News – Business & Economi

Orders to U.S. industry rose for the second consecutive month in December, driven by increased business investment.

According to figures released Friday by the Commerce Department, orders for manufactured goods rose 1.1% in December.

Market economists polled by Reuters had expected, however, an average increase of 1.5%.

The November figure was however revised upwards and shows an increase of 2.2% instead of 1.8% initially announced.

Over the full year 2011, industrial orders rose 12.1%, against an increase of 12.9% in 2010. 

Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.6% in December after rising 0.5% (revised) in the previous month.

Orders for nondefense capital goods and aircraft, considered a barometer of morale of entrepreneurs and their investment plans, surged 3.1% after falling 1.5% in November.

Antonio Borges, director of the Europe Department International Monetary Fund (IMF), has resigned with immediate effect, the Fund announced Wednesday.

The IMF notes that the Director General intends to appoint Christine Lagarde Reza Moghadam, Director of the current strategy to succeed Borges, effective Thursday.

PPR reported Wednesday a very strong sales of its luxury brands in the third quarter, while its retail brands have suffered from the deterioration of the economic environment in France and southern Europe.

The group, which owns Gucci, Puma, Fnac and Redcats, saw sales grow by 8% to 3.86 billion euros, higher than the consensus of analysts polled by Reuters (3.8 billion).Organic growth stood at 7% instead of 5.4% expected.

Especially, the group surprised by organic growth well above the expectations in luxury (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga), where it reached 25% (23% after the first half) instead of the anticipated 19% .

The only Gucci brand, which accounts for nearly 60% of operating profit of the group, grew by 21% (22% in first half).

The Chief Financial Officer, Jean-François Palus, said during a conference call that the dynamics remained equally strong in luxury in October and was confident for 2012.

In contrast, the performance degradation of Fnac and Redcats has accelerated.Sealed by the drop in consumption in France and Southern Europe, the distributor's sales of cultural products were down 4.2% on a comparable basis. Those of the cluster distance selling (La Redoute, Vertbaudet and Cyrillus) fell 5.6%.

PPR, which wants to focus on luxury and sports fashion by selling its retail brands, was forced, with the deterioration of access to credit due to the crisis, to postpone the sale of Redcats.

The group, which has designs on Brioni, continuing discussions with the Italian tailor, said Chief Financial Officer without elaborating.

The sporting goods company Puma, which released its figures on Tuesday reported a 10% increase in sales in the third quarter.

Seb SA said Tuesday it had been allowed to increase stake in its Chinese subsidiary Zhejiang Supor Co, which will allow the French leader of small appliances to enjoy strong growth in Asia.

The group, which had signed a contract with the founding shareholders of Supor last February, will raise its stake from 51.3% to 71.3% in Supor for about $ 400 million.

The family kept a 12.5% ​​stake, the balance comprising the float.

The Board of Supor, which will remain publicly traded, will not change, headed by Su Xianze.

Seb, entered the Chinese capital in 2007, having realized the operation in the coming weeks.The green light for the operation followed a period of review conducted by the CSRC (Authority of Chinese stock market).

The action of the French group has closed up 1.07% to 59.41 euros on the Paris Stock Exchange, giving a market capitalization of 2.97 billion. It was down 23.6% since the beginning of the year.

According to a "government source" quoted by AFP, the French government is considering "tough decisions" on aid to Greece and banks … but after the passage of the bailout by Germany. An encrypted connection that will boost the rumors.

There is something to speculate. While the French government Monday strongly denied any plan to bail out banks hexagonal, a government source quoted by AFP said Tuesday that the executive intends to take "tough decisions" for banks and assistance to Greece. Remains to be seen what these "tough decisions" and what the banks concerned.

"We must make tough decisions on Greece and the banks but we can not do it before that Germany has adopted Thursday the rescue plan," sources said the same source.The German parliament is to decide Thursday on expanding the envelope and skills of EFSF, the support fund for the euro area set up last year. German lawmakers should give the green light. Remains to be seen what would those "tough decisions" that can not be formally discussed before the decisive vote.

The vote of Germany, Europe's largest economy and biggest contributor to the fund with 200 billion euros of guarantees, should give a decisive impetus. While the implementation of this mechanism requires the approval of the rescue 17 members of the euro area and that some countries, like Slovakia, are still praying.

Financial markets of the Old World still hesitant on Tuesday morning. They fall one after the other, after all, however, opened up. European stock markets lost between 2.44 and 0.21%, to 10.15.

European stock markets remain extremely volatile on Tuesday morning. After starting up, they dive back one after the other. Paris gives 2.44% to 10.15, Frankfurt 0.21% 0.30% Milan, London and Madrid 0.71% 0.35%. While few minutes after the opening, Frankfurt gained 1.6%, London and Paris 0.78% 0.66% and 2% took Milan and Madrid 1.24%.

The announcement of a possible intervention of China on the European debt market appeared to calm the fears of some investors. Italy is in fact in talks with Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC about the buyback, according to press reports.

But the Greek case and fears about U.S. growth continues to angst investors and banks to shake the very battered in recent sessions, due to their exposure to sovereign debt. The idea of ​​a default Helvetic returned in force in the financial markets. It has even been suggested directly by the German Minister of Economy Philipp Rösler, in an interview with Die Welt newspaper.

"Avoid default uncontrolled"

Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, felt the need to "avoid any uncontrolled process in the euro area", referring to a bankruptcy of Greece as it is discussed with emphasis in Germany these days."The first priority is to avoid a default unchecked, because it would affect not only Greece, and because the risk that affects us all, or at least many other countries, is very high," Detailed Chancellor in a radio interview Inforadio.

The NYSE has to when she rebounded late in the session Monday. The Dow Jones finally won 0.63% and the Nasdaq 1.10%. In Asia, Tokyo ended Tuesday's session up 0.95% due to bargain hunting, after the Nikkei closing at its lowest for two and a half years yesterday. Monday, major European stock markets had yielded between 1.60 and 4%, and recorded two consecutive sessions of decline.

Obama says he wants to put 447 billion dollars on the table for the fight against unemployment. Will he able to implement its plan? The proposed measures can they walk? Uncertainties abound. Barack Obama October 31, 2010.

Unemployment remains stuck above 9% in popularity to the lowest since his election … For Barack Obama, the fight for employment is the decisive battle of the last years of his term. He then presented a plan Thursday, the American Jobs Act, which promises to spend 447 billion dollars, 300 billion euros, to create and maintain jobs. And despite a budget deficit and a debt of a magnitude abysmal. Is a financial effort of the same level as the Stimulus Plan of 2009.It was 787 billion over two years while the effects of the new plan should focus on 2012.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, quoted by Bloomberg as he believes could have a greater macroeconomic impact. Additional growth is estimated to be 2 percentage points and a one-point drop in the unemployment rate … provided it is fully implemented. For the first unknown of this plan is whether it will be voted on by the Republicans who have displayed more hostility. Aware of the political balance of power, Barack Obama has also favored measures likely to receive support, as this is tax cuts.He also insisted that Republicans had proposed similar measures.

Priority to the reduction of social charges

Obama can talk about his plan as a shock, its revenues have nothing very original. More than half of the plan – $ 240 billion – be used to offset reductions in payroll taxes owed to Social Security.

Employees could then see their 2012 employee contribution rates to 3.1% instead of the already improved rate of 4.2% they receive until the end of the year. Knowing that the standard rate of 6.2%. The objective here is to stimulate activity through consumption by giving purchasing power to them.The problem is that Americans are heavily indebted and some economists fear that some of this money ($ 175 billion, averaging $ 1,500 per family) rather don not in bank vaults in stores .

Companies are not forgotten. Obama breaks new ground even in the matter by proposing to cut the same way the employer contribution rate by half to 3.1%. A reduction that would apply within the first 5 million in payroll to benefit small first. All for a $ 65 billion.

Last "gift", also for companies: a total exemption from social security in case of creation of positions or salary increases. And within the limits of an increase of $ 50 million in payroll.So this is a direct incentive to job creation or wage increases (5 billion).

In total, the White House believes that such measures could create 50,000 jobs per month. Or 600,000 over the year 2012. That compares with the average loss of 35,000 jobs per month in the last quarter. But the New York Times also points out that companies must be able to offer more than 100,000 jobs each month just to cope with population growth

New aid to the unemployed

Here the opposition of Republican likely to be greatest. The White House wants to implement because it boasts as "the most innovative reform of unemployment insurance for 40 years."It aims to maintain the payment of allowances for part-time employees, trainees or unemployed entrepreneurs and set up a special tax credit for hiring long-term unemployed. Added to a fund to finance initiatives for the return to work in the direction of the unskilled and disadvantaged.

$ 140 billion of public investment

These measures Keynesian will involve upgrading transport infrastructure to the tune of $ 50 billion, and the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank. Obama hopes to win in each case the support of elected Republicans who have requested by a line of railway, is a bridge …A strong emphasis on education with the project to upgrade at least 35,000 public schools (30 billion) and freeze up to 280,000 job cuts for teachers, police and fire (at a cost of 35 billion). Not sure that this component easily passes the Cape of Congress.

Finally, two obstacles remain to the effectiveness of the plan of Obama. The funding, first. The U.S. president said he would be fully resolved in the process of reducing the long-term debt of some 1.5 trillion dollars. Task that was entrusted to a bipartisan committee that must report its findings in November. Barack Obama has promised to unveil his own proposals September 19, in the matter.

Then, the American Jobs Act, even if passed in its entirety, is not the absolute anti-crisis weapon. Its effectiveness will depend upon the strength of the economy.Thus the decline of social enterprises, a key measure, may well be theoretically effective, it is not enough to convince an employer to hire if the demand is not there. But the latest indicators in this regard are contradictory. For if consumer spending rebounded in July, trust her, fell in August to its lowest level since November 2008.

It is "imperative" to implement the decisions taken by Heads of State and Government of the euro zone in July to resolve the debt crisis of the Greek said Monday Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the Central Bank (ECB).

European stock markets were down sharply again Monday because of growing doubts about the application of the support plan for Greece developed at the summit on 21 July.

"It is clear that we absolutely need an immediate and imperative that all these decisions are implemented immediately," said Jean-Claude Trichet at a conference of the Institut Montaigne, a "think tank" in Paris.

"One of the strongest recommendations," he said, "is to implement the most comprehensive and rigorous as possible, so no doubt, decisions which have been taken."

The plan of July 21, supposed to give the euro area financial and institutional resources that would enable it to avoid contagion Greek throughout the euro area, must, to come out, be ratified by parliament each of the signatory countries.

But the political obstacles to such ratification have multiplied in recent weeks.Finland wishes and its contribution to the plan is guaranteed by Greek and Athens, Slovakia, the vote of the parliament could only take place in December.

These uncertainties prevent an immediate strengthening of the financial resources of the European Financial Stability (EFSF), which must be able to buy government bonds to support countries in need.

"WE ARE HALFWAY"

Jean-Claude Trichet said more broadly in the global goal to increase "resilience" of individual entities, financial institutions, banks and financial system, "we are half way" .

"We see that we have made significant progress," he said, citing the progress made in the G20, the Financial Stability Forum and the Basel rules on capital III of financial institutions under discussion.

"All our experience leads us to believe that we must implement what was decided and certainly not think that could shake the hand, it would probably be the biggest mistake we can do," he said.

"There are still many things to do, particularly at the Basle Committee, the Financial Stability Forum and the G20 level, particularly with regard to systemic global institutions and national and non-banks."

Jean-Claude Trichet referred again to the slopes for the medium-and long-term European governance.

It is thus, in his opinion, possible to imagine the future that decisions are taken "from the center of the single market to single currency" when a country is unable to implement the recommendations persistent.

Even further in the future, it is possible to imagine the creation of a European confederation, with a confederal government, including a European Minister of Finance.

Jean-Claude Trichet on the other hand raised the issue "important" the need for continuing structural reforms in Europe to increase the growth potential of the continent, citing in particular the Lisbon agenda for growth.

The U.S. economy in the second quarter growth initially announced lower, weighed down by business inventories and exports despite the upward revision to consumer spending.

The second estimate published Friday by the Commerce Department, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States rose by 1.0% over the period April to June, against 1.3% in preliminary data.

Analysts had expected a growth rate revised to 1.1%.

"This is entirely consistent with what we expected and the slowdown was observed during the first half of the year.We expect some downward revision, which reflects the headwinds that the recovery is facing, "Judge Paul Ballew, Nationwide Insurance.

This figure revised down is mainly due to lower inventory accumulation by firms estimated initially. Companies saw their stocks increased $ 40.6 billion, against 49.6 billion according to preliminary figures, subtracting 0.23 percentage point growth rate.

GDP was also impacted by lower exports announced, with an increase of 3.1% against 6.0% in the first estimate.Imports rose 1.9% (revised from 1.3%), which has almost wiped out the contribution of foreign trade to growth, previously amounted to 0.58 percentage point.

"Net exports and stocks seem to be the big piece of this downward revision.Overall it's still consistent with a recovery very soft so these figures do not generate optimism. "

The bad news, however, have been offset by consumer spending, which reflected an increase of 0.4% (revised from 0.1%).

Final sales rose 1.2% against 1.1% in the first estimate and consensus of 1.0%, while business spending were revised up to 9.9% as against 6 3%.

The PCE price index rose 3.2% over the quarter (revised from 3.1%) after 3.9% in the first quarter. Economists surveyed had forecast 3.1% between April and JuneAs for the price index of basic ("core"), which excludes volatile items and is followed closely by the Federal Reserve, it reflects a slight lull on the inflation front with an increase of 2 , 1% (revised from 2.2%).

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended down 1.04% Monday, reaching a closing low of five months, fears of a possible relapse of the global economy overshadowing speculation about a new intervention by Japanese authorities against the yen strong.

The Nikkei lost 91.11 points to 8628.13 points from its lowest level in five months to hit 8656 points on August 9.The Topix, broader, sold 8.85 points (1.18%) to 742.84 points.

"The next goal would be down 8600 points, but we do not see big movements in recent days, investors remain cautious," Judge Nagayuki Yamagishi, strategist at Morgan Stanley Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

The entire session, the market has been closely monitoring the currency markets to try to detect signs of an intervention of Japanese authorities.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he continued to monitor the movements of foreign exchange and he was ready to take firm action on the markets.

But some investors believe that even in case of intervention, the effects on equity markets, including export values ​​would be short-lived.

"If the government acts unilaterally on the foreign exchange market, the Nikkei goes back about 100 points, but the efforts of Japan alone will not change the fundamentals," Judge Mitsushige Akino, fund manager for Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

Values ​​highly dependent on exports, such as Toyota Motor and Honda Motor ended down respectively 2.46% and 2.54%.