Pharmaceutical giants are dragging the S&P 500 down

Quarterly earnings reports for S&P 500 companies were generally positive, with one key exception: drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb suffered significant losses.

This is due to the acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics, but analysts are generally positive: in the second quarter, the company may achieve earnings per share of $1.69 compared to $1.75 a year earlier.

At the moment, 92% of S&P 500 companies have published their reports, and their profit growth was 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. This is the most significant year-on-year increase in the index's profit since the second quarter of 2022.

Profits in the healthcare sector declined by about 25.4% over the year, which is similar to the drop in the energy sector. Pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Gilead Sciences suffered losses. If you do not take into account the results of Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Gilead Sciences, the S&P 500 index would show a 9.7% profit increase.

In general, experts expect a recovery in the entire healthcare sector in the second quarter with a projected growth of 17.2%.