About one year after the Lehman bankruptcy, we are getting rumors of more impending bankruptcies, this time from China.

The problem started last year when the price of oil dropped from $147 to $32 per barrel. Many companies use the futures markets to hedge their buying of oil. When prices skyrocket, they get scared and buy futures contracts for future delivery to lock in a price and to be assured of getting the product. So, some companies were buying oil at the height of the market last year. Companies that place hedges usually leave them on until delivery. What happened was that when the price of oil collapsed, these companies were still holding high-priced contracts. They saw the price plummet and took horrendous losses.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Bionovo, Constant Contact, Senorx, and RemoteMDx were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman initiated Bionovo Inc (NASDAQ: BNVI), with a Buy rating, as they believe shares are undervalued given the company's development pipeline and related intellectual property.
• Constant Contact Inc (NASDAQ: CTCT) was initiated with a Market Weight rating at Thomas Weisel. The company was also initiated with a Sector Outperformer and $30 target at CIBC, as they believe the company is well-positioned in the on-demand email marketing segment.
• Citigroup initiated Senorx Inc (NASDAQ: SENO) with a Hold rating and $12 target, citing competition concerns and their belief that infrastructure investments could delay profitability.
• BWS Financial said RemoteMDx Inc (OTC: RMDX) has been able to secure contracts that should result into larger follow-on orders as the TrackerPAL starts to have a history in real life scenarios. The firm started shares off with a Buy rating and $8.75 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Bear resumed coverage of China Southern Airlines Company Limited (NYSE: ZNH) with an Underperform rating and China Eastern Airlines (NYSE: CEA) with a Peer Perform rating.
• Deutsche Bank initiated Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) and Hutchinson Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ: HTCH) with Hold ratings and a $30 target and $26 target.