Business & Financial News

List of stocks followed Friday the Paris Bourse, where the CAC 40 index lost 0.1% to 3008.86 points to 12.30, after posting a new low for the year to 2,970.10 points early trading as risk aversion is increasing in Europe, Fitch has downgraded Greece Moody's and that of several Spanish banks.

* Many CYCLIC and / or values ​​at high risk of suffering INTERNATIONAL also fears about the U.S. and Chinese growth after the publication of several unfavorable statistics.

Pernod Ricard was down 2.74%, largest drop in the CAC 40, PPR of 2.18%, 1.82% LEGRAND, and CAP GEMINI of 1.63%. The Stoxx European car sector (-1.93%) shows the largest sector decline in Europe.

* The oil services also receding in the wake of oil prices. TECHNIP loose 1.4%, 0.6% MAUREL AND PROM and CGG VERITAS 2.35%.

TF1 * still leaves 4.75%, after pressing an important technical support around 6.60 euros, according to technical analysts. Since the announcement May 15 of its withdrawal from the MSCI at the end of the month, the value lost almost 13%.

* A reverse trend, financial stocks have regained some color after the first exchange in the red, traders citing a report in the Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias that Spanish banks want a ban on sales to ; discovered. In addition, the trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, said the European Commission and European Central Bank are working on a contingency plan in case Greece should leave the eurozone .

SOCIETE GENERALE advance of 4.75%, largest increase in the CAC 40 and SBF 120, BNP Paribas took 4.08% and Crédit Agricole, who scored early Matiné e a new record low at 2.934 euros, were up 2.73%. The Stoxx index of European banking sector sign up only in Europe (+0.4%).

* ARCELORMITTAL grants to 1.55%. The steelmaker Nucor has announced the acquisition of Skyline Steel LLC, a steel foundation, with ArcelorMittal for about $ 605 million (478 million).

* EDF, which had lost over 3% yesterday, back to 1.78%. Edison (-0.06%), which the French group is preparing to take control, has expressed interest in gas reserves off the Israeli coast.

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Samsung Electronics posted record quarterly earnings of $ 5.2 billion (3.9 billion) by selling over 20,000 per hour Galaxy smartphones in the first quarter, beating Apple and iPhone.

The South Korean group was pleased with Nokia as the world's largest maker of mobile phones, after 14 years of rule by the Finnish group, today distanced the smartphone market .

Samsung has sold around 93.5 million mobile phones in the quarter January to March, more than a quarter of those sold worldwide, including 44.5 million smartphones, according Strategy Analytics. It controls and 30.6% of the global market for smartphones, against 24.1% for Apple, which sold 35.1 million iPhones in the first quarter.

"Samsung and crush their main rivals Apple and the smartphone market is likely to become a two-horse race," said Neil Mawston to Strategy Analytics.

Samsung will launch next week in London the third generation of its flagship model Galaxy S. The group hopes to see its sales boosted by the Summer Olympics, he is one of the first sponsors.

Apple said this week that its iPhone sales 4S had led to quintuple its quarterly revenue in China. But on this first global market of mobile telephony, the group remains at the apple behind by Samsung, which is already allied with the three main TV operators coms in the country.

The operating profit of Samsung in the first quarter nearly doubled to 5,850 billion won (3.9 billion euros), after reaching 5,300 billion won in the previous quarter .

After the announcement of these results, the action Samsung surged 2.9% to a record high of 1.38 million won (1,200 dollars).

The group also competes with Sony and LG Electronics on the TV market, Toshiba and Hynix in the memories SK and LG Display the segment of flat screens. 

Its earnings in semiconductors has been more than halved, to 760 billion won, due to falling prices of memory cards, but its activity in the tee ; léviseurs and appliances has generated 530 billion won against 80 billion a year earlier.

Samsung and LG Electronics compatriot among the few TV manufacturers in the world to make profits and gain market share in favor of including the use of 3D and OLED displays.

Sony, Panasonic and Sharp expect their side to show a combined loss of $ 21 billion during the fiscal year that just ended.

Bad news on the economic front: the activity in the services sector began to turn to contract and morale deteriorates entrepreneur. The recovery will be anemic. French executives come to the business district of La Defense

The significant recovery announced by Nicolas Sarkozy is struggling to emerge. Instead, the slump continues, whether in industry or in services. The private sector activity has indeed registered the largest decline since 6 months, according to a first estimate of the PMI index released Monday by the firm Markit. The index "flash" composite of overall activity in France has contracted from 48.7 points in March to 46.8 points in April, below the 50 points that mark a contraction in activity. This decline reflects a sharp deterioration in performance of the services sector, whose activity fell for the first time in five months.  

The French industrial morale has degraded him in April compared with the previous month, according to the business survey released Monday by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). The composite indicator of business climate in the industry fell 95 points, against 98 in March and remains below its long-term average set at 100 points.

"Here we have throughout the disappointing figures, downright disappointing side of the PMI surveys," summed Baudchon Helena, economist at BNP Paribas of France. Details of the survey by INSEE in March, which marked a rebound of industrial morale, "let hope for a continued recovery," said she. "I expected better than this: the confirmation of a rebound in confidence of business leaders," adds his colleague Societe Generale, Michael Martinez.  

The overall indicator of business climate in France, INSEE calculated from the responses of CEOs of major industries, is itself almost unchanged in April, to 95 points, with a decline in the building, an increase in retail trade and a stable indicator in services.

An anemic recovery

"In total, still manages to defend the idea that the French economy is now rebounding from a low point that has been the fourth quarter and first quarter. But the strength of this rebound is very very low, "says Mr. Martinez, who expects a decline of 0.1% of GDP in the first quarter, followed by an increase of 0.1% in the second.  

According to Jack Kennedy, the firm Markit economist, "the second quarter of 2012 will be difficult for the French economy, the service activity in April showing a decline in concern while a decline in manufacturing persists." He perceives a "wait and widespread household as businesses at the approach of the presidential election".

An argument that refutes Ms. Baudchon, for whom "the external economic and financial environment always difficult is a good explanation of the new shift in the PMI surveys in France and Germany".

Sector by sector in the industry, the survey by INSEE mask disparities and it appears that the decline is mainly due to the vehicle with the past activity "would have contracted sharply" and metallurgy.  

A table overshadowed by the automobile?

The overall order books and foreign French carmakers are down sharply while that "given the personal perspectives of production, the activity could fall further in coming months," said INSEE.

"Outside the car, which suffers from the end of certain tax provisions and the European context with overproduction on a European scale, we nevertheless confirmed that production recovered slightly and the personal perspectives of production are well oriented ", says Mr. Martinez.

U.S. stocks finished mostly slightly higher Friday, the Dow Jones having received solid results from several big names such rating Microsoft, General Electric and McDonald's, but the downturn in the technology sector weighed on the Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 30 0.5%, or 65.16 points, to 13,029.26. The S & P-500, wider, took 1.61 points, or 0.12%, to 1378.53.

The Nasdaq Composite, however, yielded 7.11 points (0.24%) to 3000.45, weighed down by including SanDisk, which dropped more than 11% after a warning on its sales business. The decline of Apple (-2.46%) also weighed.

For the week, the Nasdaq fell 0.4%, but the Dow Jones rose 1.4% and the S & P 500 0.6%, encouraged by the good start of the earnings season.

Of the 121 companies in the S & P 500 having reported their quarterly on the date of Friday, 81% exceeded Wall Street expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Microsoft has topped the Dow Jones gains, surging 4.5% Thursday after reporting a profit above the consensus, PC sales are e , as revealed better than expected.

SanDisk has dropped 11.27% to 35.91 dollars. The memory manufacturer has said it expected a revenue well below Wall Street expectations in the second quarter due to lower prices in the sector.

In its wake, the index of the semiconductor sector fell 2.38% on the session. Apple has lost 2.46% to 572.98 dollars.

SEASON RESULTS STILL GOOD

General Electric closed up 1.1%. The first American industrial conglomerate reported earnings and sales better than expected first quarter thanks to strong demand for energy equipment Ticks and railway equipment.

McDonald's took 0.7%. The world's number one fast food has published quarterly results rise, driven by strong sales in its restaurants in the United States.

"Yesterday there was some concern to see McDonald's to miss the consensus, but he reached out and showed strong sales growth at stores constant. GE beat expectations. Overall the earnings season continues to be good, "said Peter Jankovskis for Oakbrook Investments LLC.

The industrial conglomerate Honeywell International has published its quarterly results next up and has revised upwards its annual financial targets. The stock closed up 2.4% to 59.39 dollars.

Schlumberger took 2.7%. The oil services group published the first-quarter net profit up 39% to $ 1.31 billion, or 97 cents per share.

A Wall Street as on the European stock exchanges, investors awaited further reassurance on the capabilities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to raise new funds to contain the crisis euro area.

The Group of Twenty (G20) is committed in the evening to give the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over $ 430 billion of additional resources, making more than double its capacity loan.

The Supreme Court could reverse the conviction of Total over 12 years near the wreck of the tanker Erika off the Brittany coast in 1999, reported Friday Liberation and Ouest-France.

The highest French court, which must rule on May 24, could simply cancel the entire procedure conducted since the disaster in December 1999, according to two dailies.

Senior judges make this recommendation in their conclusions with the main argument that the wreck, which caused the pollution of 400 km of coastline, has not occurred in French waters, writes Libération ration and Ouest-France.

The Erika disaster led to two trials in 2007 at trial and on appeal in 2009. The judgment established each time the liability of defendants, which the charterer Total.

The oil company could not be contacted immediately to make a comment.

The objective of the British government to eliminate the budget deficit within five years is still valid, said Wednesday the finance minister, presenting a tight budget for the third consecutive year.

This budget, however, reduce the income tax and to accelerate the reduction of corporate tax (IS). These measures will be funded from the taxation of banks and wealthy landowners.

George Osborne added that the UK economy should avoid recession, says a new anticipate an acceleration of the recovery next year.

The growth rate of the UK economy is projected at 0.8% this year to 2.0% in 2013 to 2.7% in 2014 to 3.0% and the next two years.

The OBR had planned in November to 0.7% growth this year, 2.1% in 2013 and 3.0% in 2015 and 2016.

In terms of fiscal measures, the tax bracket of 50% for taxpayers whose annual income exceeds 150,000 pounds (180.000), introduced by the previous Labour government, will be reduced to 45% from April 2013, a move that will cost a maximum of 100 million pounds, said the Chancellor.

The minimum tax is increased to 9205 pounds of annual income (11,000 euros), an increase higher than expected, from April 2013 also.

The rate of corporation tax will be narrowed down from 26% to 24% next month and to 22% by 2014.

To fund these measures, a stamp duty of 7% will be levied on sales of land and property, above the two million pounds. In addition, the bank tax will be increased to 0.105% effective January 2013, so that the reduction of the SI does not benefit the banks.

DECREASE IN LOANS

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) of the government projects a decrease in net borrowings to bring them back to 21 billion pounds for the year 2016-2017 as they totaled 126 billion over the year 2011 to 2012.

The new projection of the OBR is somewhat more optimistic than in November, when Chancellor of the Exchequer had to extend the package of austerity beyond the e elections of 2015.

The public sector debt and must reach a peak of 76.3% of GDP in 2014-15 before falling. 

"We are well positioned to meet this mandate and eliminate the structural current account deficit by 2016-2017," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Parliament on the occasion of the budget.

However, this deficit has reached record levels in February, reflecting a lower tax revenues and higher public spending.

Only a narrow majority of 15 out of 29 economists polled by Reuters had expected Tuesday that the coalition government to succeed in reaching its target of reducing the public accounts in balance, in structural terms at the horizon 2016-2017. 

They were 23 to consider that the debt ratio would have declined by that date and provided only a 25% probability of risk for the country to lose its precious triple-A, against 27.5% during a similar survey a month ago.

The Office of Debt Management announced that its part of the state debt would total 167.7 billion pounds in the 2012-2013 biennium, or about ten billion pounds less than when the previous year.

A Reuters poll gave 180 billion.

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%.

The U.S. economy created 227,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate remained at its lowest level in three years, to 8.3%.

The U.S. in February saw another month of massive hiring, confirming the scenario of a widespread economic recovery. The government says the country has indeed created 227,000 more jobs than it removed in February, which is higher than the net balance of 206,000 that gave the median forecast of analysts. Job creation are well above 200,000 for the third consecutive month. The Department has revised upward its estimate of 17% of new jobs in January, to 284,000, and the net hiring in February and is down 20% over the month.

The hires were not enough to lower unemployment, which remained at 8.3%, its lowest level for three years, according to official figures released Friday in Washington. In theory, the strength of job creation should lead to lower unemployment. This has not occurred because the labor force increased as much (0.3% compared to January) that the number of employed persons, according to government figures. The labor force declined in November and December, to rise for the second straight month in February could be a sign of improving labor market and show that the unemployed until then recover discouraged to seek employment. Department figures do not enable to determine at first glance from the increased labor force in February due to the influx of young people on the labor market and those related to the return of unemployed among its members.  

Department figures show that in February, employment increased in all sectors except retail trade, construction and public service. In the latter, job losses, which are the norm for over a year, have slowed considerably since there were only 6,000 per month from December to February, against over 20,000 of September to November. The employment report further states that the average hourly wage increased by 0.1% from January, to 23.31 dollars. On a year, says the Ministry, the increase in hourly wages was 1.9% which remains below its last measure of inflation (2.9% yoy in January).

General Motors announced Monday it will pay 320 million euros to take 7% of French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen.

The manufacturer also says that the partnership plans to build at least four common models by 2016.

In a regulatory document sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Constable of the American Stock Exchange, General Motors said that the alliance is expected to last 10 years and will be renewed ; unless either party has an objection to this extension. 

Peugeot unveiled last week its strategic alliance with General Motors through which it hopes to save on purchase costs and development , with an entry of U.S. giant in its capital up to 7%.

The alliance will go off if a competitor of GM captured 10% or more of Peugeot, directly or indirectly, the U.S. group says in a statement.

Meanwhile, the partnership may be terminated if the share held by the Peugeot family falls below 15% and a competitor amounts to 5% or more in the French manufacturer.

A clause further provides for an end to the partnership if another automaker acquires 3% of PSA following an agreement with PSA Peugeot or with family.

MEPs have just voted a bill to ban the diversion of assets in the event of bankruptcy. Hours before his bankruptcy, the French refinery had emptied its accounts. .

The National Assembly passed in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday UMP text to prevent the diversion of assets of a failing company and for Petroplus, with the support of the PS who tried in vain to pass as its own proposals ArcelorMittal targeting. The bill passed almost unanimously (only the communists abstained), and pass Thursday before the Senate, was filed by the UMP deputies of Seine-Maritime, where the Petroplus refinery in Petit Couronne ( 550 employees), in bankruptcy since late January.  

The refinery has "seen its accounts in France emptied of all its cash by the banks of its parent company just hours before the bankruptcy filing," recalled Frances Guégot, lead author of the text. This allows the court to take trade measures (seizure of assets or sale of stocks, for example) of a company, not only at the stage of liquidation as at present, but also upstream, when the power is backup or receivership. Its urgent nomination to the agenda had been an agreement between Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his Socialist predecessor at Matignon, Laurent Fabius, Member of Parliament of Petit Couronne. A fact underlined by the Industry Minister, Eric Besson, who came into the chamber to support the text along with his colleagues Michel Mercier (Justice), Patrick Ollier (Relations with Parliament) and Xavier Bertrand (Labour).

As the minister, Laurent Fabius has paid tribute to the Inter Petroplus, whose representatives attended the debates. But, while approving the bill, he criticized the government for "lack of vigilance" on successive Petroplus, especially during the sale of the refinery in 2008 by Shell. He regretted that Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a "temporary respite" for the refinery during his visit last Friday at Petit Couronne.

Holland rejected the proposal

Left and right agreed on an amendment providing information to staff representatives on the measures. The majority is also committed to respect for social obligations of a bankrupt company, but in terms considered ambiguous by the opposition, particularly the Communist Party, which abstained for that. The Senate, leftist majority should approve the text Thursday.

But this relative consensus has given way to confrontation when the socialists have defended in vain amendments, drawing another bill filed that morning. It was announced Friday by Francois Hollande during his visit to the site of ArcelorMittal Florange (5,000 employees), two blast furnaces are shut down for months. The PS proposed to require a manufacturer withdrawing from a French plant to transfer her to a buyer. "ArcelorMittal has a clear strategy of disengagement from the territory and we must respond," insisted the MP PS Moselle Aurélie Filippetti.

In the wake of Nicolas Sarkozy, who said Monday "does not see the benefit of this proposal" and promised another solution soon, the majority rejected these amendments, the government said, "would undermine the freedom of and undertake to ownership ". The left has once again criticized the head of state to have announced, in February 2008 on the site near Gandhinagar, public investment to maintain the activity, one year before the plant would close anyway.