NEW YORK—Shares of biotechnology companies remained mostly stable Thursday, as the broader market slid on a concerns over an economic slowdown and Oracle Corp.'s worse-than-expected third-quarter sales.
The American Stock Exchange's biotechnology index fell .66 points to 729.43. The index tracks several bellwether stocks. The Nasdaq Stock Market's biotechnology index, which covers a broader range of small- and midcap stocks, rose .16 points, to 778.84.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 120.40 points to 12,302.46 while the technology heavy Nasdaq fell 43.53 points to 2,280.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 15.37 points to 1,325.76.
Here's how several key biotechnology stocks performed Thursday:
Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme Corp., up 17 cents to $73.40.
Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen Inc., down 51 cents to $41.49.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen Idec Inc., down 53 cents to $62.46.
South San Francisco, Calif.-based Genentech Inc. down $1.88, or 2.3 percent, to $80.13.
