Archive for the ‘blog’ Category

The deficit of the social security expected at 14 billion euros in 2012

September 22, 2011 - 1:55 am Comments Off

The deficit in Social Security should be reduced to 14 billion euros in 2012 due to the impact of pension reform and new conservation measures planned for the health branch, said Thursday Valérie Pécresse, the Minister of Budget .

The government on Thursday to present the draft law on financing of Social Security (PLFSS) 2012.

In June, the Commission on Social Security accounts were reduced to 19.5 billion euros deficit in its forecast for this year.

"Our forecast for 2012 is 14 billion deficit.Fourteen billion euros when it was scheduled for 2015, so we have two years ahead, more than two years ahead, "said Valerie Pécresse on France 2.

"For the health sector, the deficit will be less than six billion euros, while we were at 12 billion in 2010," she said.

She said the announced reduction of the deficit by increased revenues related to pension reform and a halving of the deficit of sickness, thanks in part to new savings measures.

This savings plan should include new delisting for about 40 million euros and 600 million in savings on drug prices through price reductions negotiated with pharmaceutical companies.

European markets down sharply, due to lack of solution to the crisis

September 19, 2011 - 5:25 am Comments Off

European shares opened lower Monday after another failure of the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel in local elections, which could add another obstacle on the way, hard-working, a solution to the crisis of sovereign debt euro area.

The inability of Ministers of the euro area to find a solution to the crisis at a meeting in Poland this weekend, hanging over the European currency and has penalized the Asian stock markets this morning.

Around 9:30, the CAC 40 index fell by 2.15% to 2965.91 points.

1.48% let go London, Frankfurt and Milan 1.83% 1.66%.The European indices, STOXX 50, lost 2.07%.

The bank accused the largest decrease sector in Europe, the Stoxx index lost 2.55%.

In Paris, Societe Generale lost 4.01%, BNP Paribas 2.07%.

Largest drop in the index, falling 4.37% Michelin, Morgan Stanley has degraded the title of overweight to underweight.

ArcelorMittal lost 3.97%.Credit Suisse cut its target price of 49 dollars to 35 dollars.

Safran, who made his first steps in the CAC 40 lost 1.1%.

The performance of the German government bond (Bund) to 10 years, reference the euro area expands by 3 points to 1.83%.

The euro remains under pressure and is trading around 1.3696 dollars, against more than 1.37 on Friday night.

A barrel of U.S. light crude lost $ 1.04 to 86.92, Brent 56 cents to 111.65 dollars.

Madeira Island Portugal stopping accounts

September 16, 2011 - 9:35 pm Comments Off

The small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean would have hidden more than 1.67 billion euros of debt since 2008. This discovery increases the Portuguese public debt by 0.3 percentage points of GDP. View of Madeira Island off the coast of Portugal

Portuguese statistical authorities announced Friday they had discovered undeclared debts of the Autonomous Region of Madeira that increase the government deficit in Portugal to 1.11 billion euros from 2008 to 2010, and that of the 568 million année.Selon a Joint Statement of the Bank of Portugal (OTP) and the National Statistics Institute (INE), this is a "serious omission of information" detected after a report of the Court of Auditors the finances of this small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.

These debts represent an impact on the public debt estimated at 0.3 percentage points of GDP and involves an upward revision of the deficit in 2008 (+0.08) 2009 (0.03 points) and 2010 (+ 0.53 points), stated the Ine and OTP. According to latest official figures, the debt was late 2010 to 93% of GDP and the deficit to 9.1% of GDP. Debts for the current year had already been detected in the first quarterly assessment conducted by representatives of the European Union and International Monetary Fund as part of the aid plan of 78 billion euros granted in Portugal May

The Portuguese government had then decided to resort to extraordinary income in order to correct a skid overall budget of about EUR 2 billion and meet the deficit target to 5.9% of GDP this year."The evidence released today reveal a serious deficiency," responded the Ministry of Finance, pointing out that it is an "isolated case" and noting that the regional government of Madeira has already asked the Lisbon helps to develop its own financial recovery program.

Unexpected rise in jobless claims in the U.S.

September 15, 2011 - 9:35 am Comments Off

The weekly jobless claims rose against all odds in the United States during the week to September 10, at 428,000 against 417,000 the previous week, said Thursday the Labor Department.

Economists on average had expected 410,000 jobless.

Registration of the week to September 3 were revised up from an initial estimate of 414,000.

The moving average of four weeks stood at 419,500 against 415,500 (revised) the previous week.

The number of people receiving regular benefits rose to 3.726 million during the week to September 3 (last week for which figures are available) against 3,738,000 the previous week.

European shares down after the economic sentiment

August 30, 2011 - 7:55 pm Comments Off

The major European stock markets rose Tuesday in the red by late morning after the announcement of an unexpected decline in economic sentiment in the euro area in August.

Around 12:25, the CAC 40 index yields 0.21% to 3147.48 points after opening up. Since the beginning of the benchmark index of the Paris market lost more than 14%.

According to stakeholders, the shares continue to consolidate, in an atmosphere of caution after the shock of bearish early August.

"It is a market without enthusiasm, which is still afraid of a correction, market pure waiting, with U.S. unemployment figures Friday in focus," said Frederic Rozier, manager at Meeschaert Private.He sees a strong resistance to the CAC 40 index to 3,260 points.

Alexander the Drogoff, technical analyst at Aurel BGC, agrees that the market could resume its downtrend after a waiting period. He does not see the CAC 40 exceed 3,400 points, before a relapse to 2890 points and its lows of 2009 and 2003 around 2450.

Other major European markets, London, which was closed Monday, gaining 2.35% while Frankfurt lost 0.49% and 0.77% Milan.The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 0.34%.

S & P: RECESSION CAN BE AVOIDED

In addition, Standard & Poor's lowered its economic growth forecasts for the eurozone to 1.7% for 2011 and 1.5% for 2012 and believes that a spin in a recession can be avoided, even if the risk s 'increase.

Bank stocks were among the first to turn around, the Stoxx sector in the euro area losing 0.64%. Societe Generale lost 1.7% and 1.1% Credit Agricole.An article in the Financial Times reports that according to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the impairment recorded by some financial institutions on their Greek sovereign bonds were not large enough.

Mining stocks, however, remains strong, the index increased 3.5%, supported by the agreement between ArcelorMittal (0.28%), Peabody Energy and Macarthur Coal on the terms of the acquisition of specialist Australian coal sprayed.

In the bond market, the auction of government bonds in Italy this morning met with a relatively low demand, despite the purchase of the European Central Bank in recent weeks, creating nervousness.

For its part, the performance of the same maturity Bunds declined to 2.17%, 2.22% against the previous day.

The euro cup against the greenback at 1.4388 / 90 dollars, against 1.4513 the previous day in the afternoon.

A barrel of U.S. light crude dropped by 0.74% to 86.63 dollars and Brent from 0.21% to 111.64 dollars.

The meeting Merkel-Sarkozy will disappoint

August 16, 2011 - 1:55 pm Comments Off

European stock markets are expecting a strong signal on the governance of the euro area. German Chancellor has warned however that we should not expect the summit of spectacular announcements. President Nicolas Sarkozy meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday, August 16th at the Elysee Palace (both are here in Berlin July 20, 2011)

European shares opened slightly lower Tuesday, opting for caution before the Franco-German summit on the governance of the euro area. After three consecutive sessions of gains, Paris opened down 0.73%, 0.68% from London, Frankfurt 1.02%, Madrid and Milan by 0.65% to 0.28%. Monday, Paris won 0.78%, London 0.57%, 0.41% Frankfurt, Madrid 0.71% and 1.37% on the Swiss Exchange. New York has erased all its losses last week in garnering 1.90% for the Dow and 1.88% for the Nasdaq.

Global financial markets are also showing much more attentive Tuesday.Asian stock markets were the first very hesitant: Tokyo has ended up slightly from 0.23% after a session sawtooth and Sydney ended down slightly by 0.86%. Seoul, closed Monday, was an exception by closing up sharply from 4.83%.

All eyes are on the meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy from 4:00 p.m. at the Elysee Palace in Paris. "The markets are expecting a very strong signal: Is there a pilot on the plane to govern the euro area? Will you finally speak with one voice in the Franco-German and stop to maintain the cacophony that lasts for months and madden investors? "asked a Paris-based analyst who requested anonymity.

But hopes could be quickly showered.Berlin has in fact warned that they should not expect miracles, especially not that the two largest economies in the euro zone agreed to set up Euro-bonds, which would be financially harmful to Germany .

"It seems that there is an acute attention paid to this appointment, and we believe that the margin for a big disappointment," warned analysts at MF Global. This meeting should ultimately focused on the governance of the euro area, following decisions taken by Heads of State and Government of the European end of July.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange finished up 1.37%

August 15, 2011 - 2:55 am Comments Off

The Tokyo Stock Exchange finished Monday up%, taking in turn the path of recovery from the European and U.S. markets late last week.

The Nikkei gained 122.69 points to 9,086.41 and the Topix, broader took 8.93 points (1.16%) to 777.12.

GDP figures, published earlier today in Japan, reported a smaller than anticipated contraction in the economy, with a decline of 0.3% against -0.7% expected and 0.9% in quarter above.

As the Osaka Securities Exchange, the operator of the Osaka Securities Exchange, finished up 8.6% to 410,500 yen.The daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Saturday that the Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to become the purchaser via a takeover bid.

Toyota, Honda and Sony have outperformed the market by winning respectively 2.91%, 3.43% and 3.93%.

Beijing is a stable yuan but markets expect to rise

August 12, 2011 - 9:55 am Comments Off

China's central bank said Friday it wanted to maintain a relatively stable exchange rate, but the announcement has not been enough to calm the speculation that Beijing would consider letting the yuan rise further to better contain the inflation.

In a quarterly report, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced that it would employ "many tools" including interest rates, exchange rates and bank reserve requirements to try to control rising prices.

It recalled that it would maintain the yuan's exchange rate relatively stable at a "reasonable and balanced level."

But the noise is spread in the markets, however, the PBOC preparing an intervention currency.Local newspapers related to the central government suggested including it would rely on a stronger yuan to try to curb imported inflation in China by the weak dollar.

It remains to ascertain whether the report of COPD was written before or after these press articles, published Friday.

"We will use reasonable tools (regulatory) price as interest rates adjust to the demand for capital and savings behavior, and manage our investment and inflation expectations," said the PBOC.

The monetary institution noted that it would not drop the guard against inflation, although many economists believe that it peaked in July.

"Price stabilization is not yet firm enough and the situation is not optimistic," said the PBOC.

Beijing is regularly subjected to international pressure, including from the United States and the International Monetary Fund to allow the yuan to appreciate faster.

The yuan was stabilizing Friday around 6.39 to the dollar on the spot markets, pausing after a sharp rise this week.

The Chinese currency has appreciated about 6.7% since the abandonment of its indexation to the dollar in June 2010 and 3% since the beginning of the year.

Wall Street plunges 4.62%, the Dow clears the rebound Tuesday

August 10, 2011 - 11:35 pm Comments Off

Wall Street was seized Wednesday by concerns related to the exposure of French banks to the most indebted countries in Europe and possible contagion in the U.S. banking sector.

Like the European markets, the U.S. indices fell sharply on losses to finish higher than 4%.

The Dow has plunged 4.62% or 519.83 points at 10,719.94 points, while the S & P 500 lost 4.42% or 51.77 points to 1120.76 points.

The Nasdaq meanwhile sold 4.09% (101.47 points) to 2381.05 points.

Wall Street has been greatly disturbed by the rumors of the day on the French banking sector in general and in particular, Societe Generale, which was heavily penalized in the CAC 40.

Despite the denials made by Societe Generale, the stock closed down 14.74%.

"People who did not sell fast enough during the last financial crisis stand ready for the next time to sell quickly before asking question. And they think that the next time, it is now," said Ed Crotty, chief investment officer at Davidson Investment Advisors.

Financial stocks have been severely punished.The KBW index of U.S. banks sector was unscrewed from 8.21%.

Including Bank of America lost 6.77% to 10.92 dollars.

Beijing's anger after the downgrade of the United States

August 6, 2011 - 12:01 pm Comments Off

Unlike other more conservative cities, China has reacted angrily Saturday to the lowering of the sovereign rating of the United States from Standard & Poor's, criticizing the economic policy of the "world's only superpower."

"The U.S. government must resign himself to a painful state of affairs: the good old days when all he had to borrow to get out of trouble he had himself created is over," said the official agency Xinhua particularly virulent in a comment.

As the largest creditor of Washington, China, which holds more than one.000 billion dollars of U.S. debt, "is now in its right to require the United States they face the problem of debt and ensure the structural safety of Chinese assets in dollars," the agency said.

"There is a need for international monitoring on the issue of the U.S. dollar and a new reserve currency, stable and secure, can also be an option to avoid a disaster to be caused by a single country," added Xinhua.

Russia, the third holder of gold reserves and foreign currency in the world behind China and Japan, by contrast into perspective the decision of the rating agency S & P.

"In the short term, this will not affect us," said Vice-President of the Bank of Russia Sergei Chvetsov the RIA news agency, adding that Russia did not intend to proceed in the immediate adjustments to its reserves of gold or foreign currency denominated in dollars.

The Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, 'sherpa' Russian international summits, for his part felt that the one notch downgrade of the American note was a "moderate correction can be ignored by the terms of managing long-term investment. "

"KEEP A COOL HEAD"

First state to react in Europe, France has affirmed its "full confidence" in the strength of the economy of the United States, the sovereign rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor's, and the ability of the U.S. government out of "this bad".

The French Minister of Economy and Finance, Baroin, spoke on several media to hold reassuring face to the first in the history of the United States.

"I recall that, even under (Bill) Clinton, the U.S. budget was declared in default for a few days.So do not dramatize, keep a cool head, we must look at the fundamentals, "said Baroin on iTV.

Baroin stressed the need to give time to political time.

"The time of democracy, the time for government action, the time of acceptance by the population as those plans that are difficult by definition is not the time for market participants, investors or speculators or even the time it seems a few rating agencies, "he said.

The minister and questioned the relevance of the initiative of S & P. "It begs the question of how an agency like that can make that decision based on numbers that are not consensual.So there will certainly be a debate in the United States, "he noted.

In Berlin, Norbert Barthl expert in budgetary matters to the CDU, the Christian Democrats in power, has in turn "surprised that for weeks, rating agencies have focused their attention on the situation sovereign debt in the euro zone countries without addressing the United States. "

India, an emerging major power likely to be affected by the decision of S & P, has found the situation "serious".

"We will have to be analyzed (degradation). This will take some time.The situation is serious and we have nothing to gain by making comments off the cuff, "said Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Indian news agency Press Trust of India.