Sundial of world news

The CAC 40 is increased again this Friday, after playing the card of caution on Friday until 14:30 time of publication of U.S. GDP worse than expected.

The CAC 40 has lost more than 1% up shortly after the announcement of a U.S. economic growth of 2.4% against 2.5% expected, the index rolled up the slope and pierced the waterline to increase to 17 hours from 0.66% to 3676 points. An evolution that follows the trend taking place today on Wall Street.

The reason? A Chicago PMI, which increased more than expected and U.S. consumer confidence down, but less than expected.

Publication Burst

Alcatel Lucent (8.27 to 2.24 euros%) announced revenues of 3.813 billion euros in the second quarter.The group reiterated its outlook for 2010, including an Adjusted operating income of between 1% and 5% of its revenues.

JCDecaux (1.16% to 20.10 euros) on Friday announced a net profit in the first half of 65 million euros. The group anticipates a change in organic revenue for the third quarter less than that of the second with a cash flow of 119 million euros, compared with -1.7 million euros in the first half.

Lafarge (-4.75% to 41.43 euros) has reported a sales increase of 2% to 4.43 billion euros in the second quarter. The company expects a reduction in capital expenditure to less than 1 billion euros in 2011.

EDF (1% to 32.80 euros) announced a net income Group share 1.7 billion euros including a provision for $ 1.1 billion on its North American operations.The group, which should sell its UK electricity networks based on an enterprise value of over 5.5 billion pounds, has announced a delay of two years for his BDU Flamanville.

EADS (2.70% to 18.06 euros) announces a net profit in the first half of 185 million euros and a turnover of 20.3 billion euros.

Schneider Electric (2.14% to 88.25 euros) publishes a turnover of 8.57 billion euros in the first half (+10.5%) of which 4.661 billion (+18.5%) in the second . In an interview with Le Figaro, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO, set an improvement for the second part of the year.

Renault (0.28% to 33.74 euros) issued a revenue increase of 23.1% for the first semester in the same area, to 19.668 billion euros.The constructor returns to the green with profits of 823 million euros.

The reaction of Peugeot (-2.23% to 22.61 euros) will be observed.Also in the automotive industry, Michelin (-1.40% to 58.52 euros) announced a net profit in the first half and said it expects a continued rebound in demand for tires in the second half of the year .

PPR (-0.34% to 102 euros) has announced a net profit after minority interests rose 86.8% to 407 million euros in the first half.

Imerys (+0.27% at 44.59 euros) has reported a net operating income rose sharply to 122 million euros in the first half with a turnover of organic growth of 16%.

Total (1.30% to 38.85 euros) announced adjusted net income for the second quarter of 3 billion euros, up 72%.

CNP Assurances (EUR 15.45 -4.01%) has published a net increase of 8% to 542 million euros and a turnover of 17.697 million euros (+2.4%).

Rhodia (1.14% to 15.93 euros) raised again after its 2010 targets announced Friday results exceeded expectations in the second quarter.

Saint Gobain is optimistic

Saint-Gobain (-2.16% to 32.57 euros) reported a strong rebound in its first half results, while confirming its target of strong growth in operating earnings in 2010.

Capgemini (-1.29% to 35.88 euros) has announced the acquisition of the Swedish IT services Skvader Systems. No financial details were disclosed.

Air Liquide (-0.81% to 85.40 euros) has announced the acquisition of the company Lion Copolymer Geismar American Services.No financial details were disclosed.

Euler Hermes (4.94% to 61.40 euros) has reported net profit more than doubled in the second quarter from the first and said he intended to maintain profitability in a more favorable macroeconomic environment that over the past two years.

Ingenico (5.28% to 19.45 euros) on Thursday posted a net profit increased more than two in the first half thanks to increased transactions in Europe and raised its sales target.

Alten (-0.49% to 22.29 euros) has reported a slight improvement in activity in its sector in the first half. Turnover increased 2.7% to 450.9 million euros over the period.

Flo (-3.7% to 4.43 euros) said that the activity in its restaurants had not yet regained the level that was hers before the crisis, despite the reduction in VAT.The turnover of the group stood in the first half rose 7.6%.

Mixed. Between the good results released Tuesday by Intel and announcements pessimistic Fed, the U.S. markets have been slow to find the right direction. They finally finished in extremis in the green. A green very hesitant. The Dow Jones gained 0.04%, Nasdaq 0.35% advance in 2250. In contrast, the S & P 500 was down 0.02% to 1095 points.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro remains above 1.27 dollars to 10:40 p.m. at 1.2738 dollars (0.14%). The dollar seems to lose some of its appeal as a safe haven. The encouraging start to the season half results in the United States seems to restore investor confidence and encourages risk taking. The European currency was on his side with the success of the issuance of treasury bills Greeks.The operation, with a rate of 4.65%, the first since May, when the euro zone and the IMF have provided loans of 110 billion euros over three years, has aroused demand of over 4.5 billion euros, well above the 1.25 billion that the country wanted to raise.

Retail sales disappoint, the Fed resolutely pessimistic

To many observers, the Fed was going to share in the minutes of its monetary policy meeting, the revised growth forecasts downwards. It is clear that they were right. The U.S. central bank now expects growth of between 3% and 3.5%, against a range from 3.2% to 3.7% three months ago. The finding is similar to unemployment. Consequently, the Fed is considering new measures of monetary policy to support the U.S. economy.

Side indicators on Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported a 0.5% drop in retail sales in the U.S. last month, after declining 1.1% in May according to a revised estimate. Economists and analysts polled by Reuters were predicting a decline of 0.2%. Compared to June 2009, sales were up 4.8%. This statistic is added to a series of numbers considered disappointing, especially in real estate and industry, and suggests that the recovery ran out of steam a bit faster than expected.

Intel Features

On the side of values, the salvo of quarterly results continues on Wall Street. The microprocessor giant Intel on Tuesday said the "best quarter in its history, with net income of $ 2.9 billion, better than expected, and a turnover exceeding its forecasts and also market expectations.Intel shares gain 1.67% to 21.36 dollars.

Always on the side of values, the U.S. group Northrop Grumman defense (3.13% to 56.99 U.S. dollars) has also announced Tuesday after the close of Wall Street of its intention to separate from all its shipyards, it would close one on the Gulf of Mexico within three years.

European banks want to permanently remove the specter of the collapse of the banking system. Alessandro Profumo, UniCredit's boss and one of the most influential leaders in the sector, has relaunched the idea of creating a fund to rescue banks. The idea is simple: banks unite to raise funds that can then be used by an institution in difficulty.

Alessandro Profumo said that using this solution "allows one or more banks in trouble to find a quick solution and avoids any systemic risk." Deutsche Bank and Santander would be convinced by the project.In an interview with the Financial Times, the Director General of the Italian bank in advance that such funds could raise 20 billion euros in a few years no fax cash advance.

Several projects to protect the financial system have already been mentioned. Recently, France, Great Britain and Germany have called for the establishment of a tax credit which funds used to finance the rescue of an institution. However, according to Alessandro Profumo, the creation of a fund from the private sector is able to raise more money.

And initiatives to avoid another crisis are numerous. The Basel Committee develops banking sector reforms to prevent a collapse in the event of another financial crisis.Regulators, who are implementing these measures by 2O12, want to focus on strengthening the capital requirements and capital, and limit debt.

The information, published Sunday in the Official Journal, surged as health minister, Roselyne Bachelot. The prices of three brands of cigarettes will fall by 20 cents from Monday. This Rothmans, Lucky Strike and packets of Drum rolling tobacco. The government has no way to prohibit it.

Reacting on RTL, the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, said Sunday it would propose an increase in tobacco taxes to counter the move by the industry when considering the budget bill. The minister, who denounced a "blow to public health", said she was "absolutely shocked".

Recalling that tobacco was responsible for 60,000 deaths a year, more than half due to cancer of the airways, Roselyne Bachelot said she heard "get cigarettes at a price deterrent.""Do not our mobilization efforts on public health is undermined by the initiative of industry," commented the minister.

"A health scandal"

The public health associations have criticized the approach on their side of tobacco. According to Bertrand Dautzenberg, pulmonologist, president of the French Office for the Prevention of smoking, the decline in the price of tobacco is "a marketing offensive to attract new smokers, particularly youth and women."

"Variations on the price of tobacco, which are the only effective lever for reducing consumption, are now in the hands of industrialists," he laments."This is a health scandal since this will automatically translate into increased consumption," adds Yves Martinet, president of the National Committee against Smoking (NCTC), which campaigns for "a new tax policy."

There are currently 29% of daily smokers and occasional 5% among French people aged 18-75 years. According to the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), the daily smoking for 28% of girls and 30% of boys and 17 years.

"And all indicators are now red," according to Professor Albert Hirsch, vice president of the National League against Cancer.The latest results from the annual survey conducted by the association without tobacco Paris, in partnership with the rector of Paris and the Fund's primary health insurance, and have recently shown a tendency to relapse to smoking among adolescents Paris, while the latter had given up smoking massively in the wake of the cancer plan.

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The time of new measures to reduce costs will soon strike in France. The State must indeed save 100 billion euros by 2013 to reduce its deficit and meet European standards.

Claude Gueant, advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, says the Financial Times on Monday that further savings measures are in preparation. They should be announced in the fall. It says in part: "France has pledged to reduce its deficit to 3% by 2013. We are determined to achieve this goal. "

Forecast question

For now, the government relies on its growth forecasts to find half the sum. But estimates of France are considered optimistic. The European Commission and the International Monetary Fund have both criticized the government's optimism.The economy minister, Christine Lagarde, has itself acknowledged Sunday at the Grand Jury RTL-LCI-Le Figaro, saying that the forecast 2.5% growth next year was "bold" .

Lower costs

The remaining 50 billion euros will come from the decline in public spending and tax increases. How the State plan to do it? A belief in "Les Echos", the government intends to confirm its target of 100,000 new layoffs of civil servants between 2011 and 2013, after the 100,000 already achieved in recent years. Moreover, the government plans to freeze spending between 2011 and 2013 to maintain transfers to local governments and increase only slightly the health expenditure.The state should also remove the tax loopholes to recover 5 billion euros per year and create a new tax on the wealthiest to raise 3.7 billion euros. Finally, the adjustment of tax evaders will recover, as reported by the Budget Minister Francois Baroin to France Info radio this weekend, "over 1 billion just on the folder HSBC.

The Financial Times points out that these measures should not be sufficient to reach 100 billion euros in savings by 2013. If Claude Gueant has not revealed the content of the proposed measures, economists believe that the state could proceed with a wage freeze for civil servants, their salaries account for nearly one third of public spending.

The alerts about the financial health of Spain were further strengthened Wednesday after the revelations of the Spanish newspaper El Economista. According to business daily, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are preparing a rescue plan for Spain, providing a credit line of between 200 and 250 billion euros. The announcement of a forthcoming call for help had already returned insistently in recent days in the German press. Information that Brussels and the IMF have strongly denied Wednesday.

The announcement of a visit by IMF Managing Director, scheduled for Friday, has added to the panic. Although Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Wednesday in Paris that it was only "a working visit". To cut short the rumors, general manager told AFP he goes to all European countries."I'm in France, is there any rumors in France? I'm going to Italy. Is there any rumors in Italy? "He also downplayed the financial problems of Spain at a conference on Europe and China:" It is also said to exaggerate it a country that has great difficulty and yet the debt is 53% of GDP, which is relatively modest. "

Labour Market Reform

The Spanish head of government has also applied to reassure. Spain is a "country solvent, solid, strong and with the international credit, said Wednesday Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero before the Spanish Parliament. The Economy Minister Elena Salgado for his part denied that Brussels has put pressure on Madrid. Support for the Spanish cause is from Paris."We see no reason to be concerned for Spain, and there is no subject in the Spanish agenda of the European Council, it was said at the Elysee.

These multiple statements have not been enough to calm markets that have remained very nervous. The Spanish rate in a decade rose 10 points in the day 4.8%, approaching levels Portuguese. The yield spread between German and Spanish titles to ten years to 223 basis points on Wednesday, a record, as investors consider the Spanish debt more risky. The motion of no confidence falls ill in Madrid, which must issue this morning 3.5 billion euros of bonds to ten years.

The concern of the market relates to both the country's financial situation and the capacity of economic recovery.The government on Wednesday passed a labor reform, considered essential for revitalizing the job but remains highly contested by the unions.

In a report released Wednesday, the Bank of Spain insists on the need to implement "as quickly as possible" of economic adjustment measures to increase the competitiveness of the economy Hispanic counter the drop in employment and deterioration public finances. But the Spanish savings banks, the Achilles heel of the banking sector, require 11 billion euros to the state for further restructuring.

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Found 100 billion euros in three years. This is the government's objective to reduce the deficit from 8% to 3% in 2013, reiterated Prime Minister François Fillon on Saturday, which gave details of the proposed measures. "We have pledged by 2013 to reduce our deficit from 8% to 3% and all our efforts will focus on this priority. It means basically that should reduce the deficit of 100 billion by 2013, "he said during a meeting with new members of the UMP Salle Gaveau.

The $ 100 billion, "we (them) to find the half in spending cuts and half in revenue increases," said the head of government.The 50 billion euros in spending cuts will be made up of "45 billion by reducing public expenditure, 5 billion on reducing tax loopholes."

On the revenue side, the 50 billion do not result from increased taxes and levies, "said Francois Fillon. He bets on "35 billion upgrading after the crisis, loss of revenue cyclical. (…) As and when growth returns, revenues are growing once again, "he said. And the remaining 15 billion? They "will correspond to the end of the steps we have taken to boost the economy and have obviously not meant to last beyond this period of recovery," he added.

In May, Francois Fillon had already announced a freeze in spending value of the state but had not detailed the targets.These details are involved a little less than a week after Berlin has adopted a plan rigorously evaluated at 80 billion euros. France is under pressure from financial markets and rating agencies, who urged him to detail the measures to be taken to reduce debt.

"New sources of funding"

The Prime Minister also addressed the issue of pensions. While the government prepares to release his reform plan, Francois Fillon reiterated its intention to extend the duration of activity and pushing the "symbol" of the statutory retirement age to 60 years.

It will also seek new financing, he added. "Justice will lead us to seek new sources of financing because the effort must be shared by all," he said.Nevertheless, the government has temporarily waived taxing incomes over 11,000 euros per month, according to information from Figaro.

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"Maintaining the AAA rating is an objective" tense ", according Baroin

The U.S. stock market continues its recovery. Contrary to the meeting on Tuesday where they were fenced in a disorganized, Wednesday's session saw the U.S. markets move all in green. At mid-session, the Dow Jones gained 0.96% at 10,040 points, the Nasdaq advance of 1.32% to 2199 points and the S & P 500 rose 1.06% to 1073 points. Tuesday already, after long hesitation which direction to take, the NYSE has done piecemeal. The Dow Jones gained 1.26%, but the Nasdaq has yielded 0.16%.

USA: growth "robust" in 2010 and 2011

On the foreign exchange market, the euro relapsing slightly in the morning against the greenback, hit by new fears over a deepening crisis in Europe.The European currency was worth 1.1942 dollars, against 1.1967 dollars the previous day.

Unsurprisingly, Ben Bernanke has confirmed the speech he gave Monday saying that the economic recovery appeared to be "solid" in the United States.

Heavy oil stocks decline

U.S. inventories of crude oil dropped more than expected last week, said Wednesday the U.S. Agency for Energy Information (EIA). Crude inventories fell 1.8 million barrels to 361.4 million. Economists on average had expected a decline of 900,000 barrels.

Today on Wall Street investors expect the Beige Book Federal Reserve, a report on economic conditions in the United States.Analysts said the report should confirm an increase in economic activity, but no sign of inflation, reinforcing the idea that the Fed is in no hurry to raise interest rates immediately.

After the disappointment of last Friday on the job figures, investors should pay particular attention to weekly figures for unemployment benefits to be published tomorrow payday loan.Among the major events of the week macroeconomic Friday, the market will face a survey about the mood of consumers.

On the side of values, the fast food giant McDonald's (+0.18% to 68.50 dollars) and the diverse group 3M U.S. (0.56% to 75.34 U.S. dollars) has warned that the collapse of the euro against the dollar would have a negative impact on their results.

Texas Instruments announced that its earnings and its turnover in the second quarter would be in the top end of its previous estimates.

The first U.S. carmaker, General Motors (GM) announced Tuesday the recall of 1.5 million vehicles worldwide, the vast majority in the U.S., for Fire Risk washer.

The U.S. giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) (-0.17% to 45.80 U.S. dollars) has launched a new series of printers capable of drawing paper from a mobile phone or other multi-function devices connected to the Internet.

Also note, the U.S. stock Constable, the SEC announced yesterday after the close that he could approve this week the creation of circuit breakers on trading platforms to avoid the repetition of "crash blitz last month on Wall Street, reported Tuesday the Wall Street Journal. For their part, the elected U.S. Congress to negotiate a version of the reform of financial regulation common to both chambers said Tuesday that those talks could be completed by the June 26 Bank stocks may react to this set of measures.

Rating agencies have a great influence on economic policy Bercy. Baroin, the budget minister, has himself acknowledged Sunday. And what about Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch of the situation in France? Will they be inclined to leave him in the coming months, the privilege of his "Triple A, the highest mark possible, attributed to a very small country?

It depends, just, future government decisions. France has suffered less from the crisis than other countries in the euro area, greet agencies. The state has dampened with crisis recovery plan and welfare. The price: a high public deficit (7.5%), which must now reduce the risk of blowing up the already high public debt.

"Such imbalances require a recovery result of public finances, especially on the expenditure side, argue analysts from Standard & Poor's said in its latest report on France from July 2009. They said the debt should represent 90% of gross domestic product in 2011, against 78% today.

The government has already announced a freeze on public finances in late May, while spending on social security should continue to increase, says essentially Moody's in his March report, "which should result in an increase of 1% per year expenditure total. An objective "not particularly ambitious," says the agency, but nevertheless "should be difficult to take, given the unsuccessful efforts to control spending in the past."

"High levels of taxation"

Rating agencies do not seem to bear the greatest confidence in France, this country has two weaknesses, "the high level of taxation, which makes it difficult for future increases in taxes [to reduce the deficit, Ed] and expenditure rigidity, "is always Moody's. A suspicion reinforced by the presidential election of 2012, which could cause "potential expenditure," said Standard & Poor's.

The Fitch welcomes, however, "the intensification of social dialogue on public finance as an important step towards reversing the broad deficit" in a commentary published on May 28 She also applauded "the change in attitude of the government that understood the importance and urgency of fiscal adjustment."

Time is running out there? In the short term, "triple A in France is not in danger," wrote Moody's, often the last of three agencies to scale down its rating. Still, the separation between the country of degradation of the note is reduced "relentlessly," she says. At the rate of excavation of the debt.

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