Sundial of world news

The U.S. stock markets may well wake up so brutally that they fell asleep. Shortly before their opening on Tuesday, the markets were indeed approached up slightly after the day gleaned 0.34% for the Dow and 0.15% for the Nasdaq. The index futures Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 rose by 1.66% to 1141.90 points and 2076.50 points to 1.50%. The Dow Jones was waiting for his part in an initial advance of 1.41% to 11,000 points.

New home sales for the month of July in the United States are known to 16 hours. They are expected at 310,000 according to a consensus of analysts against 312,000 previously. This will be the only macroeconomic indicator on the agenda Tuesday.If others will be announced in the coming days, investor caution, but market volatility, however, should remain in force throughout the week until Friday.

That day, in fact, speak the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. Speculation is rife, some still hoping that it will decide a third monetary easing to support the U.S. economy. Will also be unveiled for the second estimate of U.S. GDP for the second quarter.

Banks and investment funds turbulent agitated

As for values, it will be interesting to see if the securities of the banking sector managed to recover. The meeting this Monday night has been very rough in New York, the indices have again been a roller coaster free 3-in-1 credit report.If technology stocks have bounced back, supported by investors looking for bargains, banks have suffered greatly, however. These are the titles of the financial sector that weighed most heavily on the DJIA. Bank of America has yielded 7.9% on rumors of capital increases.

News is expanded on the side of investment funds. The investment fund Cerberus and its partner Chatham Lodging Trust and have informed the United States real estate company Innkeepers Trust (Marriott franchise) they did not buy the walls of 64 of its hotels in the United States. The transaction, amounting to $ 1.1 billion, was announced in May.

The investment fund Jana Partners in New York and the pension fund Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, shareholders of the publisher McGraw-Hill, for their part, state recommend a separation of the group.The two investors, who had announced in early August have acquired a total of 5.2% of the capital, advocated in a paper presented to the authority of the U.S. equity markets (SEC) that the group split its divisions Education, Information and Media and stock index Standard & Poor's.

Finally, on the front of mergers over the world stock markets, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved on Tuesday the merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse, which should give birth to the first exchange operator world.

Shortly before opening, the U.S. stock markets were slightly higher initial approached on Monday. The index futures Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advanced in effect 0.79% respectively at 1132.40 points from 0.98% to 2061 points, while the Dow Jones was also expected to rise by 0.6 % to 10,885 points.

The slight rebound, which may occur after a further sharp fall on Wall Street last Friday and in the wake of European markets focused more on Monday morning, should not be thwarted, at least in the short term, by some macroeconomic indicators whatsoever. In fact, no statistics major is expected on Monday to the United States. Only the index of manufacturing activity in the Chicago Fed is on the menu, at 14:30.

It will take until Tuesday to learn about sales figures for new homes, from 16 hours.Wednesday, the agenda will grow a bit, with durable goods orders for July and the weekly inventory of crude oil to the United States. Thursday, things become more serious with the weekly jobless claims, always eagerly awaited by investors on the lookout for any sign of weakness, or, conversely, improvement in U.S. growth.

Threats to U.S. growth

But the appointment will most certainly expected the intervention, Friday, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed), some investors are hoping a third easing able to restart the engine stopped the world's largest economy.This day will be both detailed, the second estimate of U.S. gross domestic product for the second quarter, and the index of consumer confidence for August.

Markets, even if they are experiencing very high volatility, and may still show, at the same time, some caution, pending the decision of the Fed on Friday. Especially as the threats to the outlook for U.S. growth accumulates. After Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase lowered its estimates, in turn, growth in the U.S. economy. The Bank of New York discusses risk "clearly raised" a recession, while growth prospects for the third quarter were for their slightly smaller than before.The U.S. GDP growth for the fourth calendar quarter is now expected at a rate of 1% against +2.5% previously.

Vice President Joe Biden, on an official visit to China, but probably a little appeased the spirits, reaffirming this weekend at the first creditors of the country they could rely on the strength of the U.S. Treasury.

Values ​​to follow

The uncertainty is compounded room at the international level, by the events in Libya. The fall of Colonel Qaddafi, found, became clearer Monday morning, prompting oil companies to return to the values ​​of the colors. However, perhaps more in Europe than the United States. Neither Chevron (%), or ExxonMobil (+%) are actually active in the extraction of oil in Libya. These values ​​could still respond to changes in oil prices.Oil prices retreated on Monday morning.

On the corporate side, the internet telephony group Skype also announced Sunday an agreement to acquire Me Group, a provider of mobile messaging services to targeted groups. Registered in Luxembourg, the company Skype was founded in 2003 and became the world leader in Internet telephony. She is currently being acquired by Microsoft U.S. computer group (-2.51% Friday closing).

How do you explain the economic slowdown in recent months and the downward revisions to growth prospects?

More than a brake unexpectedly in the economy, we see a reversal of perception. The latter is even more brutal than the general opinion was, in my view, tainted with excessive optimism. Then it is difficult to know what, the political farce about debt in Washington, the loss of the AAA American or poor statistics justified the change of outlook on the economy.

The publication of poor growth in the second quarter in the U.S. and the downward revision of the statistics of activity since 2008, have changed the vision of recovery.We start from lower than initial estimates, and we go up the slope much more slowly than expected.

We also witnessed a particularly brutal realization that the inflationary between autumn 2010 and spring 2011 was a major blow to the head of consumers. With a depressed job market and debt strategy, it was not much more to demand falters significantly.

Do you believe in a scenario back in recession?

The situation is much more fragile than earlier this year. The risk of a recession back to a horizon of six months has increased considerably paydayloans. In my view, two scenarios-slow growth or recession-are as likely to occur. The first scenario would lead to growth of only 2% in the U.S. and 1% in Europe, below the trend in previous upturns.The fault mainly mass unemployment. As for the recession, it could happen if everyone is convinced it is inevitable. Given the current environment, the market may in fact remain in panic mode, accumulating indiscriminate bad news one after the other.

Some economists raise the specter of the 2008 crisis …

In response to the bankruptcy of Lehmann, banks no longer wanted to lend to each other, freezing, and the global economy for six months. We're not there. Of course, we see signs of stress in the interbank market, but they have nothing to do with the situation three years ago. At the time, the Fed has provided up to $ 600 billion to other central banks to provide liquidity in dollars. Currently, the hotline is used up to 200 million.

In a recession, states will they try to revive the economy?

Western countries have largely emptied their cartridge: operating margins are much narrower. Any potential action, if it increases the debt carries with it much more likely than before.

German growth disappoints economists. The country announced on Tuesday, an initial estimate, an increase of 0.1% of GDP in the second quarter against a 0.5% increase expected by observers. This is a lowest since the first quarter of 2009.

In one year, growth stood at 2.8%, a performance is still below the 3.2% forecast. The previous quarter, the German economy had grown 1.3% a quarter over quarter and 5% year on year. These figures themselves have been subject to a downward revision, having been originally announced respectively 1.5% and 5.2%.

This result is partly due to the disappointing performance of foreign trade, yet strength of the German economy. The trade surplus narrowed to 11.5 billion euros against 12.8 billion in May. Economists had forecast 13 billion.Imports were further advanced in June by 0.3% while economists were betting on a decline in the same order. Exports, they, down 1.2% over the same period after growing 4.4% in May

With orders up to industry

Industrial production also fell 1.1% in June, surprising economists who had expected an increase of 0.1%. The figure for May was also revised downward, the increase being reduced from 1.2% to 0.9%. The Ministry of Economy said that the month of June was characterized by an unusually high number of long weekend, which has affected production. He also noted that industrial production remained on a positive trend, driven by a high level of orders.

These have in fact increased by 1.8% in June, against a 0.5% decline expected.But the figures show a slowdown in domestic demand after rising by more than 10% in May, has dropped significantly in June (-10.8%), while orders from abroad have experienced an opposite trend with an increase of 13.7% in June after a 5.8% decline the previous month. Finally, wholesale sales fell 0.6% in July compared to June

"Private consumption and investment in construction slowed the German economy in the second quarter," said the Statistical Office, without giving details. Confident, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble still hopes for 2011 "growth above 3%."

The penalty was expected but it still sounds like a shock. In the night from Friday to Saturday, the rating agency Standard and Poor's (S & P) has dared to lower the rating for government debt of the United States, and deprived of their "AAA" for the first time in history . S & P said in a statement it had degraded to the next level this note, the best possible, to bring it to 'AA +'. It also lowered its outlook to "negative", which means that Standard and Poor's believes that the next time the note will change, it will be to be devalued again. The United States were rated "AAA" by S & P since the creation of this agency in 1941.They remain in the other two major agencies, Moody's Dean (since 1917) and Fitch Ratings.

Standard and Poor's, which had warned in April that it was considering lowering, justified its decision with "political risks" to see the country taking insufficient measures against its budget deficit. For her, the political debate on these issues is not up to the problems caused by a debt of more than 14,500 billion. "The plan for balancing the budget on which Congress and the Executive have recently agreed is insufficient compared to what, in our view, would be needed to stabilize the dynamics in the medium term public debt" said S & P, citing the law known as "control the budget" passed Tuesday.

S & P is the second rating agency to downgrade the American note, after the Chinese – less powerful – Dagong.Other – mostly American and French Moody's Fitch – are currently at Triple A.

The U.S. public debt to more than 100% of GDP

The first power of the world is, well, so sure before. The United States and joined Japan, Spain and Ireland have lost that status envied no fax payday loan. The loss of this seal of excellence is expected brutal impact on the financial markets, difficult to imagine right now. But while the financial world is upside down, the risk that markets continue to dive is high. The announcement of S & P comes in effect when the markets were closed for the weekend, closing on both sides of the Atlantic one week black.

China, by far the world's largest creditor United States, found that she had "every right now to require the United States to address their structural problems of debt."Second World holder of U.S. debt, Tokyo assured him that his confidence in the U.S. Treasury and its strategy of purchasing these bonds were unchanged. In France, the Minister of Economy Baroin reiterated his "total confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy."

Two days ago, the U.S. debt has passed a symbolic milestone. Because it exceeded the threshold of 100% of GDP, just after raising the debt ceiling by Congress. The United States saw their public finances sealed by the harsh recession that crossed their economy from late 2007 to mid-2009. Since then, economic growth has returned, but they are not able to restore the health of their public finances. According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, they should acknowledge this year, with about 9% of GDP, the highest budget deficit of the G20 countries, except Japan.It is sixteen countries rated "AAA" by Standard and Poor's, four of the G7: Germany, Canada, France and Great Britain.

(With AFP and Reuters)

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PSA Peugeot Citroën can overcome the disaster in the first half Japanese. The first French car maker reported Wednesday a net profit after minority interests up 18.5% to 806 million euros in the first half. Revenues rose 9.7% to 31.1 billion euros, driven by sales outside Europe, while trading profit rose 1.8% to 1.16 billion. The agreement gave a turnover of 30.52 billion euros and a net operating income of 1.15 billion.

The effect of the disaster that hit Japan in March was still represented 147 million euros for PSA in the first half. Excluding this impact, operating income would have emerged an increase of 14.7%."In an environment unfavorable market declines of the group in Europe, higher raw material prices and disruptions caused by the disaster in Japan, the company posted a robust performance. This context reinforces the relevance of our strategy to move upmarket Peugeot and Citroen, globalization and improving operational performance, "said Philippe Varin, CEO of PSA, in a statement.

Disturbances yet to come

The negative effects of the disaster of March 11 should not disappear in the second half."In Japan we have had negative effects and we continue to have negative effects because there are a number of components that are in short supply, and force us to change our product offering and, thus, to have a dialogue with our customers a little more complicated, "said Frédéric Saint-Geours, CFO of PSA, during a teleconference.

The problems in Japan, combined with rising commodity prices, should have a negative impact stronger than expected second quarter. "The environment should deteriorate further € 300 million compared to previous estimates," says the group. Degradation that will fail to fully offset by productivity gains and income derived from its performance plan, he warns.

Despite this difficult environment, PSA confirms its target of an increase in profit from recurring operations throughout the year. The supplier Faurecia, which still holds PSA 57.4% stake, has also raised its 2011 targets on Tuesday after a first half marked by strong growth in all regions of the world.

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As in Asia, the Paris Bourse tries to rebound on Tuesday. At the opening, the CAC 40 gained 0.16% to 3819.23 points. Same in the rest of Europe: the London Stock Exchange opened up 0.11% to 5931.99 points and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange up 0.34% to 7369.89 points.

But investors remain cautious as Barack Obama has not convinced the issue of debt. In a speech to the nation live from the White House, Bush denounced the attitude of the Republicans that led to an impasse "dangerous". The world's largest economy may end up in default within a week if no agreement is reached on raising the debt ceiling, an event "irresponsible" by the president. Facing him, the chairman of the House Republican John Boehner, remained inflexible. He accused Barack Obama face of intransigence solutions proposed by his party."The sad truth is that the president wants a blank check. This will not happen, "he said.

Faced with the growing nervousness of the markets, it has however promised to submit to the Senate and the president a bill to avoid a default. "If the president promulgates it, the atmosphere of crisis it has created will disappear of itself," he said. Barack Obama also wanted to be reassuring: "I told the leaders of both parties that they must reach a compromise in the coming days, which can be passed by both houses of Congress, a compromise that I can enact. And I'm sure we can seal this compromise. "

In addition to the markets, the United States are now under pressure from the IMF suggests that a "severe shock" if no agreement is reached on time.The institution has also damaged its projections for the U.S. national debt.

The dollar attacked

The dollar is suffering in this context. The dollar briefly fell below 78 yen Tuesday, its lowest level since March 17, when President Barack Obama spoke to Americans. The euro has also appreciated against the greenback at 1.4420 dollars against 1.4375 dollars late Monday. "The president's speech Obama has disappointed market expectations of progress hoping to break the deadlock," said Hideki Hayashi, an economist at the brokerage Mizuho Securities, quoted by Dow Jones Newswires.

Oil prices were, themselves, without direction in electronic trading in Asia, the market continued to worry about the lack of agreement. A barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in August took 15 cents to 99.35 dollars.That of Brent North Sea crude for September delivery lost 29 cents to 117.65 dollars.

Investors also will keep an eye on the indicators of the day:

– The morale of French households is somewhat back in July after months of stability, with a gain of 3 points in the index that measures at 86 points, according to data released Tuesday by INSEE. But that level remains low.

– The number of starts of new homes rose 13.4% year on year in France for the period April to June, said Tuesday the Department of Housing.

Coming to the United States: the index of house prices and new home sales. Also the program overseas indices of investor confidence and consumer.

Values ​​to follow

The banks are recovering from their fall the day before.Crédit Agricole (1.64% to 9.06 euros), BNP Paribas (1.48% to 47.39 euros), Société Générale (1.39% to 36.77 euros), Axa (1, 28% to 13.88 euros) and Natixis (1.26% to 3.29 euros) are the highest increases in the ACC.

Faurecia: -1.55% to 29.87 euros

The automotive supplier has revised up its forecasts Tuesday turnover for 2011 between 15.7 and 15.9 billion euros and operating margin, after a good first half. But the forecast annual cash flow is lowered.

Veolia: 0.67% to 18.16 euros

The city of Warsaw has chosen Dalkia, Veolia and controlled by EDF, to buy the operator of its district heating network, the company SPEC, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Orpea: 0.20% to 34.44 euros

The investment company said it had taken FFP 6% stake in Orpea, a company specializing in the treatment of addiction, for a total of 88 million euros.

TF1: 5.30% to 13.40 euros

The television group has published a net profit up 60% to 118.6 million euros, but a turnover in a very slight decline (-0.5%), 1.3 billion euros, for the first half of 2011.

STMicroelectronics: -6.53% to 53.97 euros

The group said Monday second-quarter sales in line with analysts' expectations, but said that they could fall during the current quarter.

LVMH: 0.15% to 130.75 euros

The group said on Monday maintained at 12.25 euros per share price of its tender offer to purchase the remaining shares of the Italian jeweler Bulgari and denied having purchased from the family part of the shares at a higher price. It will publish its results after market close the first half.

Klépierre: 0.55% to 27.56 euros

The group reported Monday, against all odds, a growth of almost 4% of its rental income, supported by the increase in rents in shopping centers in an economic context, however, marked by the slowdown in consumption in Europe.(See

Mercialys: -0.81% to 29.40 euros

The group identified Monday its growth target for this year after reporting a growth of over 9% of its rental income in the first half and its Board of Directors decided to distribute an interim dividend for 2011 .

SEB: -7.10% to 67.62 euros

The group released Monday interim results up, thanks to its good performance in emerging markets, and is confident for the full year.

Faiveley Transport: -3.99% to 62.50 euros

The group confirmed Monday forecast for 2011 a slight increase in sales, just over a month after a warning about shifts orders.

April Group: -2.13% to 17.03 euros

The group recorded an increase of 1.3% of its turnover to 377.8 million euros, a jump of 8.2% in brokerage on which the group has refocused more than offsetting the decline 9.6% in insurance premiums.

After market, Sopra Vinci and publish their turnover for the second quarter, Gascogne, Euler Hermes, Spir Communication, TV and Radio Next Icade unveil the results of the second quarter, M6 will report its results in the first half.

This time, the Fininvest will have to pay. The court sentenced him on Saturday appealed the group owned by Silvio Berlusconi to pay 560 million euros in the CIR group, owned by Carlo de Benedetti. The judges of the Court of Appeal of Milan have found that control of the publisher Mondadori, obtained in 1991 by Fininvest, to the detriment of the EIF through a favorable court decision, was made possible by the corruption of judge and lawyers involved. In 2007, the Criminal Justice had issued a similar notice, including the judge sentenced Vottorio Metta was stationed in nearly three years in prison.

On appeal, the Milan judges, however, reduced the magnitude of the financial penalty, determined in the first instance to 750 million euros.Unlike 2007, the decision will also be immediately enforceable: Fininvest will address 560 million euros in damages without waiting for the trial to the Supreme Court that the group should seek. "Our lawyers are already beginning to study the complaint," has indeed responded Marina Berlusconi, the eldest daughter of the Head of Government and president of Fininvest. This assesses the amount of the penalty "to double the participation of Fininvest in Mondadori."

Electoral setback and legal troubles

The Cavaliere had nevertheless worked hard to save the payment of such penalty to the group. Approaching the verdict, he did not hesitate to try to vote by Parliament an amendment to the Civil Code suspending sanctions in excess of 20 million euros on appeal, until the final decision of the court of Cassation.A measure to be adopted in the Bill ratifying the austerity plan. Faced with the outcry in the opinion of this measure, the Cavaliere has this week backed down.

This decision is more bad news for the chairman, who combines political defeats in recent months and legal troubles. Also implicated in the "Rubygate" Silvio Berlusconi suffered a severe mid-June electoral setback. The Italians have indeed overwhelmingly (over 94%) rejected four bills proposed by his government and put to a referendum: one devoted to the construction of new nuclear power stations, one on the privatization of water management by municipalities, and two providing legal immunity of ministers and the chairman of the board. Silvio Berlusconi, who announced Friday he would not stand in 2013, probably did not finish with the law.

Renault is working to revive its sales in Europe in 2012. The automaker, whose image was tarnished by the case of false intelligence to launch a "flurry" of new products next year on the old continent, said La Tribune.

Starting with the renovation of smaller models. The group of diamond brand and will revamp its Twingo "with a front face far more original," says the group business daily. No time to breathe, the group will then present its model for electric car Zoe in March 2012 at the Geneva Motor Show prior to the market at a price of 15,000 euros from August 2012.

Then, the Clio IV will land on the market. The aim is to produce 450,000 Clio IV year, said La Tribune bad credit pay day loans. The vehicle will be produced in Bursa in Turkey but also Flins, near Paris. The new Clio will replace the previous ones.

New Dacia

On the Dacia brand, the group plans to launch a "compact van." Then the manufacturer will present models of renewed Logan and Sandero. These vehicles will be sold under the Renault brand outside Europe and Africa.

In the longer term, in 2014, new small city car produced in conjunction with Smart (Daimler) will emerge. Twingo a third version, and a smart four-seater will be produced on a single platform based in Slovenia. The year 2014 should be the revival of high-end vehicles.

For many employees of EDF, is the safety of nuclear plants is at stake They are concerned about an internal memo released Saturday by Le Parisien in France today, which aims to increase the maximum working in nuclear plants during "outages", those moments during which the reactors are closed, including maintenance.

During these periods unprofitable, EDF would indeed be able to quickly restart the reactor by its employees to work harder. The letter dated May 10 and addressed by the deputy director of EDF's nuclear generation, Philippe Druelle, each plant manager, and plans "to request exceptions to the limits to working with the inspectors work" or Regional Labour Directorate. EDF would like to apply a measure "by the summer of 211".

The project raises the ire of unions and employees' concerns. "EDF is organized to legalize abuses Hourly unacceptable and dangerous for employees and therefore nuclear safety," said the CGT. "EDF wants to push through and have hands on working time of its executives, including weekends and holidays, creating a zone of lawlessness, without any legislation on the organization of work "added the daily Annie Thebaud-Mony, director of research at Inserm.

Decreased alertness

While these periods of outages, which usually last from one to three months, is already reflected by an increased pace of work ranging from simple to double, with penalty of night and weekend , employees are concerned about the consequences of such change on their health and efficiency."We do work twelve hours or more is absurd, evidenced by a technical framework of the Chinon power plant. Beyond a certain limit, we can no longer be vigilant to 100% payday loans. " "I do my work carefully so as not to endanger the operation of the site. But it is already to the detriment of my health. Nationally, it is impossible to continue at this pace without consequence, "said another engineer of the Central Blayais in the Gironde.

For its part, EDF denies wanting to increase the working hours of employees. "This is a misunderstanding. [...] It will never matter to executives working 78 hours per week. This is contrary to the values ​​of a responsible nuclear operator, has defended Bernard Lassus, director of human resources group in the columns of Le Parisien – Aujourd'hui en France.This ensures that the meetings with the general direction of work aimed instead to "clarify the organization of work", so as to "allow executives to take their daily rest period of 11 hours."

A technician Areva denounces inadequate security at the Hague

A retired technician from the treatment plant of La Hague nuclear waste warned Wednesday against the "inadequate security" site, which is home to one of the largest volumes of radioactive material in the world. Heard by the Local Information (CLI) of the site, he defended the idea that Areva is expected to build a "cathedral of concrete" against possible projectiles, when the site is currently protected by a "simple metal siding. For if a projectile reaches the pools, which contain the equivalent release of 100 reactors, "it would be worse than Fukushima," he said.For its part, Areva believes that site security is already assured by the existence of contingency plans in case of overflight of the plant.