News – Business & Economi

Facebook knows the title of early febrile Friday on the Nasdaq, the title having erased its gains in early trade, falling to its IPO price before going up .

The title began more than 11% above its IPO price, reaching a high of 45 dollars, according to Reuters data, before losing ground and return to its IPO price, 38 dollars.

The transaction enabled the world's first social network to raise $ 18.4 billion (14.4 billion euros) and to be valued at $ 104 billion, more than Hewlett-Packard and Starbucks combined. 

After a delay in its quotation that fueled the impatience of traders and commentators around the world, the title began in Facebook stock at 1530 GMT at 42.05 dollars.

The group's headquarters in Silicon Valley and the applause of his employees, the founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, 28, rang the bell to mark the debut of Exchange community site for 900 million users.

Outside the offices of the company thronged reporters and photographers. Above their heads, even a helicopter had been sent by U.S. television on the occasion of the IPO, the largest history of American technology stocks.

"A jump of 15% to 20% is about as possible," thought Tim Loughran, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, before the start of trading .

Some investors believe the stock could gain 30% or more, on Friday despite persistent questions about the actual ability of Facebook to generate sustainable profits.

After just one hour of trading, Pivotal Research Group already recommended to sell the security. 

"The market is currently valuing Facebook as an asset less risky than Google, which we believe is absolutely not the case," said Brian Wieser, one of the firm's analysts in a research note .

The average of analysts' estimates compiled by Morningstar predicts a closing price Friday of $ 50.

At 16:30 GMT, gained 9.53% to 41.62 dollars.

Wall Street has ended in the red Wednesday after a volatile session, thus showing its fourth consecutive decline and its sixth in seven meetings, the concerns raised by the debt crisis of the euro area continued to haunt investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 0.26%, or 33.45 points, to 12,598.55. The S & P-500, wider, lost 5.86 points, or 0.44%, to 1324.80. The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 19.72 points (-0.68%) to 2,874.04.

Although Germany has tried to calm things down on Greece, saying she wanted to stabilize the country in the eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) has renewed concerns in said to have ceased to provide liquidity to certain Greek banks due to their under-capitalization.

The Greek authorities have in turn reported massive withdrawals made by the citizens of their bank accounts because of economic and political uncertainties. 

The questions about the future of Greece and possible implications for the euro area a country's output of the Economic and Monetary Union weighed on equity markets in recent weeks, with an S & P 500 has lost some 5.5% since late March.

The fact that, according to the minutes of its last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the Federal Reserve remains open to new measures to support the economy has little impact on sentiment of market participants.

These have not benefited from more macroeconomic indicators rather positive, with one hand a higher-than-expected housing starts in April and the other , a stronger than expected rebound in industrial production. 

As for values, General Electric took 3.268% to 19.00 dollars after the division of financial conglomerate has received permission to resume the transfer of part of its profits to its parent.

GE Capital provides and to pay a special dividend of $ 4.5 billion in General Electric during the year.

The title J.C. Penney has plunged 19.72% to 26.75 dollars, its biggest daily drop in percentage terms since 1987, a day after the distributor has suspended payment of a dividend and announced results showing that its transformation implementation has more impact than expected on its activity.

Also in the distribution sector, the title has pros Target 0.44% to 55.32 dollars after the group specialized in low-cost stores raised its annual forecast .

Facebook will increase by almost a quarter the size of its IPO and could now raise up to $ 16 billion (12.6 billion euros), the strong investor demand obscuring the dice ; beats on long-term profitability of the social network.

Greece is no longer bound by its commitments to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund after the rejection by voters of parties supporting the bailout, said Tuesday the leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left, Alexis Tsipras.

The head of Syriza, which will attempt to form a coalition government after the Conservatives came top of Sunday's parliamentary had renounced, advocated putting banks under the controlled the desired state and an international commission investigating the legality of government debt. 

"The bailout was clearly canceled by the popular verdict," said Tsipras, whose formation was propelled the rand against the odds of the second political force .

The series of elections on Sunday to test the austerity policies in the euro area opens a new period of political uncertainty and risk of reviving the sovereign debt crisis, reinforcing the need a growth initiative whose principle has gradually established itself.

The victory of the socialist candidate for the French presidential election of Nicolas Sarkozy is the eleventh leader of the ousted euro area since the outbreak of the crisis and the implementation of austerity policies imposed by Germany and aimed at the curb. 

"I'm sure in many European countries Caa was a relief, a hope, that finally the idea of ​​austerity could no longer be inevitable "said Francois Hollande, in a speech at his election night.

"That's what I say as soon as possible to our European partners and first in Germany," he said.

Francois Hollande has been negotiating a pact designed to complement growth of the fiscal pact, signed in early March by 25 of the 27 countries of the European Union, a of his campaign themes. 

His election of Francois Hollande with 51.6% against 48.4% in the outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy, argued that German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not lift all the political uncertainties that will last at least until the legislatures of 10 and 17 June

In Greece, the results of parliamentary elections confirm the expected scenario of a sharp fall in two main formations.

The conservative New Democracy and PASOK Socialists, who run alternately in decades, pay their support for draconian austerity measures taken since early 2010 in exchange for international financial assistance. 

SETBACKS FOR MERKEL

The breakthrough of the Coalition of the Radical Left hostile to the austerity and the entry of small parties in parliament, whose far-right "Golden Dawn", will make very difficult to find a majority and likely to fuel speculation about a renegotiation of the latest bailout plan or to an output of Greece in the euro area.

Fears deemed excessive by the economists of the investment bank Barclays Capital who point out that the Greeks remain overwhelmingly favorable to the euro but do not rule out political instability that would require the new elections later this year. 

"The risk is that non-European investors found a mistrust vis-à-vis the euro area rather marked," however, warns Philippe Waechter, an economist of the company ; Management Natixis Asset Management.

In Germany, the Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered another setback in losing the electoral state of Schleswig-Holstein region where the formation of Merkel saved her worst score since 1950.

The vote next week in the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous nation, will also be closely watched to assess the popularity of the policy conducted by the Chancellor and the accession of German voters to European solidarity. 

The partial municipal Italy, which will continue Monday, are a test on more than nine million voters, or 20% of the electorate, the government expert Mario Monti, again full cure austerity.

The first election of the post-Berlusconi give the measure of the distrust of the Italians against their political leaders to a year of parliamentary elections in May 2013.

The electoral cycle in May will end with the Irish referendum on the new European fiscal pact, already ratified by three EU countries including Greece.

SHORT RESPITE

After a short respite allowed by the injection of more than one.000 billion euros of liquidity between late December and early March by the European Central Bank, tensions on sovereign debt are quickly reappeared.

Investors are worried because of the growing political and social pressure against austerity plans which they fear above all that they do not favor a relapse into recession economies most weakened by the crisis and with them the entire euro area.

If Spain, officially fallen into recession in first quarter, is in sight, the gap between the wages offered by the sovereign debt of Germany and that of almost all ; other European countries has increased in recent weeks. 

European policymakers have however begun to recognize and formally accept a lesson of economic history that no country wants out of a debt crisis by focusing only on austerity, this strategy has always resulted in either a depression or a default.

From the European Council in January and more at the March, the EU officials had stressed the need to complement fiscal consolidation by "measures determined ; are to stimulate growth and employment ". 

They had then discussed several tracks, as a better mobilization of structural funds, a means of strengthening the European Investment Bank or the possibility of bond issues at European level in order facilitate private financing of major projects, referring to the definition of terms in June of that support growth.

The willingness of the new French president throughout his campaign to promote European growth initiative in this context had met with a favorable in both countries weakened ; s like Italy and the European Commission but also in Germany and even the European Central Bank (ECB). 

Its intention to renegotiate the pact budget has however met with strong opposition, especially from Germany who does not intend to return to the priority given to fiscal consolidation.

His call for a more active role for the ECB to stimulate the economy through lower interest rates or direct loans to countries in difficulty also faces hostility from Germany.

POSSIBLE COMPROMISE

Even before his election, Francois Hollande, however inflected speech suggesting that the renegotiation of the pact would be part of budget negotiations with its European partners. 

The president-elect has also been careful to avoid referring to possible Eurobonds, of which Germany does not want to hear because they would constitute a first step towards pooling of European public debt that Berlin rejects.

Francois Hollande now prefers to discuss project requirements, an expression consistent with that used by other heads of state and government of the EU.

A compromise is therefore possible, but the size and financing of a possible growth strategy remain unclear. 

A mounting tensions on sovereign debt would leave the ECB in the immediate front line but also exacerbate the pressure for a stronger commitment on his part to alleviate the costs of funding all States in the euro area and encourage growth.

If he felt that the euro area needed a "Growth Pact", the ECB president also stressed that support for the activity should not be detrimental fiscal discipline.

"Recent comments by Mario Draghi, defending the idea of ​​a growth strategy implemented by European governments is primarily a way to avoid a debate on the mandate of the ECB could be refocused on growth, "say the economists and Exane BNP Paribas.

Already facing a bleak economic environment, banks must now confront a French real estate market in full contraction, marked by a sharp slowdown in mortgage lending in France during the first quarter.

According to data from the Observatory CSA-Credit Housing, real estate loan production fell by 26.1% during the first quarter, with a dip of 35% on the month of January 2012 . Between early January and late March, the fall is larger, down 30.8%.

"The improvement observed in autumn 2011, aftermath of demand expectations of late 2011, was not enough to reverse the recessive market and weighed heavily on the month of January 2012, "note the analysts of the Observatory in its quarterly survey released Thursday.

"The market downturn has become a true reality," they continue.

The quarterly results of French banks, released Thursday and Friday, continues the trend. In recent years, rising real estate loans had helped to swell the volume of lending to the economy, especially during the financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

"During the crisis period in 2009, 2010 and 2011, the housing credit has been a growth engine for retail banking in France," said Christophe Nijdam, an analyst at AlphaValue . "It was the engine and it was welcome, because of other activities such as retail banking abroad, were very, trè s disappointing. "

"But this year, instead of having a GNP (net banking, Ed) with growth rates of 3% to 5%, we could have a no-growth or GNP is decreasing "he says.

IMPACT ON THE MARGINS

Societe Generale said Thursday that net profit down 20% in the first quarter, has reported a decline of 26.2% of production mortgages in France between January and March.

Crédit Agricole d'Ile de France, which also released its results, the housing loans fell by 16.6% during the first quarter. 

For its part, BNP Paribas speaks of "a continued deceleration of home loans", without giving precise figures for the production of home loans in France.

The rating agency Standard & Poor's expects a contraction of about 20% to 30% of the flow of new loans in France this year. It also anticipates a decline of 15% of property prices in 2012 and 2013.

"French banks should not be significantly affected by the decline in house prices that we anticipate in our economic forecasts," said S & P.

The agency said the contraction of the flow of new credit this year "could weigh on banks' interest margin, although this negative volume effect would be partly offset by increased levels of these new credits. "

The 2013 draft budget, which aims to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP, is assured of a majority in the Dutch Parliament after the agreement between the two parties in the outgoing coalition and the three opposition parties, said Thursday news agency ANP.

"My party has given me the green light to the plan that we discussed," said Sybrand van Thursday Haersma Buma, leader of the Christian Democrats in the lower house of Parliament .

Stef Blok, leader of the parliamentary Liberal, has also announced that its base had agreed, as the three opposition parties, Democrats 66, Christian Union VertGauche and, depending on the television channel NOS. 

The ruling coalition broke out during the weekend due to the inability to agree on conservation measures designed to meet the reduction targets budget deficit ; silence as part of the European Union.

The government has sought to obtain a circumstantial majority in Parliament to pass his economic plan before Monday, when it is supposed to present in Brussels.

Discussions were held with the two parties forming the government (the Liberals and Christian Democrats), with three opposition parties (Democrats 66, and the Union VertGauche Christian) and with perhaps one or two other courses. 

With the support of all three opposition parties, the government will have a majority of 77 seats out of 150 in the lower house of Parliament.

Human Genome Sciences announced Thursday it had rejected an unsolicited offer of his longtime partner GlaxoSmithKline that values ​​around 2.6 billion (2 billion).

GSK's offer, to 13 dollars per share, represents a premium of 81% over the closing price of 7.17 dollars for action Human Genome Wednesday night, but the U.S. group believes it does not reflect its intrinsic value.

In pre-market Human Genome soared over 100% to trade at just over $ 15, a sign that the market is betting on a bidding war in this new battle that promises to within a pharmaceutical industry recently marked by a wave of consolidation. 

Human Genome, American laboratory that specializes in gene isolation and identification of their function in the development of new drugs, said banks have mandated Goldman Sachs and Cre Swiss said the counselor.

First British pharmaceutical company, GSK said he was disappointed in a statement of rejection of his offer without discussion. The group confirmed its offer, stating that the proposed price of $ 13 would be paid in cash.

He also said to expect the transaction provides for the realization by 2015 at least $ 200 million of cost synergies, and that it will be accretive to from 2013.

If GSK has been a tendency in the past not to buy out partners with whom he works, the rumor of an offer to GSK on its U.S. partner ran long, the two companies already collaborate ; over several treatments, including Benlysta, the first new drug against lupus in more than half a century.

Navid Malik, analyst at Cenkos Securities, indicates that GSK extremely knowledgeable Human Genome and must point to a potential value in excess of one Benlysta. 

Both groups are also working on a project called darapladib treatment of heart, now in the third and final phase of experimental tests.

If product development is going to an end, analysts see it as a "blockbuster" possible multi-billion dollar per year, although the molecule is also accompanied by a high level of risks.

A banker in the health sector considers the offer of generous and GSK believes that certain shareholders of Human Genome could accept it.

Others, however, prefer to wait an increase of the price. They know the appetite of big pharmaceutical companies for biotech in their search for new growth after the expiration of patents on several of their blockbuster drugs.

As recently as Wednesday, the American Illumina rejected a hostile bid of 6.8 billion dollars (5.2 billion euros) of the Swiss laboratory Roche Holding.

European shares were down mid-session after the award by Germany of 4.2 billion euros Schatz two years accompanied by a return to a record low 0.14% highlighting investors' appetite for stocks considered less risky and persistent concerns about certain sovereign debt in the euro area.

In Paris the CAC 40 was down 1.41% (-47.86 points) to 3,244.65 points at 10:50 GMT. In Frankfurt, the DAX yields 0.78% and London, the FTSE drops 0.35%. The pan-European index Stoxx 50 was down 1.19%.

The index futures point to a New York opening of Wall Street down.

In Europe, the sector suffers utilities Iberdrola clearances especially after the sale of a stake of 3.69% by ACS. The mining sector benefited from the publication by BHP Billiton of a quarterly activity report showing a drop in production of iron ore lower than feared by analysts. The sector index Stoxx Europe 600 commodity earns 0.87%.

Values, the British retailer Tesco, which has announced plans to spend one billion pounds (1.2 billion) to overhaul its operations in Britain to regain market share and reconnect with sales growth, gaining 0.4%.

The world number two home appliances Electrolux sells more than 4% in after announcing a 16.7% decline in shipments to the North-im Rican for its six major product categories.

ASML is the title back in the same proportions as the world leader in machinery engravings of semiconductors declined to disclose its prospects of orders on the occasion of the publication of its quarterly results .

Wall Street opened Friday declined amid concerns related to persistent budgetary situation of Spain and slowing growth in China.

In early trade, the Dow Jones dropped 0.46% to 12,890.00 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, yielding 0.47% to 1,379.40 while the Nasdaq composite retreated 0.48% to 2725.50.

Performance of public debt to 10 years Spain has exceeded 5.9% after the publication by the ECB shows that Spanish banks have been steadily increasing their borrowing at the ECB in March.

Moreover, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China rose 8.1% annual rate in the first quarter, the lowest figure recorded in nearly three years.

"The number of Chinese GDP is weaker than expected while anyone had used it as pretext to rise yesterday," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. 

Bank stocks are also oriented downward despite better than expected results published by JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo.

Both titles lose respectively 1.18% and 1.88%.

Google also declined, its quarterly earnings above the consensus being overshadowed by a further deterioration in the profitability of its advertising links. The action gives up 2.8%.

The Spanish government announced Monday that he wanted to save ten billion euros in the areas of health and education.

"We need to cut unnecessary costs, streamline the sectors that do not work well, because if we do not, we can not guarantee the viability of the system," said Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, invited the SER radio.

The government of Mariano Rajoy last week presented a draft budget for 2012 includes € 27 billion reduction in public spending as part of a reorganization plan intended to bring the public deficit to 5.3% of GDP against 8.5% last year.

Expected savings on health and education in addition to this effort. 

The Spanish health system, shared between central government and executives of the 17 autonomous regions, is a debt of 15 billion euros.

According to Luis de Guindos, one of the lines of inquiry could focus on free public health services offered to the Spaniards, whatever their income.

"We need to open the debate, both within the central government in the regions, on whether health should be free for someone earning 100,000 euros (per year)", said the minister. 

In terms of education, Spanish media report that the government would consider a lower number of teachers, that would offset an increase in the number of students per class , and higher tuition fees in universities.

The Popular Party (PP) Mariano Rajoy, who has an absolute majority in Parliament, also controls eleven of the 17 autonomous regions.