Nasdaq gives ethanol stock 6 more months

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nasdaq notified Pacific Ethanol Inc. this week its shares may continue to trade on The Nasdaq Capital Market another six months.Pacific Ethanol stock has been trading under $1 per share since mid-May, except for a couple of brief blips above a buck in September and October.

That triggered Nasdaq’s consideration to remove the stock. Pacific Ethanol shares closed at 73.5 cents per share Thursday. The stock sold as high as $2.75 per share and as low as 37 cents per share during the past year.

To remain on Nasdaq, Pacific Ethanol shares must sell for $1 or more for 10 straight trading days by June 27. If that fails, and Nasdaq bumps the stock, Pacific Ethanol could appeal.

Also this week, Green Technology News reported that SmarTrend, a stock trading and analysis system, had identified a downtrend for Pacific Ethanol.

The stock is below its 50-day moving average of 80 cents per share and below its 200-day moving average of 87 cents.

Meanwhile, Seeking Alpha, a website for actionable stock market opinion and analysis, published an article by Ed Dolan about the passage of last week’s tax bill. He said U.S. corn farmers and ethanol distillers are celebrating.

“A little-noticed provision of the law extends ethanol tax credits ($.45 per gallon, plus a bonus for small producers) and tariffs on ethanol imports ($.54 per gallon), previously set to expire at the end of 2010,” Dolan wrote.

His comments went on to criticize U.S. ethanol policy. He said it contradicts every principle of sound economics.

“It encourages use of fuels whose opportunity costs are high while discouraging use of those whose costs are low,” he said. “It promotes trade flows that run opposite to comparative advantage. It creates new market failures instead of correcting those that already exist.”

source: eastoregonian