Rebalancing act

Companies in the midst of launching products or with weak balance sheets have been sold off or avoided by most investors during the market roller-coaster of the past two weeks. However, a handful of companies have been insulated from the carnage - their common threads being strong sales, pending or potential acquisitions, or positive data. Large caps as a group also held up relatively well.

In the last two weeks, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NBI) fell 13%. The BioCentury 100 was off 12%, while the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index (BTK) lost 17%. Over the same time, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ were both off 9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 7%(see "Seeing Red," A2)...