---
title: "Photonics and tanker funds lead as Novartis trial misses hit drug stocks"
url: "https://etf.net/news/photonics-and-tanker-funds-lead-as-novartis-trial-misses-hit-drug-stocks-2026-09-08"
published_at: "2026-09-08T21:10:29.070Z"
updated_at: "2026-09-08T21:10:29.070Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# Photonics and tanker funds lead as Novartis trial misses hit drug stocks

Tuesday, September 8, 2026: tanker fund BWET rose 8.9% and photonics fund LYTE 8.2%; Novartis fell 13.9%, and biotech fund BBH lost 3.6%.

By ETF.net Research. Published Sep 8, 2026.

Amgen fell **10.1%** to $393.17 after Novartis said pelacarsen lowered lipoprotein(a), a blood fat tied to heart disease, and still failed to reduce cardiovascular events. Amgen is developing olpasiran in the same class. Novartis fell **13.9%** to $137.70. A second miss, del-desiran in myotonic dystrophy type 1, a muscle-wasting disease, hit names with a similar trial endpoint: Dyne Therapeutics dropped 16.4%, Sarepta 6.9%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which counts Amgen as a member, dropped 628.18 points, or **1.18%**, to **52,786.07** on the first U.S. session after Labor Day; the S&P 500 lost 0.58%.

Optical-fiber stocks and crude-tanker freight paid. Drug and device funds did not.

## Verizon fiber deal lifts photonics funds

Verizon and Corning announced a multi-billion-dollar supply agreement for more than 80 million miles of high-density optical fiber from 2027 to 2032. Financial terms were not disclosed. Corning, the specialty-glass and fiber maker, rose **7.6%** to $165.99. Verizon rose 0.5%.

The optical-components market moved with it. Lumentum jumped **11.0%** to $978.54. Coherent gained 7.1%. Ciena gained 6.3%. The Roundhill photonics and optics fund LYTE rose **8.2%**. Its largest position is a Treasury bill; Lumentum, Coherent, and Ciena are the largest listed equities. Two other photonics products joined it: Tuttle Capital's FOTO gained 5.3%, and Tema's LAZR 5.1%. LYTE is still down 2.9% over the past month.

## Tanker freight outruns crude producers

West Texas Intermediate crude was at **$94.24** a barrel, up 3.0%, as of 4:52 p.m. ET, after Yemeni rebels attacked Saudi energy facilities. Brent was at $99.32, up 3.2%. The United States Oil Fund USO gained **2.9%**. Energy producers, via XLE, rose 1.1%.

The Breakwave tanker-freight fund BWET, which holds unlevered oil-tanker futures, gained **8.9%** to $550.16, 0.5% below its 52-week high. Its largest contracts are Middle East Gulf-to-China cargoes. It is up **92%** over the past month. Freight, not producer equity, was the oil trade that cleared the unleveraged board.

Freight and optical components led the unleveraged board.

Table: Fund, Tuesday

## Amgen and Novartis drag biotech and pharma ETFs

VanEck's biotech fund BBH fell **3.6%**. Amgen is **15.5%** of the fund and accounted for **1.56** percentage points of the decline. VanEck's pharmaceutical fund PPH fell 3.3%, with Novartis, a 10.4% weight, contributing 1.45 percentage points.

Chart: Tanker and photonics **led** as biotech and pharma funds fell

Roivant Sciences moved the other way. It closed at **$41.48**, up **18.8%**, after Pulmovant, a Roivant company, said mosliciguat met the main goals of a Phase 2 study in pulmonary hypertension tied to interstitial lung disease and that a Phase 3 study is under way. The stock traded as high as $42.50, a 52-week high.

Medical devices fell on separate news. The $3.38 billion iShares U.S. medical devices fund IHI fell 3.5% and is down 17% over the past year. Stryker, 10.4% of the fund, dropped 8.8% and traded down to a 52-week low, contributing 0.92 percentage points of the decline, the largest drag. Intuitive Surgical fell 4.5%. Boston Scientific fell 5.9% after saying a cyberattack made it unlikely to meet 2026 guidance. The broad health-care sector fund XLV lost 2.5%.

Roivant showed the session still pays a clean readout. It did not lift the biotech funds built around Amgen.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/photonics-and-tanker-funds-lead-as-novartis-trial-misses-hit-drug-stocks-2026-09-08. Please cite the page URL.