Biotech Will Miss Its Annual Boost From Fall Meetings

Important biotech conferences and meetings are being canceled or postponed due to last week's terrorist attack, robbing the sector of the sparks needed to help ignite a year-end rally.

The fall calendar is usually chockfull of market-moving biotech events that drive stocks higher. So the absence of these events -- at a time when the biotech sector is already under tremendous pressure -- is not helping matters.

The American Stock Exchange Biotech Index was down another 3% Tuesday, after falling almost 8% Monday. The index is now down more than 30% for the year. ...