US & World News

Boeing announced Tuesday the completion of a four-year contract with the U.S. Navy, including on construction of 124 combat aircraft, some equipped for electronic warfare for 5.3 billion dollars (3.9 billion euros ).

In detail, the agreement calls for delivery of 66 F/A-18 Super Hornet "and 58 EA-18G aircraft equipped with electronic jamming systems from 2012 to 2015.

The Pentagon said the contract provides for fixed prices that limit the government's risk in case the costs would climb over the program.

Boeing also won a contract worth 249 million dollars on logistics support for hunters

F/A-18.

Gold reached a new record Tuesday on the spot market, supported by the "leakage" of investors to safe havens and the sharp decline in the dollar after the announcement of a moral degradation of American households.

The price of gold climbed to 1,302.90 dollars per ounce, a record, before falling to evolve around 1300.70 dollars at 1430 GMT.

The futures contract on gold for December delivery also reached a new high at 1308.90 dollars an ounce.

The dollar touched a five-month low against the euro has crossed barriers of options around 1.3525 dollars.

The European currency climbed to 1.3544 dollars, its highest level since April, according to electronic platform EBS.The index measuring the change in the dollar against a basket of currencies has also hit its lowest level since February.

EDF and Areva are currently working on a strategic alliance and "have set up six working groups," said Le Figaro in the business pages of its Monday edition.

The newspaper said Henry Proglio, boss of EDF and Areva Anne Lauvergeon who heads met and that working groups were created.

The issue of relations between the two groups is closely followed by the Presidency of the Republic.Nicolas Sarkozy had said in early September had "made decisions for Areva and EDF stop compete," alluding to the partnership agreement imposed by the Elysee Palace in late July.

For his part, Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo, wanted mid-September a breakthrough by the end of the year in the file entry in the capital of EDF, Areva.

The possible rise in the capital of EDF, Areva and confirmation of its role as leader of the French nuclear intervene while EDF itself must carry out its nuclear projects in the United Kingdom and the United States while ensuring the proper operation of its hexagonal.

One analyst recently estimated that the strategic partnership between EDF and Areva imposed by the Elysee Palace may increase "political interference" in the electrician and "limit" his ability to choose other suppliers of nuclear reactors from Areva in some areas.

For its part, Areva would benefit from new financial resources thanks to EDF, the rise of the electrician be engaged in addition to a capital increase planned long in advance.

A judicial inquiry was opened in Paris on Natixis, said on Friday from the Association of Defence of Minority Shareholders (Adam), the source of two complaints against the bank whose share price has collapsed during the financial crisis.

The Adam complained cons Natixis subsidiary to 71% of BPCE (People's Bank – Savings Bank) in March 2009 for misleading information, presentation of inaccurate accounts and distribution of fictitious dividends.A second complaint was then filed in May 2010 with a civil action.

"I am very pleased that we have a judge, a judicial investigation was opened," he told Reuters Colette Neuville, president of the Adam.

A Natixis spokeswoman declined to comment.

IPO late 2006 to 19.55 euros, the action Natixis then collapsed with the financial crisis to hit a low of 0.80 euros in March 2009, causing heavy losses to small investors.

Currently, the share is worth approximately 4.35 euros.

Through these complaints, Adam seeks to understand under what conditions the Natixis shares were sold to investors in 2006, some were encouraged by their financial advisers to sell Livret A to purchase the security Natixis.

The Adam also hopes that investors, who consider themselves cheated by the stock market performance of Natixis, will be compensated in what Colette Neuville calls "the biggest financial disaster" since she represents the interests of minority shareholders.

The number of corporate bankruptcies will rise by 2% this year compared to 2009 reaching a record 65,900, according to estimates by the credit insurer Euler Hermes does not take into account the self-entrepreneurs.

In 2011, the number of corporate bankruptcies decline by 5% while remaining at a high level of 62,700.

In total over the twelve months to August 2010, the number of failures reached 63,730, a level equivalent to the same period to August 2009 (63 733), and corresponds to about 240,000 jobs.

If the defaults have begun to decline in some sectors such as construction, trade and hotels and eateries, the movement is far from compensating the increases recorded history since the beginning of the crisis, is Euler Hermes.

In contrast, firms with 10 to 50 employees and those whose turnover is between € 500,000 and two million are still the only record of failure increases over the period.

"The upturn in activity has led to further curb the rise in insolvencies than engage in a genuine and strong downward trend in claims," said Ludovic Sénécaut Wednesday, CEO of Euler Hermes SFAC, during a press conference.

"Too weak to moderate, the continued recovery in economic activity in 2011 may still be insufficient for many companies, despite the severe adjustments made throughout the crisis in stocks of numbers and locations, will have exhausted all their resources, "warned the credit insurer in a statement.

The surge in new businesses in recent times will also feed the statistics of failure, said Euler Hermes, young firms are more likely to file for bankruptcy than older ones.

UP TO 30.000 ENTERPRISE S SAVED

The number of corporate failures could worsen if deteriorating financing conditions or acceleration of output of multiple measures to support enterprises in place since 2008 and have helped thousands of companies through the crisis, says Euler Hermes.

Fiscal stimulus measures have saved between 15,000 and 30,000 businesses in 2009 and 2010, according to estimates by the credit insurer.

Of the 34 billion euros of tax recovery plan off moratoria, 16 billion were recorded against 10 billion euros anticipated by the report that they spent the Court of Accounts, published in July.

SMEs, defined as companies with fewer than 250 employees and less than 50 million euros in turnover, have received 40% of these measures, or 6.4 billion euros, said Euler Hermes.

"To these 6.4 billion euros were added tax and social moratoria estimated between 5 and 10 billion more," added the credit insurer.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 jobs per year in 2009 and 2010 have probably been preserved thanks to the rescue of these firms estimated Euler Hermes.

Lehman Brothers Holdings seeks to amicably resolve a dispute with the New York branch of Societe Generale and hopes to recover at least $ 445 million (339 million euros) if the mutual agreement gets the approval of the court.

Lehman, whose overthrow in September 2008 is the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, has asked a New York court to approve a mutual agreement concerning transactions in derivatives.

In documents filed Monday with the court, Lehman said that putting an end to this conflict could have done with the risks and costs inherent in protracted litigation.

"If amicable settlement is approved, LBSF should recover at least $ 445 million and retain the right to protect the remaining assets (special vehicles) and Vela Libra cons (prosecution) from the other parties involved in transactions, and optimize their chances of recovering potentially up to about 72 million dollars, "said Lehman in these documents.

In addition, Lehman said, the agreement could increase the chances of its subsidiary quickly recover an additional $ 128 million.

In Paris, a spokesman for SocGen declined to comment on it.

On 15 September, the U.S. bank said it had filed a complaint against several financial institutions in order to recover more than three billion dollars, saying she was abused when private bankruptcy two years ago.

The Budget Minister Francois Baroin confirmed Monday that France could reach a deficit of 7.8% of GDP in 2010, against a current forecast of 8%.

"We had rather expected 8% for the year-end (…) The addition of good news (…) on the employment front, the growth figures for the end of the year (…) we can reasonably think that we can fall to 7.8% deficit level at the end of the year, "he said on France 2.

In July, during the fiscal policy debate in parliament, the government was counting on 8%.Before the Sept. 29 presentation by the Council of Ministers of the draft budget law for 2011, Bercy was mentioned figures from 7.9% to 7.8%.

France has pledged to its European partners to lead from a 2011 effort to restore its finances without parallel in the country for at least half a century.

The deficit would thus increase by about 8% in 2010 to 6% in 2011, 4.6% in 2012 and 3% in 2013, a decrease of about 100 billion euros in three years.

Some truck manufacturers leading, including Scania, Volvo, MAN and Daimler, were contacted by the UK competition authorities as part of an investigation into suspected cartel.

The offices of Mercedes-Benz, owned by Daimler, have been inspected as part of the investigation, said a Reuters spokesman for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).One person has been arrested in connection with the case before being released.

In an early edition of its publication Friday, the Financial Times reported Tuesday that the person arrested is the executive director of the commercial division of Mercedes-Benz UK, Ian Jones.

Andreas Renschler, board member and head of Daimler's truck division, told Reuters that the company had no knowledge of any wrongdoing and that it cooperated with the authorities.

"I am not aware of misconduct," said Andreas Renschler."We support the investigation."

A Daimler spokesman confirmed that the offices of Mercedes-Benz in Milton Keynes in central England, had been inspected and said the group was cooperating with investigators.

A spokesman told Reuters MAN has received a request for information from regulators. The Swedish Volvo has confirmed his side its subsidiaries Volvo and Renault Trucks in Great Britain had received letters as part of the investigation.

Swedish Scania has also been contacted by the OFT.

"We received a letter asking us to transmit documents," said Hans-Ake Danielsson, spokeswoman for Scania."But this should be true for all (manufacturers) if they intend to investigate the whole market."

In a statement, the OFT said the investigation was only the beginning and he could not yet determine whether violations of the regulations had been committed.

The increase in industrial production slowed in August in the U.S. and the index measuring manufacturing activity in the New York area has fallen to its lowest level in over a year, according to data released Wednesday.

Industrial production rose 0.2% in August, an increase in line with expectations that marks a slowdown compared to July, during which the production car had been unusually strong.

The Fed also revised the July increase of 0.6% against 1.0% previously announced.

Out of motor vehicles and auto parts, industrial production rose 0.4% in August after rising 0.3% the previous month.

The other statistic of the day also showed an unexpected decline in manufacturing activity in the State of New York.

The index "Empire State" has fallen to 4.14, its lowest level since July 2009, against 7.10 in August while economists polled by Reuters had expected an index up to 8.0.

RELIEF

This index is one of the first monthly indicators to provide an overview of the industrial situation of the United States.

Some economists, however, identify some reasons for hope in the investigation by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York which shows an increase in new orders component and the number of hours worked per week.

"We believe that these figures are consistent with our view that the manufacturing sector is experiencing a growth rate slowed but not stagnant," said Nicholas Tenev, an economist at Barclays Capital.

Investors have largely ignored the publication of these statistics to focus on foreign exchange markets as the dollar rebounded sharply against the yen in Tokyo after an intervention to stop the rise of the yen.

Some analysts have however expressed relief that the index "Empire State" has not fallen below zero, which would have marked a contraction of activity in the industry.

"The Empire index on manufacturing is slightly worse than expected but did not fall below zero, reducing fears of a return to recession," said Jonathan Basile, economist at Credit Suisse .

The Louis Vuitton store in Paris will close one hour earlier to avoid a shortage of inventory during the holiday season, officials said Tuesday in a store brand.

This reflects in the eyes of analysts, a continuation of very strong demand for luxury goods after a brilliant first half already.

The flagship store on the Champs-Elysees, the Avenue Montaigne and the Place Saint-Germain-des-Pres close at 18.00 instead of 19.00.

"We close at 18h in order to replenish stock before Christmas," said a saleswoman in a store Vuitton.

These measures, which should remain in force until the end of November, does not apply to stores located within the Bon Marché, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette.

When questioned, LVMH declined to comment.

The luxury group has however assured some financial analysts that this corresponded to a very high demand and not a problem with its production.

The brand has eleven manufacturing facilities in France.A new plant under construction in the Drôme should be operational in the first half of 2011 and employ about 200 people.

"This is a new indicator of continued very strong demand for the sector and a dynamic far from being confined to one or Emerging Asia rebound in the U.S.," said an analyst paydayloans.

In Europe, despite uncertainties about the evolution of growth and the effects of austerity measures linked to the explosion of public debt, enjoys the luxury of a resilient domestic demand and especially in tourist flows doped the decline of the euro.

Louis Vuitton flagship brand of LVMH's famous monogrammed bags, account for over half operating profit of the giant world of luxury.

Only sold in its stores network, Vuitton products have shown good resistance in the crisis and benefited fully from the upturn in consumption of luxury in the first half.

At the Paris Bourse, the title LVMH trading at 101 euros, up 1.1% to 15.15, outperforming the market unchanged. At this price level, the title sign up 29% since the beginning of the year, compared to a surge of 70% for Hermes and 36% for PPR, which owns Gucci.

The value of trades on valuation multiples of about 18 times its estimated earnings for 2011, against 16 times the industry average for non-Hermes.