In Paris the CAC 40 index managed to stay above the threshold of 3,400 points, taking 0.14% to 3,409,90 points after spending much of the session negative territory. In Frankfurt the Dax gave 0.16%, while the FTSE in London lost 0.03% Pan-European and Euro Stoxx 50 index has been 0.25%.

A Greek government official reported that Athens was finalizing a document that outlines the reforms demanded by its lenders in exchange for the payment of the second plan bailout of 130 billion euros.

On currency markets, this information has boosted the euro, which reached its highest since mid-December.

The Stoxx Europe 600 bank of erased its losses to finish up 0.47%, with gains between 1.2% and 2.1% for BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.

Conversely, UBS fell 1.44% in volume fed. The Swiss bank fears a difficult start after reporting lackluster figures for its fourth quarter 2011.

Swatch has lost nearly 4% after announcing an operating profit of 1.61 billion Swiss francs in 2011, slightly below expectations.

On Wall Street, the Dow, the S & P and the Nasdaq composite earn around 0.2% to 1630 GMT.

Bunds have erased their gains on the information of progress towards a political agreement with Greece on the financial rescue of the country.

The Euribor fell to new lows of 11 months in prospect of another massive injection of liquidity into the banking system by the European Central Bank, at its next auction paper to three years scheduled for late February. 

The euro has climbed more than 1% to 1.32708 to the dollar on the electronic platform EBS, its highest level since mid-December.

"The information from Greece to Athens remove an obstacle to alleviate short-term and massive credit risk, which is positive for the euro," noted Boris Schlossberg director of currency research at GFT.

Brent crude rose around 116 dollars a barrel, still carried by the cold wave in Europe, tensions on Iran's nuclear program and turmoil in Syria.

The Nikkei gained 97.27 points to 8,929.20 points and the Topix broader took 9.16 points (1.2%) to 769.85 points.

"It's pretty good for exporters," said Nicholas Smith, a specialist at CLSA Japan, commenting on the monthly report on employment in the United States that showed Friday that unemployment had fallen ; to its lowest level in nearly three years.

Panasonic has taken the title of the session 6.34% after touching a low of more than 30 years Friday, in response to a forecast of record annual loss amounting to ; eight billion euros.

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.

Sales of specialist technology consulting totaled 1,419.5 million euros last year, growing "economy" of 8.1% (on a comparable basis excluding the impact of exchange and changes in working days).

This publication dope title to the Paris Bourse, where the action is gaining 4.18% to 3.96 euros, shoulder to shoulder with Plastic Omnium top of the largest increases in the SBF 120 (+ 0.35%). 

"We are convinced and seduced by the strategy and decisions implemented by the new management group," says a note in CM-CIC Securities, the purchase value.

"Certainly, the current should not favor the rapid improvement of the fundamentals of Altran, but we believe that the work done by the new CEO of the group should begin to bear fruit in 2013, both in terms of operating performance and cash as corporate culture, "said the intermediary.

The fourth quarter alone, sales of Altran amounted to 370.6 million euros, increasing by 6% and an "economic growth" of 8, 6%. 

"Despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment, the Group is reasonably confident for 2012," he said in a statement its CEO, Philippe Salle.

Philippe Salle had told Reuters in October Altran, a deficit in 2010 would remain negative in 2011 but would profit in 2012.

In its "beige book" summary of economic conditions in the 12 districts of the U.S. central bank, the Fed also notes that the pressures on consumer prices remained moderate and some cost pressures had decreased.

This finding is likely to give more leeway to the Fed in terms of monetary easing if growth were to weaken in early 2012 because of the consequences of global activity in the European debt crisis.

For now, the report confirms what had already been said in the latest "Beige Book" dated: the growth of the economy is not threatened, but the conditions underlying depression can not lower the unemployment rate, currently 9%.

"Overall, economic activity grew at a slow to moderate pace since the last report (…) except the district of St.

More than 26,400 homes were sold in the third quarter, nearly 2,700 more than in the second quarter but 12.9% less than for the corresponding period of 2010.

Of the last four quarters, the number of sales totaled 101,300 or 10.7% less than in the previous four quarters.

A 71,600 homes at the end of the third quarter, the stock of new homes for sale is 14.4% higher than the third quarter of 2010.

The case of the Sofitel New York, which marked the end of the presidential ambitions of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had a new twist Saturday, reviving questions about the possibility of a trap, already mentioned by close to Former IMF chief.In this investigation, the AFP was able to consult, the American journalist argues that the BlackBerry DSK could have been hacked.

Edward Epstein expressed confidence that "tried to derail" the candidacy of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but declined to talk about "political conspiracy" created from scratch, in an interview with AFP on Saturday. In an interview on Europe 1 audio, it reaffirms that it is a conspiracy: "It is much like a political issue, but I do not have certainty," said he. "If it's a political issue, it's a matter of French politics. I think it came from Paris. It may come from the UMP, it can come from the secret services, that can even come from someone who s 'interested in the activities of the IMF. "

The UMP denies any involvement

On May 14, Dominique Strauss-Kahn called his wife Anne Sinclair told him that "something bad happened."

Benedict heart, which should become the representative of France to the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), is a senior specialist in international finance, who was previously the number two position of the Treasury. Coeuré Benedict, 42, was appointed Thursday by Paris to serve on the Executive Board of the ECB, which will replace Italy's Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who resigned.

This brilliant economist and author of numerous articles and a graduate of Japan, has spent most of his career at the French Treasury. He led a parallel career as a teacher and researcher in the circle of economists, an influential economic think-tank. From 1997 to 2002, he holds the office of Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury.Heart is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole National Statistical and Economic Administration (ENSAE).

The return of the French debt to 10 years who had scarcely changed after the publication of this note was then increased to about 3.68% to 16.45, the yield differential with Germany (the "spread") oscillating around 165 basis points. It was over 200 points last week for the first time since the creation of the euro.

"According to Fitch's central scenario, the numbers of French public finances remain consistent with the conservation of its AAA rating," writes the rating agency.

The gross debt of the country in this case could reach the upper limit of the range that Fitch considers consistent with a AAA rating – if this level is temporary and decline thereafter – 90 to 100% of GDP.

"If all of the 158.5 billion euros in France's commitments to the EFSF was disbursed, the gross public debt would reach 98.2% of GDP in 2014, the top of the range compatible with its status as a AAA "Fitch wrote.

"However, based on net debt and if the loans were accounted EFSF (with a discount of 50%) as liquid assets, the debt would peak at just over 80% of GDP in 2014.