Mattersight Corp. (NASDAQ: MATR) is up 29.4% at $2.33.

Comstock Holding Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: CHCI) is up 19% at $2.75.

Syntroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: SYNM) is up 17.1% at $4.12.

Life Partners Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPHI) is up 16.8% at $3.48.

NovaCopper Inc. (NYSEMKT: NCQ) is up 16.6% at $1.97.

And here are today’s five biggest losing stocks at closing:

Jacksonville Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: JAXB) is down 42.1% at $0.81.

Dialogic Inc. (NASDAQ: DLGC) is down 18.6% at $0.26.

Telestone Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: TSTC) is down 17.7% at $0.84.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) is down 13.4% at $33.99.

Keynote Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: KEYN) is down 12% at $11.45.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.48% today, now at 82.654. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.4% at 652.50, with commodities prices mostly lower today on the stronger dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.3% today, at $93.74 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.2% at $109.57 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.1% today at about $3.87 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.8% today at $1,604.60 an ounce, its first close above $1,600 this month.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 62 points to 14,452.06 (-0.43%), the NASDAQ fell more than 11 points (-0.35%) to 3,237.59, and the S&P 500 fell -0.55% or nearly 9 points to 1,552.10.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup (more coverage here); Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) started as ‘buy’ at BB&T; Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) raised to ‘neutral’ at Nomura; and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) raised to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday resulted in several price moves today, including these: Syntroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: SYNM) is down 12.3% at $0.40; Celsion Corp. (NASDAQ: CLSN) is up 1.9% at $1.08; Hanwha Solarone Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: HSOL) is up 5.7% at $0.93; Hastings Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: HAST) is down 4.4% at $2.17; and Kior Inc. (NASDAQ: KIOR) is down 0.9% at $5.76.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE: FF), Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK), FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS), and Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) is up 11.1% at $3.71. The mobile games developer has been upgraded by several analysts.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is up 6.6% at $16.50. The beleaguered retailer gets a boost today from an analyst’s plan to convert some of the company’s stores to a REIT.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is down 2.3% at $3.35. The handset maker is declining as the U.S. release of the new smartphone from BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) approaches later this week..

Stay tuned for Tuesday. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins its two-day meeting. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.42% today, now at 82.262. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.5% at 650.23, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed up 0.5% today, at $93.45 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 1% at $110.03 a barrel. Natural gas is up 1.6% today at about $3.87 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.1% today at $1,590.70 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 25 points to 14,514.11 (-0.17%), the NASDAQ fell about 10 points (-0.30%) to 3,249.07, and the S&P 500 fell -0.16% or more than 2 points to 1,560.71.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $42 at Goldman Sachs; Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; Delta Air Lines Co. (NYSE: DAL) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James; Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) cut to ‘equal weight’ at Morgan Stanley; and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) cut to ‘underweight’ at JPMorgan Chase.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) is down 5.5% at $13.71; Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is up 2.3% at $6.13 (more coverage here); Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up 5.2% at $25.49; and Brown Shoe Co. Inc. (NYSE: BWS) is down 4.8% at $17.52.

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear from Syntroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: SYNM), Celsion Corp. (NASDAQ: CLSN), Hanwha Solarone Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: HSOL), Hastings Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: HAST), and Kior Inc. (NASDAQ: KIOR).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is up 4.4% at $12.64 after posting a new 52-week high of $12.65 earlier. The big bank’s capital plan passed the Fed stress test and includes some big buyback plans. More coverage here.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is down 3.1% at $9.39. The chipmaker reports earnings next week and expectations are high, probably leading some short sellers to dump their positions today.

America Movil S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: AMX) is down 4% at $18.59 after posting a new 52-week low of $18.49 earlier today. The telecommunications company has been through a spate of selling in the past week following an announcement that Mexico is seeking to increase competition in the sector and encourage foreign investment.

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

10:00 a.m. – National Association of Home Builders housing market index
11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a great weekend!

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Sell from Underperform at Credit Agricole.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) Started as Neutral at UBS.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo; called “a stock to avoid on more ‘off balance sheet’ debt and ‘Founders Well’ issues” by Argus.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW) Cut to Underperform at Stern Agee.

Gran Tierra Energy, Inc. (AMEX: GTE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) Raised to Outperform at Cowen.

Nexen Inc. (NYSE: NXY) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) Started as Overweight at Barclays.

Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; downgrades and price target and estimates have been cut at multiple boutique firms.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; downgraded or estimate and price targets cut at several other boutique firms.

Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM) Started as Market Outperform with $1.80 price target at JMP Securities.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

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JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 4 points to 12,878.28 (0.03%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.02%) to 2,931.83, and the S&P 500 fell -0.09% or just over 1 point to 1,350.5.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) raised to ‘outperform’ and target price raised to $140 at Credit Suisse; Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; and H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) started as ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) is up 1.2% at $17.74; Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) is down -5.7% at $13.18; Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: WPI) is up 3.8% at $59.89; Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is up 4.4% at $36.94; BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE: BWA) is up 0.42% at $79.18; Capella Education Co. (NASDAQ: CPLA) is down -13.3% at $39.30; Fossil Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) is up nearly 13% at $118.02; Hospira Inc. (NYSE: HSP) is up 6.7% at $36.50; Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) is down -0.23% at $47.91; and Zipcar Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIP) is down -13% at $13.99, a new 52-week low.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) is up nearly 25% at $41.92 after posting a new high of $42.43 earlier today. The apparel company reported better-than-expected earnings today, and the shares have more than doubled since the company’s IPO in mid-December.

Syntroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: SYNM) is up up 20% at $1.32. The biodiesel maker’s joint venture with Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) has signed a deal to distribute synthetic diesel fuel.

Chelsea Therapeutics International Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTP) is up nearly 19% at $3.69. The company’s shares fell almost -40% yesterday, but bargain hunters can’t resist. We mentioned this possibility yesterday.

Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) is down more than -80% to $0.29. The solar maker filed for bankruptcy this morning. We have more coverage here.

JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) is down nearly -12% at $7.95. The solar panel maker is just one more victim among solar stocks today of a proposed cutback in Germany’s solar subsidies and the bankruptcy of ECD. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher is giving a speech. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 8:30 a.m. – Empire State manufacturing survey
• 9:15 a.m. – Industrial production
• 10:00 a.m. – Housing market index
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 2:00 p.m. – FOMC minutes released

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Paul Ausick

Among the major movers at around noon today are Syntroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: SYNM), Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS), LivePerson Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN), Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER), and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE).

Syntroleum is up nearly 21% at $1.33. Volume is about more than 10x the daily average of around 425,000 shares traded. The biodiesel maker’s joint venture with Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) has signed a deal to distribute synthetic diesel fuel.

Kors is up more than 22% at $41.15 after posting a new 52-week high of $42.17 earlier this morning. Volume is about 2.5x the daily average of around 2.2 million shares traded. The apparel company posted better-than-expected earnings this morning and forecast current quarter earnings above estimates.

LivePerson is up more than 19% at $14.99 after posting a new 52-week high of $15.33 earlier. Volume is more than 6x the daily average of about 285,000 shares traded. The maker of customer contact software reported in-line earnings and revenues last night, and forecast more of the same for the current quarter.

Energy Conversion Devices is down more than -80% at $0.29. Volume is about 10x the daily average of 50,000 shares traded. The solar maker filed for bankruptcy this morning. We have more coverage here.

Yingli Green Energy is down nearly -10% at $4.77. Volume is already equal to the daily average of about 90,000 shares traded. The Chinese solar panel maker is among many other solar makers being affected by ECD’s bankruptcy and a likely cut in German subsidies. More coverage here.

Paul Ausick

No money was injured while filming

The impact of secondary offerings is being felt this morning.  Some key deals announced are from Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT), Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC), Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT).  We have identified the offering terms of each deal and provided the appropriate color on each deal.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) was supposed to sell 6 million shares but sold 7 million shares at $12.50 per share.  Ashford will repay its outstanding debt under its senior credit facility, for general corporate purposes, financing future hotel-related investments, capital expenditures and working capital or repayment of other debt or obligations. Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, KeyBanc Capital Markets, and UBS are managers for the offering and Ashford granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,050,000 shares to cover over-allotments. Ashford closed at $12.44 yesterday and shares are indicated up around $12.50 after being at $13.20 earlier in the week.  Its 52-week range is $6.46 to $14.32

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) is down almost 15% at $1.66 after going back to the capital well after closing at $1.96 yesterday.  The company sold $30 million of shares of its Series 13 Preferred Stock and warrants to six institutional investors, with each preferred share convertible at the option of the holder into 588 shares of common stock at $1.70 per share as the conversion price for a total of approximately 17,647,059 shares of common stock.  The adjusted 52-week range is $1.26 to $3.30.

Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM) sold 15,900,000 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase up to 7,950,000 shares of our common stock at a price of $1.58 per share with 0.5 of a 5 year warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $2.36. Syntroleum is set to get gross proceeds of $25.1 million from the stock sale and an additional $18.8 million if all the warrants are exercised.  The deal was sold for the company’s benefit and by the company through JMP Securities LLC; net proceeds are for general corporate purposes, working capital for its Dynamic Fuels, LLC investment and initial natural gas to liquids project development.  Shares are getting pounded as a result of the offering by almost 25% of a drop to $1.49.  The new adjusted market cap before the effects of this offering is about $122 million.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT) announced the pricing of a 4 million share offering at $25.95 per share.  The shares were previously sold to Jefferies & Company, Inc., who also happens to be the sole underwriter of the offering.  There is a 30-day option to purchase up to 600,000 additional shares to cover overallotments. The company said that it intends to use the net proceeds to pay down funds in its senior unsecured lines of credit and for general corporate purposes.  Tanger was at $26.80 earlier in the week and closed at $26.32 yesterday.  Oddly, it is getting a boost and shares are up 1.7% at $26.76 on the offering.  What helped this morning was that Credit Suisse began coverage with an Outperform rating and a $30 price target.

JON C. OGG

This will be used to fund the building of the venture’s renewable synthetic fuels facility located in Geismar, Louisiana. This $100 million is the maximum amount that can be granted for a project under policy guidelines adopted by Louisiana’s Bond Commission.  The companies are planning on initial production starting in early 2010.

Dynamic Fuels was set up to convert low-grade inedible fats and greases into renewable synthetic diesel, jet and military fuel.

If you are flying a plane in 2011 or beyond and you think you keep smelling fried chicken, you might be a Dynamic Fuels client.

Jon C. Ogg
June 20, 2008

Fuel Tech, Inc. (Nasdaq: FTEK) announced receipt of a FUEL CHEM® demonstration order from a new electric utility customer in the Midwestern United States on a large Powder River Basin coal-fired boiler, with chemical feed scheduled to commence later this quarter.  Unfortunately for the company shareholders, shares slid nearly 3% to $24.39 after a miserable day yesterday.

Jim Cramer recently gave a large summary of his stock picks that would win from the move to a greener U.S., although some are far from "green" companies.

Lexington Insurance Company, a member company of American InternationalGroup, Inc. (NYSE:AIG), today announced Upgrade To GreenSM Residential,an insurance coverage allowing U.S. homeowner policyholders to rebuildtheir property to “green” standards following a covered loss.

Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM) today announced it has retainedDallas-based Halliburton Investor Relations to manage the company’sinvestor relations program.  Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKNS) shares fell some 24% to $5.50 todayafter posting wider losses, although shares are sill up about 80% off52-week lows.Dassault Systèmes (NASDAQ:DASTY) announced that electric carmanufacturer Tesla Motors has selected CATIA PLM Express as its productdevelopment solution.

US BioEnergy Corp. (NASDAQ:USBE) shares rose 16% to $7.45 today afterit announced net income of $11.1 million, or $0.15 per share, for thequarter ended September 30, 2007; this included a one-time impairmentcharge of $2.5 million.  It is positioned to bring total productioncapacity to 750 million gallons per year (mgy) by the end of 2008.Gross margins improved 50% to $28.8 compared to the second quarter of2007.  During the third quarter of 2007, the company sold 73.2 milliongallons of ethanol at an average selling price of $1.76 per gallon.

T. Boone Pickens’ alternative energy stock Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ:CLNE) saw sharesfall 3.6% today to $17.83 after yesterday’s earnings report. For thethird quarter of 2007, the Company’s combined volume of CNG and LNGdelivered increased to 20.0 million gasoline gallon equivalents(Gallons), compared with 18.2 million Gallons in the same period a yearago.  It will be interesting to know if T. Boone Pickens is still expecting $100/barrel oil.

Despite some massive selling yesterday and a recovery for most ofTuesday, alternative energy stocks are still seeing sellers hit theshares as oil is falling more and more.  Owning alternative energystocks is like having a leveraged trade on a high-beta stock when oilprices are fluctuating wildly as these will benefit from higher oilprices.  That sword cuts both ways.

Yesterday came the announcement that former VP Al Gore had joinedpremiere VC-firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers as a partner forgreen investing.  The crowd that refuses to accept the term "globalwarming" or even "climate change" probably laughed hard that this wason the same day that many alternative energy stocks got crushed.

A boutique investment banking and research firm named BroadpointCapital initiated coverage of DayStar Tech (NASDAQ:DSTI), First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR),and HOKU Scientific (NASDAQ:HOKU) all with Buy ratings today.

The PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (AMEX:PBW) rose 4.8% to $23.60and the Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSE:GEX) rose0.2% to $53.76.

-Jon C. Ogg
November 13, 2007

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