Healthcare stocks rally as investors seek safety amid tech debt worries

Johnson & Johnson

15/10/2026 16:46

** The S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC hit a record high on Thursday as investors rotated into defensive stocks amid concerns about a potential debt crisis among highly leveraged technology companies
** Shares of drugmaker Eli Lilly LLY.N rose 5.2%, while Bristol Myers BMY.N, Amgen AMGN.O, Abbvie ABBV.N, J&J JNJ.N, Pfizer PFE.N were up 4-2%; the overall Index was last up 2.8% 
** "We also saw a rotation into the very defensive consumer staples, health care and utility stocks," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York
** On Wednesday, RBC Capital Markets swapped its preference for US technology stocks in favor of healthcare, upgrading the latter to "overweight" and cutting tech to "market weight" on valuation concerns

 (Reporting by Darshan Kumar and Sahil Pandey)
 ((Darshan.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com))