Dive Brief:
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Healthcare stocks rallied Tuesday, opening more than 2% higher one day after the sector sank nearly 4%.
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Managed healthcare was particularly hard-hit Monday, with leading stocks in the sub-sector losing nearly 4.9%, according to Thomson Reuters.
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Other parts of the healthcare sector also had large losses Monday, with medical equipment, supplies and distribution off nearly 4% and healthcare facilities down about 3.6%.
Dive Insight:
The phrase "buying opportunity" clearly took over when US markets opened Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 350 points. Major healthcare stocks recovered -- at least temporarily -- alongside the larger market.
The rally followed an ugly, stomach-churning Monday. The Dow sank more than 1,000 points shortly after Monday's opening, recovered about three-fourths of that, and then sank and fell and sank and fell all day. The healthcare sector went along for the painful ride, down nearly 3.9%, according to Thomson Reuters. No major segment of healthcare was spared and many fared even worse than the Dow.
Of course, it's far to soon to say what the longer-term impact of this churn will be -- if any -- on the industry. But Monday's losses, right on the heels of other recent bad market days, come in a sector that's had a lot of M&A activity lately and has outperformed broader indices in recent months. Thus, there had to be a sense of relief in some healthcare C-suites Tuesday morning.