Health Care Stocks for a Weak Economy

Drug and biotech stocks have been ailing for years but could be on the road to recovery.

Health care is a classic defensive sector. No matter how bad the economy is, the argument goes, people still get sick. And they'll pay for medical care before they'll pay for almost anything else.

So far, health care stocks are holding up better than the rest of the market. Through January 25, the Morningstar health care sector is down less than 4% -- making it the best performing of ten broad market sectors.

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Steven Goldberg
Contributing Columnist, Kiplinger.com
Steve has been writing for Kiplinger's for more than 25 years. As an associate editor and then senior associate editor, he covered mutual funds for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine from 1994-2006. He also authored a book, But Which Mutual Funds? In 2006 he joined with Jerry Tweddell, one of his best sources on investing, to form Tweddell Goldberg Investment Management to manage money for individual investors. Steve continues to write a regular column for Kiplinger.com and enjoys hearing investing questions from readers. You can contact Steve at 301.650.6567 or sgoldberg@kiplinger.com.