US & World News

Growth in euro area rose more than expected in the first quarter compared to last three months of 2010, according to flash estimates released Friday by Eurostat.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the 17 countries using the euro rose 0.8% between January and March, against 0.3% during the period October to December, when Estonia had not yet joined the area.

The European office of statistics said that the expansion was 2.5% per year in the first quarter, against 2.0% over the previous three months.

Economists polled by Reuters expected GDP growth of 0.6% over the fourth quarter of 2010 and +2.2% annually.

For its part, Barclays Capital has revised its forecast to 1.0% growth from one quarter to another after the good figures released in the morning, especially in Germany and France.

Nissan Motor has released a quarterly operating profit up 7.2% but did not set targets for the year, because of the context of uncertainty surrounding the recovery from the earthquake that struck Japan early March.

Operating income for the second Japanese automaker in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year through March, reached 88.6 billion yen (770 million) while analysts on average expected operating profit of 78.9 billion yen.

Net income totaled 30.8 billion yen over the period, against a loss of 11.6 billion yen a year earlier.

Consequence of the earthquake of March 11 in Japan, the manufacturer is facing cuts in production of parts manufacturers.Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's president, said he expected a return to normal production in Japan in October.

Rival Toyota said Wednesday that production would resume gradually normalize in June, two months earlier than expected.

For the year started in April, which will close in March 2012, a consensus of 16 analysts put on an operating profit of 280 billion yen.

Nissan said in passing its accounts an extraordinary loss of 39.6 billion yen related to the earthquake.

The group will share its forecast for the year prior to the annual general meeting of shareholders, whose date has not yet been set but is usually held in June, said a spokesman.

The title Nissan closed up 1.4% Thursday before these announcements, in a market trending down.

The action of its partner Renault fell 1.5% to 39.865 euros in early morning in the Paris Bourse, in European market also sharply lower.

List of values ​​to follow Tuesday at the Paris Bourse.

* Sanofi announced Tuesday by the U.S. FDA approval of new flu vaccine by intradermal microinjection of Sanofi Pasteur.

* EURAZEO said to have "significant resources" to make acquisitions, even after announcing the purchase in late April of OFI Private Equity, a fund controlled by French side and Macif.

* Atos Origin has confirmed its 2011 targets despite a steeper decline than expected turnover in the first quarter.

* EURO DISNEY reduced its loss and increased its sales in the first half ended March 31, a period traditionally important to the company.

The group also said that no statement of threshold crossing had been made since the beginning of the rise in the stock.

* BNP Paribas will propose Wednesday to proceed late 2011 or early 2012 to succeed Michel Pebereau, naming Baudouin Prot as president of the bank and Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, the current deputy CEO, managing director, according to the website The Financial Times.

* JCDecaux has significantly exceeded its target on the first three months of 2011 by signing a growth of 7.8% of its turnover but it is more cautious for the current quarter assuming an increase of about 4% .

* Safran, Thales – The two French companies specialized in aerospace, defense and security should arrive this summer with a tentative agreement on an exchange of assets in the defense field, wanted by the government, says delegate General Armaments in an interview with Les Echos. Neither Thales nor Safran have to comment on these statements.

* NYSE EURONEXT – The association of medium-sized companies that want MiddleNext NYSE Euronext reimplanted of local people in each of the eight major French cities, just like the old regional stock exchanges, says its CEO in an interview with The Tribune.

The main countries in the euro area, including consideration of rescheduling the repayment of more than half the 110 billion euros in loans to Greece a year ago. In exchange for new austerity measures. An employee of the Commission European ones readjusts the Greek flag on the occasion of the visit of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Brussels March 17, 2010.

The euro resumed Monday morning after colors of the denials of the weekend on a possible exit from Greece to the euro. The European currency was worth 1.4374 dollars against 1.4335 dollars on Friday night.The fact remains that Greece is still very delicate position in a year after calling for international aid.

At a meeting held behind closed doors Friday evening in Luxembourg by the main actors in the monetary union, the issue of additional budgetary efforts to achieve the country to reduce its deficits has been addressed, as well as the means of help longer than expected.

The leader of the finance ministers of the monetary union, Jean-Claude Juncker, has an immediate need for a new program held in the country to redress the public accounts. "We believe that Greece needed a further adjustment program," saidJuncker after a meeting attended by finance ministers of major countries in the Eurozone (Germany, France, Italy, Spain), that of Greece, the president of the European Central Bank and a representative of the European Commission.

Greece has a plan in May 2010 loan of 110 billion euros over three years of Europe and the IMF in exchange for a strict program to reduce its deficit. An EU mission and the IMF is currently in Athens to take stock.

However, the picture is not very encouraging. The Greek public deficit for 2010 has been revised upwards, from 9.4% to 10.5% of GDP, tax revenues do not go because of economic recession but also of tax evasion is still widespread.

In these circumstances it seems unrealistic to think that the country may, as is normally programmed to return borrowed itself in the bond markets next year to finance part of its deficit.

That's why the possibility of supporting the country beyond 2012 is also discussed. "This is a hypothesis that needs work, obviously," said one source close to the talks, because "Greece is in a rather catastrophic."

Debt Rescheduling

To believe in the Greek press, the euro zone countries have also discussed the possibility of new measures to help the country as a rescheduling of part of its debt, amounting to 65 billion euros, and a possible deferral goal of reducing its public deficit between two and four years.

According to the daily Kathimerini, an advanced scenario would be to offer to creditors of Greece interest rates higher long-term in exchange for granting to Athens for a "grace period" of two years during which Greece not pay interest. Officially, however, EU officials have rejected any idea of ​​debt restructuring. The country has already obtained permission to repay over a longer period than expected (7 and a half years instead of three) 110 billion of loans and interest rates revised down.

The mere holding of the meeting in Luxembourg in any event sowed early affollement Friday on the markets, a sign of concern about Greece.Athens and its partners have had to deny any hint of Greece out of EMU, after a German newspaper had mentioned this possibility.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, described Saturday as "provocation" and "imaginary scenario" had been discussed at any time. The European Commission has also rejected this option, ensuring that Friday's game was "not a crisis meeting" on Greece. "

While there was concern about the soaring price of crude oil per barrel has lost 10 dollars in one day on Thursday. Explanations. Traders working in the oil price on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), 1 February 2011

Oil prices continued their slide Friday in New York after plunging nearly 10 dollars a day who had driven under the 100 dollars for the first time since mid-March.

Why oil prices fall?

The drop in oil first reveals that the markets are worried about global growth. Indeed those who govern part of the price of oil today are the financial investors who buy oil as an indicator of the global economy and to hedge against inflation. Or a combination of factors weighing on economic prospects of the second half.In China, authorities are beginning to address the general rise in prices and do not hesitate to rise interest rates. "If they manage to curb inflation, it could slow growth and China will import fewer raw materials. As for investors, they have less need to buy to hedge against inflation," said Emmanuel Fages , economist at Societe Generale CIB. United States, then, "the Fed has hinted that she would leave the QE2 finish in June There will be less cash to invest in risky assets such as commodities," he says.

Finally, the day Thursday was marked by a series of bad indicators such as the strong increase in new jobless claims and the sharp fall in industrial orders in Germany.Already last week, the quarterly GDP figures of the United States were disappointing, investors are beginning to wonder if American consumers are able to pay their gasoline at four dollars a gallon. Moreover, the rise in crude inventories in the United States attests to a decline in gasoline demand.

"All this uncertainty on growth prompted traders to take profits to enjoy the recent boom. The same phenomenon occurred at the same time last year," recalls Guy Maisonnier, an economist at IFP. In fact, since early April, with soaring oil prices slowing down, "investors have felt that there was a risk that it decreased again and preferred to take profits before," says Emmanuel Fages.

What relationship with Jean Claude Trichet's comments?

This is the other trigger.The ECB president has not only kept the key rate on Thursday but, being less concerned about inflation, suggesting he would not raise rates again necessarily in the month of June. Result, the dollar strengthened against the euro, which fell to just over $ 1.45. Now is when the dollar falls as investors buy commodities: firstly, the oil acts as a hedge against the depreciation of the dollar and fears of inflation. On the other hand, since oil is denominated in dollars, cheaper for the importing countries that accept therefore a higher price. With the dollar falling, the reverse is happening.

Is this the end of the oil boom?

Most analysts agree that the decline is a healthy correction after an excessive boom, nearly 30% in one year.Not sure as long as prices continue to slide. A price of Brent between 105 and 110 dollars "should bring back the buyers and limiting the correction (downward)," said Filip Petersson, an analyst at Swedish bank SEB, highlighting the approach of summer, usually marked by major car trips and increased consumption of crude. Everything will depend on whether in fact the two main engines of the boom are still valid, namely the demand from emerging markets and tensions in the Middle East. "In the Middle East, if the troubles are concentrated in Syria is not a major producer of oil, prices would stabilize between 90 and 100 euros, says Guy Maisonnier. But if the situation in Libya is not resolved, barrel prices are likely to slip. " Societe Generale analysts expect in turn that prices stabilize around $ 115 in the coming weeks.

Adidas said Thursday an operating profit for the first quarter of 2011 from 313 million euros and a turnover of 3.273 billion euros, exceeding the expectations of financial analysts polled by Reuters.

They had anticipated for the German sporting goods company operating profit of 283 million euros and sales of 3.01 billion.

Portugal has signed an agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a bailout program for three years, said on Tuesday Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

A source close to the negotiations, the loan that will benefit Portugal in the framework of this program will reach 78 billion euros.

In a statement broadcast by television, Jose Socrates said the terms of the agreement will in Portugal for more time than promised by the government to meet its budget deficit targets.

The European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussed for three weeks with the Portuguese Government the terms of the bailout.

Trigano, the specialist for caravans and motorhomes, accounts nearly 5% Monday after the announcement of the reorganization of its earnings in the first half of fiscal 2011.

Around 10:15, the price stood at 25.3 euros, an increase of 4.45% showing a market capitalization of 534 million euros.The action, which grew 88% last year, still won 7.7% since early 2011.

For the period September 2010 to February 2011, the company achieved an operating profit of 14.7 million euros, against a loss of 0.8 million a year earlier.

Similarly, the net result was positive 9.6 million euros, while it was negative $ 3.2 million in the first half of 2010.

Meanwhile, sales increased from 329.3 to 358,300,000 euros.

Trigano predicted that the increase in sales volume is expected to continue "at the same pace during the second semester and thus generate a significant improvement in results."

Inspired by these performances, Exane raised its price target from 7% to 29 euros in the light of results "well above estimates" and "strong prospects" of the company.

At CM-CIC Securities, Francis Priest observes that "Trigano, for its innovations and quality of its distribution network, taking market share" and that "this trend should continue because of the weakness of many builders which did not to come out of the crisis. " The analyst reiterated his opinion "buy" on value.

Gilbert Dupont also confirmed his opinion "buy" regarding "quality results" exceeded expectations.

Finally, Cheuvreux raised its price target on the action Trigano 28 to 31 euros.