AT LAST, INVESTORS LIKE CHEMICALS: Chemical company stocks bested those of drug and bio tech firms in the fourth quarter

IT IS NO SECRET THAT INVESTORS tired of technology stocks in 2000, but this was good news for chemical and pharmaceutical shares. However, during the fourth quarter, biopharmaceutical issues got caught in the tech trap and, as a group, saw stock prices fall during those three months. Long beaten down by Wall Street, chemicals were the star growth performers during the quarter among the three industry segments. C&EN's stock index of 25 major chemical companies rose 22.5% from the end of the third quarter to finish at 158 (1992 = 100), with most of the growth coming in the last two weeks of the year when the index rose almost 13%. C&EN's index for major pharmaceutical companies was up 13.6% for the quarter, while the biopharmaceutical index fell 12.0%. The fourth quarter, in which investors abandoned high technology and put their money into old-line issues, sending the NASDAQ down 33%, actually saved the year for ...