STOCKS NEWS US-Lloyds ADRs rally, sees return to profit in 2010

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0730 ET 19March2010
Lloyds ADRs rally, sees return to profit in 2010

U.S.-listed shares of Lloyds Banking Group rallied in premarket trading on Friday after the company said it would return to profit in
2010 because of a bigger-than
expected drop in bad debts.

Lloyds, which sank $9.63 billion into the red last year after being hit by a steep jump in bad loans 'believes that it will be profitable on a combined basis in 2010', it said in an unscheduled trading statement.

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The stock gained 9.1 percent to $3.72 in premarket trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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0721 ET 19March2010
Gov fault regulator on Southwest Airlines: WSJ

A U.S. government watchdog faulted the Federal Aviation Administration for allowing Southwest Airlines Co to fly jets that had not undergone mandatory maintenance work, violating stipulated safety rules, the Wall Street Journal said.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel said on Thursday that the company failed to complete certain required maintenance involving rivets around the window frames of 55 of its Boeing 737 aircraft, the paper said, citing the counsel's documents.

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Shares of Southwest closed Thursday at $13.06.

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0716 ET 19March2010
Crude edges lower as dollar strengthens

April crude oil futures fell on Friday as the dollar strengthened against the euro on worries over Greece's debt problems and after an industry report suggested OPEC exports were rising.

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The contract was down 0.8 percent to $81.56 per barrel.

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0709 ET 19March2010
Panel backs new use of Boston Scientific devices

Boston Scientific Corp on Thursday moved closer to winning U.S. clearance to promote implanted cardiac devices for patients in earlier stages of heart failure.

A government advisory panel unanimously urged approval of the company's Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators, or CRT-Ds, for patients with heart failure who have no symptoms or only mild symptoms.

The recommendation, if adopted by the Food and Drug Administration, could help Boston Scientific boost future CRT-D sales. The company suspended sales of the devices this week after failing to tell regulators about manufacturing changes.

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Shares of Boston Scientific closed Thursday at $7.07.

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0702 ET 19March2010-Google may announce China plan on Monday
report

Google Inc may make an announcement next Monday about whether it will pull out of China, the China Business News reported on Friday, quoting an unnamed Google employee.

The report said a local authorized agent had received unconfirmed information that Google would leave China on April 10.

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Google may pull out of the country because of issues over censorship.

Shares of the Internet search giant closed Thursday at $566.40.

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0700 ET 19March2010
Economic indicators for March 19

Economic indicators on tap for Friday include weekly ECRI data.

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