Results and reassuring optimism of post-crisis in Europe
Several large European companies have released information Thursday surprisingly positive, triggering a sudden resurgence of investor confidence after months of pessimism fueled by the debt crisis and fears of an implosion of the euro area.
With these new found reassuring, have added good indicators for the month of July: further decline in unemployment in Germany and strong growth of economic sentiment in the euro area.
Economists point out however that this resurgence in good mood after the dark days of rumors of a default by Greece and other countries in the euro area should not be forgotten that economic recovery will be gradual given the austerity measures by several governments.
Among the big names who released Thursday, Publicis third global advertising agency, has raised its expectations for 2010 after having exceeded expectations in the first half to gain the favor of budgets and increased costs to its customers.
"Publicis has strengthened during the crisis," said chief executive Maurice Levy to the press.
"We really feel at the end of the economic crisis, or even having put completely behind us," he added.
These words are not isolated.
The Dutch group Randstad specializes in the interim, number two worldwide in its sector, said he did not see any sign of relapse of the economy.Companies are hiring, he said, particularly in Germany and France.
"GROWTH AROUND"
"We are seeing growth everywhere. Even in Greece, we see a normal development. We do not observe any signs of relapse," said Reuters chief financial officer, Robert-Jan van de Kraats.
The American Manpower, which carries the majority of its sales in Europe, acted last week did not see a downturn.
In the pharmacy, the French Sanofi-Aventis posted a higher quarterly earnings expectations – after Friday lowered its target EPS for 2010.His British rival AstraZeneca has posted higher profits.
The European chemical groups that have published their quarterly accounts have emerged Thursday globally strong results in favor of volume growth.BASF, the world first chemist, reported second quarter operating earnings adjusted for exceptional almost doubled to 2.2 billion euros, exceeding the consensus that gave it to 2.03 billion.
In Switzerland, Clariant has raised its annual recovery of the industrial sector and a weaker euro has boosted demand and that allowed him to reach a net profit in the second quarter, well below the consensus, however.
The German conglomerate Siemens Electrical has released an operating profit up 40% for its third fiscal quarter thanks to cost cuts and the weaker euro.
All these new feed more optimism among investors in Europe they appear a little less convinced of the strength of economic recovery in the United States.
The team responsible for global strategy at the UBS bank, raised its recommendation on Europe to "neutral", while she advised previously underweight assets of the region.
UBS said that the Ifo business climate in Germany, a closely watched index, in July recorded its biggest increase in 20 years, growth in gross domestic product in the United Kingdom grew at a rate twice higher than expected second quarter and the results of stress tests performed on the European banks have brought relief.
At the Deutsche Bank economist Gilles Moec wants cautious.
"There is no major change in the table macroeconomic background: we started to slow growth," said he.