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If, in the very heart of the crisis, the French government has relied on a policy to boost investment-oriented, because he knows that eating is a hexagonal solid growth. A study published Friday by the INSEE has once again confirmed: the actual consumption of households French volume was 13% higher than the average for 27 European countries in 2009.The differences in spending have also been significant – in a ratio ranging from one to three – the Luxembourg being the largest consumer, the Romanian bringing up the rear.

France "is part of a group of six countries (with the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Denmark) that have a comparable level of consumption (between 12% to 16% more than the European average, after adjusting for purchasing power parities), noted INSEE.

Nevertheless, all Europeans do not spend their money the same way … If a German is spending more than its European neighbors to furnish his home, a Spaniard and an Italian consume more hotels and restaurants, and an Englishman in clothing and shoes.

Cultural reasons

For cultural reasons, the French consume more to eat and drink at home than their neighbors.On average, they buy "three times more fish a German and a half times more meat." By contrast, consumption of products from cereals and soft drinks are higher in Germany than in France. Allen consumption of alcoholic beverages is also above the European average.

But that does not mean that the French drink more! This may "reflect the different levels of scope in products purchased," said INSEE. Compared to their neighbors, they also consume more for housing, transportation, recreation, health and education, but less on clothing and restaurants.

The actual household consumption expenditure includes supported by government, including education, health, or housing.These costs "vary in a ratio of one to three and a half years between Bulgaria and Denmark." Level in Germany is close to the European average, while that of France is greater than 25%. The study finds that finally, despite a tightening, the price levels differ between countries of the European Union, "although these countries belong to the same economic union." In France, in 2009, prices are 14% higher than the European average. Logically, the prices are higher in countries where the standard of living is too.

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Up to 12 billion euros in the envelope for help in Portugal will be used to increase the level of strength of banks. Tuesday night, the Portuguese Socialist government resigned and the delegations of the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are in fact reached an agreement Surun bailout program for three years.

The amount of external financial assistance who does not seem to be completely fixed. According to the Prime Minister, it rises to 78 billion euros, but a senior source in the euro area said that "officially, the range is between 75 and 90 billion euros.Much depends on the final needs of Portuguese banks. "

Jose Socrates said his side that the terms of the agreement, "which defends Portugal", will give the country more time than promised by the government to meet its budget deficit targets. "It's a three-year program, which defines the objectives of a more gradual reduction of the deficit: 5.9% of GDP this year, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013," he said. Portugal had previously committed to reduce its deficit to 4.6% this year to 3% in 2012 and 2% in 2013.The imbalance of Portuguese public accounts in 2010 amounted to 9.1% of GDP, well beyond the target of 7.3% from the government.

Threatened breach of funding because of prohibitively high interest rates charged by the markets, worried about the solvency of the country, Portugal, who must repay five billion euros of debt in mid-June, had requested assistance EU and IMF on April 7, after Greece and Ireland last year.

In exchange for this aid, the EU and the IMF require an "adjustment program" consisting of austerity measures "ambitious" and structural reforms involving the major parties beyond the next parliamentary elections of June 5

Divergent opinions

The opinions of analysts on the plan unveiled Tuesday night diverge."The rapid deterioration in borrowing conditions in Portugal (which saw interest rates soar in recent months, note) placed the country in an untenable situation", says Jesus Castillo, an economist at Natixis. The plan "will give the country more time to restate its finances and pursue a policy of structural reforms to improve its competitiveness deteriorated."

The plan submitted by José Socrates, for its part considers Gilles Moec, economist at Deutsche Bank, "made no reference to concrete structural reforms to enhance growth potential." However, he continues, "Portugal's budgetary problems are only symptoms of the difficulties of the country, by their source."

Others worry about the aid itself. "The size of the loan appears excessive in relation to the needs of Portugal," said Ciaran O'Hagan, strategist at Societe Generale CIB rate.The maturities of the debt amounted to 10 billion euros per year and the cost of the deficit itself will be less than this amount. In total, Lisbon auait therefore need much less than 20 billion euros a year, he calculates. "We fear that the aid will reduce the incentives to reduce spending and increase taxes," concludes the analyst.

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Employment in the United States has seen a leap in March. Jobs created were $ 216,000 over the month, after 192,000 in February and 68,000 in January. Economists were divided, but the Labor Department figure exceeds the consensus, which expected a slight decline in job creation, to 190,000. The U.S. economy is "showing signs of real strength," responded the president Barack Obama.

"These are the best figures recorded since May 2010 when the massive recruitment for the census of the population had inflated statistics, notes Jean-Marc Lucas, an economist at BNP Paribas.Despite disappointing figures in January, average monthly job creation reached 159,000 since the beginning of the year, which portends a slight decrease in the number of unemployed. "

The smallest job losses in public administration (14,000 in March after 46 000 in February) have enabled the U.S. economy to show a figure better than the previous month. Job creation alone business, in fact, were slightly less active this month (230,000 against 240,000) low fee payday loans.

The unemployment rate drops to 8.8%

Among the fastest growing sectors are business services (78,000, but 29,000 in contracts for temporary services) and health (37,000). The industry continues to hire (17 000), as well as the mining sector (14 000).

The unemployment rate, calculated on a different basis, for its part, declined to 8.8% against 8.9% in February.The share of long-term unemployed (more than 27 weeks without a job) has continued to increase, to 45.5% in March, against 43.9% in February. "This stability reflects the persistent deflationary pressures from the labor market," Inna Mufteeva analysis, an economist at Natixis. The Fed should not change its policy of monetary expansion.

Job creation in recent months have not yet allowed to catch up the destruction suffered during the crisis. (Source: Société Générale CIB)

The French will not endure forever rising fuel prices, without changing their consumption habits. According to an Ifop poll published Sunday in the South West, 47% of respondents intend to reduce their consumption now if gasoline prices continue to climb.

Consequence of the soaring price of oil, those fuel have reached record highs last week. A liter of unleaded 95 has sold 1.50 euros on average in the hexagon, and a liter of diesel 1.54 euros, said earlier this week the Directorate General for Energy and Climate (DGEC ). Some stations even offered Paris a liter of unleaded fuel to 1.8 euro.

If consumers incorporate more and more since 2005, the idea of ​​an inexorable rise in fuel prices, 1.5 euro per liter of diesel remains for many a symbolic threshold beyond which they consume as much. Only 15% of respondents put this threshold at a level greater than 1.5 euro per liter, said the survey. Jean-Louis Schilansky, president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (Ufip), makes the same observation. He recalled that in 2008 when fuel prices had also risen sharply, the consomamation was down 3% once this threshold is crossed guaranteed fast personal loans.

Not lower taxes

The decision to reduce its consumption or not, however, depends partly on the level of life. 40% of workers have thus been limited.In contrast, managers and professionals are more likely (14%) than average (11%) said they will not alter their habits, whatever the price of a liter. For many, the level of fuel consumption is also strongly constrained by the lifestyle.

Faced with soaring prices, the government this week but ruled out any cut in gasoline taxes could reduce the transport budget of the French. "You can take steps this guy at a time when we must take into public finances," ruled the Economy Minister Christine Lagarde. It was therefore confined to advise the French to buy the morning and follow rules of conduct to reduce, even at the margin, the price at the pump.

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In six years, the French market for televisions has been multiplied by two. Last year, 8.5 million sets were sold. "This is by far the most active market of consumer electronics," said Philippe Citroën Simavelec president of the union of manufacturers published Tuesday that its record 2010. And it's not over. Sales are expected to rise to 8.95 million televisions this year. "After this peak, sales are expected to decrease to stabilize at around eight million. This means that three households bought a TV in the year, "added Philippe Citroën, for which growth factors will persist for several more years.

The increasing size of screens and the fact that they are more dishes are two of the main vectors of purchase. "We're in the infancy of this phenomenon.The screens 50 inches and over will increase in importance in the market, "said Laurent Roussel, president of Panasonic France. Many consumers have swapped their old CRT against a flat screen the same size. They could quickly change to a bigger, even if the equipment rate of households French flat screen now stands at 75%. Meanwhile, the multi-equipment is becoming widespread. It is no longer a TV per family, but by piece.

In addition, the transition to DTT is not complete. Remains of old posts and change owners DTT decoders could also renew their equipment.

Connected and 3D

Sales should also be stimulated by the arrival of new technology offerings that are 3D and the TV connected. "Obstacles to the development of the latter should quickly disappear, says Philippe Citroën.But it is difficult to converge the open world of computing with the highly standardized television. "By 2013, 75% of TVs sold should be connected. For now, they represent less than 10% market share.

Larger screens (40 inches and larger) should be almost all in 3D, and connected. However, no explosion of TV market promises no relief in 2011, while an offer is already shaping without glasses, much less expensive, but with image quality a little worse. "It will be several years before this technology is really developed," according to Philippe Citroen. The connection of the TVs will also provide access to more content in 3D.

Falling prices are also encouraging the renewal of equipment.It is also reflected by a downward trend in sales market, which fell 1% in 2010 to EUR 4.2 billion and should continue to decline, despite the increase or stabilization of volumes sales.

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The supervisory board of Areva will meet Saturday morning at 10 o'clock to discuss his plan to increase capital, informed that on Friday a spokesman for the group. Several meetings of the supervisory board have been recently reported in the French nuclear specialist who struggles to complete a new round.

According to latest reports, the state will bring 300 million euros in the operation, said Bercy on Friday morning, says the group is valued 11.5 billion euros. Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund will invest 600 million euros. Or a total of 900 million euros, against 750 million recently anticipated.A figure that is still very far from the 3 billion euros expected by Areva there is more than a year, when the group announced the recapitalization.

The sovereign fund of Qatar and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had both been approached to participate in the capital increase. However, they are not part of the first round.

Asked about the possible participation of EDF and Alstom in this second phase, Eric Besson, minsitre of Industry, said that "obviously the president has ruled out any line of work .

The government has recently reiterated that he wanted the operation to be buckled before the end of 2010.

At the Paris Stock Exchange, Areva action revolves around the balance: +0.07% to 351.30 euros to 10 hours. In the past week alone, the stock has taken more than 4.3% but since the beginning of the year, he has gleaned as 0.7%.

With AFP

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It will be less than 100 billion euros. EU finance ministers have welcomed "positive" on Sunday night requesting assistance from Ireland and were willing in principle to give them the benefit of a support plan to rescue its banks in crisis. "I can confirm that the Government has made an application to the European Union and it was accepted," said Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen in the aftermath.

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, announced that he would recommend to his colleagues to use the bailout of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The government met in an extraordinary way Sunday afternoon to finalize a new austerity plan, a condition for obtaining this aid.Ireland had, however, until early last week, rejected the idea of such assistance.

The exact amount of aid has not been set

It was during a conference call meeting that the ministers of the euro area have given their green light in principle to Dublin to benefit from the international level. The amount of aid has not been set at this point. The Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders, whose country holds the EU presidency, spoke Sunday night a total volume of "less than 100 billion euros". According to the British daily Financial Times, it will be between 80 and 90 billion.

This assistance will be financed partly by a "mechanism of the European Finance Facility" – a loan package of up to 60 billion euros in loans guaranteed by the EU budget – by the European Financial Stability – up to 440 billion euros in loans guaranteed by the countries of the eurozone and other European countries outside the euro area who want – and finally by the IMF. This three-part plan to help a country in the euro area financial difficulties had been implemented in the spring following the debt crisis in Greece. This support also provided on Ireland comforted investors: the foreign exchange market, the euro is recovering, and settled back above the $ 1.37 bar.

"Social disorder"

Above all, the first step is to organize resistance testing of the institutions concerned, "said Irish Finance Minister.Brian Lenihan said he was confident that the IMF and the EU approves new Irish austerity plan. The government does not however affect the very low corporate tax, as called Paris. The austerity plan designed to save 15 billion over four years, nearly 10% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Ireland. The deficit must be reduced by 32% this year (in cash assistance to banks) to 3% in 2014, as required by European rules.

If the government does not touch the corporate tax, it will lower the minimum wage, one of the highest in Europe. It would rammen of 8.65 euros to 7.65 euros an hour. This measure, and the austerity plan as a whole, will cause "social unrest," warned the head of the second industry union TEEU, Eamon Devoy. His organization calls for "civil disobedience".A day of events is planned next Saturday.

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The Paris Bourse is doing well this Monday: at the close, the CAC 40 gained 0.86% at 3864.24 points. Yet the news is rather disturbing to the front of the European sovereign debt, particularly in Ireland and Portugal.The enthusiasm on the European stock exchanges – London up 0.41% to 5,820.41 points and Frankfurt from 0.82% to 6790.17 points – not so much follow the United States, where Wall Street earns only 0.4% to 17.30 (Dow Jones), shared between a good clue about retail sales, which recorded its strongest growth in seven months and a manufacturing index from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who fell in November.

The meeting had also not started well for the CAC 40 index in Paris was opened in the red before returning slowly to equilibrium noon and continue its progress throughout the day.

The spectrum of European debts remains still very present: the latest rumor to date, Brussels could unblock some 70 billion euros to help Ireland. For its part, Portugal is considering leaving the eurozone.Finally, the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has not ruled out Sunday refers to the possibility of an extension of the duration of the loan of 110 billion euros in May granted to Greece by the European Union and the Fund IMF.

Friday, those concerns had already led the CAC 40 and the U.S. indexes downward. On Monday, Asian stock market also gave a very encouraging signal. Meanwhile, on the currency markets, the euro accentuated its losses against the dollar in late morning.Around 17:30 hours in Paris, the euro was worth 1.3596 dollars.

Turnover jumped EDF, NicOx in great shape

The Australian PGA has offered 9.6 billion euros for the acquisition of AXA Asia-Pacific, Asian branch of the French insurer Axa (+1.85% to 13.49 euros, the largest increase in ACC ) in Australia and New Zealand.

CAC 40 Off, Seb registered the largest increase of the SBF 120 (4.43% to 71.15 euros) for technical reasons. Just behind, leaped NicOx (7.52% to 2.40 euros).Bausch + Lomb partner launching a Phase 2b clinical study in the treatment of glaucoma.

Remy Cointreau (1.56% to 53 euros) has decided to sell its branch champagne, which includes brands Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck, after trying to restructure.

Casino (2.10% to 68 euros) would be prepared to put between 800 and 900 million euros on the table to buy the Carrefour opened 40 stores in Thailand, according Wansquare and Les Echos.

According to Le Figaro on Monday, Carrefour (0.93% to 37.95 euros) would encounter difficulty in the launch of Planet, its new superstore concept.The deployment, which should reinvigorate sales of the largest distributor's stores, will not start before the end of the first half of 2011 and at a pace slower than expected.

Danone (0.72% to 46.45 euros) could partially redeem the U.S. Mead Johnson Nutrition (JN), valued 12.3 billion to develop in the baby food and emerging markets. The funds for this transaction come from the sale of the water division of the group.

EDF rose 0.40%

EDF (+0.40% at 32.68 euros) reported before trading a turnover up 9.5% to 52.9 billion euros in the first nine months of the year. The group also confirmed its earnings targets for the whole of 2010.Titles climbed from 0.22% to 32.63 euros.

The 23 works councils of companies working for the Hermes Group have expressed their support for the family shareholders of Hermes (-1.16% to 149.30 euros) against the invasion of LVMH (0.65% at 116 , 85 euros) in the group's capital.

ArcelorMittal (-0.85% to 25.51 euros) would be interested in the Massey Energy coal if they decide to offer for sale, the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

Steria (2.10% to 19.24 euros) won a contract worth 70 million euros with British society DSTL, according to a statement released Monday by the group.

The supervisory board of Areva (-0.79% to 344.90 euros), originally scheduled for Tuesday, November 16 to approve the launch of a capital increase will be delayed until early next week, La Tribune reported Monday.

From our special correspondent in Seoul, Alexandrine Bouilhet.

The G20 just to bury the hatchet on the coins. Meeting of Heads of State and Governments of the twenty largest world powers opened last night in a tense, because of the strong opposition between Chinese and Americans on the front of currencies. "When we discussed the terms of currencies, the atmosphere was so stuffy in the room, we had to open the door!" Said one diplomat Korean.

The working dinner of Heads of State, chaired by the Korean Lee Myung Bak, failed to find an acceptable compromise."All countries must make concessions," urged the South Korean president, who had deliberately placed the dinner, President Barack Obama in front of his main opponents on the issue of currency: Hu Jintao (China) Lula da Silva (Brazil), Angela Merkel (Germany), and Dmitry Medvedev (Russia).

At dinner, Chinese and Americans insisted on the "need for cooperation," but, on the coins, they are sticking to their positions: Hu Jintao will not be imposed by the G20 a revaluation of the yuan more candid when he accuses the United States, issued the world's reserve currency, to depreciate the dollar cool business cards voluntarily. The Chinese are not alone in criticizing the U.S. monetary policy.Europeans, Angela Merkel at the head, then Russians and Brazilians said to Barack Obama all the evil they thought the Fed's decision to inject $ 600 billion into the monetary system, to revive the economy.

The U.S. president was forced to defend the action of the Federal Reserve, in principle independent, placing it in an uncomfortable situation. Barack Obama has assured his peers especially that "the U.S. does not seek to weaken the dollar to gain in competitiveness. Not always convincing.

Towards a compromise "less ambitious" than that of Gyeongju

Failing agreement between heads of state, the "sherpas" G20 continued to work until 3 am on the final communique. But they went to bed without finding a satisfactory compromise."We want to send a message criticizing the competitive devaluations, as the notorious undervaluation of certain currencies, but in the present context, it is not easy!" Said one trader.

At this stage, the proposed compromise on the currency would be "less ambitious" than that reached by the G20 Finance Ministers, in Gyeongju (Korea). "The Fed's decision has robbed the Chinese, which brought us one step back," lamented a European diplomat.

"Need for sustainable growth and balanced"

Failing to extract a commitment on the Chinese yuan, the U.S. insists to get in the final communique, firm commitments for the reduction of current account imbalances. "We want to stimulate growth at home but also abroad," urged Barack OMAB.This should translate to Americans, by creating a new "mechanism" requiring exporting countries China, Germany, Japan to reduce their current account surpluses, which would translate into practice by opening new markets to foreign companies Professional Business Cards . Washington has given up trying to impose the limits of 4% surplus or deficits, a goal firmly rejected by Berlin before the summit.

But Barack Obama insists: if domestic demand and falling deficits in the United States, without China or other countries with high savings take over consumption, "it will result in a decrease of growth" for the world wide."You see, we find an agreement by all countries including Germany, the fact that we need a sustainable and balanced growth," said Barack Obama. Answer today in Seoul.

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This is the day that makes everyone nervous, both market participants (traders, Ed) as investors. Friday will produce the phenomenon of "four witches. This event occurs four times a year (March, June, September and December) and designates the expiration of four types of contracts: a stock option agreement and an index option contract, a futures contract shares and futures indices. Why nominate such installments, the word "witch"? "The term" witch "comes from the fear of investors see the market down with expirations, says Renaud Murail, portfolio manager at Barclays Stock Exchange. However, we can not say that a downward trend emerges recurrent really that date. The reality of the market for afternoon "bewitched" does not seem up to the beliefs.

Higher volumes expected

Nevertheless, Wall Street may experience a rough afternoon on Friday. The event of "four witches" most often leads to swelling volumes. "It creates a high volatility on financial markets, as traders or buckle their hedge positions, or they refer to the next due date at the last moment. I would not be surprised about five billion euros are traded on the Paris Bourse. Well above the trend.

Indeed, the Paris markets, the figure of four billion euros exchanged has been reached once since the beginning of the month! Investors are more cautious now and buy more, fearing for the economic outlook in Europe and the United States.

The manager said: "It turns out that volatility is highest in early and late afternoon, the big trade-offs being made at this time of day. During the first two "four witches" of this year, March 19 and June 18, the VIX index has gained 2.1%, respectively, and lost 4.4%. But today the context is different: first, the month of September is known to be highly volatile and on the other hand, trade volumes are a rare weakness guaranteed high risk personal loans. "There are lots of relaxation in the financial markets. Everyone looks and waits for others to do so first. The slightest bad news depresses the financial markets, "said Renaud Murail. The VIX closed Thursday at 21.72 against 22.10 Wednesday 21.56 21.21 Tuesday and Monday.

If the CAC 40 over the 3775 points …

However, as noted, the manager of Barclays stock, "the phenomenon of" Four Witches "does not create a long-term trend, but amplifies the rise or decline in the index one day. And, depending on macroeconomic indicators released Friday. "In other words, do not expect that trading volumes remain permanently at very high and the CAC 40 index soars or drops sharply over several days. The increase or decrease in the index one day only. Unless … "If the CAC 40 breaks the threshold of resistance to 3775 points on Friday, a sustained increase of the index can settle. For investors unable to stay as far away from this trend, will buy shares en masse.

The index of U.S. consumer confidence released in mid-afternoon Friday should provide the way forward for investors.

Glossary:

option contract: an option contract is a financial asset that gives the right but not the obligation, to buy, if it is a call, or sell, if a put, the underlying asset at an exercise price set in advance, upon payment of a premium. The purchase or sale, is the date of expiry of the contract for a European option, or before that date for an American option. The underlying assets may be equities, indices, currencies, futures, interest rates ….

futures contract: a futures contract (or future) is a firm commitment to buy or sell a quantity of an asset (stocks, indices …) at an agreed price at a future date.