Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the worst companies.

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly-traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

-Douglas A. Mcintyre

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Some countries and companies still have Triple-A ratings, which go by “AAA” at S&P and by “Aaa” at Moody’s.  Very few investors want to see the United States lose its Triple-A rating. At the same time, many know very little about how the highest rating works and the challenges that lie that entities face in maintaining it.

A Triple-A Is What?

Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are the two major ratings agencies, followed by Fitch and A.M. Best, DBRS, and Egan-Jones.  To keep this simple, we’ll focus mostly on Moody’s and S&P.

S&P says that an issuer rated “AAA”  has an extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments.   Of course,  issuer credit ratings may be changed, suspended, or withdrawn and can be either long-term or short-term.  There are plenty of moving parts here.

“If the starting conditions are adverse, then the credit must have the capacity to withstand further deterioration of extreme magnitude,”  S&P says.

Some of those events taken into consideration were the Great Depression, the Asian Contagion of the late 1990′s, other international sovereign debt scares, both World Wars, and more going all the way back to late 1700s.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) is trading up 0.5% at $3.92 on active trading volume.  The company reportedly sold off some of its private equity group for $900 million.  Citi’s price move  was muted compared to many of the banks yesterday, part of which may be due to the ongoing overhang of Uncle Sam selling shares.

DragonWave Inc. (NASDAQ: DRWI) is leading the loser-board this morning.  The company said its quarterly revenue rose 275% to $48.7 million, but its guidance now expects revenue for Q2 FY 2011 to be about $25 million.  Shares are down 16% at $4.70, far worse than the 10% to 12% drop last night.

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) is surging this morning by 8% at $4.58, but on thin trading volume.  An active message board discusses strategic alternatives, but that is just chatter and not news from the company so far.

Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD) is up big after posting June same-store sales gains of 6%,  twice the gain that was expected during a soft month.  The problem is that volume is very thin, so this could be grossly different by the time the market opens up.  Shares are trading up about 7.5% at $25.46 on very thin trading volume.

Madison Square Garden, Inc. (NYSE: MSG) is playing a give-back game this morning after yesterday’s speculative trading that LeBron James might go to the New York Knicks.  There was highly unusual options trading. In early trading, MSG is down 3.6% at $20.79.

Nanometrics Incorporated (NASDAQ: NANO) is looking painful this morning after Oppenheimer cut the shares to Perform with a $10 price target.  Shares are down 13% at $9.46 after a $10.86 close yesterday.

Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) is trying to bounce a bit, but this may just be the proverbial dead cat bounce after yesterday’s implosion.  The stock was downgraded to Hold at Jefferies and was also cut late yesterday at JMP Securities and at Credit Suisse after the stock imploded.  Shares are up 2% at $1.55 but the pre-8AM trading showed indications up over 5%.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is trying to pose a bounce this morning but this is still a busted IPO for all practical purposes.  Shares closed at $15.80 and the stock is up almost 3% at $16.25 on about 25,000 shares in early pre-market trading.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are gone from the NYSE.  Fannie is now OTC-BB “FNMA” and Freddie Mac is now OTC-BB “FMCC” on the over the counter markets.  Here is a list of their full ticker list for all the preferred shares as well.

JON C. OGG

FANNIE MAE

Common Stock
Old Ticker: FNM
New Ticker: FNMA

Preferred Stock, Series F
Old Ticker: FNMPRF
New Ticker: FNMAP

Preferred Stock, Series G
Old Ticker: FNMPRG
New Ticker: FNMAO

Preferred Stock, Series H
Old Ticker: FNMPRH
New Ticker: FNMAM

Preferred Stock, Series I
Old Ticker: FNMPRI
New Ticker: FNMAG

Preferred Stock, Series L
Old Ticker: FNMPRL
New Ticker: FNMAN

Preferred Stock, Series M
Old Ticker: FNMPRM
New Ticker: FNMAL

Preferred Stock, Series N
Old Ticker: FNMPRN
New Ticker: FNMAK

Preferred Stock, Series P
Old Ticker: FNMPRP
New Ticker: FNMAH

Preferred Stock, Series Q
Old Ticker: FNMPRQ
New Ticker: FNMAI

Preferred Stock, Series R
Old Ticker: FNMPRR
New Ticker: FNMAJ

Preferred Stock, Series S
Old Ticker: FNMPRS
New Ticker: FNMAS

Preferred Stock, Series T
Old Ticker: FNMPRT
New Ticker: FNMAT

Preferred Stock, Series 2008-1
Old Ticker: FNA
New Ticker: FANIP

FREDDIE MAC

Common Stock
Old Ticker: FRE
New Ticker: FMCC

1996 Variable Rate
Old Ticker: FRE.prB
New Ticker: FMCCI

5% (1998)
Old Ticker: FRE.prF
New Ticker: FMCKK

1998 Variable Rate
Old Ticker: FRE.prG
New Ticker: FMCCG

5.1% (1998)
Old Ticker: FRE.prH
New Ticker: FMCCH

5.79% (1999)
Old Ticker: FRE.prK
New Ticker: FMCCK

1999 Variable Rate
Old Ticker: FRE.prL
New Ticker: FMCCL

2001 Variable Rate (Jan)
Old Ticker: FRE.prM
New Ticker: FMCCM

2001 Variable Rate (Mar)
Old Ticker: FRE.prN
New Ticker: FMCCN

5.81% (2001)
Old Ticker: FRE.prO
New Ticker: FMCCO

6% (2001)
Old Ticker: FRE.prP
New Ticker: FMCCP

2001 Variable Rate (May)
Old Ticker: FRE.prQ
New Ticker: FMCCJ

5.7% (2001)
Old Ticker: FRE.prR
New Ticker: FMCKP

2006 Variable Rate
Old Ticker: FRE.prS
New Ticker: FMCCS

6.42% (2006)
Old Ticker: FRE.prT
New Ticker: FMCCT

5.9% (2006)
Old Ticker: FRE.prU
New Ticker: FMCKO

5.57% (2007)
Old Ticker: FRE.prV
New Ticker: FMCKM

5.66% (2007)
Old Ticker: FRE.prW
New Ticker: FMCKN

6.02% (2007)
Old Ticker: FRE.prX
New Ticker: FMCKL

6.55% (2007)
Old Ticker: FRE.prY
New Ticker: FMCKI

2007 Fixed-to-Floating Rate
Old Ticker: FRE.prZ
New Ticker: FMCKJ

If you got stuck in the Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac common or preferred shares before the delisting from the NYSE, you might want to consider saving this page or printing the page out and keeping it for your records.  Once stocks migrate off the NYSE or even NASDAQ for a permanent journey on the OTC Bulletin Board or the Pink Sheets, these often become more and more difficult to find for investors.

We noted over and over for quite some length of time that Fannie (and Freddie) would have a long slow demise into nothingness.  This is not quite bankruptcy.  This is also not quite nothingness, it is somewhere in between Purgatory and Limbo.

It is now the year 2010.  In 2011 and 2012, and maybe beyond, many will still be trying to figure out how to track down their tickers for write-offs and outright losses when it comes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

JON C. OGG

The share price has fallen below the NYSE’s continued listing standard, and the requirement is that the average closing price of a listed common stock has to be at least $1.00 per share over a consecutive 30 trading-day period.  Shares closed at $0.66 today, after a near 3% gain, but the last date that Ambac even closed above that poor $1.00 mark was June 8.

Ambac is not being booted off of the exchange just yet.  The company has six months from the date of the NYSE notice to obtain a closing share price and 30 trading-day average share price of at least $1.00 to avoid the ultimate delisting.  The company can also ask for exceptions and/or extensions, and sometimes the exchange grants waivers.

Ambac will continue to see its common stock trade on the NYSE during this period, and Ambac said in the release that it has notified the exchange that it intends “to cure the price deficiency.”

The easy way out is of course the reverse stock split.  If not, the company can seek alternatives and sell off or close down certain operations that are adding to the losses.   There is another common theme companies sometimes try… turning on their press release machines.

It is no secret as to why Ambac was on our list of brands which are likely to disappear.

JON C. OGG

CNBC reported that the bill for taxpayers is $145 billion, but that could be only a mere appetizer at an all you can eat buffet of misery from losses in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates the losses may reach $400 billion.

The housing data so far has yet to show any real improvements.  It turns out that the end of the homebuyer credit suddenly killed the demand.  Yep, it was a temporary fake market bolstered by Uncle Sam’s incentives.

The government has these two GSEs in conservatorship.  They should both be in receivership, but the U.S. government does not want these trillions of dollars at stake here to end up as direct obligations on the national balance sheet.  Keeping these two companies alive keeps the red ink from bleeding directly on to Uncle Sam’s right-hand side of the ledger books.

By stabilizing these two (pieces of you know what) in conservatorship, Uncle Sam can honor some future obligations and keep others off the books.  This form of takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac kept additional waves of losses from swooping through the banking system, foreign trading partner system, and the pension system.

The interesting notion is that these two will continue to operate as Freddie Mac and as Fannie Mae.  For now.  There are often calls  to abolish these two agencies.  The problem is that these obligations have to end up somewhere and there are real assets in the system in the form of mortgages outstanding with millions of borrowers who actually do manage each month to send in their P&I checks.

There are almost countless dollars of mortgage-backed securities, CMOs, and even CDOs still outstanding and still operating.  Again, some in America still managed to keep paying their debt each month.

Alan Greenspan once said that these two should be collapsed (nationalized) and rolled into as many as five to ten entities and sold off to the public.  It is a nice thought, but the balance sheet issue is impossible to get away from.  The U.S. Treasury does not want these obligations on the books.  Not even for a day.  Because the U.S. still owns its own printing presses, unlike the troubled nations inside the E.U., the ultimate Triple-A rating is not really at stake.  But the implied Triple-A ratings would disappear overnight to the investing world if Uncle Sam had to print money to back these two failed entities.  In short, it is just cheaper the send money the way of these two government charities on an as-needed basis.

Once Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac leave the NYSE and end up on the OTC-BB, there is likely going to be a single trend.  Lighter and lighter volume will be followed by lower and lower prices.  Even many of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac direct debtholders won’t likely be getting 100-cents on the dollar.  It all depends on the debt obligation, how it was issued, and how the government treats the New-Co or the New-Cos that rise from these ashes.

CNBC threw around the notion that a $1 trillion price tag could come the way of Fannie and Freddie if we get another downward price wave in housing.  They were right about another thing, or two things: taxpayers don’t want to foot the bill, and both entities are in need of a major overhaul.

The Case-Shiller 10-city index rose 0.7% in April compared with March, but the 20-city index rose by 0.8%.  Unfortunately, if you adjust for those pesky seasonal factors, the 10-city index rose by only 0.3% and the 20-city index rose a mere 0.4%.  The figures do look better versus a year ago.

As noted earlier and in earlier reports, housing is just not showing a real recovery.  Sure, things are less-bad.  Things are not continuing to slide indefinitely into oblivion.

Have your tried selling a home or talking to a realtor about selling your home?  Even in the few “good” local housing markets, let’s just say politely that the first thing that occurs is a reality check at the level of the seller.  The realtors then also prep their clients for the second reality that price drops may be necessary if no real interest is seen in the first 30 or 45 days.  What this all is leading up to is that the borrowing public is either upside down in their houses or they have to pay to get out from under a mortgage.  At least that is the case for most who bought from 2005 to the present.

Mortgage rates are back near the lows our life, assuming you can qualify.  Those who have ample liquidity and a solid credit background can write their own ticket for the house that they want to purchase.  That hasn’t changed, although the difference this year compared to summer of 2008 or 2009 is that certain select markets with the right zip code and right area ate holding pat.  The problem there is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not the lending conduits because those markets generally fall under the whole loan classification rather than the conforming loan category.

The first-time-borrower market that was able to get into housing in the last 9 months did get in under the conforming loan limits, so they were likely going through Fannie or Freddie.  As long as there is no real crash, those newer pools of borrowers are likely much better credit scores than the millions of the 2005 to 2007 seasons of borrowers.

Our belief that these were worthless goes far before the calls last October.  Once the government yanked the rug out from under the structure, that was it.  That was still the case in February-2009 when systemic nationalization was being thrown around as a risk.

So, why does all of this translate to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being worth ZERO on the shares?  Quite simply, the ZERO is a mathematical exaggeration.  Once these go to the OTC-BB, they can literally trade down at $0.01 or $0.05 indefinitely.  The real value will still be zero of course, but the implied upside for any price above zero comes with the notion that the economy could return or even that inflation comes back in a hurry.  Ten percent inflation per year would be one short-term cure for housing.  It would be like treating a case of the flu with syphilis, but the argument can be made that a brief period of inflation would help IF it was short and containable.

After the U.S. finally decides what to do with these entities, then the real value of what is ultimately left will be known.  That value will almost certainly be nothing for the common and preferred stockholders, but there will be value for the direct debt obligation holders.  This does assume that contract law will still be honored.

Being involved in companies where the stocks de-list and go the way of the OTC-BB is rarely a win.  In fact, many investors from retail to institutions are outright barred from investing in the OTC market.  It is not just the common shares. All last week some of the “Most Down” were the preferred shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which still trade on the NYSE.  If you think trading will dry up in the common stocks, wait until you see most of the preferred share issues.  There will be a myriad of five-ticker Fannie and Freddie stocks.

Is it 100% certain that Fannie and Freddie both disappear and that these both go to zero?  No.  It only looks about 95% certain that this will be the outcome.  That being said, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac common stock could continue trading or go to the Pink Sheets even if these get collapsed into a single entity.  Enron, GM, Adelphia, and many others have traded as Pink Sheet stocks long after they are gone.  At that point the shares become long-term warrants on any future lawsuit proceeds.

And what would be a good name for the collapsed entity?  Trannie Mae sounds about right.  Not many would want to own that name.

There is one caveat here.  Shareholders could fight a delisting and delay that event if successful.  Fannie Mae shares went from $0.92 to $0.56 the day the announcement was made.  The shares it at $0.35 today.  Freddie Mac was above the $1.00 mark at the time, and those shares are now at $0.40.  The big difference there is that any block would only be temporary.  Ultimately there is still probably a 95% chance that the hangman wins out here.

Stay tuned.

JON C. OGG

We have taken a look at the moves and the changes in short interest, and then added in on color on each where applicable.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is one that just isn’t going anywhere and is in a perpetual turnaround.  And the pressure in Europe which built up probably only added more fuel to the short sellers.  This was one of the worst performing of the ADRs during that troubled period.  before things stabilized. At June 15 settlement date the short interest was 29,654,276 shares, which is up 8.9% from 27,239,231 on May 28.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) is one of the ongoing brands which could vanish.  The company has even gone so far as to warn that it could be facing bankruptcy protection.   This period was brutal on the stock price as it went from over $1.00 down to under $0.90 and things have been even worse since the June 15 settlement date at Ambac.  It may even feel like a mystery that the short interest did not grow.  The June 15 short interest was listed as 71,653,753 shares, down by -7.6% from 77,529,115 on May 28.

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) has the two classes of shares, although not for long… It is also trying for a reverse split to keep its shares above the $1.00 NYSE minimum.  The selling was mixed here, which is surprising considering how many traders and companies believe it could implode.  We have it as one of the brands that could disappear.   June 15 “A Shares”: 5,925,502 was up 16% from 5,108,280 on May 28. “B Shares”: 23,666,143 was down -17.2% from 28,588,235 on May 28.

Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) is in the doghouse and short sellers believe it could topple into bankruptcy protection.  It is yet another one of our brands that may disappear.  June 15: 4,193,322 was up 21.3% from 3,457,975 on May 28.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is still one of our “stocks that could double” per our picks, but the company has to find its footing and may need new blood in order for this to happen.  June 15: 18,397,733 was up 5.5% from 17,441,727 on May 28.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) is another of our “stocks which could double” and its shares have been bouncing around at all prices with the market.  Pershing Square’s Ackman also disclosed how large his stake was.  Shorts got more aggressive though.  June 15: 497,392,313 shares short was up 14.7% versus 433,618,690 on May 28.

DryShips Inc. (NYSE: DRYS) may have that Greek issue and it may just have that transportation issue.  The shorts came out more against it, although it could always be part of those offerings it loves to do from time to time.  June 15: 35,894,737 shares was up by +11.4% versus 32,224,218 on May 28.

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) were two surprises considering the awful woes that have set in after the FHFA is seeking the delisting of the common and preferred shares from NYSE now.  These are also still two candidates for a disappearing brand.  Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: FRE) at June 15 was 51,679,910 shares short, down only -0.3% from 51,840,580 on May 28.  Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM) at June 15 was 135,468,832 shares short and down only by -0.2% versus the 135,771,853 on May 28.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is another one that the short sellers got right.  It has such a small percentage of smartphones that Nokia is becoming more synonymous with poor peoples’ phones.  Its earnings took shares down hard, so short sellers cleaned house here against the Finns.  June 15: 81,384,713 shares short was up over 27% versus 63,888,089 on May 28.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is probably just arbitrage bets and other shorters covering now that it is being acquired.  Palm’s June 15 short interest was 26,680,444 shares, which is down by -14.2% from the 31,109,807 on May 28.

PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE: PMI), the company that borrowers love to hate, was 21,671,711 shares in the short interest on the June 15 settlement date versus 17,975,874 on May 28.

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) has become much more actively traded than in months before due to that large offering it had.  Much of this change may be covering of bets and exiting arbitrage spreads for those traders.  At June 15 its short interest was listed as 19,168,645 shares, down almost 25% from the 25,518,384 on May 28.

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is another one of the “stocks which could still potentially double” per our picks, but the company is severely hamstrung and the new blood that has been brought in only just recently saw it post a narrower loss than expected. June 15 short interest was 23,654,512 shares, up 14.2% from the 20,718,870 listed by NYSE on May 28.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is a perpetual tug of war between short sellers who believe it can implode and those who want to see it recover to its glory days.  The June 15 short interest was a whopping 227,767,942 shares, up 6.2% from the 214,514,322 counted on May 28.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) saw many shorts exit here as it has the only real 4G phone per the news.  The problem is that the news is very mixed over how well these are really selling.  Still, short sellers decided that maybe they should not be in the fight.  June 15: 72,613,518 shares in the short interest is high, but that is down a sharp 27.8% from the 100,520,184 shares short on May 28.

United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE: UNG) is the ETF that traders probably hate more than any other energy commodity ETF product because of the tracking errors and roll-dates that many believe take this one gradually down closer to ZERO… Interestingly enough, the June 15 short interest was 10,833,137 shares, which was actually down by -5.9% from the 11,512,906 counted on May 28.

Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) is another highly controversial low-priced stock that has millions of customers and has historically seen many traders and investors bet against its survival.  The short interest here is muted compared to the past, and the stock was actually hitting 52-week highs recently.  The June 15 short interest was 2,605,495 shares, down by -8.7% from the 2,852,429 shares counted on May 28.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) is up 12% at $18.53 on over 400K shares this morning after Roche’s diabetes drug faces an FDA delay of 12 to 18 months.

NMT Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: NMTI) crashed yesterday with a drop late in the day from over $2.60 to $0.56 at the close after announcing that its stroke therapy failed.  We are seeing a gain this morning of 19%, but it is still only at $0.67.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are trying to catch a bounce.  We show FRE shares up almost 5% at $0.54 and FNM shares up almost 1% just under the $0.43 mark.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) is up 3% at $32.66 on fairly active trading in the pre-market.  This is despite cuts by Moody’s and two analysts.  Societe Generale reportedly raised the rating to Buy.

Walgreens and CVS have decided to end their dispute over prescriptions.  Shares of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) are up 4.7% at $33.36 and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is up 8.5% at $31.75.

Kaman Corporation (NASDAQ: KAMN) lowered guidance after the close on delays.  Shares are indicated down 7% at $23.00 although the volume here and the normal trading volume may keep this from being seen too much.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Despite the notion that Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are being delisted from the NYSE along with their multiple preferred share listings, the companies will continue to operate under government conservatorship.

Freddie Mac said that servicers may grant relief to Gulf Coast borrowers unable to pay their loans because of the oil spill’s impact on their incomes. Its forbearance policies give servicers the discretion to suspend a borrower’s mortgage payments for up to three months, OR they may reduce payments for up to six months.  To take it a step further, these servicers may recommend forbearance for up to twelve months, based on the borrower’s circumstances.

Freddie’s requirements are that servicers “must not accrue or collect late charges from the borrower during a short-term forbearance or any subsequent repayment plan period if the borrower is paying according to the forbearance agreement.”

Earlier, Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) announced a three-month suspension starting today and going through September 17 of foreclosure sales and notifications and evictions on possessed properties for qualifying borrowers in the Gulf region with first mortgages held by CitiMortgage.

The Freddie & Fannie bailout could cost as much as $1 trillion in figures given earlier this week.  That figure arguably did not include anything new tied to BP’s mess.

At the end of the day, maybe BP will just have to start making large coastal mortgage payments for anyone under water or who is unable to make their mortgage payments whether their income was really tied to the spill or not.

What will be really interesting is to see which banks and mortgage lenders get into the soup over this for failing to comply or which take advantage of the system.

JON C. OGG

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is trading higher after Credit Suisse upgraded the solar player to Outperform from Neutral and gave it a $150 target price.  Shares are up 4.4% at $124.02 this morning.

Fannie & Freddie are at it again…. Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) is down another 14% at $0.48 on active volume and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) is trading down 13% at $0.65 on slightly less volume.  This is after large price drops yesterday based upon the FHFA requesting delisting from the NYSE.

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX) is trading up 4.3% at $5.60 after it and Boehringer announced a pact to develop diabetes drug that is a small molecule GPR119 agonist for the treatment of Type II diabetes and other indications.  That is after the Abbott deal yesterday.

Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is down 15% after a common stock and warrant offering was proposed a day after it received financing from Kingsbridge Capital.

Oncothyreon Inc (NASDAQ: ONTY) is up 20% at $4.35 after the company announced that Merck-Serono is resuming the Stimuvax clinical program in lung cancer.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is trading up after Jim Cramer gave the company a Buy signal last night on CNBC’s MAD MONEY.  Shares closed at $11.77 and are up about 3.1% at $12.14 this morning on more than 50,000 shares.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Sponsor: 5 best investments for 2010 – The next nine months represent a bold new era for investors.