New York, February 9, 2026, 13:11 EST — Regular session
- Healthcare stocks trailed the broader U.S. market, with JNJ dipping roughly 1%.
- Merck and Amgen posted steeper declines, putting more pressure on the major pharmaceutical names.
- This week, traders are positioning themselves ahead of key U.S. jobs and inflation numbers.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) slipped roughly 1.1% to $237.45 in early afternoon action Monday, pulling back from a session high of $240.74. Shares touched a low of $237.29, and volume stood near 3.2 million.
The drop stood out against a resilient broader market. The SPDR fund tied to the S&P 500 climbed roughly 0.6%, while Invesco’s Nasdaq-focused QQQ added about 0.9%. The Dow ETF barely moved.
The split stands out, since J&J is typically the type of steady stock investors count on—dividends, not fireworks. But with a busy stretch of U.S. data and earnings on deck, traders wasted little time fading defensive plays after Friday’s surge pushed the Dow over 50,000 for the first time. 1
The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund, which follows major U.S. healthcare names, slipped nearly 1%. Merck lost 3.6%, Amgen shed around 2.9%. Pfizer was also in the red.
The retreat follows a solid advance. J&J shares jumped 17.42% over the past month, according to Simply Wall St, while total return for the year hit 61.53%. Those kinds of numbers often prompt investors to lock in gains when the sector stumbles. 2
The company, in its most recent quarterly update, projected 2026 sales between $99.5 billion and $100.5 billion, with expected profit coming in at $11.43 to $11.63 a share. CEO Joaquin Duato noted, “confident growth in 2026 will be faster than in 2025.” CFO Joseph Wolk, for his part, estimated a U.S. drug-pricing deal could cost the firm “hundreds of millions of dollars.” 3
There’s a dividend coming up for J&J. The board signed off on a $1.30 per share first-quarter payout, with March 10 set as the payment date. Shareholders need to be on record by Feb. 24 to receive it, and that’s also the ex-dividend date — the last day to pick up shares and still qualify for the cash. 4
Still, legal troubles linger. Johnson & Johnson is contending with over 67,500 lawsuits tied to claims that its talc products caused cancer. Just last week, a New Jersey appeals court blocked a plaintiffs’ firm from participating in state cases due to an ethics violation—a move the firm plans to challenge on appeal. 5
Macro jitters haven’t gone away. On Monday, the New York Fed’s latest survey pointed to softer one-year inflation expectations for January—another sign that rate outlooks keep shifting below the surface, even if equities don’t show it. 6
Traders are watching for Wednesday’s January U.S. employment numbers and Friday’s CPI figures, both scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Eastern per the BLS calendar. The data could steer defensives and dividend names over the week. 7
