Key Highlights

● Gilead, Regeneron and AbbVie rose pre-market after quarterly results on Oct. 29 and 30.

● Health care climbed 2.4% on Thursday to a record high.

● Gilead cut its adjusted EPS outlook even as it lifted its 2026 product sales forecast.

● Section 232 pharmaceutical tariffs run as high as 100%, with negotiated deal rates of 15%.

While chip and cloud names bleed ahead of Friday's open, a cluster of large drugmakers is moving the other way. Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD), Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN), AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) and the US-listed shares of AstraZeneca and Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) were all quoted higher in pre-market trading, extending a health care rally that pushed the sector to a record on Thursday.

The move is a mix of genuine company news and a broader rotation. Several of these companies reported quarters overnight or this morning, and money leaving the AI trade appears to be looking for Earnings it can see. That rotation reading is an inference from the price action, not something any company has said.

The numbers behind the bid

Gilead reported after Thursday's close. Product sales rose 13% to $8.29 billion, with HIV sales up 18% to $6.25 billion and its twice-yearly HIV prevention shot Yeztugo bringing in $305 million, against $39 million a year earlier. The company lifted its 2026 product sales forecast to $31.0 billion to $31.3 billion. It also cut its adjusted EPS outlook to a loss of $1.20 to $0.85 a share, which market commentary tied to Acquisition costs. One brokerage kept a Buy rating and lifted its target to $200 from $170. Gilead stood at $174.39, up 5.30%, as of 8:23 a.m. ET, according to a pre-market table.

Regeneron reported before the bell. Revenue climbed 36% to $5.1 billion and adjusted EPS jumped 70% to $20.07. Global Dupixent sales, which Sanofi records, rose 35% to $6.5 billion, while EYLEA HD rose 62% in the US and Libtayo gained 51%. CEO Leonard Schleifer called it "an outstanding quarter," with all three franchises at record sales. The stock was at $875.00, up 6.87%, at 8:23 a.m. ET.

AbbVie posted revenue of $17.4 billion, up 10.3%, as Skyrizi grew 22.7% and Rinvoq 23.9%, more than offsetting a 31.2% slide in Humira. It raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $13.95 to $13.99 from $13.76 to $13.96. Market data showed the shares up 3.20% in early pre-market trade.

Europe joins in

AstraZeneca was up 4.87% pre-market, according to market data, and one report described its quarter as an earnings beat; detailed figures were not available in the sources reviewed. Sanofi's US shares were at $44.82, up 3.92%, at 8:23 a.m. ET, while its Paris listing rose 5.4% by mid-morning in Europe, according to media reports. That makes Sanofi one of the Stoxx 600's standout gainers on a day when European tech fell about 2%.

All five sit in a sector that has quietly become one of October's winners. Health care rose 2.4% on Thursday to a record high, helped by Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY)'s 6.4% jump after it raised its full-year revenue guidance to $91 billion to $92 billion. Gilead, Regeneron and AbbVie are S&P 500 members, so their gains offset some of the drag from megacap tech on the benchmark.

Why it matters, and the risks

With Nasdaq-100 futures down about 2.6% and S&P 500 futures down about 1.1% as of roughly 8 a.m. ET, big pharma is doing what defensive sectors are supposed to do. Drug Demand doesn't depend on hyperscaler capex budgets, and the latest results show volume-driven growth in immunology, HIV and ophthalmology.

There are caveats. Health care was the only S&P 500 sector expected to post a year-over-year earnings decline for the third quarter, according to an Oct. 23 market data update, so expectations had been low. Gilead's profit guidance cut shows that deal costs can blunt sales beats. Policy risk also hangs over the group: Section 232 tariffs on pharmaceuticals run as high as 100%, with negotiated deal rates of 15%, according to a Tariff tracker updated Oct. 27.

What to watch next: whether the rotation holds once regular trading begins, and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)'s results next week; Amgen was already up 2.86% pre-market at 8:23 a.m. ET. Any Reversal in the tech selloff could also pull money back out of defensive names just as quickly as it arrived.