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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.

Deutsche Telekom said Thursday it kept its annual forecast issued after the morning a current profit unchanged, reflecting a stabilization of its European operations, which still face a stable environment.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came out unchanged at 4.48 billion euros in the high end of analysts' forecast whose consensus ranged from 4.32 to 4480000000.

"It was a very good quarter for us," said Chief Executive Rene Obermann said in a statement.

"We have made significant progress in many areas and we can now confirm our annual target."

The Bonn-based group predicted a current profit excluding items of 18 billion euros against 18.7 billion in 2011

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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.

Incumbent President warns that Europe is still recovering and that if France relaxed its efforts to reduce the deficit, it would suffer the same fate as Spain. During a meeting place de la Concorde in Paris, Sunday, April 15, Nicolas Sarkozy called for the ECB to support European growth.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that there was "more likely to collapse of the euro", but that Europe was "recovering", warning that any "loosening" in the reduction of deficits would convey to France "the fate of Spain."

"The risk of implosion of the euro no longer exists, but Europe is recovering, it is a reality and we have no room for error," the president said on RTL candidate. According to him, "the minute we let up the pressure on spending cuts, deficit reduction, debt, France experienced the fate of Spain."

"France has raised 8 billion before yesterday (Wednesday, ed) to finance its debt. It did so in a historically low, below 3%. Spain, at the same minute, borrows to finance its debt, twice the price of France. The same causes produce the same effects, "he said.

"During the 2007 campaign, Ségolène Royal, PS candidate, praised the example of Spain, and Mr. Holland was received" during the election campaign "by one Prime Minister (Jose Luis Rodriguez) Zapatero," former Spanish Prime Minister, Socialist. "I do not know if the Spanish example is still relevant," he added.

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 .

The Spanish Minister of Economy admitted on Monday that the country had fallen into recession for the second time since 2009, as investors demanded higher yields to buy debt securities the country.

Official figures on gross domestic product (GDP) of the Spanish first quarter of 2012 will not be published before April 30. The Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, however, said that the Spanish economy should be in the first quarter contraction similar to the last quarter of 2011, which was 0.3 % over the third quarter.

Two successive quarters of declining GDP correspond to the technical definition of recession, which was widely anticipated in Spain.

According to the minister, who gave an interview to El Mundo, the decline will however not as serious as feared.

"If you had asked me this question two months ago, I would have thought the first quarter of 2012 would have been much worse than the last quarter of last year. But this does not happen, "said Luis de Guindos

" For now, I see a first quarter like the last quarter of last year. "

These words fall in line with other recent statements by government members, suggesting Spain is in recession again

. The rightwing government of Mariano Rajoy has committed to undertake significant budget cuts. But, the markets, there is concern growing that the recession makes it impossible to goals of deficits and that Spain should seek international assistance in one form or another, to ; like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Yields of Spanish debt to ten years have passed Monday morning above 6% for the first time since the beginning of the year, while the Spanish CDS reached new records.

CRISIS MODE

"We returned a crisis mode," said Lyn Graham Taylor, a specialist rates to Rabobank. "It seems increasingly likely that Spain would have to resort to some form of rescue. If there is no intervention (ECB), there will be no ceiling to Spanish yields . They will just keep climbing. "

The Spanish economy is in contraction or stagnation since the bursting of the real estate to ; re in 2008. While housing prices are still falling, the survival of some banks and the new government's ability to control its finances are subject to debate.

The Popular Party (PP), which won elections in November against the Socialists in place, has taken a number of measures to reduce the deficit Spanish, one of the highest the euro area.

But confidence in the ability of President Mariano Rajoy of the Government to work within budgetary limits of the euro area was tested when the head Government has unilaterally lowered the deficit target in 2012 beginning in March, which was strongly up the risk premium on Spanish debt. 

The Minister of Economy also said that the government would take further measures to help small and medium enterprises solvent to obtain credit from banks.

Moreover, the government could get involved in finances too spendthrift regions as early as May, said on Monday with the government.

If Spain has largely missed its target deficit for 2011 is largely due to the expense of regions. The 17 Spanish autonomous regions must reduce its public deficit to 1.5% of GDP in 2012, against 2.9% last year.

A law is being voted in parliament to give the central government the power to punish regions that did not comply with the objectives of deficit narrowed.

Wall Street opened Friday declined amid concerns related to persistent budgetary situation of Spain and slowing growth in China.

In early trade, the Dow Jones dropped 0.46% to 12,890.00 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, yielding 0.47% to 1,379.40 while the Nasdaq composite retreated 0.48% to 2725.50.

Performance of public debt to 10 years Spain has exceeded 5.9% after the publication by the ECB shows that Spanish banks have been steadily increasing their borrowing at the ECB in March.

Moreover, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China rose 8.1% annual rate in the first quarter, the lowest figure recorded in nearly three years.

"The number of Chinese GDP is weaker than expected while anyone had used it as pretext to rise yesterday," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. 

Bank stocks are also oriented downward despite better than expected results published by JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo.

Both titles lose respectively 1.18% and 1.88%.

Google also declined, its quarterly earnings above the consensus being overshadowed by a further deterioration in the profitability of its advertising links. The action gives up 2.8%.

Total accelerates its fall Tuesday afternoon in Paris Bourse, in a climate of growing concern about the consequences of the gas leak occurred Sunday on its platform of Elgin-Franklin North Sea.

At 4:16 p.m., the action of the oil giant posted the largest decline in the CAC 40, yielding 6.57% to 38.31 euros, its lowest level in three months. The title acknowledges its biggest drop since December 2008 and saw its market capitalization and nearly melted almost six billion euros.

Total, by far the highest weight of the ACC, led the Paris index, which yielded 0.68% while the other major European markets were stable and the sector index Europé in commodities advanced 0.53%.

At this stage, investors are more concerned about the impact of leakage on the group's production and its consequences on the environment and the prudent play while waiting to get an idea pre Cise of the magnitude of the disaster.

"Investors apply the precautionary principle in a situation still uncertain, in memory with the recent accident that affected BP," said Romain Burnand, co-director of Moneta Asset Management. 

The explosion and sinking and the Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico, eleven had died in April 2010. Some 4.9 million barrels of crude oil had escaped from the Macondo well, drilled on behalf of the "major" British Petroleum. After the disaster, BP had lost more than 52% of its stock value in less than two months.

"With the memory of Macondo, the market remains very nervous about this kind of news until the problem is not quantified," says one trader.

"This event will impact Total's production and creates a risk of pollution, limited at this stage, but not yet identified," he says, noting that the group is still undecided in his faç ; we deal with the incident.

TWO OPTIONS

Total has indeed explained explore all possible options to deal with the gas leak on the platform Elgin-Franklin, including drilling a relief well, an operation that could take six months.

"There are two options for intervention. One is to drill a relief well, which could take about six months. The other is an intervention on the platform to seal the well (…) what would be a faster option, "he told Reuters David Hainsworth, safety manager, health and environment at Total Exploration & Production UK

. "We plan to decide on a course in the coming days," he In addition to mobilizing added

. 10 to 20 engineers, the group has engaged the services of Wild Well Control, society that occurred during the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010

. Total said Monday it has stopped production and have evacuated its staff on site (238 people), after the leak occurred Sunday. 

The platform was producing nine million cubic meters of gas per day, equivalent to 3% of UK production of natural gas and 60,000 barrels per day of light crude.

The gas cloud that formed around the platform, located off Scotland to 240 kilometers east of Aberdeen, has forced Shell to evacuate employees of two neighboring platforms for safety reasons.

The leak has formed a cloud dense enough to be visible to other platforms in the North Sea. Shell has decided to suspend, as a precaution, to drill on one of them.

The environmental consequences of leakage of natural gas condensates are much less serious than those of oil spills, has informed the British Minister of Energy.

An exclusion zone of sea and air, however, was declared around the platform, said Total.

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.

The German government is preparing to take a stake larger than expected 12% stake in EADS, parent company of Airbus, said on Friday German government source, sign that Berlin intends to defend its interests within the European aerospace group.

The German state, through the state development bank KfW, would take over the holdings of automaker Daimler and several private banks, the source said, confirming a report in the German press.

"The draft supplementary budget foresees 1.6 billion euros for this purpose," the source said.

Germany had already indicated that it would buy 7.5% of EADS Daimler. The additional 4.5% will be purchased from the banking consortium Dedalus.

Around 10 am at the Paris Bourse, EADS gained 1.29% to 30.63 euros.

EADS is currently controlled by a partnership between Daimler, the French Lagardère and the French state.

The approach of Germany could weigh in the debate between Berlin EADS on the location of production sites, while the group has already warned Germany against any attempt to engineer ; reference.

The CEO of EADS Louis Welsh defended the project in early March of his designated successor Thomas Enders to domicile a greater number of group activities in Toulouse, where the headquarters of Airbus, attracting criticism from Berlin. 

A spokesman for the German Economy Ministry had refused Thursday to comment on the information on the purchase of greater participation by the state revealed by the Financial Times Deutschland, while a representative of EADS also refused to do so.