Almost on cue, the European Central Bank took a page out of U.S. Federal Reserve's playbook Wednesday.

In a widely-expected statement, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet warned that the euro-zone's inflation surge was likely to last longer than expected, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

The comments came one day after the ECB made $500 billion in short-term loans available to banks to avert a year-end liquidity crunch. The $500 billion move was part of a coordinated effort among the world's major central banks to increase liquidity in the international finance system to head-off a potential credit crunch stemming from subprime mortgage and related asset defaults. Many economists and analysts expect the major central banks -- the ECB, the Fed, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Canada -- to continue to sequentially add liquidity to the system through at least Q1 2008, and probably longer.

On Wednesday, Trichet said the euro-zone "faces a 'more protracted' period of elevated inflation than previously expected, indicating no imminent plan to reduce interest rates."

In the battle of the fast food restaurants, it's hardly ever about taste or service or quality: it's all about perception (and as my former car salesman boss says, perception is reality). So when I saw the news this week about how CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR) restaurants, Hardee's and Carl's Jr., have agreed to start purchasing a very small percentage of their pork and eggs from cage-free animals, I was wowed at the headlines. "Cage-free eggs!" an email from a colleague read.



Why is this the funnest news all month? Because of the very famous pin-up girls involved in the dispute. Paris Hilton is, after all, famous for her extremely sexy Carl's Jr. ads (I'd venture to say they are the pinnacle of her sordid career). Alicia Silverstone has made headlines with her racy PETA ads that were pulled off the air thanks to their nearly-naked nature. So in the cage match between Paris Hilton and Alicia Silverstone, I could have called it: smart Alicia whooped Paris' lingerie-clad booty with a (slightly happier) hen.

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) volatility and volume elevated prior to Blackstone paying $26 billion. HLT announced Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) will acquire all the outstanding common stock of HLT for $47.50 per share. HLT closed at $36.05. I reported near the close of trading on 7/3/07 "option volume & volatility Elevated as HLT rallies 6%." HLT total volume of 32,490 contracts and HLT July option implied volatility of 39 was aggressive, above its 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Stockholders yesterday approved the long-planned acquisition of gaming giant Harrah's Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:HET) by Apollo Management and the Texas Pacific Group (TPG). Two-thirds of voting shares agreed to the $90 per share purchase price, which was recommended by Harrah's Board. The final price was $6.19 over the stock's closing price on March 8th, the cutoff for inclusion in the deal.

In the $17.1 billion buyout, TPG and Apollo take on $10.7 billion of debt. Paying down this debt will overshadow any expansion plans for the foreseeable future.

A number of regulating agencies in areas where Harrah's operates have yet to review and approve the deal. Harrah's expects the deal to be completed by the end of the year.

Harrah's, by revenue the world's largest casino company, has facilities in the U.S. and around the world, including some of Las Vegas' prime properties.

For more about Apollo, see Tom Taulli's post in BloggingStocks.

Follow Harrah's story at BloggingBuyouts

Note to advertisers: be really careful who you pick to pitch your products.

Sure, you want a big name. You want convincing. You want sexy. But do you really want someone who doesn't even like your product? (Hint: no!)

Yesterday, Paris Hilton plead 'no contest' to one count of alcohol-related reckless driving -- she'll pay a fine and be on probation for 36 months. All this because she was really hungry (and drunk) and "wanted to have an In-N-Out burger."

Which all would be a juicy story, and par-for-the-course with the idle rich like Ms. Hilton. Except that she's a former spokesperson (spokesmodel?) for rival Carl's Jr., a unit of CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:CKR). There was so much egg (or was that hamburger grease?) on everyone's face, the incident made Business 2.0's list for dumbest moments in business.

I'll give this: you probably don't want your spokespeople drinking and driving. But if they do, and they're caught in the act and interviewed as to what was going on, wouldn't you want them to say, "I really wanted a Carl's Jr. burger?"

Pick your spokespeople like you pick your CEOs: make sure they love 'em a good ____ [your product goes here]. It will at least make for a good crawl on CNN. Any PR is good PR... right?