BUZZ-Healthcare sector: Investors shooting from the hip

** Top-performing S&P Health Care sector seems besieged by trigger-happy investors cashing out winning positions and dissolution of M&A premium.

** For those willing to ride out the choppy waters some attractive opportunities might be becoming available.

** Sector, typically a ballast, up 9% YTD before today's session, mimicking the market slumping 6+% over last week as vacuum of long-only bids fail to stem tide of selling.

** Recent U.S. govt measures taken to deter "inversion deals" and hedge funds caught long Shire (Xetra: S7E.DE - news) casting a pall over space.

** Profit taking, spiking volatility trumping fundamentals as even high-quality stocks like Gilead get crushed.

** Company's shares, up 28% YTD, clipped 12+% over last week dropping below 200 DMA. Chart: http://link.reuters.com/pes23w

** Gilead featured last month in Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) ' list of U.S. stocks on which mutual funds are most overweight.

** Favorable demographics, cash-rich balance sheets and stable dividends ignored for now as industry bellwethers such as Merck (Other OTC: MKGAF - news) , Eli Lilly & Amgen are among today's bottom performers. Chart: http://link.reuters.com/qes23w (Messaging: lance.tupper.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)