Bristol Myers stock falls toward 6-month low, set to suffer longest losing streak in 3 1/2 years

Shares of Bristol Myers Squibb Co. slumped 1.7% in midday trading Thursday toward a six-month low, putting them on track to suffer the longest losing streak in 3 1/2 years. The stock is headed for a ninth-straight loss, and has declined 7.8% during that stretch. The last time it suffered a losing streak that long was the nine-day stretch ended April 23, 2018, when the stock fell 8.8%, according to data compiled by Dow Jones Market Data. The selloff comes as Congress is working on the infrastructure bill, with Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal saying the bill will "very likely" include drug-cost provisions. Gal expects the three main provisions to be the benchmarking of drug prices in Medicare or drug-price negotiation, caps on price increases to inflation and restructuring of Medicare Part D to eliminate the coverage gap and catastrophic patient participation. Meanwhile, Gal said large-capitalization biopharma stock should move higher on legislation along Senate Finance Committee lines, as they can partially offset the 5%-15% downside on higher volumes, lower costs and higher drug prices at introduction. The SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF is down 1.1% toward a 10-month low, and has shed 3.5% during its current six-day losing streak. In comparison, the S&P 500 is down 0.4% on Thursday, and has lost ground in seven of that past nine sessions.

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