Business & Financial News

The euro fell to its lowest level in four months, tormented by the crisis in Greece and its possible output of the common currency. View from the seat of the ECB in Frankfurt

The euro fell below 1.27 dollars Wednesday, displayed at its lowest level in four months, following the failure of the formation of a coalition government in Greece, which worries the markets.

Wednesday at 7:00, the euro bought 1.2693 dollars, its lowest value since January 16 when he was traded again to 1.2728 dollars on Tuesday to 9:00 p.m.. The single European currency also fell against the yen, quoting 102.00 yen, its lowest level since mid-February vis-à-vis the Japanese currency. It was still worth 102.12 yen Tuesday at 2100.

Investors were worried about political instability in Greece, where new elections will take place by end June, no coalition government could not be formed at the end of negotiations following the elections on May 6

This election saw the Greeks punish the two pillars of the country's political system, the New Democracy (right) and PASOK (Socialist), because of their support for the austerity measures imposed by creditors in exchange Athens international loans needed to avoid bankruptcy the country. The party of the radical left Syriza, who focused his campaign on the rejection of rigor, came in second place on May 6 and seems to have the wind in their sails.

The political impasse has revived fears of a possible exit from the country of the euro area, the consequences seem difficult to predict. At their first joint press conference Tuesday evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French president Francois Hollande were willing "to consider additional measures for growth in Greece," if it requested. They also stated their desire that the country "remains in the euro area".

Even before the inauguration of the second Socialist president of the Fifth Republic, the president of MEDEF multiplies the signals conciliatory address.

Laurence Parisot and Francois Hollande said on Friday, already engaged in consultations with European leaders, was right to put the topic of growth on the table.

"We want to work to ensure that as soon as possible our country finds the path of sustained economic growth," she said on RMC and BFM-TV. "We have some impatience to meet the government or the president."

The chairwoman of the main French employers' organization believes, however, should not oppose this issue to that of fiscal discipline, which was one of the axes of attack of the outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy against Francois Hollande during the presidential campaign.

"Obviously we need, all European countries today, methods, disciplines to manage our budgets," she said.

One position it defended in an interview with Les Echos, in which she wondered, however, also on how to complete the "budget package" signed in January by 25 of the 27 countries of the European Uni ; enemies by a "growth package". 

"We must also ask how to create a confidence shock that would be a growth shock without exacerbating the deficit," said the president of MEDEF. "In other words, we support a growth initiative, a 'compact growth' but not renegotiate the 'tax compact'."

It is in this context a series of proposals – hire a general review of European policies, define priorities in infrastructure to be financed by public-private partnerships or "project bonds" – bonds related to investment programs, etc..

CALL TO THE ECB AND BERLIN

"The chamber is clearly European. We join the call by Jacques Attali and Pascal Lamy for a government and an economic growth of European budget ", says she

……. .. The former collaborator of François Mitterrand and the current Director General of the World Trade Organization are deemed close to the Socialist Party

.. Laurence Parisot ……. Les Echos also develops in any argument that would not have denied the candidate Holland

. "We want Europe to have a clear doctrine and assumed in terms of competitiveness, that is better coordination between monetary policy, fiscal policies and an investment policy that could be decided at EU level, "she said. 

The chamber also wants the European Central Bank "to make sure that the euro is not so high against the dollar, which depends on interest rates but also the speech of his pre President ", and that Germany," who has no interest that the euro zone into recession, has a more cooperative approach and a policy based more on demand ".

These convergences with the program of Francois Hollande do not erase important differences, including the fate of the pension reform, corporate taxation and a possible "boost" to the minimum wage (SMIC).

But on these subjects, Laurence Parisot is rather conciliatory. She says well prepared to discuss the calculation of the minimum wage, wants the introduction of such a minimum wage in Germany and does not reject the idea of ​​framing the high salaries in the public enterprises.

CONTACT

"I can not tell you if a scale of 1 to 20 is good or not," she told BFM-TV and RMC. "But (…) I expect a lot from the President on this point (…) There is a balance to find." And estimate, again, that Francois Hollande is right to put the subject on the table, "because it is the social bond is at stake."

She confirmed on BFM TV and RMC officials that Medef already working with employees of successor Nicolas Sarkozy, who takes office Tuesday.

"I myself have met several members of the team of Francois Hollande," she added. "We are sweeping all subjects and at the same time (…) we are already working with the unions."

During the campaign, the candidate Holland announced his intention to convene in mid-July a national conference for growth and employment.

"The approach of Francois Hollande on social dialogue is very much that we have long advocated," said in Les Echos Laurence Parisot, who even considers "interesting" sound idé e of "generation contract". 

Nicolas Sarkozy, after betting on dialogue with unions to ensure social peace, has only had its share of stops during the presidential campaign to denounce the "intermediate bodies" charged tied up and threaten to appeal directly to the "people" by means of referendum.

Vallourec has revised downwards its growth forecast Thursday in turnover this year after beginning the exercise penalized by a demand remained weak markets as electrical energy and the automobile.

The producer of seamless steel tubes are now waiting for the current year to grow by about 5% of its turnover, while initially provided an increase of order of 10%.

In the first three months of the year, sales came out at 1.199 million euros, up 4% from first quarter 2011 but a contraction of 23% over the last quarter of 2011.

Its operating profit margin stood at 12.7% at end-March 2012, against 16.4% in the fourth quarter and 17.7% in Q1 2011. 

"What we see today is that the macroeconomic environment in Europe remains very uncertain and demand in markets outside oil and gas remains low," said Olivier Mallet , CFO of Vallourec in a conference call.

"(Demand) is well below our expectations at the beginning of the year," he added. "And if there was a slight rise in orders since January, it is below what was expected and visibility remains limited."

The group warned last February, on the occasion of the presentation of its annual results, expect a further decline in margin in 2012 due to the costs of de ; boot of his new plants.

Vallourec says still expect a "slight improvement" of its gross operating margin over the next three quarters, reaching a 15% margin over the full year.

At the Paris Bourse, the Vallourec share price closed before the quarterly earnings release, to 42.865 euros, up 1.46%.

French banking stocks opened sharply down Monday on the Paris Stock Exchange, after the results of parliamentary elections in Greece and the presidential election in France.

In early trade, the shares agricultural, heavily exposed to Greece because of its local subsidiary Emporiki weighed down by losses, falling nearly 6%.

BNP Paribas and Societe Generale fell by more than 3.5%, underperforming the European banking index down by 1.18% at the same time. 

In Greece, voters, angered by the recession and austerity, were heavily penalized Sunday the two main parties, New Democracy (ND, right) and the Party Socialist (PASOK), and offered to the radical left a spectacular breakthrough in the risk of boosting debt crisis and questions about maintaining their country in the euro area.

In France, Socialist Francois Hollande, who plans to reform the banking system to protect customer deposits and make the market less risky activities, has won Sunday's presidential election, marking the return of the left in power.

Executive Director International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde said Wednesday that member countries pledged to provide a total of at least $ 316 billion of priesthood ts to the fund to hold the debt crisis in the euro area.

"We have promises for more than $ 316 billion and I have more in the bag," said Lagarde.

The IMF said in January will increase its financial resources of $ 600 billion to guard against any spillover of the crisis of European debt. But obtaining firm commitments at meetings of the IMF, World Bank and G20 at the end of this week in Washington, might be difficult.

The United States including that they would not participate in these efforts. Canada has estimated that Europe had sufficient funds. Other countries, including China, Brazil and Russia expressed readiness to contribute to the financial effort but if they get in return more of the voting rights in IMF.

Christine Lagarde said last week that it was possible that the IMF has required fewer resources than he thought a few months ago, the economic and financial risks are being mitigated ; s. These resources could be increased from 400 to 500 billion dollars, an amount less than $ 600 billion initially cited, told Reuters several G20 leaders.

The Defense Ministry said Tuesday it has given to the supplier Thales the first tranche, amounting to 263 million euros, an equipment contract of the French army in next-generation tactical radios from 2018.

The radios of the "Contact" will allow simultaneous transmission and highly secure voice and data for the infantry and armor, the ministry said in a statement.

In a second step, these positions also equip combat aircraft, intelligence and transportation and vessels.

The first installment, devoted to development work, will be notified at Thales Communications in the coming days, the ministry added. 

The contract, which is part of Scorpio French military modernization, especially equip future multi-role armored vehicles (VMBR) called to replace the current armored vehicles ahead (VAB).

According to Le Figaro, the contract of three to four billion euros in total over a period of 22 years had been approved by the Ministry of Defence, but that's the Economy ' objected to the notification of an important contract in its presidential campaign, prompting Prime Minister Francois Fillon to rule in favor of the project.

The Defense Ministry was not immediately available to comment on this point.

This derivative launched by a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse, the heart of a lively political debate in France before the presidential election, opened in fall lst. The trading floor in Frankfurt

The new futures contract on the French debt, in the heart of a lively political debate in France before the presidential election, yielded 0.17% on Monday but was not exchanged at the edge of its first trading day on the market German Eurex. The futures contract maturing in June on the obligations of France stood at 125.80 euros a little before 9:00 (0700 GMT) for a first course to 126.02 euros. Only seven contracts were traded, making it insignificant at this stage of fluctuations. Meanwhile, the 10-year rate of France in the bond market was a slight increase of 2.960% against 2.943% at Friday's close.  

The futures contract was launched by Eurex derivatives specialist and subsidiary of the German stock exchange Deutsche Börse. But several political parties including the Left Front, Europe Ecology-Greens and the National Front, see it as a tool to encourage speculation against the French debt on the eve of presidential elections. Francois Hollande wanted last week that the German authorities "cancel" the introduction of the futures contract, a proposal derided the president candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. For his part, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, President of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), held that the launch of this product was not a good signal, just days before the first round of French presidential election.

The Norwegian sovereign fund, the first equity investor in Europe, on Friday urged European leaders to fully address the structural problems of the old continent, but said he voted against the restructuring program of the Greek debt.

Presenting its results in 2011, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), fueled by oil and gas bonanza of the Nordic countries, said he would prefer re a solution to the Greek case which does not favor some creditors over others.

"We voted against for reasons of principle," he told reporters Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), a division of the Norwegian central bank manages the SWF. 

"As long-term investor, we believe it is important to stick to principles."

He stressed that the exchange process of debt expected in the second aid plan for Athens had not put all creditors on the same plan since the European Central Bank (ECB) received a preferential status.

The fund has also stressed the need to solve the current difficulties of the old continent.

"Because more than half of the fund is invested in Europe, it is very important to us that the authorities manage to solve their enormous monetary and structural challenges", a de ; Yngve Slyngstad clared in a statement.

The fund had 3.NOK 312 billion (439 billion) at December 31, against 3.055 billion kronor in late September.

The share of the fund invested in equities reached 58.7% at the end of last year, against 55.6% at the end of the third quarter. Yngve Slyngstad said the fund held 2.25% of the total market share in Europe.

He reported the purchase of more than 150 billion kronor (19.8 billion) of European values ​​on the second part of 2011.

In the fourth quarter, the fund posted a return on investment of 4.4% in the fourth quarter, ending on a positive note one year 2011 where the return on investment has reached -2.5 %, a loss of 11.4 billion euros.

In the third quarter, the return on investment reached -8.8%.

U.S. stocks opened lower Friday as investors took some profits in the absence of final agreement on the issue of Greek debt.

In early trade, the Dow Jones drops 0.8% (107 points) to 12,780.04 points. The Standard & Poor's, larger yields 0.9% (12.50 points) to 1340 points while the Nasdaq composite was down nearly 1% (28.71 points) to 2,898 points .

Greek workers began a general strike of 48 hours to protest the austerity demanded by the creditors of Athens to bail out the country verge of bankruptcy.

The three-party coalition government endorsed on Thursday a new austerity plan, but called the Eurogroup in the evening additional guarantees on the implementation of these measures.

The market now expects Confidence Index Thomson Reuters / University of Michigan. It is expected a slight drop to 74.5 in preliminary data against 75 in January.

On the values ​​front, Yahoo gained 0.3%. Chinese Alibaba plans to withdraw from the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong subsidiary Alibaba.com, as part of a complex agreement that would bring its shareholder Yahoo's cash and a working interest in one entity s group of Chinese commerce.

The billionaire is the target of a tax adjustment record says Tuesday Médiapart site. The IRS would make him pay including the concealment of twelve bank accounts abroad and the acquisition of the island secret watering. Liliane Bettencourt at the fashion week in Paris, January 26, 2011.

Nearly 78 million euros. This is the tidy sum claimed by the IRS to Liliane Bettencourt said Tuesday the site Médiapart, who had access to the report of the National Directorate of tax audits (DNVSF). "These are the amounts charged (including penalties and fines) under the wealth tax for the years 2004 to 2010 and, under the income tax for the years 2006 to 2009. The Negotiations are underway on this issue, counsel for the heir seeking a reduction in the total amount of this addition, "the site.