It's not common to see any news out of the court that is scheduled to decide the litigation, so if:
1. a filing is made that includes the word "settlement", 2. it isn't clear when the settlement talks happened, and 3. the court is likely to rule against Pacific Ethanol if the panel is allowed to decide the case on the merits,
... then that filing is likely to result in a jump in the price, which happened. This is nothing more than my explanation of the movement in the PPS that did happen on Friday.