UPDATE 1-Oil service company stocks rise may be ending

(Reuters) - HOUSTON, April 13 - Investors betting on the long-term outlook for oil services companies have pushed those stocks to their highest in nearly a year, but upcoming quarterly earnings reports may cut the rally short.

"The near-term threat here is that earnings are going to be sloppy," said Bill Herbert, an analyst at Simmons & Co., adding that the run of tremendous growth in North American drilling over the last three years may be over.


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Fed's Fisher-Objective is to bring down inflation

(Reuters) - Still, Fisher warned that "an enormous amount of damage" could be done if the Fed infringes upon "dynamic economic growth."

The policy-maker said the current year-long spell of sub-par growth in the United States had not left the economy vulnerable to a more severe downturn.


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Strong TV results lift CanWest to 2nd-qtr profit

(Reuters) - TORONTO, April 13 - CanWest Global Communications Corp. , Canada's biggest media company, said on Friday it returned to a second-quarter profit, helped in part by growth in its television operations.

CanWest, which is in the midst of buying specialty TV group Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. in partnership with an affiliate of Goldman Sachs & Co. , said it earned C$7 million, or 4 Canadian cents a share, for the period ended Feb. 28, compared with a loss of C$19.3 million, or 11 Canadian cents a share, in the year-before quarter.


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Sallie Mae options trade heavy as rumors swirl

(Reuters) - Upcoming earnings and the persistent rumors of a possible buyout could have been contributing factors to the surge of bullish options trading prior to Friday's report, analysts said.

"There were rumors already circulating on Thursday that they may be the next takeover candidate," said William Lefkowitz, options strategist at brokerage firm vFinance Investments in New York.


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UPDATE 1-Sallie Mae options trade heavy as rumors swirl

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, April 13 - A jump in trading of SLM Corp. calls on Thursday ahead of a New York Times report that the largest U.S. student loan company was in talks to go private was unusual, but not necessarily indicative of insider trading, option analysts said.

Upcoming earnings and the persistent rumors of a possible buyout could have been contributing factors to the surge of bullish options trading prior to Friday's report, analysts said.


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ECB's Mersch sees euro-zone inflation risks

(Reuters) - He was speaking before the European Institute.

Mersch said input prices and corporate pricing power were rising and the ECB had not finished raising interest rates.


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Agricore CEO says up to JRI to meet Saskpool bid

(Reuters) - "If it matches, then the board will continue to support the JRI proposal," Hayward said, adding JRI's decision could come "as early as today or it could be as late as next Friday".




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