The S&P 500 Index (^GSPC +0.80%) is on a winning streak, and it's not a shabby one, either. After surging to five-year highs last Thursday and Friday, the benchmark index again set new five-year highs on Tuesday. Today's gains marked the longest winning streak in about a month and a half as a slew of earnings impressed Wall Street. Unfortunately, three S&P 500 stocks were notable exceptions, falling big time.
Edwards Lifesciences (EW +0.00%) was the index's biggest laggard today, falling 2.7%. The major catalyst may have actually been due to what happened with another company. St. Jude Medical received "CE Mark" approval for two devices that treat heart conditions, a major market for Edwards. Although a CE Mark by no means amounts to FDA approval, it is a step forward for a competitor, and Wall Street sold off Edwards' stock as a result.
The recent spinoff from Abbott Labs, AbbVie (ABBV +0.01%), will be featured one last time in Abbott's earnings report tomorrow. AbbVie, which pays a 4.4% dividend, may not yet have the recognition from the markets that its parent company did, but with a $57 billion market cap and a strong portfolio of pharmaceuticals backing it up, today's 2.4% loss may be more of a temporary setback than an indication of future performance.
With online video streamer Netflix's (NFLX +1.41%) 1.4% decline today, we begin to see a bit of a Tuesday trend. Companies set to report results tomorrow are falling as investors become anxious about quarterly results. Netflix, which is expected to swing to a loss this quarter, has recently made a point to pay up for new, popular content. Tomorrow may be an indication of just how much the new content cost the company.
