MF Global (MF - option chain) shares rose sharply Wednesday after the company announced that former chairman of Goldman Sachs (GS), New Jersey governor, and U.S. Senator Jon Corzine will be the company's new CEO and chairman, effective immediately. Analysts have cheered the move, citing Corzine's experience at Goldman Sachs and his political clout. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on MF.

MF opened Wednesday at $8.35. By mid day the stock had hit a low of $7.96 and a high of $8.42. As of 12:30, MF is trading at $8.11 up 0.79 (10.8%). The chart for MF looks bullish and S&P does not currently have a STARS rating for MF.

Analyst upgrades:

• Merriman upgraded Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) to Buy from Neutral on expectations shares will react positively to the full IMPACT data release on April 28. The firm thinks Provenge could represent the first cancer immunotherapy approved in the U.S. and raised its valuation range on the stock to $33-$34 from $18-$19.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Andersons (NASDAQ: ANDE) as it believes the valuation is attractive, investor expectations are low, and the company's fertilizer and rail segments could recovery in FY10. The firm has a $19 target on shares. Goldman upgraded the auto sector to Neutral from Cautious and added Ford (NYSE: F) to its Conviction Buy list. The analyst does not believe Ford will have to declare bankruptcy and sees the company benefiting from Chrysler share declines and GM's (NYSE: GM) reduced product offerings. Ford's price target is $6
• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) to Buy from Underperform.
• Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

MF Global (NYSE: MF), a broker of exchange-listed futures and options, is recently down $10.99 to $6.50.

On Feb 28, MF recorded a bad debt provision of $141 million in response to unauthorized personal trading activity by one of the company's registered representatives.

MF call option volume of 2,540 contracts compares to put volume of 6,148 contracts. MF April option implied volatility of 222 is above its 26-week average of 49 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

MF Global (NYSE: MF), a broker of exchange-listed futures and options, is recently down $7.20 to $22.02 after disclosing a bad debt provision of $141 million in response to unauthorized personal trading activity by one of the company's registered representatives.

Deutsche Bank says: "this event, coupled with recent lawsuits and regulatory issues, seem to raise risk profile associated with MF."

MF call option volume of 7,924 contracts compares to put volume of 7,767 contracts. MF April option implied volatility of 68 is above its 26-week average of 41 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com