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The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: March 9 BP Apology

BP plc (NYSE: BP) CEO Dudley apologized for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The gesture apparently did not go over well. Negative press on the UK-based oil firm moved it to the top of the Flame IndesxNote: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies. Alpha Natural Resource took an image hit as Massey Energy, which it is acquiring was sued for deaths in a mine explosion

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank Company Ticker Score Change in Rank Comments
1 BP BP 34.37 +15 CEO apology not taken seriously
2 Massey Energy MEE 31.123 +4 Sued for mine explosion deaths
3 Chevron CVX 30.54 -2 Fighting environmental suit in Ecuador
4 PG&E Corp. PCG 28.701 +19 Regulators examine gas line explosion
5 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM 26.97 -2 Lawsuit over participation in Madoff matter
6 Fannie Mae FNMAS 25.625 +30 Ongoing concerns about liquidation
7 Johnson & Johnson JNJ 25.598 +4 Takes 384,000 insulin pump cartridges off the market
8 Toyota Motor Corporation TM 25.06 0 Prius sales hit 3 million, but long term plan has few believers
9 Rite Aid RAD 24.127 -7 Supreme Court passes on case that would help sales
10 Alpha Natural Resources ANR 23.974 +54 Firm that will buy Massey damage by troubles at miner

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

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