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Among the most heavily traded on the NYSE today is Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), which reported lower sales for September as the government's Cash for Clunkers program did not offer the boost to sales as in July and August. The drop wasn't as bad as expected because light truck sales increased slightly and sales of the 2010 Taurus were strong. Ford shares are down about 2.5%, to $7.03.

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE: PAG) has backed out of a deal to take over the Saturn brand from General Motors. The failed deal means that about 13,000 more jobs will be lost and 350 dealerships will disappear when GM finally shuts the doors on Saturn. Penske shares are taking quite a beating, down more than 14%, to $16.46.

Pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (NYSE: ETP) price a secondary offering of 6 million partnership units at $41.27/unit, nearly $1.25 below yesterday's closing price. Naturally the units opened lower, at $41.23. Trading now has the shares at $41.23, down about 3.3% to $41.14.

Another company coming out with a secondary offering priced lower than yesterday's closing price is Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI). The price discount of about 14% has chopped the share price by about 16% today. Ascent opened at $6.50 and is now trading at about $6.35, down nearly 16%.

A significant gainer today is Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHTP). Just last Thursday the company's shares fell 66% when Chelsea reported that a Stage III trial of its hypotension drug Droxidopa did not show more benefit than placebo on one symptom. On a closer reading, however, the company reported today that Droxidopa does perform better than placebo on other symptoms. The news has boosted share volumes from a daily average of about 1.2 million shares traded to a mind-boggling 17.3 million shares. Shares are trading up more than 25% at $3.15.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.