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The EPR, the flagship of the French nuclear technology, today faces an unprecedented wave of questions. After the failure of tendering Abu Dhabi and pending report Roussely devoted to the articulation of the French industry, design, price and export capacity of this tool crystallize debates . To the point that some observers, the EPR would already hit the "syndrome Concorde: a powerful engine sure, but difficult to assemble, expensive and unmarketable credit report.

Provisions repeated Areva's Olkiluoto site have largely supported this suspicion. But, after Finland, behold, the EPR Flamanville, built by EDF, also maintains the possibility of "industrial accident".

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 NYSE opened up Monday, preparing to end the quarter and a week shortened because of Easter. At the opening, the Dow Jones gained 0.39% and the Nasdaq 0.54%. The Standard & Poor's 500 up 0.51% (5.99 points) to 1172.58 points.

The U.S. markets have ended on a stable note Friday. The Dow Jones gained 0.08% to 10850, 36 and the Nasdaq 100 0.18% to 1952.63. The values of consumer durables and clothing and basic materials have gained ground.Conversely, those software and services and facilities and health services have been abused.

For U.S. investors await today in early afternoon revenues and expenditures of households for the month of February.

But the main highlight of the week on the macroeconomic level is expected Friday with the release of monthly statistics of unemployment in the United States. The U.S. markets will be closed as usual April 2 for the Friday that precedes Easter. Investors can therefore respond to the employment figures as the following week. They should focus their attention until the "Leading indicators of employment 'perception of the labor market by households, with the Conference Board survey from Tuesday, then the number of ADP private practice Wednesday.According to the makers of "Aurel BGC, the consensus of economists expect a sharp rebound in job creation." But, "this movement is partly technical, related to the reintegration of people who temporarily lost their jobs because of weather conditions in February …" add the specialists Aurel BGC.

Other key indicators of the week will be Tuesday house prices and an estimate of consumer confidence, Wednesday the index of activity in the Chicago area and the numbers of orders in February no teletrack payday loan.Thursday last week's meeting, the market will focus on the ISM index of manufacturing activity and construction spending in March.

On the currency markets, the euro continued to recover against the greenback after the announcement last Thursday of an agreement between the countries of the eurozone to help Greece with the participation of the IMF. The euro was trading above $ 1.34 in the morning.

The values listed, Chinese, Geely signed Sunday an agreement with Ford on the acquisition of Volvo cars. The sale had been expected for several weeks, the Geely group wishing to build a Volvo plant in Beijing for its domestic market. Ford said the transaction was $ 1.8 billion and would be finalized during the third quarter.By selling Volvo, bought 6.45 billion dollars in 1999, and Ford sells the latest brand of upscale pole he had wanted to be and which also included Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover.

According to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Verizon Communications, the second mobile operator in the United States, is in talks to merge with Vodafone.

Companies are also starting to communicate on the cost of health reform. AT & T announced a provision of 1 billion, Caterpillar announced a 100 million dollars and Deere & Co, an extraordinary expense of 150 million. The impact of this legislation on corporate performance is difficult to estimate the short term. The new law eliminates many tax deductions that companies used to reduce health costs for retirees.

The NYSE is concerned. After closing at its highest since 18 months yesterday, the U.S. markets begin the meeting this Wednesday in the red. At the opening, the Dow Jones coward 0.23% to 10,826 points, the Nasdaq fell by 0.36% to 2406 points. The S & P is also losing ground: -0.35% to 1,170 points. The remote Greek crisis worried now overseas. To these doubts was added degradation by the rating agency Fitch of Portugal. Investors expect the EU summit tomorrow with more anxiety.

The new real estate undermines morale

Side indicators, the Commerce Department has issued orders for durable goods in February increased 0.5% from janvier.C is somewhat less than expected.

Later, the numbers of home sales, but new this time for February will be announced.Then came the weekly U.S. oil stocks, provided by the Department of Energy. Stocks expected to rise, which was lost over a dollar on oil Wednesday.

"The new home sales should remain very depressed. While sales in the former have declined less than expected, but in February they returned to their lowest level since 8 months, says it at Aurel bcg. The nine are still suffering the competition of the old and foreclosures. Inclement weather does not argue for a pleasant surprise on this indicator no credit check payday loans .But this figure is already bad clearly anticipated by the markets. "

Adobe in the viewfinder

Adobe Systems announced late Tuesday quarterly results for its 2009-2010 fiscal year better than expected and also reported predictions of the second quarter exceeded expectations.

MF Global has announced that the former governor and former chairman of Goldman Sachs, Jon Corzine, has been appointed executive director of the group.

In the property sector, Lennar has sharply reduced its quarterly loss, and assured to be on track to return to profit this year.

ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that it would halve its 20% stake in Russian oil Lukoil.

General Mills on Wednesday posted earnings per share (EPS) of 96 cents for its third fiscal quarter ended February 28, cons EPS of 85 cents a year earlier.

Dell targets a turnover of five billion dollars in China in 2010, according to CEO Michael Dell.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar rose to its highest level in ten months and a half, about 1.34 dollar per euro, against a single currency penalized by the fact that the European Union (EU) could agree on an action at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stem the crisis in Greece.

The largest U.S. bank, Bank of America, has experienced a greater loss than expected in the fourth quarter because of the cost of credit, says in a statement Wednesday.

Over the last three months of 2009, the bank recorded a net loss after minority interests of 5.196 billion dollars against 2.392 billion a year earlier, or 60 cents per share, while analysts on average expected a loss of 4 , 5 billion, or 52 cents per share. "Certainly it's disappointing loss to publish the fourth quarter. However, it should not overshadow our many successes, "said Brian T. Moynihan, president of Bank of America. Firstly, we repaid the U.S. government. Secondly, we strengthened our balance sheet through securities offerings successful. Finally, all our non-credit operations had a positive impact on our results.

Net banking income (equivalent of sales) of the bank, to 25.076 billion dollars, is also revealed in below expectations of Wall Street analysts who had forecast on average 26.84 billion in free business cards .

Bank of America has suffered a decline in demand for loans and "portfolio management debt" compared to a year ago while its revenue from market activities have strongly rebounded. "We are heartened by the resurgence of the economy for 2010, through the stabilization of our cost of funds. However, economic conditions remain weak and we expect that unemployment continues to rise. This will therefore penalize consumption and growth. "

Friday, JP Morgan Chase announced a net profit of 3.278 billion dollars (2.27 billion euros), a figure four times over the fourth quarter of 2008. Net banking income (equivalent to the turnover) amounted to 23.164 billion dollars over the same period against 17.226 billion in 2008. Levels well below expectations of analysts who had forecast at 26.2 billion. Tuesday, Citigroup posted a net loss of nearly 1, 6 billion against $ 27.6 billion in 2008.

READ ALSO: "U.S. banks confess their sins

Very good month of October for new car sales in France. According to figures released Monday by the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA), new registrations have increased by 20.1% in October. In all, 210,140 new registrations were recorded during this month, an increase of the market by 25.6% on a working day adjusted. October were 22 working days, against 23 in October 2008. In September the market had already been marked by a significant jump (+14.1%).

In October, the French brands achieve very good performance with an increase of 21.8% for PSA Peugeot Citro?n (+7.2% in ten months) and 34.5% for Renault (+6.3%% on ten months). On Nissan Motor, which Renault has a share of 44%, sales rose 39.9% last month. Since January, Nissan's registrations are up 7.1%.Foreign brands generally have their registrations rise by 14.1%.

According to Fran?ois Roudier, spokesman for the CCFA, the market has again benefited from the triple effect of scrapping bonus, bonus and ecological attractiveness of the new models that appeal to customers and were heavily controlled . The result is disappointing in contrast to the light commercial vehicles (-22.4%) and trucks (-54.5%), road transport and construction through a difficult economic phase.

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"Premium case: the device is extended

"The auto industry aid

Stopping the premium breaks will weigh on the statistics of retail sales in September in the United States. According to figures adjusted seasonally published by the Department of Commerce, they have declined sharply – from 1.5% in September compared to August – with the end of the device, which had boosted the index over the previous two months .

Although this decline is particularly important for a single month, it remains well below a forecast to analysts, who favored a decline greater than 2%. Auto sales, down significantly over the month, of course, have plagued the overall index, with a decrease amounted to 10.4% in September, a figure not seen since August 2005. They had jumped from 7.8% in August as a result of federal incentives to purchase new vehicles.

Excluding the impact of automobiles, retail sales rose 0.5% in September, more than was originally anticipated. A positive number, since they rose for the second consecutive month. Remains that over one year, the situation remains worrying, always accusing sales down 6.6% yoy in the third quarter.