Sundial of world news

In 2010, the power was going to be more lenient than in 2009. Last year at this time, the clouds were gathering over EDF, raising fears a dreaded scenario: power cuts. Not only Meteo-France was involved in the incumbent a "signal hot", ie a risk of drought, but especially nuclear fleet suffered from a long strike. In addition, there were maintenance delayed massive enough to cause a moment to stop one third of the 58 reactors. At the time, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, had also publicly worried about the situation.

The state park remains a major project

This time, the concern is not the same. Fifteen units are presently closed, a current threshold at this time.EDF enjoy summer to restore the park in preparation for the winter, much more greedy for power. By comparison, in January, peak consumption are regularly found around 90,000 megawatt hours (MWh), while in August, we do not exceed an average of 55,000 MWh.

"There is no risk of power failure for the portfolio company's customers," says Philip Torrioni Director optimization upstream-downstream and trading, while recalling that EDF has the "stacking of multiple means of production ': in addition to nuclear, hydro, fossil-fired (fuel oil and coal) or purchase obligations (cogeneration, wind …).

Note that EDF considers the situation of hydraulics "generally satisfactory", the streams and filling reservoirs for dams being at favorable levels."On this last point, we are even slightly in surplus," says Patrick Tourasse, in charge of coordination of water at EDF.

As for the effects of the strike last year, they are now digested, said Philippe Druelle, the delegate operational nuclear generation. This does not preclude occasional conflicts: Friday, the Inter Power Plant Flamanville announced the resumption of work after five days of strike any of its services after signing an agreement on creation of ten posts.

However, even if EDF is reassuring for the coming summer, the state park remains a major project for the company. In case the rate of availability of its stations, which dropped to 78% last year, far from that of other major utilities such as GDF Suez nuclear operator in Belgium. In the medium term, Henri Proglio, the chairman of EDF, is the bar of 85%.A major objective of financial terms because in terms of availability, each point less cost around 200 million euros to the company.

To remedy the situation the company began to invest heavily to replace large components of its plants. It also plans to optimize a number of operating procedures. With the desire to obtain tangible results from this year.

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Barack Obama was not convincing, is the least we can say. Despite these reassuring words about the future of the U.S. economy, U.S. markets were closed Thursday's session, down sharply: the Dow Jones lost 1.08% and 1.30% Nasdaq loose.

The three major indexes in New York posted strong gains Wednesday.

Eight banks covered by a survey: the markets punish

The Attorney General of New York has opened an investigation into eight banks, including Credit Agricole, to determine if they had provided misleading information about their mortgages before the subprime crisis, "according to The New York Times.Goldman Sachs (-1.73% to 144.65 dollars), Morgan Stanley (-0.65% to 27.62 dollars), UBS, Citigroup (-2.15% to 4.09 dollars), JP Morgan & Chase (-2.16% to 40.79 dollars), Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (-1.29% to 16.85 dollars) and Credit Agricole in the crosshairs.

The dollar continued its rise against the euro

The euro fell Thursday to a level that was hers before the announcement of the stabilization plan of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The single currency was trading at 1.2531 dollar, near its lowest level reached before the announcement of the aid plan for the euro area.

Decline in number of unemployed weaker than expected

The resurgence of the greenback is supported by the fourth consecutive decline in the number of newly unemployed in the United States, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department in Washington fast payday loan. The ministry said 444,000 new jobless claims were submitted from May 2 to 8, or 0.9% less than the previous week (in seasonally adjusted data).

Oil prices opened sharply lower Thursday in New York, a barrel of benchmark lost 1.47 dollars to 74.18 dollars. Wednesday crude inventories rose 1.9 million barrels to 362.5 million.Economists on average had expected a rise of 1.3 million barrels.

Contracts awarded on the prudence of Cisco

The Japanese electronics giant Sony (-5.14% to 31.53 dollars) confirmed Thursday that ended the 2009-2010 fiscal year brought a net deficit of 40.8 billion yen (312 million euros ), reflecting a return to the green on the plan of operation, through reductions in fixed costs. Sony also said Thursday that he hoped to finish the fiscal year began last April, and will be closed in March 2011, a net profit of 50 billion yen (about 400 million euros).

Cisco (-4.53% 25.53 dollars) has announced its profit jumped 63%, but its CEO said that caution was in order.

The crisis in Greek and the euro area worry the president of the United States. "I am very concerned about what is happening in Europe," said Barack Obama during an interview Thursday with the Russian television channel Rossiya and released Saturday. The nervousness in global markets and the increasing concern of investors towards the debts of states caused by the Greek problem posing "serious threats" to the United States, "said Bush.

"I think the Europeans have realized that it was very serious. Greece takes measures very difficult in any case they have put in place a plan that calls for tough measures, "he acknowledged."If we can stabilize the situation in Europe, it will be good for the United States, and it will be good also for Russia."

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the EU should announce before markets open Monday morning, creating a "Community mechanism to intervene" to save the states on the brink of bankruptcy. The European Commission was working on an emergency this weekend to present a convincing ministers of the European economy, which meet on Sunday afternoon. Reflecting the importance of time, Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister, and Nicolas Sarkozy, have decided not to travel to Moscow for commemorations of the end of the Second World War.

Week chaotic

European shares and U.S. were closed on very steep declines Friday.Protests against the rigor enameled three died in Athens on Wednesday, and unexplained sudden fall of the New York Stock Exchange during the day Thursday and fear of contagion from the crisis in Spain and Portugal have marked one week chaotic markets.

The statements have increased in recent days to encourage European leaders to act. "We hope to see emerge a strong and rapid European response to crisis", said, quoted by Bloomberg, the Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who hosted the G7 on Friday. "We call for an answer as quickly as possible given the circumstances," insisted the Australian Minister for the Budget, Wayne Swan.

The Greeks accept the rigor

Nearly 55% of Greeks prefer an austerity plan to bankruptcy, according to a poll published Sunday in the daily Vima.Over 56% are even willing to accept wage cuts. Contradictory result, however, the same poll found that 53% of respondents felt the need to continue to protest against the austerity of the Papandreou government.

The big annual event in the automotive industry held in Beijing until Sunday confirmed that the style and technology of Chinese cars are progressing well. The Citroen ZX for hire, Volkswagen Santana and other pale copies of Japanese sedans certainly live their last years of existence.

Great Wall, a great inspiration – Haval Under the label, the mark this year an unprecedented range of 4 ? 4 leisure. It is recognized in the models exhibited the features of the Volvo XC60, VW's Tiguan and the Mazda CX-7 or the Hyundai Tucson. The latter, renamed H6, is equipped with a 2-liter common rail turbo diesel and a 6-speed automatic transmission, like the original.

The troubles continue for Goldman Sachs. After the civil action last week by the SEC, the policeman of the American Stock Exchange, the leaders of the institution are subject to a complaint by two shareholders, Robert and Morton Rosinek Spiegel, the Supreme Court of State of New York. They accuse the leadership of the bank to have breached its obligations by conducting a series of transactions involving CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) linked to subprime mortgages.

The bank's CEO, Lloyd Blankfein was named, along with all members of its board of directors. The French trader Fabrice Tourre is also part of those involved.

Both complaints put forward the "systematic failures" of the bank for three and a half years has not reviewed the Abacus-risk investments, in the heart of the case quick cash.The losses amount to one billion dollars.

These criticisms follow those of the SEC has accused Goldman Sachs of fraud accusing him of having misled investors during the marketing of complex financial product issuing CDOs. According to the SEC, Goldman Sachs has committed fraud rules governing the banking institutions do not publish everything she knew about these titles based on guarantees fragile.

Ed Canaday, a spokesman for the bank, declined to comment immediately, saying the bank had not yet seen the complaint.

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Microsoft on Thursday posted a net profit up 35% to 4.006 billion dollars for the third quarter of fiscal offset, and a turnover of 14.5 billion dollars, which increased 6% year on year.

"Windows 7 contiune to be a tool for growth, but we also see strong growth for Bing, Xbox Live, and the emerging markets of" cloud services, "said Peter Klein, CFO of Microsoft, said in a statement issued after -Exchange on Thursday.He added: "Our record revenue in the third quarter is a continuation of our policy of strict cost".

Mircosoft expects 2010 operating expenses between $ 26.1 billion and 26.3 billion dollars.

On Wednesday, Apple and Yahoo recorded profits for 3.07 billion dollars (89.5%) and 310.19 million dollars, the first for the second quarter 2010 and second in the first quarter of 2010. As for their sales, they amounted to 13.5 billion (+48.7%) and 1.6 billion (1%).

At the NYSE, Microsoft shares closed up 0.19% to 31.39 dollars in a market up 0.09%.

Tax policy will be one of the major challenges of the 2012 presidential. Elected representatives of the majority have realized that the crisis had substantially changed the perception of the French measures taken at the beginning of the quinquennium. In the UMP as among the centrists, parliamentarians are increasingly likely to claim "adjustments" of the tax shield in the left side, which for three years, tirelessly seeks its removal. The Budget Minister Francois Baroin, who was auditioning for the first time Tuesday by the Finance Committee of the Assembly reaffirmed the need to maintain the tax shield to send a message of "fiscal stability" for French taxpayers who chose to go abroad to save taxes.

A topic "anxiety"

But the lines are moving in the majority.Thirteen UMP deputies said they would seek in a bill, the "suspension" of the tax shield to "finance the pension reform, reduce deficits and to support people in precarious situations. Jean-Francois Cope, the owner of UMP, which remains "very committed" to this device, does more to suspend the application "for a limited time, for a visit of solidarity.

The chairman of the New Center, Herve Morin, said that the question deserves "a full debate". The deputies and senators are centrists on the issue at the forefront, and that of the ISF. Jean Arthuis, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has long called for the abolition of the tax shield and the removal of the ISF, with consideration for the creation of an additional tax on income at 45%.In the House, Charles de Courson, a specialist in budgetary matters, is on the same line as the president of the centrist Alliance for the ISF. But it does not require the abolition of the tax shield. He would prefer the way the CSG and CRDS shield calculated at fixed rates, and that the CRDS is increased by 0.2% to 0.3%.

Jean-Francois Cope,, recommended the merger of the income tax, the CSG and CRDS to reduce deficits and debt, which have become a subject of "anxiety" to the French. This was the observation that the majority elected to have the opportunity of the regional campaign. Cope also agrees with a repeated request of many of the elected majority, leaving the principal residence of the base of the ISF.

From our Washington correspondent

General Motors (GM) hopes to return to profit this year. But, for the six months following its release from bankruptcy – that is to say the second half of 2009 – the American manufacturer said Wednesday losses of 4.3 billion. A deficit can be explained by the accounting impact of one-off payment of 2.6 billion dollars to fund medical expenses of its workers unionized. Losses in the second half to add 88 billion of accumulated losses reported by GM since 2005. Fallen giant, which reveals for the first time since its release its finances in bankruptcy, however, is reassuring in terms of "positive cash flow of one billion dollars."GM will release its 2010 first quarter results next month.

The largest U.S. auto also Wednesday renewed his promise to repay the U.S. Treasury $ 4.7 billion by next June. This is the outstanding amount of loans to support its radical reorganization and exit bankruptcy instant payday loan. But the bulk of 50 billion dollars of state aid to GM has been converted into shares. The Treasury, which holds 61% stake in the manufacturer, hopes that conditions will be reunited as quickly as possible to divest this anachronistic situation through a grant from the reintroduction Detroit giant."We have important work to achieve but we are building the foundations that we will be re-listed," said Chris Liddell, the new group finance director, Microsoft hired by GM's new boss, Ed Whitacre .

Moving faster than expected GM bankruptcy has eliminated most of its debts and reduce its cost of labor. If we do not consider brands that are being abandoned, like Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn, GM sales are recovering.

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After disappointing results in 2009 of Soci?t? G?n?rale, its CEO Frederick Oud?a knows waited. Both internally and externally. Vis-?-vis its troops, he has to take action. He unveiled a few days to key executives of the bank the outlines of a comprehensive transformation plan, dubbed "Ambition SG 2015" on which management has plate in the second half of last year.

Fifty sites have been identified, comprising four strands of work – customer relationships, image, operational efficiencies, staff. A strategic committee, chaired by the CEO, will meet every fortnight to confirm their advance."This is not a restructuring plan," warns the outset Severin Cabannes, deputy CEO, which states: "We expect and we adapt to changes in the environment."

A regulatory environment which strengthens capital requirements, requires the optimization of resources. It is no coincidence that, for the first time since the acquisition of Cr?dit du Nord in 1997, the bank plans to share its resources with regional gem. "We want to preserve the entrepreneurial spirit of the bank and we will associate with an industrial approach," says Severin Cabannes.

Another declared objective of the Societe Generale, the transition to a company focused on customer relations, as opposed to a counter which "push" of products.Same logic: the regulators, when calculating the liquidity needs of banks, will weigh the deposits according to the fidelity of goodwill. The challenge is even more crucial for a network that is still recovering Kerviel scandal and controversy surrounding stock options. So, at Societe Generale, a barometer of customer satisfaction is now one of the criteria for evaluating managers, next to the control of operational risk and the expense ratio on income.

Change Image

The most urgent projects such as the brand platform, the convergence of retail banking networks or approximation of systems have already been placed on the rails. "Changing the image of the bank is one of our priorities. We have already started work.The new ads end of 2010 will be marked by the change, "and warns Caroline Guillaumin, the new director of group communications.

The general direction of the Company asserts course very attentive to the additional stress involved in this challenge to its 160,000 employees. The trauma of France Telecom is in everyone's mind. "All projects will be accompanied by change experts. If we go more slowly, we'll go more slowly, "insists Severin Cabannes.

"We presented this business plan to the 1000 Ambassadors of the bank and 95% of them said they adhered to it. This shows a very strong support and I see a show real momentum around Frederick Oud?a "concluded Deputy CEO.Certainly, the bank needs to show it solidly behind his boss, when critics suggest instead a degree of uncertainty since the redesign of the staff. Vis-?-vis the outside, the long awaited day of 8 June investors will take stock of the strategy and financial outlook for 2012. The same day the trial begins Kerviel. A coincidence heavy.

* Dassault Aviation announces Wednesday it had achieved in 2009 net profit of 315 million euros, down from 15.5% in one year, before amortization related to the purchase price of Thales shares. Operating profit amounted to 393 million euros against 434 million a year earlier, showing an operating margin of 11.5%.

The turnover stood at 3.42 billion euros. This figure is down from 3.6 billion in 2008. But Dassault was penalized in 2009 by order cancellations with 65 Falcon for NetJets aircraft to be delivered beyond 2014. "They will be recommended and delivered according to market developments," the company said.

The board of directors would propose a dividend of 8.8 euros per share.

Orders of 98 Falcon and 60 Rafale

Last year, Dassault Rafale has delivered 14 and a record 77 Falcon (aircraft) against 72 the previous year bad credit payday advance . At the end of the year, the balance appears in negative controls to 1.32 billion euros. For only Falcon, its largest division, the negative balance amounted to 3.85 billion.

For more, Dassault Aviation has provided any forecast results. The manufacturer adds, however, have received orders for 98 Falcon and 60 Rafale. Charles Edelstenne, CEO of Dassault Aviation said in a press conference that sales of Dassault Aviation in 2010 should be stable and that its results should be "a little worse."On Thales, Charles Edelstenne said the reorganization projects have received approval of two major shareholders of the group, state and Dassault Aviation.

* Dassault owns Le Figaro.

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