News – Business & Economi

Orders to U.S. industry rose for the second consecutive month in December, driven by increased business investment.

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.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy had recorded a moderate growth in recent weeks, while emphasizing that the recruitment remained rare and that the housing market showed little signs of improvement.

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.

Antonio Borges, director of the Europe Department International Monetary Fund (IMF), has resigned with immediate effect, the Fund announced Wednesday.

The IMF notes that the Director General intends to appoint Christine Lagarde Reza Moghadam, Director of the current strategy to succeed Borges, effective Thursday.

Italy has agreed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) monitors its progress on economic and structural reforms, said on Friday European source.

The European Commission and the IMF will each report on how Italy is meeting its objectives, particularly with regard to pension reform and labor, the source said.

"Italy has no objection to be monitored, even if the IMF is involved," she said, adding that credit line was not seen as a credible option for the country, lack of confidence markets in its plans for fiscal consolidation.

Unilever issued a sales increase of 7.8% in the third quarter and expects margins stable or declining for the year 2011, experienced strong sales growth in emerging markets.

The manufacturer of soaps and mayonnaise has raised its prices by nearly 6%, while sales in countries such as India, Indonesia and Brazil have helped to offset difficult markets in Europe and the United States .

However, the group warned that its operating margin at constant perimeter and constant exchange rates would be stable or slightly declining over the year 2011 due to higher commodity prices.

On this basis, the Group reported a turnover up 7.8%, a performance better than the consensus of society, which provided an increase of 6.3%, following growth of 4.3% in the first quarter and 7.1% in the second.

Over 100,000 taxpayers have disclosed their assets in OECD countries for two years. It reported one billion euros in France. The headquarters of the Cayman National Bank in George Town. The Cayman Islands are in the core of tax havens.

Almost 14 billion euros in tax revenues were collected in the last two years in twenty countries through international agreements concluded in the fight against tax evasion, the OECD said on Tuesday. "There's much more in the pipeline", but assured the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at the opening of its fourth Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes .

These are, says the OECD, will provide "a substantial contribution to fiscal consolidation without increasing tax rates" in many countries forced to increase the tax burden to deal with the crisis."It is important that everyone contribute their fair share," notes the organization. The OECD states that the measures against tax evasion reported more than one billion euros in France, Germany 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion U.S., 150 million at the Australia and 260 million in Spain and the UK.

Over 100,000 taxpayers have disclosed their assets (including 30,000 in the United States, 1350 in the UK, 4,700 in France and 25,000 in Germany), she says. The Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes, housed at the OECD brings together 105 countries and territories. This Tuesday and Wednesday to finalize a report on "progress towards fiscal transparency" for the G20 summit to be held in Cannes on November 3 and 4. Other reports are expected on a number of tax havens after the meeting.

Philips Electronics said Monday it would cut 4,500 jobs after posting a net profit fall 85% in the third quarter due to higher raw material costs and restructuring charges.

The job cuts form part of a cost reduction of 800 million euros.

The world of lighting has also said it was considering various options for its television subsidiary, adding that negotiations with TVP to cede much of this activity was intense and constructive, but lasted longer than expected.

"In the event that a final agreement is not reached, Philips will consider alternatives," says CEO Frans van Houten said in a statement Monday.

Net income for the third quarter was 76 million euros against 524 million a year earlier. Turnover amounted to 5.394 billion euros against 5.46 billion.

The consensus of analysts polled by Reuters gave a net profit of 53.8 million and a turnover of 5.341 billion.

Barack Obama lashed out at banks, on Thursday at a press conference at the White House, justifying the growing popular discontent against economic inequality.

The Democratic president, including the possible re-election in November 2012 will be played primarily on the fight against unemployment, said the Republicans had in the first place, to support the economy back on measures of financial regulation that his government s is used to push hard.

Barack Obama also said understand the frustration of "outraged" that manifest several days on Wall Street and in other cities of the United States.

"These demonstrators expressed a more widely shared suspicion towards the way our financial system," said Bush.

"We still see some of those who acted irresponsibly fight efforts to end abusive practices," he added.

Barack Obama said his financial reform known as the "Dodd-Frank" was precisely designed to prevent abuses of Wall Street.His way to insist on the subject suggests that this issue will be among the major themes of his presidential campaign next year.

"To have a sound financial system requires that banks and other financial institutions to compete on the basis of better service, better products and the best rate," he said.

"We can compete through hidden fees, deceptive practices or cocktails of derivatives that nobody understands and that expose the entire economy at huge risk.That's why Dodd-Frank was designed. "

Barack Obama also expressed regret that U.S. banks have recently raised their commissions, suspecting a practice necessitated by the inability to raise other rates. This is not a "good practice", he said, and it is "not necessarily just for consumers."

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%.

Drawn down by banking stocks, European markets are still concerned about the debt crisis in Europe. Paris loses 2% in mid-day. A passerby looks at stock prices in Tokyo in March 2011.

European shares sank into the red at midday Friday, led by a sharp decline in banking stocks, the debt crisis still being equally felt, just before meeting French President and Prime Minister of Greece. In Paris, a negative analyst of the Swiss bank UBS, which has drastically lowered its price targets for Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, who tipped the trend.

After opening up, to 10:20 GMT, Societe Generale and yielded 7.64%, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole 5.04% 5.20%.In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank, which is the subject of persistent speculation about a profit warning, lost 7.61% and 4.04% Commerzbank. The statements of the finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, to the Bundesrat, is not expected to allay fears. "Our concern is that the situation on financial markets, which is worrying, could lead to a crisis in the financial and banking sector, with a great danger of contagion," he said.

Apart from these bad news for banks, the market was marked by profit taking, investors making final adjustments to their portfolios on the last day of the quarter, told AFP Yves Marc, managing actions in Global Equities. The bad inflation figures in the euro area, retail in Germany, private consumption in Japan and manufacturing activity in China as markets were firing down.After opening slightly down, went down during the growing morning. Towards 11:00 GMT Paris lost 2.06%, 1.69% in London, Frankfurt 2.84%, Milan 1.78% and 1.61% Madrid.

Overall, "the trend is still fragile," said Marc determined. The debt crisis is indeed a major source of concern, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou at 1500 GMT, to "take stock of the situation with him now facing Greece ". After the meeting, "(…) I have the opportunity to say exactly what is our strategy regarding the support that we need a European country like Greece," said Mr Sarkozy.The statement from the Elysee said that in the eyes of Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President, "It resolved the implementation of decisions taken at the summit of July 21 that will overcome the current difficulties the euro area ".

The three main creditors (European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) came back from Greece on Thursday in the country, always in the balance, the payment of $ 8 billion a first loan in Athens in May, needed to avoid a default. After the vote of German and Estonian parliaments Thursday, it was the turn of one of Austria to comment Friday on the EFSF.