"Ebola arrives in U.S., investors bid up biotechs"

From Yahoo Finance:

Ebola made its official debut in the U.S. yesterday. Government officials announced that a man identified only as a "traveler" had been hospitalized in Dallas. This "Typhoid Larry" arrived in the U.S. from Liberia on September 20th. He reportedly started showing symptoms four or five days later and was hospitalized Sunday. So far three Dallas Fire and Rescue workers and several ER employees are off work and "under observation." The rest of America remains free to panic.

The news of course sent speculative bio-tech stocks soaring. The biggest gainer was Tekmira (TKMR) , a Canadian biotech company that saw shares spread 25% higher after the bell. Tekmira shares have doubled since August when it announced that it was working with the U.S. Department of Defense on an Ebola counter-measure drug called TKM-ebola.

Other biotech stocks also popped on the news. The implications of the defense department working with Canadian biotech companies on what amounts to a weaponized virus have create a still small but real and growing surge in related commerce. Other biotech stocks gaining, of course but that's not all. Companies like DuPont (DD) with its Tyvek material for hazmat suits also benefit. Tyvek suit sales are up over 9,000% in the last 24 hours on Amazon....MORE