When was the last time anything good happened to Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. (NYSE: ALU)? It has been a while.  With a contract win, with the highlights around its patents, and with the highlight around speedier web traffic, this one rose on a down day.  In fact, Alcatel-Lucent was up 4.7% a $1.55 on the day with less than an hour until the closing bell.

Gold was down big earlier as investors are liquidating everything for a source of liquidity.  So what are gold miners rising handily?  Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDX) is the go-to ETF for gold mining stocks and offers a great basket of the major global gold players.  This ETF was up 3.6% at $44.10 against a 52-week range of $39.08 to $66.98.  We just highlighted the value and huge upside that the components offer here.

Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) is in trouble and its viability is in question,  Still, yesterday’s news of working with Blackstone trumped a credit rating downgrade today.  The coal player was up 21% at $2.65 on more than 19 million shares as of the end of the day.

Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG) has continued its post-reverse-split surge  and this is up almost 400% from the start of last week.  This is continued buying pressure after Medicare coverage came out.  Even a small capital raise has been ignored.  Shares are up another 37% at $10.23 and the post-split adjusted 52-week range is $1.40 to $36.45.

School Specialty Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHS) is surging simply on a debt refinancing.  That is not your usual rally tool, but the move here is massive. Shares were up 23% at $3.00 in the last hour of trading and the 52-week range is $2.15 to $15.84.

JON C. OGG

But a CEO wedding announcement on the following day? The answer that new shareholders should be concerned with is simple: “You knew you had a founding CEO who was able to do whatever he wants, even though he is now playing with your money. Now you know he WILL do whatever he wants whenever he wants.”

Magically announcing a wedding at what was supposed to be a graduation party is one thing. But within a day of an IPO of this magnitude? Shareholders now have every reason to be concerned. Oh, and by the way, if you do not like it your only way to make a statement is to sell your shares. You have no vote in the company at all because Zuckerberg has well over 50% of the share votes either under ownership or under control.

It is hard to imagine that Zuck would go take a three-week honeymoon, but he could do that at some point and the poor Facebook shareholders would just have to sit there and take it. Again, your only vote as a shareholder is to sell your shares. Even then, do you think a guy now worth $20 billion or so really cares?

We warned you that there were 18 big risks in chasing Facebook ahead of the IPO, and all of these risks are still present. We never thought that there were two more: 19) CEO decides to distract himself with his own marriage status as just a small deal, and 20) CEO could go take a long vacation/honeymoon immediately.

Who knows what Zuckerberg’s living situation will be now and who knows if he and his now-wife will decide to go take a great vacation and honeymoon. I would if I was in his shoes, at some point, but not the weekend after an IPO. Shareholders should care what this means, but they better remember over and over that they were warned about the corporate governance here as a controlled entity (over and over, and over).

As of 6:50 PM EST on Sunday night there have been “853,293 people like this” on Zuckerberg’s Facebook status page. If any of those people are shareholders liking this, well let’s just say that they have a conflict of interest over “liking” their own money.

Barron’s wrote about the new downside risks about Facebook shares falling if underwriters choose not to support the IPO like they did on Friday at the $38.00 share price. That was without considering the CEO would sneak out and get married the same weekend.

JON C. OGG

The company raised $16 billion without taking into consideration the green-shoe or overallotment option for the underwriters.  We compiled a live blog of the matter throughout the day and that has been summarized here below.

The underwriting syndicate was perhaps the largest we have seen yet: Morgan Stanley; J.P. Morgan Securities; Goldman Sachs; Merrill Lynch; Barclays Capital; Allen & Company; Citigroup Global Markets; Credit Suisse Securities; Deutsche Bank Securities; RBC Capital Markets; Wells Fargo Securities; Blaylock Robert Van; BMO Capital Markets; C.L. King & Associates; Cabrera Capital Markets; CastleOak Securities; Cowen and Company; E*TRADE Securities; Itaú BBA USA Securities; Lazard Capital Markets; Lebenthal & Co.; Loop Capital Markets; M.R. Beal & Company; Macquarie Capital; Muriel Siebert & Co.; Oppenheimer & Co.; Pacific Crest Securities; Piper Jaffray & Co.; Raymond James & Associates; Samuel A. Ramirez & Company; Stifel Nicolaus; The Williams Capital Group; and William Blair.

Here are links to some of our earlier coverage:

• How Criminals Use Facebook
• Big Risks to Consider at Facebook’s IPO
• Facebook owning companies now have to fend for themselves
• Facebook share certificates as Collectibles

UPDATE 10:30 AM EST: We’ve been looking at different aspects of the Facebook IPO for the last few days.

UPDATE 11:05 AM EST: Opening delayed nearly half an hour. Expect heavy volume gets the blame.

UPDATE 11:29 AM EST: Still waiting. Opening price started at $45, now down to $42.

UPDATE 11:31 AM EST: Now open – at $42.35.

UPDATE 11:32 AM EST: nasdaq.com overwhelmed with traffic.

UPDATE: 11:33 AM EST: FB trading down slightly at $41.17. Enough. Other things to do for a while.

UPDATE 11:43 AM EST: Shares now bounced off $40 and turned north again.

UPDATE 11:52 AM EST: Less than 30 minutes after the first trade, shares are bouncing around the IPO price of $38.

UPDATE 12:37 PM EST: More than 261 million shares of FB have traded hands in just over an hour.  Share price now at $39.95.

UPDATE 12:55 PM EST: Shares of Zynga halted on IPO delay. More coverage here.

UPDATE 2:27 PM EST: After nearly 3 hours of trading, FB has moved nearly 385 million shares. The price jumped to around $41.70 at one point but has vacillated between $40 and $41 for the last 45 minutes or so.

UPDATE 2:44 PM EST: We have now seen the whole IPO volume trade as 425 million shares have traded hands; last print still up 5.2% at $40.00.

UPDATE 3:08 PM EST: Facebook has now broken an IPO record on share volume after passing the record held by GM with 458 million; FB volume is now 461 million shares.

UPDATE 3:25 PM EST: Shares hit $38.06 and the trading volume is now about 484 million shares.  It is expected that the underwriters will likely offer support to keep this from becoming a busted IPO, but ultimately that depends upon supply and demand.

UPDATE 3:41 PM EST:  Facebook shares were just at $38.00 on the bid with over 1 million shares supporting that bid.  Now shares are at $38.03.  Keep in mind that a $1.00 gain in this stock is $2.73 billion or so in total equity market value.

UPDATE 4:00 CLOSING BELL: Facebook closed at $38.23 on more than 560 million shares.

The underwriting syndicate was perhaps the largest we have seen yet: Morgan Stanley; J.P. Morgan Securities; Goldman Sachs; Merrill Lynch; Barclays Capital; Allen & Company; Citigroup Global Markets; Credit Suisse Securities; Deutsche Bank Securities; RBC Capital Markets; Wells Fargo Securities; Blaylock Robert Van; BMO Capital Markets; C.L. King & Associates; Cabrera Capital Markets; CastleOak Securities; Cowen and Company; E*TRADE Securities; Itaú BBA USA Securities; Lazard Capital Markets; Lebenthal & Co.; Loop Capital Markets; M.R. Beal & Company; Macquarie Capital; Muriel Siebert & Co.; Oppenheimer & Co.; Pacific Crest Securities; Piper Jaffray & Co.; Raymond James & Associates; Samuel A. Ramirez & Company; Stifel Nicolaus; The Williams Capital Group; and William Blair.

UPDATE 10:30 AM EST: We’ve been looking at different aspects of the Facebook IPO for the last few days. Here are links to some of our earlier coverage:

• How Criminals Use Facebook
• Big Risks to Consider at Facebook’s IPO
• Shares Getting a Boost from Facebook’s IPO
• Facebook Shares as Collectibles

UPDATE 11:05 AM EST: Opening delayed nearly half an hour. Expect heavy volume gets the blame.

UPDATE 11:29 AM EST: Still waiting. Opening price started at $45, now down to $42.

UPDATE 11:31 AM EST: Now open – at $42.35.

UPDATE 11:32 AM EST: nasdaq.com overwhelmed with traffic.

UPDATE: 11:33 AM EST: FB trading down slightly at $41.17. Enough. Other things to do for a while.

UPDATE 11:43 AM EST: Shares now bounced off $40 and turned north again.

UPDATE 11:52 AM EST: Less than 30 minutes after the first trade, shares are bouncing around the IPO price of $38.

UPDATE 12:37 PM EST: More than 261 million shares of FB have traded hands in just over an hour.  Share price now at $39.95.

UPDATE 12:55 PM EST: Shares of Zynga halted on IPO delay. More coverage here.

UPDATE 2:27 PM EST: After nearly 3 hours of trading, FB has moved nearly 385 million shares. The price jumped to around $41.70 at one point but has vacillated between $40 and $41 for the last 45 minutes or so.

UPDATE 2:44 PM EST: We have now seen the whole IPO volume trade as 425 million shares have traded hands; last print still up 5.2% at $40.00.

UPDATE 3:08 PM EST: Facebook has now broken an IPO record on share volume after passing the record held by GM with 458 million; FB volume is now 461 million shares.

24/7 Wall St. has compiled a log of companies which have already signaled in press releases that they will be presenting data or that data will be presented on their behalf at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting.  We have previewed more than 25 companies so far and that is not even including Big Pharma names.  As of May 18, the total abstracts submitted were 5,264 and of those there have been 2,744 which have been accepted for presentation at ASCO.  Of those accepted for presentation, some 1,859 are going to be ‘ePublication only’ for viewers.  The breakdown for the Abstracts shows that the oral presentation is currently 257 presentations and 2,487 are listed as poster presentation only.

The most presentations accepted (203) so far are focused on Genitourinary Cancer, which covers urinary tract and male genital tract as follows: Prostate cancer; Bladder cancer; Kidney cancer; Testicular cancer; Penile cancer; Nonmalignant tumors of the urinary tract and male reproductive system; and Von Hippel Lindau disease.  As of today, the fewest accepted presentations (93) cover Pediatric oncology.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), the largest independent biotech that there is, recently showed updated results from a Phase 2 study showing that treatment with blinatumomab helped achieve a high-rate of complete response in 72% of adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated in the study. This blinatumomab is the first of a new class of agents called bi-specific T cell engagers antibodies, which are designed to harness the body’s cell-destroying T cells to kill cancer cells.  Blinatumomab targets cells expressing CD19, a protein found on the surface of B-cell derived leukemias and lymphomas, such as ALL. Full results of the study will be presented during an oral abstract session on June 4 at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) recently sold off but will will have updated clinical data from the pivotal PACE trial of ponatinib, its investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) on June 4.  The company said that the data will form the basis of its regulatory filings for marketing approval of Ponatinib for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphoblasatic leukemia.

ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) and Daiichi Sankyo, Co., Ltd. (Japan) will have an oral presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting featuring Phase 2 trial data with tivantinib as a single agent investigational second-line treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma. ArQule announced that this randomized, double-blind study met its primary endpoint in January and will now present the full results from this trial, including positive data in the pre-defined c-MET high population. Additional clinical data with tivantinib will be featured in two poster discussions and two general poster sessions.

Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) has recently risen on its lung cancer and melanoma results.  The company has three oral presentations at the annual meeting after having already presented Phase 1 data on MEK162 in 28 patients with biliary tract cancer at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January 2012 showing that it was well tolerated and showed evidence of clinical efficacy in this patient population, including a complete response and a partial response. Stable disease was observed in 12 patients. The company has licensed selumetinib to AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) and licensed MEK162 to Novartis (NYSE: NVS).

What makes this position important is that Bell currently oversees the merchandising, planning and diamond supply functions for Blue Nile.  This is probably not a “three people in the world can do this” position as far as the company is concerned, but any transition in this function could create a disruption if changes in procedure and policy are made.

Blue Nile noted that Ms. Bell has been with Blue Nile since September 2001.  The company also said in the filing that it has already initiated a search for a new executive who would be in charge of the functions around merchandising, planning and diamond supply functions.

Shares of Blue Nile are not reacting negatively to the news but this stock can have a bit of a cult following.  Shares are up 3.6% at $30.09 against a 52-week range of $25.59 to $50.41.

JON C. OGG

Gabelli is out with a note that defends the company despite a slight slide after earnings and despite a weak equity market weighing on this position.  What is ironic is that the official rating at Gabelli is a mere “Hold.”  Where the “Hold” rating gets very interesting is that Gabelli maintains something called a private market value.  This is not an official target, but under the right circumstances and in a go-private scenario Gabelli’s private market value is $45.00 per share if you go out to 2013.

Gabelli noted, “During the first quarter, Molycorp achieved several milestones, including the start-up of its new Mill, Flotation Separator, and Paste Tailings Facility at Mountain Pass. In addition, the company announced a 36% increase in its proven and probable rare earth reserves at Mountain Pass. Results were seasonally low due to the impact of the Chinese New Year. Although MCP remains speculative, we believe that the long-term prospects for the company remain attractive and that Molycorp is the best vehicle to gain exposure to the rare earth industry.”

This is where a “hold” rating sounds a lot more like a “buy” rating from a research report.  Just looking at the consensus targets from Thomson Reuters generates forward earnings multiples of about 19-times for 2012 and less than 8-times expected earnings in 2013. The consensus annual revenue targets from analysts are $548.22 million in 2012 and $938.38 million in 2013.  Keep in mind that this is a very thinly followed stock when it comes to analysts but it is very active and is technically a cult stock as far as the investment community is concerned with a $2.4 billion market cap.

Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (AMEX: REMX) has Molycorp ranked as the fourth highest weighing in the ETF that tracks this ‘rare earths’ sector, although it is perhaps the most direct and most visible component of the ETF.

Molycorp is indicated down marginally from its $24.93 close and the 52-week trading range is $23.05 to $66.62. The consensus price target from Thomson Reuters as a price target is $40.40.

JON C. OGG

The company issued a press release noting that it has received conditional marketing authorization from the European Commission for Pixuvri®.  This pertains to the company’s controversial pixantrone as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with multiply relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas. The company further noted that Pixuvri is the first approved treatment in the European Union in this patient setting.

Cell Therapeutics will get to market Pixuvri in the 27 Member States of the European Union but it will also get to market in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.  The company also plans to make Pixuvri immediately available through a named patient program and the marketing and commercialization of Pixuvri will start with CTI’s own sales force in the EU starting in the second half of 2012.

Conditional approval is not an open-ended and endless approval.  On this front the company noted, “conditional marketing authorizations are granted in the EU to medicinal products with a positive benefit/risk assessment that address unmet medical needs and whose availability would result in a significant public health benefit. A conditional marketing authorization is renewable annually. Under the provisions of the conditional marketing authorization for Pixuvri, CTI will be required to complete a post-marketing study aimed at confirming the clinical benefit previously observed.”

Shares closed up almost 15% at $1.16 on more than 8 million shares today and the 52-week trading range of $0.95 to $2.40.  Even after the pop, this stock has a market value of $236 million.

JON C. OGG

24/7 Wall St. screened out selective short interest data with the latest changes from the settlement date of April 30, 2012 versus the prior April 13, 2012 in shares of the following: Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU); Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH); Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM); and Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI).   Does this make for a “Short-Sell in May and go away!” theme?  The short interest changes are for the April 13 versus March 30 settlement dates, with selective color added if applicable:   Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) saw another rise in the short interest but this gain was massive by over 25% to 28.67 million shares in the short interest.  Based on its earnings botch, the short sellers made some real money here.

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) is not one of our usual short interest names but investors are back to betting against Spain and the PIIGS all over again now that austerity measures are being fought publicly.  The prior gain was a whopping 214% gain in the short interest to 55.7 million shares and the newest gain was only 2.5% to 57.1 million shares.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is back to seeing a rise in the short interest after a prior drop.  Short sellers lifted the short interest by 9.9% to 142.3 million shares.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) saw a small increase ion its short interest, which you know helped to exacerbate that pop from the Microsoft deal while activist investors press on here.  The short interest rose another 3.7% to 19.768 million shares.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL) is seeing its shares really hit hard after providing an update on the Nechalacho Project with an indication that the feasibility study is now targeted for completion in the second quarter of calendar 2013.  That is a significant push out and time for Avalon to burn cash.  As you would expect, the drop is rather large and it is down 26.7% at $1.62 on almost 3-times normal volume.

Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX: REE) is lower by 6% after news on Monday that it saw a 10% increase of M & I rare-earth mineral resources as well as a 61% increase of oxide and oxide-carbonate inferred mineral resources.  At $4.46, the 52-week range is $3.08 to $13.48.

Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is down with the weaker metals and a weaker growth story, but the rest of the sector woes may be the real culprit here.  Shares are down 4.1% at $25.07 agsinst a 52-week range of $23.05 to $71.43.

The last of the real rare-earth trades in the U.S. is the Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (AMEX: REMX) and it is down 4.5% at $14.65 in active trading for this ETF.

Nothing new really out of China on this front, just relative weakness and problems impacting valuations.

JON C. OGG