Shares of Threshold are up about 81% at $2.33. About 6 million shares have been traded so far today, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 137,000 shares traded. The pharmaceuticals firm has announced a global development deal with Germany’s Merck. We have more coverage here.

Ocean Power is up nearly 19% at $3.45. Nearly 150,000 shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of around 79,000. The company is developing an electricity generation system that uses wave power to drive the turbine, and has today reported a highly successful test for the US Navy.

Zynga is up nearly 14% at $14.07 after posting a new post-IPO high of $14.43 earlier today. More than 30 million shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 12 million. The social game maker has become a virtual tracking stock for the Facebook IPO — or at least investor enthusiasm for the IPO. sharespost.com lists Facebook shares at $36 on the secondary market today, up less than 3% since the announcement of the IPO. More coverage here.

MediciNova is down nearly -15% at 2.10. About 50,000 shares have traded by mid-day, compared with a daily average of about 12,000. Shares gained more than 30% yesterday, so today’s action is likely some profit taking.

Mannkind shares are down more than -11% at $2.19 after setting a new 52-week low of $2.15 earlier today. More than 14 million shares have already traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about about 900,000 shares. The company has priced its public offering of units containing one share of stock and warrant to purchase another 0.6 shares. More coverage here.

At about noon, the DJIA is up 1.38% at about 12,843, the Nasdaq is up 1.39% at around 2,899, and the S&P 500 is up 1.23% at about 1,342. Today’s report on non-farm payrolls and a fall in the headline unemployment rate to 8.3% have put some life into the market today.

Paul Ausick

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 11 points to 12,705.41 (-0.09%), the NASDAQ rose more than 11 points (0.4%) to 2,859.68, and the S&P 500 rose 0.11% or nearly 1.5 points to 1,325.54.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) cut to ‘neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) started as ‘buy’ at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is up nearly 24% at $66.30; Education Management Corp. (NASDAQ: EDMC) is down -17% at $21.19; Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is down -0.6% at $24.62; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is up 2.2% at $60.88 after posting a new 52-week high of $61.93 earlier today; Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is up 3.2% at $3.27; Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) is down -3.9% at $5.85; Brinks Co. (NYSE: BCO) is down -17.5% at $24.43; Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) is up 0.35% at $63.29; Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) is down -1.2% at $42.48; Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) is down -0.3% at $38.51; Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is down -0.3% at $15.71; and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) is down -0.9% at $46.53.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up nearly 18% at $12.49 after posting a new post-IPO high of $12.91 earlier today. The social games company got a big boost from Facebook’s IPO filing. Our coverage is here.

MediciNova Inc. (NASDAQ: MNOV) is up nearly 31% at $2.47. The company received a favorable patent notice for a multiple sclerosis treatment device.

Response Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: RGDX) is up more than 27% at $1.50. The drug maker announced the private placement of about 5.3 million shares at $1.50/share, about 28% higher than last night’s closing price.

BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOS) is up more than 15% at $6.73. The pharmacy services provider has sold a portion of its assets to Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) for $225 million.

Ur-Energy Inc. (AMEX: URG) is down more than -13% at $1.22. The uranium miner has issued 1.5 million shares of new stock to agents who will attempt to sell at CDN$1.00.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payroll report
• 10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
• 10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing (services) index

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Paul Ausick

Shares of Vringo are up more than 31% at $1.77. About 2.7 million shares have been traded so far today, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 120,000 shares traded. The company offers apps that are tightly integrated with Facebook.

MediciNova is up more 32% at $2.50. Nearly 264,000 shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of around 7,700. The company received a favorable patent notice for a multiple sclerosis treatment device.

Zynga is up more than 15% following the announcement of Facebook’s IPO (see our coverage here). More than 39 million shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 10 million.

Brinks is down nearly -19% on following clean miss on EPS and revenue estimates for the fourth quarter. Nearly 1.1 million shares have traded by mid-day, compared with a daily average of about 257,000.

Abercrombie and Fitch shares are down nearly -12% following a weak sales report and a forecast that missed estimates by a mile (more coverage here). More than 11 million shares have already traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 3.3 million shares.

At about 1:00 p.m., the DJIA is down -0.15% at about 12,697, the Nasdaq is up 0.26% at around 2,856, and the S&P 500 is up 0.02% at about 1,324.

Paul Ausick

LifeCell (NASDAQ: LIFC)is to be bought by Kinetic Concepts (NYSE: KCI) for $1.7 billion in cash. The offer is for $51 per share and will allow Kinetic to access the rapidly expanding biosurgery market. Shares of LifeCell are up almost 17% to $50.44 on a 52-week range of $24.53 to $48.28. Kinetic is up almost 6% to $49.79 on a 52-week range of $40.90 to $66.77.

MediciNova (NASDAQ: MNOV) released clinical results on two-year Phase II study of MN-166 on multiple sclerosis. The study showed positive results however the market is not reacting accordingly. Shares are down $0.19, 5%, to $3.81 on a 52-week range of $3.27 to $10.71.

Medicure (AMEX: MCU) continuing to rise on positive results on Aggresat, a tirofiban, released last week. The results show that use of the treatment significantly improved heart attack survival. Today, shares are up over 17% to $0.10 on a 52-week range of $0.05 to $1.64.

Rachel Lopez
April 7, 2008