Posts Tagged ‘home’

The Paris Bourse is expected to remain in the green

March 22, 2011 - 10:48 am Comments Off

The CAC 40 should pouruivre its momentum on Tuesday. The benchmark index of the Paris Stock Exchange closed yesterday up 2.47%, exceeding the threshold of 3900 points. The mood on Wall Street Monday to beyond 12,000 points and Asian markets this morning should encourage him to continue on this path.

The increase was sustained by the hopes surrounding the nuclear plant in Fukushima. On site, the nuclear situation remains uncertain but appears to have stopped deteriorating. The operator of the plant, TEPCO announced that the work of rehabilitation of cooling systems had resumed Tuesday morning after being suspended the previous day following release of smoke.

Further intervention by the BoJ also came to reassure the markets. This last Tuesday, in 2000 has injected billions of yen (17 billion) more on the money market to support the Japanese economy.It has increased to 39,000 billion yen from the money released March 11. In this atmosphere a little calmer, operators go hunting for bargains.

The Libyan military action criticized

However, they keep an eye on the situation in Libya. The international coalition, headed by the United States, France and Great Britain continued its operations in the night of Monday to Tuesday. Critics, from Germany, Italy or Russia, rise against, however, the intensity of the bombing in the West.

This tension plays anyway back on oil prices. In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for April delivery took 19 cents to 102.52 dollars. That of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery, however, yielded 15 cents to 114.81 dollars.

International news should be the main préocuppation markets, lack of macroeconomic indicators. Like yesterday, the only statistically expected will come from the United States with the publication of the index of house prices (15 hours).

As for currencies, the euro remains stable against the greenback at 1.4224 dollar.

Values ​​to follow

PSA Peugeot Citroën

The automaker announced Monday that the halt in production at one of its Japanese suppliers affected by the earthquake of March 11 would cause a decrease in its activity in diesel engines and probably induce measures layoffs.

Renault

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has launched an appeal Tuesday for vigilance against the "vicious allegations" against China for stealing technology from foreign companies after the country has been implicated in the espionage case in the French group Renault .

Latecoere; EADS

Based on information from Figaroce Tuesday, the Chinese Avic, Britain's GKN and the Dutch Stork Fokker-filed a complaint with a price estimate.EADS and Airbus are under pressure to attend a Franco-French solution.

Sanofi-Aventis

Merck and Sanofi Aventis announced Tuesday it had terminated the agreement in March 2010 through a joint venture in animal health, combining Merial Animal Health business of Sanofi, with Intervet / Schering-Plough animal health unit Merck.

Technip

The group announced Tuesday it had won with TAQA Bratan installation contract for the development of Falcon Field, located in the North Sea about 560 kilometers northeast of Aberdeen (Scotland), for a water depth of 160 meters.

EDF

Edison, controlled jointly by the French EDF and Italy's A2A Monday issued an annual profit weighed down by asset writedowns and said it would not pay a dividend for fiscal 2010.

BNP Paribas

The bank granted a bonus of 1.67 million euros to its chief executive Baudouin Prot at the financial year 2010.

SeLoger.com

The group announced Monday expect a double digit growth of its key financial indicators in 2011 thanks to record audience levels.

Switzerland: Asia saves luxury watch

February 12, 2011 - 3:24 am Comments Off

Despite the rise of the franc, the Swiss watch industry is growing again. In 2010, exports of the sector amounted to nearly 12.3 billion euros, or 22.1% more than in 2009-results that reflected their pre-crisis level, due to the vivacity of Asian market.

After a year of slowdown, how brands have they faced the recovery? Some had anticipated the rise in sales. "In late 2009, our results were already excellent," says Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot watches. We bought more raw materials and hired 60 people! "Other chains have also relaunched the recruitment as Breguet, Tag Heuer and cores. Some, finally, forcing customers to wait. "For a Panerai or a Montblanc, it can go up to a year, said H. Roderich Hess, former CEO of Montblanc Switzerland.Customers know that the luxury watch requires exceptional skill and they patiently wait. "

The industry is optimistic, however, hampered by the rise of the franc. In an interview with the magazine Bilanz, the director of Swatch, Nick Hayek, estimated at 380 million euro loss for 2010 sales caused by depreciation of the euro. The competitiveness of the Swiss watch has declined.

To fix an exchange rate to their disadvantage, producers have raised prices of their watches: +5% in 2010 for Audemars Piguet and Cartier, who think all over again, like Jean-Claude Biver. "While ensuring the value of our currency on forward markets, we have adjusted our prices four times in 2010, an increase of about 20%," says he.

Subcontractors affected

The rise of the franc was not all bad.It allowed the watchmakers to buy at lower prices for raw materials and components abroad. A strategy has its limits: to get the "Swiss Made", these companies must in Switzerland at least 80% of manufacturing costs for mechanical watches.

If large groups are doing well, this is not the case for their sub-contractors, some 600 Swiss companies that still show the effects of the crisis. "They are affected first and the last to resume growth as brands sell their stock before ordering new," said Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry. After losing 20% of its turnover, the director of Pac Team, Alain Borle, "sees a light at the end of the tunnel.Watchmakers have not really launched new programs, but I think imminent. "

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Agricultural prices: Bruno Le Maire feared riots

February 5, 2011 - 10:04 pm Comments Off

Given the risk of "food riots" which he considers "real" backdrop of soaring agricultural prices, Bruno Le Maire calls to take urgent steps to reform the international markets.

Pitches Friday in Rome for consultations with the two UN agencies responsible for development of agribusiness in developing countries (FAO) and the emergency food aid (World Food Programme or WFP), the French Minister of Agriculture has set itself the goals outlined France for the G20 in June: "Agriculture is central to our priorities," he said.

In seven months, according to the Director General of FAO, Jacques Diouf, the price index for food increased by 37% in January to reach their highest level.The grain increased by 62% in the same time, although it remains below the peak reached in April 2008.

Fight against speculation

For the poor who spend up to 60% of their budget on food, the financial burden becomes unbearable. "These increases in prices and volatility will continue in the coming years if nothing is done to address the root causes of the imbalance in international agricultural system," said Jacques Diouf.

In this context, Bruno Le Maire calls to intervene in four areas best payday advance. Transparency in international stocks should be improved by better statistics, trade information and tools for faster action, to direct any surplus to deficit regions.We must also fight against speculation on agricultural products, "economically dangerous and morally unacceptable", which allows some operators to achieve in a few days of huge gains. Physical and financial markets must also be better controlled to obtain prices "more stable and less volatile."

It is to strengthen international cooperation between governments, multilateral institutions, such as FAO and WTO, and market operators. And to allow the WFP distributes food aid to buy "at prices lower and more stable." Finally, France calls for boosting investment in agriculture. According to FAO, the share of agriculture in official development assistance fell from 19% in 1980 to 5%."It's not normal that the stimulus package agreed in July 2008 by the G8 summit of L'Aquila are not yet in place," said Bruno Le Maire.

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Microsoft and Google trap accused of plagiarism

February 2, 2011 - 3:24 pm Comments Off

Google settles accounts with Microsoft in public. In a blog published on the night, the number one Internet search accuses his rival of copying the results it provides Internet site Bing. "Some results from Bing resemble more and more to an incomplete version, hackneyed from those offered by Google – a cheap imitation," says one of the engineers of the division of research on the internet, Amit Singhal.

The story takes the spy novel. It began last summer, says Google, where its engineers find that gives the same first search result on a misspelled word: "torsorophy" instead of "tarsorrhaphy (Tarsorrhaphy, an ophthalmic surgery)."Bing began offering our first search result without specifying the spelling [...] It was very strange," writes Amit Singhal.

A real trap is then assembled by teams of Google, who voluntarily associate a hundred keywords devoid of any meaning ("hiybbprqag", "delhipublicschool40 chdjob" or "juegosdeben1ogrande") with Internet pages containing any of these words. Normally, other search engines, which Bing would never have offered results for these keywords invented payday loans. But after some time, Bing began to display exactly the same as those of Google.

Observes the Microsoft Internet Explorer users

Why? Google advance an explanation.Microsoft to attract into his trap, he told twenty of his engineers laptops running Windows with Internet Explorer, and gave them the task of entering the keywords Google invented and click on the rigged results. According to Amit Singhal, the similarity of the results shows that Microsoft observes user navigation on Internet Explorer to copy Google's ranking in Bing. "We hope that this practice cease," he quips.

Taken to task publicly, Microsoft has admitted to using information obtained through Internet Explorer, with the consent of its users. What he had never hidden the rest, says Business Insider. But according to an official of Bing, Harry Shum, these data represent only a "small part" of information that takes into account in determining its ranking."We use more than 1000 different signals and features in our algorithm," said the Microsoft executive.

Tunisia disorders disrupt tourism

January 15, 2011 - 12:56 pm Comments Off

Tunisia empties she's tourists? The reactions of tour operators about the recent events diverge. But Thomas Cook began the forced repatriation of its 2,000 customers in Germany and its 450 Belgian tourists. In Belgium, Jetair decided to do the same. "Because of incidents in Tunisia and the tightening of travel advisories by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thomas Cook AG has decided to repatriate to Germany our customers," said the German subsidiary of the tour payday loans no teletrack. All his departure from Germany and Belgium respectively, were canceled until 17 and 21 January.

French side, no return is expected, both at Thomas Cook France than its competitors. "Our tourists are in resort areas (…) we have had no request for return," assured the president of Ceto Rene-Marc Chikli (see video).

The player has to use default in the articles of figaro.fr

SNCF: the "wake strikes" law but "shocking"

January 10, 2011 - 2:04 am Comments Off

"There were mistakes, and as CEO of the station, I assume," hammered on Sunday Guillaume Pepy, coming this Sunday on the train Strasbourg case-Port-Bou. On the night of December 26 to 27, a cascade of events had caused a delay of 13 hours for 600 passengers on board. A fiasco explained in the internal investigation report by the planning of drivers, weather and strikes called "wake up". This is the notice filed for the evenings of 24 and 31 December which, under various pretexts, are in reality only one objective: to allow agents scheduled to work night party to stay home.

The chairman of SNCF has admitted that a strike of this kind, around the Christmas day in Dijon, was a factor in the incredible "galley" of passengers of the Strasbourg-Port-Bou. "These strikes are then triggered mainly by SUD-rail for many years.They are constitutional. To be legal, they are nonetheless extremely shocking. Their goal is to disrupt the public service when the French are most needed, "commented the president of SNCF, criticizing a" moral vacuum ". Refusing to designate a "scapegoat," Guillaume Pepy has ensured that there was "human error" but no "individual fault deserving punishment." He also emphasized that the vast majority of railway workers had "worked a snowy during the episode" and that some had even returned to work for themselves while they were on leave.

"Emergency Plan"

Chairman of the SNCF, Guillaume Pepy, has announced an "emergency plan" for 12 lines "sick" of the station, as the Paris-Amiens and Paris-Tours or the RER line A."On each line, we will set up a barometer of public satisfaction, which will be measured each month," he said. Asked about the cost of such a plan, Guillaume Pepy said the bill would amount to "several tens of million euros", drawn from the "benefits" of the group are wholly reinvested. Car, confirmed the pattern of the public company, the SNCF has been a recipient last year, despite "a few hundred million euros" for losses in the transport of goods. Its turnover rose by 4%. In 2009, the station had lost almost a billion.

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Dete: France retains its triple-A

December 24, 2010 - 9:24 am Comments Off

France remains the largest AAA. This note, the best is always what the rating agency S & P (Standard & Poor's) – one of three major awards at the world-France.And what is triple A party to last at least a few months since S & P's note accompanying a stable outlook.

This assessment "reflects our views on health and strength of the French economy, the political environment, which we estimate to be flat and oriented towards prudent economic policies," says Marko Mrsnik, an analyst for S & P cited in the statement.

S & P increases the scenario in which the French government will continue its effort of fiscal consolidation and "could reduce the deficit to about 3% of gross domestic product in 2013."

France has promised to reduce its budget deficits (government, social security, local) of 7.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, a record at 6% next year.Paris is a deficit of 4.6% of GDP in 2012 and 3%, the maximum allowed under the European treaties, in 2013.

Debt in a few dates and figures

The debt of France amounted to 1591.5 billion at the end of second quarter 2010 (latest figure available), or 82.9% of gross domestic product (GDP). It is expected to exceed 1,600 billion at end 2010 to 83.2% of GDP, or about 25,000 euros per capita.

It increased by almost 60% since 2003, during which she had crossed the symbolic threshold of 1,000 billion euros and the 50% of national wealth. The mark was surpassed 500 billion in 1993. Ultimately, the burden of debt to GDP has tripled in 30 years.

The Department of Budget expects that the French debt will represent 86.2% of GDP in 2011 before reaching 87.4% in 2012 and to decline slightly.Government debt is owned 70% by non-resident investors, a figure rising steadily in recent years.

A closed

In the "club" very closed countries rated triple-A by all three agencies (S & P, Fitch Ratings and Moody's) include, in addition to France: Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Austria and Luxembourg in the euro area; Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and United Kingdom in the rest of Europe, USA, Canada and Singapore around the world.

S & P, "an issuer of bonds rated AAA has extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments." Moody's, the Supreme Aaa rating thus reflects a "strong economic, financial and institutional exceptional, allowing unfettered access to credit" and requires that "no conceivable impact is likely to affect repayment capacity."Fitch, meanwhile, explains that "the political will and capacity to mobilize resources to meet their financial obligations is a key element of sovereign credit reliability.

The rating agency Dagong Chinese, meanwhile, has awarded its own "Triple A" only seven countries: Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. It notes the AA-France, the United States and Germany AA AA +.

With agencies

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Spain needs to reform its pension and banking

December 20, 2010 - 11:16 pm Comments Off

Spain is generally on track to meet its deficit target for 2011 but is threatened by risks such as lower than expected growth, the OECD said in a report released Monday.

"Where budget targets are not met, authorities will be ready, as was announced, to take additional measures," it said in the conclusions of this report.

The OECD notes that economic growth may remain weak for an extended period and anticipates an increase in gross domestic product by 1.8% in 2012 while the government ahead of a forecast 2.5%.

Spain came out to much trouble for the first quarter than a year and a half of recession but its economy has stagnated until the third quarter under the weight of the austerity measures taken by the government and low consumer confidence.

"A slow recovery began in the first half of 2010, but growth is likely to remain soft due to the new adjustments in the housing sector and the high level of private debt," wrote OECD.

The organization says that Spain should be ready for new tax increases because the reduction of wages in the public long-term objectives optimistic growth and lack of specific measures to reduce expenses in 2011 are at risk.

OECD calls for example a new VAT increase, already passed in July by 16% to 18% on a wide spectrum of products and services.

Reform of Work and Pensions

The document recalls that it was essential to take steps to reassure investors even to keep costs moderate funding for the State, whose borrowing rate markets have soared amid fears of a spread within the euro zone of the crisis that has forced the EU and the IMF to bail out Greece and Ireland.

The labor market reform was a key element of rebalancing the economy, but efforts in this direction should be more intense and more, and include such changes to the system of collective bargaining, said the OECD quick pay day loan.

The OECD warns that unemployment will remain high, though it should begin to decline significantly in 2011. In the third quarter, the unemployment rate was 19.8%, about twice the average for the euro area.

Unemployment would also put at risk home loans granted by savings banks highly leveraged if interest rates were to rise in the euro area.

Time to rebalance the housing market

Spain also should it impose further reforms to the savings banks, although their resistance to potential financial shocks has increased due to the restructuring already undertaken. The banking industry has generally weathered the crisis and emerged with abundant capital, also notes the OECD.

She still advocates a reform of the pension system, including raising the retirement age from 65 to 67 years.

"To control the significant costs associated with aging, we will have reform without delay old age pensions, including raising the statutory retirement age and reducing the implicit subsidies to early retirement, to allow a transition progressive, "said the OECD.

It urges the federal government to toughen rules governing the expenditure of autonomous regions, which account for 35% of state spending.

She finally warned that the housing market will take time to regain his balance. It will take at least three years to absorb the surplus of empty homes if the transactions of new homes retain their current level, says the OECD.

(With Reuters)

France Telecom looks to Iraq

November 26, 2010 - 6:52 am Comments Off

France Telecom is about to take a step forward in its expansion strategy in the Middle East. The French telecommunications group, led by Stéphane Richard, is in fact currently in talks to acquire a minority stake in Korek Telecom, the third mobile operator in Iraq, according to the Financial Times in its Thursday edition.

According to business daily, citing people familiar with the matter, the transaction is not finalized yet. Eventually, France Telecom would be interested in taking control of Korek Telecom, a company valued around 1.5 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros), says the FT added.

Founded in 2000, Korek Telecom now has three million customers, placing it on the third step of the podium behind Iraqi operators Zain and Asia Cell.

Focus on emerging markets

France Telecom, this approach has shown its willingness to push his pawns in emerging markets, with the crosshairs in Africa and the Middle East. The group is already present in several African countries like Senegal, Mali, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, but its presence in the Middle East is less important: France Telecom operates in Jordan and Bahrain and raised his flag, a year ago, Armenia.

Last transaction date, the purchase of 40% of Meditel, number two mobile phone in Morocco, for 640 million euros. An acquisition that allows France Telecom to return to a market leading Maghreb that eluded him.

As part of its strategy called "conquest 2015," France Telecom has set a goal of doubling its revenues in those markets within five years.And that to compensate for sluggish demand in developed countries, particularly in Europe.

On September 30, 2010, France had Telelcom over 203 million customers in 32 countries, including 144.5 million mobile customers and 13.3 million broadband customers in the world.

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The majority of revenues will come from digital music within five years

November 3, 2010 - 5:40 pm Comments Off

Pascal Negro is the head of Universal Music France since 1994. Not in counterfeiting (Editions Fayard), it decrypts the evolution of the musical economy with the advent of the Internet. A revolution that affects all cultural industries.

LE FIGARO. – Your argument does he too late?

Pascal NEGRO. – It's never too late to explain his craft. There has been much debate about the music but the music industry has not always been heard. The job of producer is unknown. It is the man from behind, leaving the impression that the artist has done everything. This is not false, but not quite right either. The other image is that of Eddie Barclay: producer dressed in white, best known for its holiday catalog that he built. I wanted to remove the glitter side, explain our business and what it faces, shared thinking about entering the music on the Internet.

This job is exciting because it is based on the irrational, and at the same time it is a business with economic reality. We must ensure that no one ever kills the other.

You return to arrival of the crisis. In hindsight, would you have done things differently?

We forgot all the irrational that existed around the Internet at the time. All the big bankers who believed in the Internet bubble, feared a political divide between Europe and the United States. Content as an industry, we are happy to have new containers.

But the limit was free. However, we had few allies who were betting on the monetization of music. ISPs, themselves, have their communication about downloading music: Wanadoo then sells something that does not belong! There was a shift in the value of content to telecom.It is only Apple that has been a model.

What do you think of models that the crisis has come about?

The model Deezer – free ad-supported – is a model either for them or for us payday advance online. However, I believe in the subscription offer with Orange. There is a natural relationship between creation and pipes. If consumers want to access the Net, because there are things to see and hear.

Internet becomes Does your main source of income?

Today, 95% of singles sales are downloads. The album is getting stronger. Within five years, the majority of our revenues come from the Net. But this is no longer our only income. There is also the merchandising, the association with brands …

You pin the rank of singers Figaro.Why?

This ranking feeds a popular imagination that artists spend their time to win the Euromillions! A gold record is part of a salary. Some artists draw their game, sometimes only every four years or once. We can not neglect this fragile and suggest that we defend the elite. I show it by publishing accounts of artists operating in very different situations. This book aims to correct these visions. Thus the theory of the long tail, I oppose that of the Vietnamese restaurant: the more choice, fewer consumers choose.

Should it happen less?

No. Our job is to propose, we must have an offer the broadest possible. But the model is that at some point, artists will have a harder time finding ways to create. There is a crisis, the sales decline and we need to save money.But with Universal Music, it was savings on the back office, not the heart of our business, creation. That's what helped us win market share. The music, like the book, is in a free economy but reasoned. Before leaving, we must see how the market develops: we tip on effective systems, such as subscription and the device Hadopi reminds consumers that not everything can be free. The coming months will be exciting.