News – Business & Economi

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.

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 Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson resigned Sunday because of a controversy over a fake university degree in computer science listed on his resume.

This is the third time in as many years as the head changes its internet portal.

Yahoo also gave three director seats at a hedge fund run by Daniel Loeb, who should be well positioned to influence the group's strategy.

Scott Thompson was replaced on an interim basis by Ross Levinson, current director of worldwide media division, Yahoo said in a statement.

It's Third Point hedge fund of Daniel Loeb, who discovered the falsification of the CV of Scott Thompson. This company owns 5.8% stake in Yahoo.

The departure of the CEO only four months after taking office should re-questioning the future of Yahoo, which is struggling to revive its growth face stiff competition from groups like Google or Facebook.

On April 10, Yahoo announced its reorganization into three divisions – "consumer", "regions" and "technology", which was one of the first strong measures by Scott Thompson , arrived at the beginning of the year at the helm of the company.

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 number of Spaniards registered as job seekers experienced the eighth consecutive month of increase in March, companies across sectors continuing to lay off trying to resist the worsening crisis .

The increase in the number of registered unemployed was 0.8% in March from February, 38,769 more job seekers. There are a total of 4.75 million unemployed Spaniards, according to figures from the Ministry of Labour.

The unofficial unemployment rate, which includes the unregistered unemployed, rose to 22.9% in fourth quarter 2011, the highest rate of all countries of the European Union.

Nearly a third of people in 17 countries in the euro area private employment are Spaniards and half of Spaniards under 25 are unemployed, according to Eurostat statistics.

The austerity plan announced Friday by the Madrid government to reduce the budget deficit, which includes a significant decrease in state spending, is likely to affect growth more Spanish . A reform of the labor market to make it more flexible may also enhance the rise in unemployment in the short term.

"Unemployment will continue to increase because it would grow around 1.4% or 1.5% to create jobs and it does not seem feasible before 2014," said the economist of Citi, Guillaume Menuet.

"The brutal reforms of the labor market generally results in more unemployment in the short term," he adds.

The Spanish government expects an economic contraction of 1.7% this year, a forecast more optimistic than Citi, which expects -2.7% in 2012 and -1 , 2% in 2013.

In the U.S., the paychecks of the largest companies grew only by 1.4 during the past year against 11% in 2010, according to a study published by the Wall Street Journal. According to the firm Hay Group, the remuneration of the boss of Apple, Tim Cook, is estimated at $ 378 million in 2011.

The remuneration of top managers in the U.S. rose 1.4% in 2011 against an increase of 11% in 2010, according to partial results of a study released Monday by the Wall Street Journal. "Despite a sizeable increase in earnings and business income, earnings of 65 bosses in office for at least two years rose by only 1.4%" in 2011, says the U.S. daily.

The Wall Street Journal explains the stagnation in the bond of increasingly close relationship between compensation and employers' business performance, because of the "monitoring" of shareholders and the "pressure" the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC ). The SEC, the U.S. federal agency to regulate financial markets, calls for "more details" on how companies pay their executives, which complicates the payment of bonuses by adjusting in-year objectives, explains daily.

The partial study, conducted by management consulting firm Hay Group, based at the moment of 75 U.S. companies, whose net income grew 17% in 2011. The full study, which involves 300 companies, will be published "later this spring," announces the Wall Street Journal. According to preliminary results, the median earnings of bosses is 9.4 million in 2011, against $ 9.3 million according to comprehensive study of 2010.

The remuneration of the boss of Apple, Tim Cook, is estimated at $ 378 million in 2011. That of the boss of media group Viacom, Philippe Dauman, who dominated the rankings in 2010 with a salary estimated at $ 84.3 million, is 42 million in 2011.

ArcelorMittal said Tuesday it was extending indefinitely the closure of the voltaic arc furnace from its site of Schifflange Luxembourg, which has 282 employees.

The world's number one steel explained his decision by the depressed construction market in Western Europe, which are for products Schifflange, and said he could see no sign of significant improvement since the crisis that hit the area at the end of 2008.

Schifflange site specializes in the production of long carbon steel.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced earlier this month that ArcelorMittal would restart a blast furnace of its French site Florange (Moselle). But the group had then stated that it would be restarted in case of economic recovery.

Union representatives of PSA Peugeot Citroen and Opel / Vauxhall, the two European brands of General Motors, will meet in April to discuss the social implications of the alliance between the two automakers , said Friday FO.

A central works council (EAC) on the alliance is scheduled for April 5, said his side the CFDT. It will follow a meeting of the European group committee of PSA scheduled for 23 March.

"Union representatives French, German and English PSA / OPEL / VAUXHALL exchanged Thursday, March 15 during a conference call coordinated by the EMF (European Federation of Metallurgy). They decided the establishment of a European cooperation and a meeting in Brussels liaison committees of the two groups, under the auspices of the GEF, in April " , said in a statement

. FO PSA and General Motors have announced a strategic alliance in February through the pooling of their purchases and preparing a common platform by 2016

. Both ensure that the alliance has no impact on the issue of overcapacity of the European two groups, that they should be treated separately. But unions are questioning the social and industrial benefits of the project as PSA and Opel ranges were very similar cars.

Together, they produce cars and light trucks in 20 plants in Europe, including 16 in Western Europe: France, Spain, Portugal and Italy next PSA, and Great Britain, Spain and Germany Opel side.

GM and the German trade union IG Metall to have an agreement excluding any job cuts on German soil until 2014.

The European group committee of PSA was originally scheduled for this Friday, but the meeting between unions and management has been postponed due to the absence of the Chief Executive Philippe Varin. 

Representatives of the management of PSA are currently "road show" to provide investors the capital increase of one billion euros to finance planned investments as part of alliance, after which GM will become the second largest shareholder with PSA 7% stake behind the Peugeot family. The capital increase, opened on March 8, runs until next Wednesday.

The housing market has included nine in the third quarter the prospect of a relapse into recession in the French economy with lower sales and housing starts, according to data released Tuesday by the Ministry of Housing.

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 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed Saturday that his ministers would visit in the evening at the Quirinal Palace to tender his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, we learn by a government press release.

"Il Cavaliere" thanked his "co-government" and sent a special thanks to the Under Secretary (Chair of the Council) Gianni Letta "during a meeting lasting 35 minutes.

Silvio Berlusconi is expected to 8:30 p.m. at the Quirinal, according to political sources.