Archive for the ‘economy’ Category

The new school year allowance paid to 4.6 million children

August 22, 2011 - 10:32 pm Comments Off

Households eligible for the allocation of the new school will have received today. The family allowance were announced in early August that this financial boost to low-income families would be paid to the beneficiary households between 19 and 21 August at the latest.

Last year, about 5 million children and 2.8 million households had received this benefit, an average of 300 euros per child. "We do not yet know the exact number of beneficiaries, because some families must provide proof that they will have to re-entry. But a year on year, this figure varies very little, "says one to the National Family Allowances Fund (CNAF). In 2010, the CNAF had counted only 600 beneficiaries over from the previous year. A few weeks ago, Roselyne Bachelot noted that it had mentioned the figure of 4.6 million recipients.

Increase of nearly 7% of the cost of school

In 2011, the allowance for school was revalued by 1.5% to reflect inflation. Depending on the age of the child eligible under 18 if in school, the aid received varied from 284.97 euros to 311.11 euros per year. But the annual increase covers only a small part of the rising cost of school.

According to the Association of Family France, it rose by almost 7% since last year. For a student of the sixth, the only school supplies back to around 187 euros. Involved, the general inflation of around 1.9% a year in France, and the sharp rise in prices of raw materials, pulp and paper in particular is currently selling at record prices.

Weather boosts "sun insurance"

August 17, 2011 - 4:12 am Comments Off

Money does not replace the sun. Companies still have made the bet offer insurance against bad weather, which compensates tourists disappointed by the weather. The concept was born three years ago and now sold by some tour operators – Pierre & Vacances, Maeva, Marmara or campsites Sunêlia has unsurprisingly met with greater success this year, boosted by the greyness of July.

"It has exceeded 20,000 subscribers in July 31. It's more than double last year, "says one at Aon, which launched the concept. The insurer does not expect to have to make as many checks: among the 200 French destinations covered by these offers, 50 have now opened right to compensation, according to data Metnext, a subsidiary of Météo France.

In previous years, about 5% of subscribers had received a refund due to bad weather.This year, this share has already increased by 20%, excluding the month of August, which promises but under better auspices. Tourists who spent their holidays on the Atlantic coast, especially in the northern half of France, will be the first question online payday loans.

Two hours of sunshine per day

All however, are not reimbursed the same amount, or under the same conditions. It depends on the tour operator with which the offer was contracted. If insurance is included in the delivery Sunelia home, it costs 12 euros extra in Marmara, and 69 euros at Pierre & Vacances, who included it in his pack "casualty".

For example, Marmara guarantees four days of sunshine a week of seven days, or reverse 300 euros to its customers. A little less generous, Pierre & Vacances is no guarantee that three days of sun, otherwise 150 Euros will be paid to unlucky.A "sunny day" is one day with at least "two hours of hot sun and cloudless" between ten and eighteen hours.

Weather assuming a more capricious, insurers have much increase in the future their number of subscribers. The year 2011, no sun, they will have made good publicity.

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Silvio Berlusconi chooses to tax high incomes

August 13, 2011 - 1:16 pm Comments Off

The Italian government, which has set a target to stop the speculative pressures of markets on Friday adopted an emergency order providing for a new austerity plan amounted to 45.5 billion euros over two years. These austerity measures designed to recover 20 billion euros in 2012 and 25.5 billion in 2013. Their adoption will enable Italy to cancel its public deficit to 3.9% today – by the end of 2013.

For the first time, the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to weigh the tax burden with a "solidarity tax" on higher incomes. According to leaks distilled by the social partners, this contribution could rise to 5% for every € 10,000 for employees earning over 90,000 euros, and 10% in excess of 150,000 euros. Self-employed workers earning more than EUR 55,000 will be taxed at 41%.However estates and housing will remain free of taxation. A single tax of 20% will be charged on income from capital, currently 12.5% ​​against and 25% of bank deposits.

Aggressive fight against tax evasion

The introduction of fiscal federalism will be early in 2012, the government hopes to make them more aggressive fight against tax evasion. It will become mandatory to report transactions of more than 2500 euros and harsh penalties are provided for activities not issuing bills or receipts, up to closing. The project plans to make savings, the merger of provinces (38 disappear) and municipalities (in 1500 should be merged). On productivity should be increased with the removal of bridges and the automatic transfer of national holidays on Monday.

The cost of the policy will also be cut with the elimination of 50,000 positions elected at the central government and local communities. Heavy sacrifices will be required to Italians in particular as regards social welfare (social services and family) who will suffer next year the bulk of the effort (about 20 billion euros) all levels of assistance and social transfers to local governments will be affected. However the Northern League had opposed the cuts, pensions will be spared. Women in the private sector will be encouraged to continue working until age 65, or 7 years older than today.

Silvio Berlusconi said his "heart bleeds" to the idea of ​​going against his promise to "never get their hands into the pockets of Italians."But he justified his decision by "the dramatic situation", stressing that the new measures were "inevitable." He added that "the vote in the council of ministers was unanimous." Silvio Berlusconi said that the new measures "are in line of what had been hoped the European Central Bank."

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The EU investigation into a cartel in the luxury watches

August 5, 2011 - 9:44 pm Comments Off

After considering the price of flour in supermarkets and those of certain financial products, the European Commission is vigilant in fine watchmaking. The competition regulator on Friday launched an investigation into the agreements and dominant positions among manufacturers of luxury watches, trying to see if they have agreed to refuse to supply spare parts to independent repairers.

"The Commission informed the parties concerned and the competition authorities of the Member States of the opening of the proceedings in this case," said the European Commission in a statement.

The investigation follows a complaint filed in 2004 by the European Confederation of Associations of watch repairers (CEAHR) for alleged violation of competition rules of the European Union.Multi-brand repairers had indeed used to make many of the repairs of luxury watches. But from 2002, according to CEAHR, manufacturers of luxury watches began to refuse to supply spare parts to multi-brand repairers who were not part of their repair networks. The CEAHR therefore seeks the condemnation of the practice, saying it could force independent repairers to put the key under the door.

The European competition regulator rejected its complaint in 2008 for lack of Community interest. Then the decision was overturned by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in December 2010. This does not prevent the European Commission to be cautious about this.She stresses that the opening of an investigation does not mean it already has evidence about the existence of an offense. And yet, no manufacturer of luxury watches is specifically under investigation.

Europe wants to stop the panic before the holidays

July 17, 2011 - 11:04 pm Comments Off

Find a solution to the debt crisis before the holidays. This is the roadmap of finance ministers of the euro zone next week. The European Council President, Herman van Rompuy, do not let them choose by calling Thursday for a summit. In the meantime, they must agree on the terms of a new plan of aid to Greece, the key to stability in the euro area.

"Our agenda will be the financial stability of the euro area as a whole and the future funding of the program (help) Greek," said Herman van Rompuy in a statement released Friday night. A summit should be held this week, but the disagreements were apparently still too large to meet the ministers of the euro area.

Friday, the German government still insisted on the need to reach a solution on this point before considering a meeting at the highest level."It's not a meeting in itself will help Greece, is a new program," said Berlin spokesman of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Steffen Seibert. A meeting will take place only if "it makes sense and is necessary," he added.

"Practicalities"

The fact that the president of the EU sets a date for the meeting means that the countries of the region are close to an agreement to overcome their differences on the plan must shelter Greece until 2014. The difficulties relate to the private sector. While States have agreed on this principle, "the element that continues to be discussed is the scope and practical arrangements," said the Belgian Minister of Finance Didier Reynders.

This question, seemingly technical, is the more political aspects.Specifically, Germany would like the creditor banks of Greece their hands to the portfolio. German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want to antagonize the public, tired of paying for its European neighbors. The German solution has the potential to place Athens in de facto default. An option rejected by the European Central Bank (ECB), France and Madrid. "We made good progress" in discussions of the issues that upset "but there is still work to do," said a source close to the talks.

"Treat the Greek problem '

These dissensions troubled financial markets in the euro area. The crisis reached a new level this week, the contagion affecting Italy's third largest economy in the euro area. Rome, however, managed to extinguish the fire in the markets by adopting an emergency in the austerity plan of 48 billion euros.Publication of the results of stress tests of European banks on Friday could also help calm the fears of investors.

If the finance ministers do not want to disturb the relative calm, they will present next Thursday, practical solutions. "It should address the problem of Greece, as a starting point of an overall therapy," say economists at Credit Agricole. The recipe that will be applied to Greece as an example. "

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Business Tapie: Lagarde postponed the decision on

July 9, 2011 - 10:12 pm Comments Off

The Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) announced Friday it had postponed to August 4 decision to initiate or not an investigation of the role played by Christine Lagarde in the case Tapie.

"One of the members of the commission has indicated that he was later forced to recuse himself," said Gerard Palisse, president of the petitions committee of the Court. This is Laurence Fradin, magistrate at the Court of Auditors and wife of Pierre Joxe, former Socialist Minister of Defense and the Interior of François Mitterrand, as was Bernard Tapie. Judicial source, the judge cited a possible conflict of interest.

Gerard Palisse stated that "the alternate member of the Court which could have us make up for his part that he himself was unable to do so immediately without prior knowledge of the case.The Committee decided to defer consideration of this matter Thursday, August 4. "

The survey would be long

The former Minister of Economy and current executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is suspected of "abuse of authority" in the arbitration in July 2008 on the case Tapie, Credit Lyonnais on line pay day loans. The businessman, who felt cheated after the sale of Adidas in 1993 with Credit Lyonnais, had obtained 285 million euros of public funds.

In May, the Attorney General of the Supreme Court, Jean-Louis Nadal, asked the petitions committee of the RGC to investigate the matter. He specifically criticized Christine Largarde for choosing private arbitration, but also refusing to appeal against the award, while the number of specialists are encouraged.If the Court decides to initiate the investigation, it should be long and Christine Lagarde would not be considered for several years. The new leader denies IMF, meanwhile, abuse of authority in this matter and have provided "clear conscience".

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Europe is going bad but the euro remains strong

July 6, 2011 - 12:48 am Comments Off

Eighteen months after the initial concerns about the European debts, the situation on the old continent is still fragile. However, the euro remains surprisingly strong. The euro hovered around $ 1.45 since April, and rose more than 8% since the beginning of the year, and 15.5% in one year. "The first explanation that justifies the euro strengthens and weakens the dollar is in the interest rates: in Europe, they are likely to be faced by the ECB on Thursday, reaching 1.50% while those U.S. Federal Reserve and will still remain long remain between 0 and 0.25%, "says Bruno Rodier, private banker and portfolio manager at Pictet & Cie.This differential rate encourages investors to take advantage of the "carry trade", this technique to generate returns by borrowing in dollars at a rate unusually low, and place it in euros, which pays better.

"The situation should not change in the coming months because when the European Central Bank has the sole purpose of containing inflation by raising interest rates, the Fed also has the task of supporting growth and employment and maintain long-term rates low and a weak currency to do so, "said Harry Sebag, an analyst at Saxo Bank.He said the Fed will not change its monetary policy anytime soon because it looks especially the real estate market across the Atlantic, the one who caused the economic crisis and financial crisis in the summer of 2007, which is still not out business.

The dollar is kept artificially low

But even more than the strengthening of the euro, especially on the weak dollar that the experts agree. And has been a little more than a year: the Fed announcement as it injects new astronomical quantities (600 billion) dollars in the global economy. Instantly, the dollar lost its value against other currencies, and the effect lasted until now."There is also the effect 'end of world supremacy' of the dollar plays, including the report of the World Bank has recently anticipated that by 2025, that is to say tomorrow, the market currencies will be dominated also by the Chinese yuan, not only by the dollar and the euro, "notes Vincent Juvyns, strategist at ING IM cash advance no fax.

The role of the dollar as the global benchmark fading as global governance wants to reform the international monetary system. In this perspective, little by little, investors include the future landscape of the exchange market and exchange their dollars into yuan and euro. "At the same time, we must take into account the cultural dimension of geographical areas: Europe, under the influence of Germany was a culture of rent, we want to keep a strong currency.This contrasts with the current pattern of currency war, which is to artificially push down its currency to promote its own foreign trade, "said Bruno Rodier.

Europe is going less badly than the U.S.

Finally, if Europe goes wrong, it will hurt less than the United States. Bad news on the macroeconomic front here and on the other side of the Atlantic, lower the respective currencies, but the U.S. figures are still worse than the European data, the dollar fell more than the euro. So the euro / dollar rate goes up anyway. "If you took away the effect debt, the euro was trading at least $ 1.50," Harry Sebag plans.Recently, the growth forecasts for the European Union were found, while those for the United States have been degraded.

Thus, the twists in the case of Greece, or fears of contagion from the crisis of sovereign debt of countries in the euro area peripheral to Italy or France, they have had little effect on the euro itself. "The currency market is highly sensitive to very short term. But in the coming weeks, the scenario of an outbreak of the euro area remains the least plausible of all, "says Vincent Juvyns, underlining that" challenges remain whole in the longer term. " The markets seem optimistic about the ability of European governance to agree to find solutions to problems of public finances of member countries."And Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and Jean-Claude Trichet has always reassuring words to soothe the markets when tensions rise," added the expert.

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Retirement: the new rules quickly set

July 4, 2011 - 10:20 pm Comments Off

Once published Tuesday, the opinion of the Advisory Council pensions, the decree formalizing the transition to 41.5 years of contributions from the 1955 cohort could be taken quickly. CNAV request, to inform as soon as its nationals. The beneficiaries of the "long career" born in 1955 are, in fact, likely to retire on January 1.

The Ministry of Labour does not seem to see any objection, saying anyway have little choice: "The law is written Fillon very imperative low interest rate personal loans. Things mechanically apply, depending on life expectancy, "an official analysis.PS and unions denounced the prospect of a longer contribution period: CGT sees a decline in disguise of pensions, the CFDT talking about additional victims of the reform of 2010.

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Greece: The Cac 40 believes in good news

June 28, 2011 - 2:04 pm Comments Off

As the successor to Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund could be announced this Tuesday – Christine Lagarde is the favorite – Greece has decided to strike until the vote of the austerity plan by the Greek Parliament should occur by Thursday. However, it seems, according to analysts that the markets are betting on good news. The euro area would have a backup in case of a negative vote.

So, in the wake of Wall Street Monday closed sharply higher, Bourse de Paris amplifies gains the previous day. The Cac 11 hours 40prend to 0.77% at 3825.83 points.

On the currency markets, the euro is stable against the dollar at 1.4279 dollar.For their part, oil prices rebounded in electronic trading in Asia Tuesday and remained under pressure, before the 48-hour strike in Greece to the appeal of unions to protest against austerity measures, analysts said . In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in August gained 36 cents to 90.97 dollars.That of Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was taking 25 cents 106.24 dollars.

Housing: housing starts and building permits up

On the macroeconomic front, the number of starts of new homes increased by 11.4,% year on year in France for the period from March to May, while the number of building permits for these homes has increased 4.3%, according to figures from the Ministry of Housing.

At 18 hours, will be published the figures for registered job seekers and offers collected by the job center in May.

In the U.S., the S & P / Case-Shiller of home prices in April (15 hours) and consumer confidence in June (16 hours) are also expected.

Carrefour jumps, Casino unscrews

Against a background of optimism about the outcome of the parliamentary debate on the budget austerity in Greece, the banking sector performs well: Crédit Agricole climbed 2.50% to 9.87 euros, Societe Generale is 1.54% to 38.25 euros, BNP Paribas rose 1.10% to 50.71 euros and Natixis gained 1.04% to 3.29 euros.

EADS: 0.09% to 22.07 euros

China could control dozens of Airbus during a visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday in Berlin, said on Monday sources familiar with the matter credit report.

Carrefour: 1.97% to 26.86 euros; Casino: -3.58% to 64 euros

The distribution group received Monday a "proposal" to create Gama Brazilian joint venture equally owned by both groups in Brazil, the latter to eventually become a shareholder of Carrefour.Casino intends to disturb their alliance, saying the project "hostile", prepared in secret, but against which "has the power to oppose."

In addition, the rating agency Fitch has downgraded the French retailer Carrefour up a notch to BBB +, along with a negative outlook, expressing concern the pace of recovery activities and French pressure from shareholders, according to a statement Tuesday.

Thales: 0.46% to 28.52 euros

According to an internal study cited by the Tribune, the electronics group shows a drastic decrease of 13% of customer satisfaction since the arrival of the new direction. Some regret the centralization of applications and other lack of attention to their concerns.

Lagardère: 2.95% to 28.57 euros

Analysts at the Swiss bank UBS raised their recommendation on the title to "buy" against "neutral" before.

Trigano: -3.36% to 22.27 euros

The specialist for caravans and motorhomes has said it expects a sales growth and results in 2011, following growth of 8.2% of its business in the third quarter, which covers the period from March to May

Teleperformance: -4.49% to 19.90 euros

The global call center cut its operating margin target in 2011 because of the recent slowdown in its business in the United States.

BioAlliance Pharma: 2.33% to 6.15 euros

The biotechnology company said it had filed with the French Drug Agency an application for leave to Phase III clinical trial for Livatag, treatment of primary liver cancer.

CGG Veritas: 1.14% to 23.45 euros

The group signed with the oil services group Bourbon marine services to offshore oil and gas a charter contract for five years to six new vessels support and assistance to its seismic surveys.

Alstom takes 14 hours to its General Assembly on Tuesday.

China reaffirms its confidence in the euro

June 27, 2011 - 8:32 am Comments Off

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his "confidence" in the future of the euro area and promised to continue investing in the region at the beginning of a new tour on the old continent. In the midst of the Greek debt, Wen Jiabao gave a breath of fresh air to the euro by saying that Beijing had "continued to buy treasury bills from several European countries and had not reduced its reserves in euros." In Budapest and London to Berlin today and tomorrow o ù he will attend an economic forum with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the prime minister wants to present China as a long-term partner of the European Union.

Significant support before a crucial week for Greece.In fact, while the Greek Parliament will vote on Thursday, the new austerity plan required by the EU in exchange for the release of the next tranche of 12 billion euros, the Greek deputy prime minister warned that recalcitrant MPs could block some reforms sought by donors. Theodore Pangalos believes that overall the plan should be passed but the new tax reforms and privatization of national companies should be difficult to adopt, he warned. Yet the majority of the Papandreou government is reduced, the ruling PASOK deputies out of 155 and 300 Greek opposition repeats it rejects the call for a united front.

At the same time, France came up with a new plan to allow the private sector to help Greece, reveals Le Figaro.In the night from Friday to Saturday, the French Treasury and financial institutions have agreed on a scenario that will allow private creditors to subscribe to new Greek government bonds on a voluntary basis.

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