Oct 4




It is half a relief to senior citizens out of work. Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said Monday on RMC and BFM TV partial restoration of the retirement equivalent allowance (REA) abolished on 1 January. At a cost of 1000 euros per month maximum, this aid was a replacement income for the unemployed who have reached the required number of quarters, but not the legal age of retirement.

Established in 2002, the EAR allowed these people, who generally have started working very early, wait until they receive a full pension. Its removal has the financial difficulties some 40,000 people who benefited and who have seen their incomes for many fall by half.Most do in fact perceive more than the specific solidarity allowance, amounting to 467 euros maximum.

"Poor"

As the government had already hinted in September, the retirement allowance equivalent will be restored retroactively from July, but on narrower grounds. The device now called "transitional allowance of solidarity" will concern only those born between July 1951 and December 1953 or, as determined by the Department of Labor, about 11,000 people. It is designed primarily for senior citizens affected by the pension reform adopted last year, which pushes for four months a year the legal age of retirement, from 1 July.

The disbursements are therefore not the same: the retirement allowance equivalent relieve the coffers of more than 200 million euros a year according to the unions, when the new version should not cost more than 30 million. "This is clearly insufficient, responded on Monday the association against the removal of the AER. It ensured the precarious for more than 30,000 people. " "We find that inuspportable employees with a full career are found in social minimum," adds Laurent Berger, in charge of employment at the CFDT.

The decree establishing this recovery, however, should be published in the coming weeks. The issue is even more sensitive than the unemployment of older workers continues to widen, inflating the number of employees who would have been entitled to the allowance equivalent withdrawal before its reform.According to the latest figures released by the Dares, 560,300 people over age 50 were unemployed in August, a number up 13.5% year on year.

Sep 30




This incident linked to the nuclear industry had caused a stir in the summer of 2008. On the night of July 7 to 8, at least 20,000 liters of effluent containing uranium were accidentally released into the environment by the company Socatri, a subsidiary of Areva, which deals with radioactive waste on the site of Tricastin in Bollene in the Vaucluse.

Rivers and ground water surrounding the uranium had been contaminated at levels above the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).The court believes, however, that no "adverse effects on health" or "no damage to the fauna and flora" could not be found.

Acquitted at trial in October 2010 of the offense of "water pollution that caused an adverse effect on health or damage to flora or fauna," the Socatri was convicted Friday by the Court of Appeal of Nîmes , the offense of "discharge of toxic substances into groundwater causing a significant change in the normal operation of water supply guaranteed high risk personal loans." Areva's subsidiary was fined 300,000 euros, to pay 20,000 euros in damages to each of the plaintiffs associations (including Greenpeace and the Nuclear Exit) and 10,000 euros in moral damages to a dozen residents. Of these, several had been forbidden to consume the water they were drawing ground water from their property.Some seeking compensation following the decline in the value of their homes due to the incident.

The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), which classified the incident at 1 on the INES scale has seven who had criticized the Socatri him failing initially to provide information on pollution the environment.

Sep 24




Wall Street has long hesitated on Friday, in the footsteps of European markets. Following his strong fall, the Dow Jones has assembled laboriously 0.35% to 10,771 points at closing. Nasdaq and S & P back however the slope more sharply with increases of 1.12% to 0.60% and 2483 points to 1136 points.

Investors take note of the willingness of finance ministers and central bankers of the twenty leading economies, meeting in Washington last Thursday, to provide "a strong and coordinated international response" to the crisis. In a joint statement, they agreed to ensure that "banks have adequate capital" and promised to provide "the necessary liquidity" to financial institutions.But "the real decisions are referred to the Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held in Cannes, November 3 and 4, 'the specialists Aurel BGC.

To a stability fund in Europe more flexible

The Perfect Storm, the large emerging group of "Bric" also expressed "determination to accelerate structural reforms to sustain strong growth." Brazil, Russia, India and China but also South Africa so consider "if necessary, to provide support through the IMF or other international financial institutions, to address the current challenges facing the global financial stability, according to the circumstances of each country. "The inventor of the BRIC, Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said however that emerging markets are likely to require at least, in exchange for their support, greater clarity on how the Europe has to solve its crisis.

Precisely in response to a request from seven countries of the G20 addressed to Nicolas Sarkozy, the countries of the euro area have pledged to implement "necessary measures to increase the flexibility of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF)" to to avoid contagion from the crisis in Greece. Yesterday, the possibility of a defect in Athens, though long ruled by EU leaders, was raised by Klaas Knot, Member of the Board of Governors of the European Central Bank (ECB)."This is one of the scenarios," he told the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad business cards.

Growth of world trade declined Another concern: the specter of a global recession was reinforced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) has revised downwards its forecast for this Friday trade growth for 2011, s 'expecting a growth of world trade by 5.8% against 6.5% forecast so far, according to its website internet.Sur the foreign exchange market, the euro climbed slightly against the U.S. dollar: it advances the Friday from 0.57% to 1.3533 dollar. Oil prices have them, continued to slump, unable to bounce back after the collapse of the previous day as markets increasingly anxious in facing the risk of renewed recession in the U.S. and Europe.On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for November delivery ended at 79.85 dollars, down 66 cents from the forward veille.Valeurs

The side of values, after the close of the NYSE Hewlett-Packard announced the replacement of Leo Apotheker as CEO from Meg Whitman, confirming the many rumors that had circulated in recent days.

At Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is Rick Bergman Devices, responsible for products, who announced his resignation. The CEO will temporarily Rory Read office.

Covidien raised its quarterly dividend 12.5% ​​to 0.225 dollar per share.And, for its part McDonald's has increased its 15% to $ 0.7 per share.

In order to treat its shareholders well, Raytheon has authorized a stock repurchase plan of $ 2 billion.

The American manufacturer of sporting Nike has exceeded market expectations by posting yesterday after the close of U.S. markets net income for the first quarter of fiscal year up 15% to $ 645 million, driven by its Sales in North America and in emerging countries. Revenues rose 11% to $ 6.1 billion.Orders scheduled for delivery between September 2011 and January 2012 were up 16% to $ 8.5 billion.

On the occasion of a major overhaul of its website, Facebooks'est services associated with music, news and video, including Spotify, Deezer and Dailymotion, and challenge from Apple in the content.

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Sep 22




The numbers are chilling. Since the crisis began in 2009, the number of people who have committed suicide has doubled in Greece, according to figures from the Ministry of Health echoed by the Wall Street Journal. The first five months of the year, there were even 40% of suicides and more over the same period last year. These figures are especially impressive that according to the Greek statistical authorities, the suicide rate in Greece was among the lowest in the EU between 1990 and 2009.

Unemployment, inability to repay its debts are as many explanations for these gestures of despair paydayloans. According to figures from National Bank of Greece, the unemployment rate has doubled over two years, more than 16%. "This is the illustration that rigor is not the solution to revive Greece, says Céline Antonin, an economist at the French Office of Economic Conditions.Rigor leads to recession and the social crisis. Asphyxiant in households (higher taxes, lower wages …), the country will lose an engine to boost growth. "
A general transport strike was called on Thursday in Athens. "The Greek airport is not for sale" it said.

Sep 21




"Il Cavaliere" did not like to see the note in his country degraded by Standard & Poor's. "The ratings of Standard & Poor's seem more driven by stories in the newspapers as the reality and they seem to have been negatively influenced by political considerations," said Silvio Berlusconi in a statement. The Italian prime minister said that the country has already approved measures to balance its budget in 2013 and Italy in adopting new ones to stimulate growth. The austerity plan of 54.2 billion euros adopted on September 14 does not seem to have convinced the rating agency which doubted the credibility of the government and the Italian president.

Without having published a press release responding directly to the attack of the Italian President, Standard & Poor's is fighting back."The sovereign ratings by S & P ratings are apolitical, based on the evolution of" credit risk, provided to investors, "says one in the U easy to get unsecured personal loans.S. rating agency.

Moody's and soon …

S & P also ensures that its assessment is based on "independent analysis and detailed economic and fiscal outlook in Italy and on assumptions about the expected evolution of the debt.""The ratings indicate how the various policy initiatives may impact on the financial reliability and to hear any suggestions on policies that a government should or should not continue," said the rating agency.

Entangled in new revelations about his private life, Silvio Berlusconi is aware that the decision of S & P is a blow to the country, as Moody's may degrade the note of Italy in October that had never been lowered since the beginning of the debt crisis.

Player Figaro BFM

Sep 2




The Paris Bourse has continued to widen its losses on Friday. After an opening down 1.19%, the CAC 40 slipped 3.5% in response to the publication of U.S. employment figures earlier this afternoon. Then the index was down enccore in the red, losing up to 4% just before 17 hours. Finally, the CAC shows a significant decrease of 3.59% to 3148.53 points. No value of CAC has been able to climb into the green on Friday. For the week, however, the Cac 40 shows a gain of 1.97%.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Milan Stock Exchange closed on a fall of 3.89%. In Frankfurt, the Dax lost 3.36% at the final bell and the FTSE in London fell by 2.34%.The European indexes have been sealed by banking stocks, which still suffer from concerns over European debt, including the stalled talks in Greece.

Thus, investors have been cooled by zero job creation in August in the United States. In July, the first estimate of recruitment was greatly scaled down from 117,000 jobs created to 85,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 9.1%, as expected. "The labor market is expected to remain sluggish in the medium term and the unemployment rate should rise slightly or remain at its current high level" of 9.1%, says Inna Mufteeva at Natixis.This publication reinforces the eyes of experts, the probability of a new monetary response from the U.S. Federal Reserve at its next meeting on September 20 and 21.

In addition to the waits before publication of the report, traders were disappointed by yesterday's U.S. indexes mixed. The weekly jobless claims have fallen and certainly the contraction was avoided in the manufacturing sector, but construction costs and productivity plummeted. In addition, the White House confirmed the pessimism about the weakness of the recovery across the Atlantic in scaling back its growth forecasts.

Euro stable

On the foreign exchange market, around 17:30, the euro 1.4207 dollars, against 1.4260 on Thursday, its lowest level in three weeks.Yesterday, the euro had fallen sharply under the impact of renewed concerns vis-à-vis the health of the euro area, where industrial activity contracted in August, unlike the United States.

In France, higher energy costs caused a 0.5% increase in producer prices in July in the euro area, as expected, but overall inflationary pressures subside to the extent that the area economy patina.

The bank collapse

Fear seizes even Greek European banks. The establishment of a second aid plan seems to be complicated. The troika of creditors of Greece left Athens Friday, giving the government 10 days to advance structural reforms in the country, weighed down by a recession that will prevent it from holding its budget savings target.In Paris, Crédit Agricole fell 7.38% to 6.65% Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Axa of 6.24% to 5.73%.

Arcelor-Mittal: -6.10% to 14.17 euros

The group plans to resort to short in the fourth quarter at its plant in Florange (Moselle), and will ask 600 of the 3,000 employees of the plant to take RTT in September, officials said Thursday a union source

Total: -2.69% to 33.40 euros

The oil will extend all over France its network of service stations at low prices, after tests conducted last year in dozens of outlets, according to Les Echos.

France Telecom: -2.37% to 13.17 euros

The operator has received numerous expressions of interest for its Swiss division, told Reuters CEO Stéphane Richard, noting that financial market volatility would not affect projects sales of assets of the group.

Bouygues: -2.14% to 25.61 euros

The Standard & Poor's announced that it placed the long-term rating of A-group under review with negative implications following the announcement by him of a proposed acquisition of securities.

Sanofi: -3.25% to 49.75 euros

The group confirmed Thursday it has reached an agreement with Pfizer to produce in France generic versions of Lipitor, the cholesterol featuring the American group.

EDF: -3.23% to 20.95 euros

Goldman Sachs has revised down its price target on the title, which goes from 49 to 31 euros, while remaining on the purchase value.

Carrefour: -2.83% to 17.66 euros

HSBC lowered its recommendation to "overweight" to "neutral" and target price of 30.50 to 20 euros.

Stallergenes: – 0.81% to 49 euros

The laboratory of immuno-allergic Thursday announced a net profit up 18% in the first half to 23.7 million euros, benefiting from the "business growth" and a "moderate increase spending research and development. " In the process, Oddo is to reduce its recommendation to neutral.

Safran – 2.77% to 27.05 euros, Suez Environnement: -4.23% to 11.09 euros

Saffron is the best candidate for an entry in the CAC 40, while Suez Environnement, whose price has fallen heavily since the beginning of the summer, should come out, say professionals in the Paris Bourse.

Nyse Euronext – 1.93% to 18.56 euros

The London Stock Exchange has confirmed a press report that it is discussing a possible settlement with LCH.Clearnet.Discussions are at a preliminary stage and there is no guarantee that it would, he said.

Neopost: + 10.39% to 56.30 euros

The group raised its forecast of annual sales for the second time, following an accelerated growth in the second quarter, thanks to the dynamics of North America.

Sep 1




At the close of the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones advance of 0.46% to 11,613.53 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 rise respectively from 0.49% to 1218.89 points and 0 , 13% to 2579.46 points. Just before the final gong, U.S. markets rallied after going into the red, a sign of anxiety that prevails again.

Still, U.S. investors were reassured yesterday evening, the tone of "minutes" of the last monetary policy committee of the Fed. This report has indeed confirmed that the U.S. central bank did not rule to use new tools of monetary easing to support growth ever more threatened. A perspective that also prompted the European markets to rebound on Wednesday morning, when he had closed the previous day on a mixed note.Also in the interests of peace, the United States, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the U.S. economy had a "heart attack" she was recovering at a slow pace as he prepares to unveil a new stimulus package.

On August, the Dow Jones drops 4.4%, its worst performance since May 2010.

The employment figures highly anticipated

The indices have reacted rather well to a series of indices published this afternoon.

The private sector in the United States slowed its hiring in August, creating 91,000 jobs over the month, less than expected by analysts, according to figures released Wednesday by consulting firm HR ADP.These new jobs, slightly lower than in July (109,000, revised), are lower than analysts' forecasts, which projected 100,000.

Orders for the industry rose 2.4% in July in the United States, more than expected, driven upward by the strength of the transport sector, said Wednesday the Commerce Department. Economists on average had expected a rebound 1.9% after falling 0.4% (revised from -0.8%) the previous month.

However, the index of purchasing managers in the Chicago area fell in August, slightly less than expected, while falling to the lowest since November 2009. The index published on Wednesday in August falls to 56.5 against 58.8 in July and a consensus on giving 53.5.

On the corporate side, the American phone AT & T (-3.92% to 28.46 dollars) fall while the U.S. Justice Department will oppose the proposed acquisition by AT & T, currently number two in the phone Mobile USA. Even if the group is committed Wednesday to repatriate to the United States currently filled 5,000 jobs in its call centers overseas, where green light to the acquisition challenged T-Mobile, the subsidiary U.S. Deutsche Telekom.These employees will be "well paid", assured the group in a statement, recalling that he was the only major U.S. telecom operators to accept unions in its stores.

Bank of America (086% to 8.18 dollars) is about to further reduce its scope of activity in the mortgage, by stopping the sale of mortgage loans through independent agents, said Wednesday the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

Hewlett-Packard (-0.08% to 26.03 dollars) will temporarily restart production of its TouchPad Tablet, whose sales soared since the U.S. computer giant announced mid-August that he would cease to manufacture. HP announced on August 18 a sudden change in its strategy, through the cessation of production of its new tablet and its smartphones using the operating system of Palm webOS.HP also plans to separate its activities from production computers to refocus on software.

Aug 23




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.

Aug 22




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).

Aug 10




Treasury bills do not suffer from degradation of the note of the United States. Instead, rates remain historically low. U.S. finances are parties to drift, but investors have long known, and such a decision undermines their confidence in the ability of the United States to meet its repayments. "On the contrary, the threat of similar actions in other states has positive points: it encourages the ECB to carry more debt buyer of European public and invites States to precipitate the budgetary consolidation measures, which will strengthen intrinsic quality of government securities, "relativize Patrick Artus, Research Director of Studies and Natixis.

In fact, it is especially risky assets, which suffer from fears of contagion cuts ratings of sovereign debt.Evidenced by the plummeting global stock indexes following the shock announcement Standard & Poor's. Over the past five trading days, the Cac 40 lost almost 8%, and the index companies were affected differently. These are "primarily growth stocks" that have suffered the most, says Patrick Artus, "since the fall of 2400 billion over ten years the U.S. deficit will cost a point of growth the first year." Over the period, it is almost 70 billion euros in market capitalization went up in smoke.The equivalent (almost) the biggest company in France, namely Total!

Veolia has collapsed and literally (almost 30%) in just five sessions, within the scope of the panic that has shaken the markets, but the fall of its course is mainly attributable to the publication last week of very disappointing results, while the group left half of the countries in which it operates payday loan lenders.

For Natixis, "convinced that U.S. growth will remain weak for some time (+1.8% in 2011 and estimated 2.1% in 2012)," the companies directly related to the U.S. economy will remain permanently affected by the stroke of Soft in the U.S..This is especially true of automotive manufacturers and suppliers (Renault, Peugeot, Michelin, etc.). And IT companies (Alcatel-Lucent, CapGemini).

However, the decline in raw materials – oil fell below 80 dollars – which led to the values ​​of the construction (Lafarge, Saint-Gobain), mining or oil (ArcelorMittal, Technip, Vallourec) down in recent sessions, "should not last," said Natixis again: "The demand for commodities does not depend on the U.S. economy, but more and more of the Chinese economy, especially investment in China whose growth is weakly linked to the U.S. cycle and will remain strong. "From that side, the markets have overreacted and clearly.

As for the bank, the reactions were very different depending on the titles, which are differently exposed to the problems of sovereign debt.Societe Generale is one that has suffered most of the bad going on equity markets (down 21.7% of its stock price), while Credit Agricole has sold 13.9%, BNP Paribas, 7, 7% and Natixis, only 2.1%. However, the European banking index, the Stoxx 600 Banks, hit late Tuesday to its lowest level in two years. But overall, the French banks face the storm better than two years ago because they have strengthened their balance sheets.

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