NASDAQ Stocks Rallying This Morning: AMRN, VRML, CYTX, GALE, XOMA, OREX

Stocks are trading flat in early trading today on a weaker than expected consumer sentiment report. Consumer sentiment fell to 74.3 from 75.3 in February. Economists were expecting a reading of 76. Consumer prices index increased 0.4% last month due to increased gas prices. Taking a quick look at the market shows the Dow up 7 points, the Nasdaq up 1 point and the S&P 500 up 1 point.

Amarin Corporation (NASDAQ:AMRN) is up 12.12% this morning at $10.00. AMRN has traded 5.7 million shares so far today, well above its daily average of 3.1 million shares. Amarin shares have been climbing the past couple of days on rumors of patent progress for its heart drug candidate AMR-101. There have also been rumors of a possible takeover. The company has a market cap of 1.35 billion.

Vermillion, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRML) is up 10.76% today at $1.75. VRML has traded 408 thousand shares this morning and trades 478 thousand shares a day on average. VRML shares are bouncing back today after falling from $3 to $1.60 in the past couple weeks. The company has a market cap of 25.70 million.

Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CYTX) rose 8.83% in early trading today at $3.0793. CYTX is trading heavy volume today with 1.7 million shares traded, more than 3 times its average volume. Cytori announced today that the FDA approved its aesthetic surgery device. The company has a market cap of 177.71 million.

Galena Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:GALE) is up 7.59% this morning at $1.56. GALE is trading decent volume today with 745 thousand shares traded. The stock usually trades just over a million shares a day. GALE shares are up more than $0.30 a share in the past week. The company has a market cap of 67.06 million.

XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ:XOMA) is up 10.85% today at $2.35. XOMA has traded 702 thousand shares so far today, above its daily average of 621 thousand shares. XOMA shares have jumped more than $0.40 over the past few days. The company has a market cap of 82.02 million.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) is up 6.44% this morning at $4.96. OREX has traded 1.1 million shares today and trades 1.4 million shares a day on average. OREX shares have jumped more than $1 a share in the past week. The company has a market cap of 304.59 million.