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.
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.
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.” Reuters
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.
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.
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.
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.
