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.

GDP in the euro area has stagnated in the first quarter after falling 0.3% last quarter. But the performance of different countries are very different.

Based on preliminary estimates released Tuesday by the European office of statistics to Eurostat, the euro area recorded no growth (0.0%) during the first three months of the year, after a decline in GDP of 0.3 % last quarter. This figure, better than expected by analysts (-0.2%), allows the euro area narrowly escaped the recession, which is recognized when GDP shrinks for two consecutive quarters. But mostly he hides significant disparities between countries in the euro area: while Germany saw its GDP grow by 0.5%, exceeding all expectations, thanks to exports and consumption, France experienced no growth (0%) and Italy sank into recession (-0.8%).

The Netherlands has also experienced poor performance (-0.2%). As for Greece, she recorded a fall in GDP of 6.2% in the first quarter, according to preliminary official estimate.

These differences show that "the region remains highly dependent on Germany," said Jennifer McKeown of Capital Economics. "A big thank you to progress better than expected German GDP," added Martin Van Vliet of Ing.  

Figures released Tuesday should at least contribute to the debate on growth in Europe, a topic that has emerged slowly while facing austerity, especially under the leadership of French President Francois Hollande.

The latter reiterated its position on the issue during his inauguration speech Tuesday morning at the Elysee Palace. "To our partners, I will propose a new pact that will combine the necessary reduction of public debt with the necessary stimulus," he said. "To overcome the crisis that afflicts it," he said, "Europe needs projects, it needs solidarity, it needs for growth."

The subject should be central to its discussions on Tuesday afternoon in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the main advocate of fiscal discipline in Europe, who reluctantly welcomed his proposal to add a growth component in the European budgetary treaty. How to revive European growth will also constitute the main theme of the dinner which will bring together European leaders in Brussels on May 23

The Italian leader, Mario Monti, proposed last week to "unite people of good will" to ensure that it is "compatible" with fiscal consolidation. He is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Brussels with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, whose proposals for growth (increased resources for the European Investment Bank, finance major European projects, tax on financial transactions , better use of EU funds) are widely shared by Mr. Holland.

European leaders will anyway have to be proactive to defy predictions of analysts. To Martin Van Vliet, there is "no evidence of strong and sustained economic rebound on the horizon for the euro area".

As for Howard Archer, IHS Global Insight, thinks that "a contraction of GDP will likely be on the menu in the second quarter." Although a gradual return to growth is expected later this year, "a further escalation of the debt crisis, not counting an output of Greece (the euro area), could derail the expected recovery," puts cautioned Mr. Van Vliet.

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.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is opposed to programs to support economic activity in Europe but it is ready to discuss a strengthening of the European Investment Bank Investment Bank (EIB), she says in an interview published Wednesday in the daily Hamburger Abendblatt.

She explains that in his view, the growth can not depend solely on stimulus costly for public budgets.

"It is important that we distance ourselves vis-à-vis the idea that you should always spend money to get economic growth," she said, according to excerpts from the interview released before its publication. 

"Sustainable growth is based more on education and research and innovation capacities of SMEs."

Germany, who had fought the 2008-2009 recession with a stimulus package of 81 billion euros, took the lead of states shifting the focus to fiscal austerity measures against ; the sovereign debt crisis.

But an increasingly hostile public opinion and certain officers to austerity in several countries in the euro area has reopened the debate on the advisability of measures to support growth . 

In France, the favorite for the second round of presidential elections, the socialist Francois Hollande, wants to engage if elected Sunday a renegotiation of the European fiscal pact meant facilitate the reduction of deficits. It also advocates that the European Central Bank (ECB) do more to support economic activity.

Angela Merkel warned against any relaxation of the fiscal pact, it is preferable to consider measures mobilizing "political courage and creativity more than billions."

She argues for including the removal of barriers to youth employment and the strengthening of vocational training systems, to further open the labor market. 

Repeating remarks already held the last weekend in another interview to the press, she told the Hamburger Abendblatt that Germany was in favor of strengthening resources EIB, the financing arm of the European Union in the field of investments, as well as a more flexible use of EU structural funds.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup of finance ministers ruled Monday as possible an increase of 10 billion euros from the EIB's capital.

European shares closed Wednesday up sharply, the results found solid companies' published eclipsing concerns about the debt crisis in the eurozone.

The CAC 40 index, which had ended with a gain of 2.29% Tuesday, ended up 2.02% to 3233.46 points.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange rose 1.73%, that of Madrid by 1.7% while the London market (0.16%) suffered from the recession back to the UK economy .

In this context, cyclicals and financials were particularly popular, pan-European Stoxx index of bank earning 1.86% in the provisional closure and the auto 3 , 05%, fastest growing sector in Europe.

STMicroelectronics has reported late Monday a first-quarter loss that it attributed to a downturn in sales in the segment of products for mobile phones and the impact of a decision Justice.

Net loss for the first quarter totaled $ 176 million or $ 0.20 per share, against a net loss of $ 0.01 in the fourth quarter 2011 and net income of $ 0.19 per diluted share in first quarter 2011.

An arbitration STMicroelectronics forced to pay nearly $ 59 million to NXP Semiconductors.

The turnover is meanwhile stood at 2.02 billion dollars, representing a sequential decline of 8%. 

"The losses in the segment of products for cell phones (Wireless) have once again weighed on our quarterly results," said CEO of the leading European manufacturer of semiconductors, Bozotti.

For the second quarter 2012, the Company expects an increase in turnover of about 7.5% over the first quarter, plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Gross margin for the second quarter should be around 34.4%, plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

STMicroelectronics fell sharply Monday on the Paris Stock Exchange after the announcement of an intensified restructuring of its subsidiary, ST-Ericsson.

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 .

U.S. stocks closed up again Thursday due to signs of improvement in the situation in Europe and China and the first quarterly results of companies, considered encouraging .

The Dow Jones gained 1.41% or 181.19 points, to 12,986.58 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, has advanced 1.38% or 18.86 points to 1387.57 points while the Nasdaq composite took 1.3% or 39.09 points to 3055.55 points.

The S & P 500 benchmark fund managers, rose above its 50-day moving average, as if traders felt the recent decline of nearly 5% as an opportunity to catch up with the performance of the index.

The S & P gained more than 10% since the beginning of the year.

The market did not consider the surprise hike in jobless claims last week to 380,000. Economists anticipated 355,000 claims. Some economists said the statistic is not very significant given the Easter weekend.

Bond yields in Italy and Spain fell after a strong demand during an operation launched this week by Italy.

"The decline in bond yields is a signal for investors, here, that things are not as bad as this in Europe," said Brian Gendreau, market specialists at Cetera Financial Group.

Traders also cited expectations of a pleasant surprise on the side of the figures of gross domestic product (GDP) of China, to be released Friday morning. Some are skeptical about this rumor.

"Chinese history is being misinterpreted. The Chinese government researcher who is supposed to have commented on China's GDP has talked about 9% GDP growth for all of 2012 and said he anticipated that 8.4 to 8%, 5% for the first quarter, which is in line with expectations, "said Peter Boockvar, equity specialist at Miller Tabak in New York

. The first results of companies have also published a good effect. Analysts say expectations may have been lowered too much and that the shares may now seem cheap and after the 5% decline that has just recorded the S & P. ​​

Alcoa has continued to benefit from the positive effect generated ; by its results. The value rose 2.7% after surging 6.34% on Wednesday.

Values ​​of raw materials have been sought. U.S. Steel gained 7.5% to 29.36 dollars.

Values, Hewlett-Packard jumped 7.17% to 25.09 dollars. According to Gartner, PC shipments rose in the first quarter thanks to a recovery in demand in Europe.

U.S. stocks open on a technical rebound Wednesday after five sessions of losses on the S & P 500, investors seemed encouraged by the results published by the giant Alcoa aluminum, the first of the season.

In early trade, the Dow Jones gained 0.8% or 103 points to 12,822 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, takes more than 1% or 14.10 points to 1372.81 points while the Nasdaq composite was ahead by 0.9% (26.61 points) to 3017, 80 points.

Alcoa wins over 7%. The group, considered a good barometer of the U.S. industrial sector, has emerged, to everyone's surprise, a positive net income in first quarter 2012, the for improved market conditions.

The Prosecutor General of the Supreme Court has definitively cancel the condemnation of Total over 12 years near the wreck of the tanker Erika off the Brittany coast in 1999, which caused ; a major ecological disaster.

This 24-year-old ship broke in two on 12 December 1999 in a storm and sank, spilling 20,000 tonnes of fuel on 400 km of the Breton coast, killing dozens thousands of birds and ravaging the seabed.

The prosecution based its opinion on the fact that the disaster has not occurred in French waters but "exclusive economic zone" (EEZ), and that the ship flew the Maltese flag, which would remove any possibility of prosecution in criminal justice. 

The Court of Cassation, the highest French court, which will meet May 24 and will make the final decision after a deliberate, however, is not bound to follow the opinion of floor, reading was revealed by Liberation and Ouest-France.

The public prosecutor asked the permanent cancellation without retrial, the conviction for "marine pollution" of the first French company announced after two die decisions at first instance and on appeal in 2008 in 2010.

In addition to the Total group, sentenced to a fine of 375,000 euros, Rina, the Italian maritime regulatory body which gave its airworthiness certificate to the ship (175.000 euro fine), Giuseppe Savarese, a former Italian owner of the ship, and Antonio Pollara, Italian former manager of the Erika (75,000 euro fine each) were convicted in appeal.

The lower courts have so far retained the right of other interpretations. The plaintiffs believe that the French territory was hit by the effects of the offense is sufficient to render the French competent judges.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE IN DANGER

The floor of the Court of Cassation also recommends abandoning the notion of "environmental damage" introduced in 2008 by the trial judgment that can demand compensation for environmental damage , as well as for moral harm, economic or property.

After a review of the complex thicket of international conventions governing shipping, the prosecutor's office believes it is impossible to legalize this notion. 

Corinne Lepage, one of the lawyers of the plaintiffs and former environment minister, said that it was here that a notice and hoped that the Court would not follow him.

"It would be a double disaster legal, not for the common (…) but in terms of law in general because it means that charterers could continue to take as Total boat was rotten like the Erika for reasons of pure greed and polluting the coast without nothing happens, "she said on RTL. 

NO EFFECT ON PAYMENTS

The folder is marked from the beginning by a very complex debate, shipping is governed by a series of international conventions and national laws very bushy, with idé e general far as the charterer of a tanker is in principle not liable criminally or civilly.

The Court of Appeal had also, on this point, not fully completed the first judgment, concluding that Total was guilty but not criminally responsible civilly.

This point has not had an immediate effect because Total has already paid in 2009 without possible cancellation of 170 192 500 000 compensation ordered in the first instance in 2008, 153 for the state. Rina has paid the surplus, and an "extension" decided on appeal where the total bill rose to 200.6 million euros.

Total said it would ask for a refund, whatever the final decision to the Supreme Court, where lawyers of some 80 civil parties, municipalities, regions, departments and advocacy groups the environment will plead.

French society has always said he was the victim of a "hidden defect" of the boat, never a thesis accepted by the court. 

Given another 200 million euros paid by the company in 1999, including the cleaning of beaches and pumping oil from the wreck, the total bill to stu ve for it to nearly 400 million euros, an amount limited compared with the annual profit of nearly $ 12 billion company.