Archive for the ‘work’ Category

The automotive market is more resilient than expected

October 3, 2011 - 9:55 am Comments Off

The French car market has limited its decline in September thanks to buoyant demand from individuals helped by aggressive marketing offers manufacturers a performance bodes well for the entire year if the economy does not deteriorate more.

The new car registrations fell by 1.4% year on year last month to 167,631 units, according to figures from the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA).

In the first nine months of the year, the market still continues hex in positive territory (+0.2%), but continues to nibble advance acquired in early 2011 with the latest effects of scrappage.In August, it was up 0.4% since January.

"The market is slowly declining, but he resists, particularly at the request of individuals," said a spokesman for the CCFA, reached by telephone."For the full year, we now think it will be better than we anticipated -8/-10% that far, but we are recalculating the forecast."

The spokesman added that the anticipated decline in France in 2011 could be below 8%, but adding that corporate demand was "a great unknown for the predictions," because of questions about current economic conditions.

"BACK TO NORMAL TO CONFIRM"

Bernard Cambier, commercial director of Renault France, told Reuters that also performance in September for optimism for the French market.

"We could have been legitimately concerned about the economic and financial benefits for the consumer, but there is no impact for the moment," he said by telephone."Today, we are in a market -3/-4% and a surprise is not excluded."

At the auto show in Frankfurt last month, the commercial director of Renault Jérôme Stoll had found that the French market in 2011, waited down 4% to 6% would be closer to 4%.

The firm Xerfi, which provides a decrease of 5% of the market in 2011, stressed that the stability of nine months was obtained primarily through "aggressive policies of manufacturers", but the unknowns hanging over the rest of the year .

"The business climate is deteriorating with the excitement of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and cures of austerity ahead in European countries, our major trading partners," writes Philip Gattet in a note."Businesses have an obsession: to preserve their cash and therefore reduce costs, including automobiles."

"The coming months will be more difficult, whether it be late 2011 or early 2012, mainly because of unfavorable comparisons," agrees Flavien Neuvy, Director of the Cetelem of the car. "But the market is very resistant, the return to normality is confirmed."

Renault and Dacia REBOUND

Illustration of this effect after the exceptional standards of public support, importers continue to gain ground.

The scrapping particular had supported the French manufacturers, specialized in small cars. In September, registrations of foreign companies increased by 5.4% against a fall of 6.2% for the hexagonal groups.Nissan (30.8%) and the German BMW (21.2%) and Volkswagen (14.9%) included from their game last month.

French side, Peugeot is the only (-25.3%), while Citroen saw its registrations fall by 9.4%, -18.4% for the PSA. Both brands have experienced group in September of supply problems live, but no explanation for the drop in sales last month was immediately available from the manufacturer.

Renault has for its part a rebound of 8.7% in registrations, sign of the return to normal by the already mentioned group in component shortages of diesel engines that have sealed sales months at a time.The diamond brand saw its registrations increase by 9% and the group's low cost brand, Dacia, rose 6.3%.

"The portfolio of orders is high because we can see now finally delivered," said Bernard Cambier. "And we still have 100,000 cars in its portfolio, two months of delivery."

In utilities, the registration of light vehicles, a barometer of local economic activity, fell 6.3% in September, while those of commercial vehicles, a reflection of trade over longer distances, increased by 25 9%.

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.

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.

The stock markets in Europe supported by an index US reassuring

September 1, 2011 - 3:35 pm Comments Off

European shares ended Thursday in a disorganized, caught between the temptation to take profits after three sessions of consecutive increase and the positive impact of a U.S. ISM index better than expected, which eased fears of an entry in recession.

However, investors prefer to remain cautious on the eve of the release of U.S. employment figures for the month of August, a critical indicator, including the decision of the Federal Reserve to support the economy.

The CAC 40 index closed up 0.28% to 3265.83 points after fluctuating in both directions.Between 19 and 31 August, the benchmark index in Paris gained almost 8%.

Other major European markets, London was up 0.45% and Milan took 0.69%, while Frankfurt lost 0.94%. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index ended up on its side up 0.16%.

"At first reading, the figure of the ISM has reassured the markets. However, some components are still of concern. In all, the deterioration of the U.S. economy is not as strong as feared by consensus a very bearish," said Arnaud Cayla, managing director at Barclays Wealth Managers France."However, the activity remains fragile," he adds.

"The market now could still bet on further steps at the next monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve, a feeling reinforced by the expansion confirmed inflationary pressures," he says.

Defensive stocks supported the rating.Repsol has made 2.44% to 20.560 euros, Deutsche Telekom 2.19% to 8.999 euros and Sanofi 1.5% 51.420 euros.

European banks have ended on a note with an irregular European sector index up by 0.99%.

In Paris, Crédit Agricole (-2.08% to 6.679 euros) suffered the second largest drop in the CAC 40.

The euro lost ground, trading at 1.42989 / 90 dollars, against 1.4374 the previous day about the end of the day.

Illustration of investor caution, the yield on German government bonds to 10 years is down to about 2.14% against 2.22% over the closing Wednesday.

Lower U.S. growth announced

August 26, 2011 - 7:35 pm Comments Off

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%).

Notice of the German justice 7 / 9 on assistance to countries in crisis

August 23, 2011 - 3:55 pm Comments Off

The German Constitutional Court will decide in early September on the constitutionality of the contribution of Germany plans to help Europe to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, a decision that could limit the flexibility of Berlin in the management the debt crisis that has shaken the euro area.

The Court in Karlsruhe said in a statement it will make September 7 at 8:00 GMT its decision after examining three complaints filed in July by six Eurosceptics.

The plaintiffs, five German university and a member of the conservative party CSU, believe that the plans of aid granted to Greece, Ireland and Portugal with the support of Berlin violate the German Basic Law and the European treaties, in especially a provision that a State may not be bailing out by others ("no bail out clause").

Five of the complainants had already, in the 1990s, tried unsuccessfully to the German Constitutional Court to prevent the introduction of the single European currency.

The German government insists that the participation of Berlin to the rescue of the most indebted countries in the euro area was done legally.

"I am confident that the decision of the Constitutional Court will confirm that we have violated neither the Constitution nor the European treaties," he reiterated Saturday the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.

Legal experts consider unlikely that the court in Karlsruhe decided to block German participation in the loans to countries in debt, but expect that judges impose conditions for granting new aid to states in the euro area.

The Court may require that such contributions to the Berlin European mechanism for financial stability – which will manage the bailout fund in 2013 – in the future are subject to a vote of the German parliament.

With the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU approved since last year of financial aid to Greece, Ireland and Portugal totaling 273 billion euros. Another plan decided to Athens last month provides some 109 billion euros in state aid.

Part of the German public opinion has recently offended by these bailouts, accusing its beneficiaries to have too long been living beyond their means.The current case in Karlsruhe gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel an argument over his hard line in managing the debt crisis in the euro area.

Germany has found it unnecessary to reinforce the existing European Financial Stability Fund and opposed the creation of Euro-bonds, while several European countries and financial markets increasing calls to create these bonds common to all the euro area.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ends in fall, reaches a low of 5 months

August 22, 2011 - 2:30 am Comments Off

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%.

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.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 2% after the decline in U.S. note

August 8, 2011 - 2:05 am Comments Off

Markets in Asia tumbled Monday, despite the proliferation of policy statements and central bankers from the lowering of the sovereign rating of the United States by Standard & Poor's.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index ended down 2.18% and the broader Topix index lost 2.26%. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that market confidence in the dollar and Treasuries had not decreased, suggesting that Tokyo did not intend to dispose of its huge investments in U.S. debt.

In Seoul, the Kospi index fell 3.82%, after falling more than 7% in session.The Korean authorities, in a statement, ensured that the G20 countries were ready to act to ensure stability and liquidity of financial markets.

At the end of these places, the Hang Seng Index gave up 3.8% at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the composite index of Shanghai Stock Exchange fell by 3.56%. Volumes were 20% below their levels in Hong Kong Friday.Cyclical stocks were among the most attacked.

At the same time, the Moscow stock exchange opened in turn and started the session at its lowest in a year, down 3.3%.

In Europe, the index contracts lost about 2%, as well as the "future" on Wall Street indices.

In this context, the gold all-time records above $ 1,700 an ounce and was trading around 1,713 dollars an ounce or so.

Under pressure, the dollar fell in a time and 0.7500 Swiss franc was trading around 1.4365 per euro.

The oil market, crude prices pplus lost $ 3 a barrel to 83.35 dollars for U.S. crude and 106 dollars for Brent.

"There are obviously some places to hide, and these places are doing very well.Gold took the opportunity because no central bank sells only ", says Greg Gibbs, an analyst at RBS in Sydney.

Just before the opening of Asian markets, finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 pledged to take "all necessary measures" to support financial stability and growth, expressing determination to act whenever necessary. The European Central Bank has announced its next "actively implement" the bond buyback program to try to stem the debt crisis in the eurozone.ECB has not specified which countries will be affected by these acquisitions but suggests it could be from Spain and Italy.

Markets now expect the monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday that they hope new efforts to revive the U.S. economy mechanical.

"Investors are wondering whether the Fed will open the door to more accommodative measures, such as quantitative easing. If this is not the case, investors express their disappointment by continuing to sell," Toshio Sumitani provides analyst at Tokai Tokyo.

Debt crisis in Europe: the ECB plays firefighters

August 5, 2011 - 1:35 am Comments Off

Until the EFSF takes over, the European Central Bank resumed its purchases of government bonds of countries in the Eurozone in trouble in the markets. It will also help the banks, said Thursday its president Jean-Claude Trichet. The European Central Bank resumed its operations in the bond market, said its president Thursday, August 4, French Jean-Claude Trichet. Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB decided to keep its key rate at 1.25%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to take firm action to try to extinguish the fires of the debt crisis in the euro zone, notably by taking over its operations in the bond market, announced Thursday, August 4 President Jean-Claude Trichet .The Governing Council of the ECB decided "overwhelmingly" to make new purchases, he said at a press conference in Frankfurt (west), head of the institution. Paris market sources have confirmed to AFP that the ECB intervened on Thursday afternoon. Previously, Mr. Trichet had said he had "never said" that the program had been "interrupted".

The ECB did not, however, used for more than four months. The extent of intervention will not be known until Monday at the earliest, the ECB communicates only once a week about it. It is even possible that the intervention of this Thursday is not yet included in the figures for Monday, because of delays in compensation. Mr.Trichet added, however, he wanted the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), set up to lend to troubled states of the euro zone, the relay fast as was decided at a summit in Brussels on 21 July. "What we expect is that this fund is to be effective so that we can not intervene," he said.

The ECB will also help banks by providing them with additional liquidity. An exceptional operation six months on loan to banks will be launched on August 9 with a maturity at March 11, 2012, in response to "renewed tensions in certain markets in the euro area," said Mr Trichet. The ECB had already conducted such operations in response to the global crisis, but these operations had ceased in late 2009.The benefit of unlimited credit to banks, fixed rate for periods up to three months, is itself extended by a quarter, until January 2012, said Trichet. "We think it's appropriate under current conditions, to restore the proper functioning of all markets," said the president of the ECB, which also decided to keep its key rate to 1.5%.