IQVIA Holdings is the world's largest provider of biopharmaceutical development services and commercial outsourcing services. The company is the result of the 2016 merger of Quintiles Transnational, a contract research organization, and IMS Health, a healthcare data and analytics provider. IQVIA is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company provides advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technology & Analytics Solutions, Research & Development Solutions, and Contract Sales & Medical Solutions. It also provides intelligent connections across all aspects of healthcare through its analytics, technology, big data resources, and extensive domain expertise. Its Connected Intelligence delivers actionable insights to enable customers to accelerate the clinical development and commercialization of new therapies. IQVIA has one of the largest databases of healthcare information in the world, which includes more than 1.2 billion comprehensive, longitudinal, non-identified patient records spanning sales and prescription data, medical claims, electronic medical records, genomics, and social media.

The May jobs report comes out this week, as do a few late earnings reports from some big tech and retail names. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%, the S&P 500 was up 1.4%, and the Nasdaq popped 2%. Year to date, all three indices are in positive territory, with the DJIA up 6%, the S&P 500 higher by 11%, and the Nasdaq ahead by 16%. On the earnings calendar, highlights this week include Hewlett Packard Enterprise on Monday; Palo Alto Networks, Dollar General, and Ulta Beauty on Tuesday; Broadcom, CrowdStrike, and Medtronic on Wednesday; and Ciena and Lululemon on Thursday. About 96% of S&P 500 companies have reported so far, and overall earnings are up 29% over last quarter. Information Technology, up 56%, and Communication Services, up 51%, are leading the pack. At the bottom are Healthcare, down 3%, and Energy, down 1%, according to LSEG I/B/E/S. On the economic calendar, ISM Manufacturing and Construction Spending are due out on Monday; the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Tuesday; ADP's private payrolls report on Wednesday; and the May Employment Situation report on Friday. Turning to economic data, gas prices remain elevated but dropped a penny last week, with the average price for a gallon of regular gas now at $4.48. The Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecasts GDP growth of 3.8% for 2Q, compared to the 1.6% actual in 1Q. The Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcast calls for CPI of 4.2% for May, a step-up from the 3.8% print in April and 3.3% in March. Mortgage rates inched up another two basis points last week, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now at 6.53%, according to FreddieMac. The next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is on June 17, and will be the first under the chairmanship of Kevin Warsh. Odds are at 0% for a rate move at that meeting. Taking a deeper dive into performance so far in 2026, a leading industrialized global stock market index, the ETF EFA, is up 9% year to date. The leading emerging market ETF (EEM) is up 25% year to date. U.S. growth stocks are up 7% looking at ETF IWF, while value stocks (IWD) are up 12%. Crude oil prices continue to be volatile. On Friday, oil was much lower at $87 per barrel, but still up 51% for the year to date. In other asset classes for the year to date, AGG bonds are down 1%, gold is up 5%, and Bitcoin is down 16%. The U.S. dollar is up 1%, tracking DXY. The VIX Volatility Index was about 15 on Friday, well below its historical average of 20. Turning to sector performance, the year-to-date list from first to worst as of May 22, is Energy (+32%), Information Technology (+18%), Communication Services (+9%), Industrials (+11%), Real Estate (+11%), Consumer Staples (+10%), Materials (+10%), Utilities (+6%), Consumer Discretionary (+2%), Financials (-5%), and Healthcare (-3%).

Iqvia is a global leader in clinical research and technology solutions for the life science industry. Formed in 2016 from the merger of Quintiles and IMS Health, it combined clinical trial services with extensive healthcare data and analytics. Its research and development solutions segment provides outsourced clinical development services spanning drug discovery, trial design, patient recruitment, site management, clinical testing, real-world studies, and the regulatory approval process. Its commercial solutions segment helps companies optimize product commercialization through analytics, technology, and outsourced sales and medical services. Together, Iqvia supports customers across the life science industry, and it serves biopharmaceutical firms, providers, payers, and policymakers.

The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are AbbVie Inc (ABBV); Applovin Corp (APP); Nokia Oyj (NOK); Ulta Beauty Inc (ULTA) and the Focus List deletions are Salesforce Inc (CRM); DoorDash Inc (DASH); International Business Machine (IBM); IQVIA Holdings Inc (IQV).