Oct 26, 2017

Pharmacy stocks tumble on opioid emergency, Amazon news

Stock prices of pharmacy chains and drug companies took a double hit Thursday afternoon as President Trump announced a "national public health emergency" for the opioid crisis and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Amazon gained approval in several states to be a wholesale drug distributor.

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Data: Money.net; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Key takeaways:

Stocks likely fell in anticipation of a government crackdown on drug distribution companies, but Trump's speech did not contain specifics about federal action against distributors.
News that Amazon is entering new markets has had the same effect on other industries, such as grocery chains. Amazon's move into pharmacy services was long-anticipated.
The end-of-day spike in CVS's share price might be explained by a Wall Street Journal report that CVS is considering an acquisition of insurance giant Aetna.

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