tokyo and a general list of ETFs. There is no data regarding XBI's YTD or previous year performance.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a table of notable American exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. As of 2020, the number of exchange-traded funds worldwide was over 7,600, representing about 7.74 trillion U.S. dollars in assets. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_exchange-trad…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — All you need to know about Tokyo's tourist attractions, events, hotels, transportations & more from the official travel guide of Tokyo for visitors.
https://www.gotokyo.org/en/index.html

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web search NEUTRAL — Aug 30, 2026 · Explore Tokyo with this travel guide covering must-see attractions, top things to do, budget tips, and best day trips—perfect for planning your ideal itinerary.
https://japanwanderlust.com/tokyo/travel-guide/

+ 1 more evidence source

help

Claim 15: “Merck closed at $152.20, an all-time high”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm Merck's closing price of $152.20 or that it was an all-time high.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.