Vertex Pulls Nasdaq Down, but Wall Street Loves Zoom

The Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) continued to lose ground on Thursday, adding to a pullback over the last few days that has taken the steam out of the tech-heavy benchmark's advance since mid-September. Market participants aren't getting all the support they think they deserve from government policymakers, and the result was an across-the-board decline for major indexes. Having risen the furthest, the Nasdaq had the furthest to fall, and it was down almost 1% as of 2 p.m. EDT.

Playing a sizable role in pulling down the market, Nasdaq-100 member Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) took a big hit on bad news from its drug pipeline. Meanwhile, Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) continued to move higher as those following the video conferencing disruptor are getting even more optimistic about its long-term prospects.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals saw its shares drop nearly 20% on Thursday afternoon. The drug company made an announcement on a promising candidate treatment for a rare disease that disappointed investors.

Source Fool.com