US & World News

Wall Street closed higher Wednesday, a new set of economic indicators back feeding the hope that the Federal Reserve gave a new boost to the economy at its policy meeting in September.

But the fact is precisely that economic indicators have generally been disappointing Wall Street has been reluctant in the afternoon and the three major indexes are now spent in the red.

The Dow Jones gained 53.58 points (0.46%) to 11,613.53 points. The S & P 500 is 5.97 points (0.49%) to 1218.89 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index advances 3.35 points (0.13%) to 2579.46 points.

On the month, the Dow Jones loses 4.4%, the S & P gives 5.7% and the Nasdaq was down 6.4%.This is the worst month of the S & P since May 2010.

However, since the beginning of the year, the Dow shows a slight gain of 0.3%.The S & P 500, meanwhile, has still gained almost 9% in seven of the last eight sessions, led by sectors sensitive to the economic cycle.

The minutes of the meeting of the Fed's August 9, released Tuesday, shows that it has proposed a series of actions to support the U.S. economy at its meeting in early August, some members calling for bold action.

At annual meetings of Jackson Hole, held last week, the Fed chairman Ben Bernanke had said she would meet two days in September, instead of originally planned, to reflect on the possibilities of creating a new monetary stimulus.

In terms of statistics, job creation in the private sector in the United States were below expectations in August, according to the results of the monthly ADP released Wednesday. It was created 91,000 jobs in August, while the market was expecting 100,000.

Moreover, the index of purchasing managers in the Chicago area fell in August, slightly less than expected, while falling to the lowest since November 2009.The index published on Wednesday in August falls to 56.5 against 58.8 in July and a consensus on giving 53.5.

In contrast, industrial orders rose 2.4% in July in the United States, more than expected, driven upward by the strength of the transport sector, said Wednesday the Commerce Department.

The fact that, according to sources, the U.S. Department of Justice has hired Wednesday a procedure to block the sale of T-Mobile, U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, AT & T, for reasons of respect for competition weighed on rating during the session.

AT & T lost 3.85% and the S & P Telecommunications 1.63%.

Some values ​​high tech weighed on the Nasdaq, which explains its low gain closure.Apple sold 1.32% and 2.7% Nvidia for example.

Good performance of industry, however, with their S & P gained 0.68%. Caterpillar is 1.3% and 1.1% Honeywell International.

The Russian gas group Gazprom said Tuesday a 42% increase in profits in the first quarter to 478.5 billion rubles (11.5 billion euros).

The markets did not expect that an average increase of 29%.

Revenues increased 38% to 1.317 billion rubles, the gas monopoly of European customers increased their purchases.

Analysts polled by Reuters on average expected a turnover of 1.259 billion rubles.

In a statement, Gazprom said its results were driven by an average increase of 21% of its gas tariffs from one year to another, as well as its diversification into energy.

The total gas sales rose 10% in the first quarter to 178.3 billion cubic meters.Sales in Russia remained stable at 102.5 billion m3, but exports to Europe rose by 8.4% to 46.6 billion m3, and those toward the former republics of the Soviet Union jumped 70.5% to 29 billion m3.

The rumor of a deterioration in the rating of France has prompted a new collapse of the entire stock market. "This is completely untrue," says the entourage of Baroin. View of the Ministry of Economy and Finance at Bercy.

Bercy has "formally" denied rumors Wednesday of degradation of the French debt rating by a rating agency that led to a new collapse of the entire stock market. "These rumors are totally unfounded and the three agencies Standard and Poor's, Fitch and Moody's have confirmed that there was no risk of degradation," it was stated in the entourage of the Minister of Finance Baroin.

Rating agencies Moody's Investors Service Inc.., Standard and Poor's Corp.. Fitch Ratings and have in fact all three confirmed Wednesday the sovereign debt rating of triple A with a stable outlook they attribute to France.Fitch confirmed the note on May 31 and S & P, December 23. Moody's does not usually confirms his notes.

"It's totally false", it was stressed the same source, when asked about the rumors, which also claimed that this is why French President Nicolas Sarkozy interrupted his holiday to hold a crisis meeting at the Elysee Palace . After the meeting, the Head of State said that new measures to reduce the deficit will be announced on August 24.

European shares are down sharply divided Wednesday, two hours before the close, led by falling bank stocks as a result of new concerns fueled also by the situation in Greece and the decline of Wall Street opening. The New York Stock Exchange opened sharply down Wednesday also unable to continue the strong rebound yesterday.In Paris the CAC-40 plunged almost 5% hit by bank stocks.

Danone on Thursday posted first-half results up record results thanks to its water division, and affirmed all its annual targets despite an environment that remains challenging.

The action of giant agribusiness, the first major global industry to publish its interim results, however, decline, affected by lower volumes in the fresh dairy products linked to the sharp rise in prices.

Around 24:30, the title lost 2.2% to 49.55 euros while the European sector index yielded 0.43% and the CAC 40 1.58%.The action Danone gained 5.5% since the beginning of the year while the sector index is stable.

"The market punishes the wrong way lower volumes in the fresh dairy products," said Pierre Tegner, Oddo Securities, noting the second quarter, Danone has broken the record he had established the first in terms of organic growth and that the margin is higher than expected.

The analyst also welcomes "good control" of Danone in managing its costs.

In 2011, Danone still expects an increase in comparable data, from 6% to 8% in sales and about 20 basis points to its current operating margin.

Asia has 21% in Q2

The group expects an increase in total costs for raw materials and packaging from 6% to 9% on average in 2011, with growth strongest in the first half due to the bases of comparison with 2010.

Thanks to major efforts to improve productivity, the company, whose brands range from yogurt Actimel Evian waters, claims to have protected its margins (-23 bps), in line with its objectives.

During a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Andre Terisse said that most of the price increases had been passed in the first half, during which the average increase was 2%.

He estimated that prices of raw materials had probably reached their "peak" in the first half.

Danone is on track to achieve its goal of 500 million in productivity gains in 2011 as he made half way in the first half, he said.

The group, which last year put his hand on Unimilk, the No. 2 Russian dairy products, ensures that their venture is the appointment of its objectives and that the integration teams will be finalized in late 2011.

Pierre-André Terisse said that in 2011 the group would focus on improving margins Unimilk and not its volume.

Current operating income rose 6.9% like in the first half, to 1.396 million euros (Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S 1384.2 million), while net income rose 3.4% to 870 million (consensus of 894 million).

Turnover amounted to 9.728 million (+8.7% like), against a consensus of 9,740.8 million (+8.7% on a comparable basis).

In the second quarter, the division "Water" has seen its sales jump by 18.9% against 5.5% in the "dairy fresh" where volumes were down 0.2%.

In the "child nutrition" the increase was 9.6% and 8.7% in the "medical nutrition."

During this period, sales of Danone rose 20.8% in Asia, against a gain of just 4.2% in Europe.

The major European stock markets closed Friday up, welcoming the new plan of aid to Greece, even if the solution found yesterday by European leaders do not mean the end of the crisis.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.52% at 1108.90.

At the Paris Bourse, the CAC 40 was 0.68% (25.95 points) to 3842.70 points.For the week, the index gained 3.12% and returns to the green on his performance since the beginning of the year (1%).

In Frankfurt the Dax finished 0.50% progress to 7326.39 points, while the FTSE in London has been 0.60% to 5935.02.

Despite significant gains banks Greek, European financial stocks have returned mid-afternoon to end the trading session in negative territory as investors preferred to take profits before the weekend on fears related to the execution of Greek aid plan.

Stoxx index of bank stocks in Europe dropped 0.18% against a gain of 0.8% at midday.

UniCredit has lost 4.56%, 2.83% Intesa Sanpaolo, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas 0.41% 0.21%, compared to clinching more than 1% in mid-session.

The default situation declared by the rating agencies in Greece could also have consequences difficult to predict.The agency Fitch Ratings has already announced it will place the issuer credit rating of Greece in partial default on remand.

The euro meanwhile back on the foreign exchange market after surging the day before at a high of 1.4440 dollars in two weeks, investors dissecting the details of the plan of aid to Greece to assess its ability to prevent a contagion of debt to other countries using the euro.

German Bunds are in turn less desirable than bonds Greek, Irish and Portuguese, which rose in response to the new plan to help Greece.

The yields of the Greek loan to 10 years have gone below 15%, boosting their decline started the day before.Yields paper Greek neighborhood of two years now 28.2%, while they still exceeded 40% at the eve of the euro area.

A group of six U.S. senators, Democrat and Republican, introduced Tuesday a new plan for deficit reduction in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Capitol

A group of six U.S. senators, Democrats and Republicans, called the "gang of six" presented Tuesday in closed session before other elected a new plan to try to find a solution to the crisis related to raising the debt ceiling . According to a source familiar with the matter, the plan includes spending cuts of 3600-3700 billion over 10 years. It would include increased revenues from the federal government, not by raising taxes – something the Republicans are viscerally opposed – but by reforming the tax system. The same source, the proposal also attacked the Medicare (health insurance for the elderly), dear to the Democrats.

The new plan was presented to fifty elected as one of six senators, Republican Tom Coburn, who had left the group in May announced his return Tuesday. The group is also composed of Democrats Kent Conrad, Mark Warner, Richard Durbin and Republican Saxby Chambliss and Mike Crapo. The plan of the "Gang of Six" is inspired by findings made in 2010, a special parliamentary committee. The recommendations of the commission, established by U.S. President Barack Obama, have never been approved in Congress. The commission proposed a reduction of 4,000 billion over 10 years, with cuts in social programs.

According to Senator Conrad, the reaction of elected officials present at the presentation Tuesday morning was "extremely positive"."We promised to come back and listen to their reactions over the next 24 hours and decide what to do," he told reporters. Side House, elected officials were preparing to vote Tuesday on the latest Republican proposal, entitled "Reduce, cap, balance." This radical plan of budget cuts, which contains an amendment to the Constitution for a budget to "balance" should not get through the Senate.

Peabody Energy has teamed up with ArcelorMittal to submit an offer of $ 5 billion on the Australian Macarthur Coal, the world leader of pulverized coal.

A 15.50 Australian dollars per share, the offer exceeds 40% of the closing price on Monday (11.08 Australian dollars).

ArcelorMittal and Peabody confirmed Monday mid-day for submitting a joint bid to the board of Macarthur.

The coal market is currently very healthy, especially because of the increasing demand for raw steel.

Macarthur has been the subject of a takeover battle between candidates in 2010 and had then agreed to enter into discussions with Peabody that had made the best offer at 16 Australian dollars per share.

The talks had ended when Peabody had lowered its offer, due to the government's decision to impose stronger Australian industries of coal and iron ore.

For its part, ArcelorMittal is already the second largest shareholder of Macarthur, with a 16.2% stake.

The largest shareholder, Citic Resources said it would consider joint bid ArcelorMittal-Peabody, which is subject to the approval of regulatory authorities and the meeting of 50.01% stake in Macarthur.

"The board makes no recommendation on the proposal, but will seek to discuss with ArcelorMittal Peabody and the issues of prices and conditions," Macarthur said in a statement.

Household consumption of goods decreased by 0.8% in May, its third consecutive month of decline, after a revised 1.4% decline in April, show statistics released Thursday by INSEE.

Eighteen economists surveyed by Reuters on average expected a 0.9% increase in consumption after the 1.8% decline initially announced in April.Their estimates ranged from -1.0% to 1.6%.

Spending on durable goods, which dropped by 6.4% in April, fell 0.6% more last month, due to a less pronounced decline in purchases of motor vehicles (-1.8% after – 10.3%).

Purchases of textiles and leather, they have decreased by 4.4% in May after rising 1.6% in April.

Consumer spending in other manufactured goods were down 1.3% in May after rising 0.3% in April.

As for food purchases, they stand down 1.7% from 1.4% the previous month.

At the same time the energy consumption rebounded in May (3.4% after -3.4%)."After a particularly mild weather in April, limited heating costs, household consumption and found a normal level in May," INSEE said in a statement.

The number of unemployed went back up in May, 0.7%, according to statistics from job center.

The decline in unemployment in France was halted in May, showed statistics released Tuesday by the Ministry of Labour and job center.

The number of job applicants in category A (those who carry on any business during the month) in France rose by 17,700 (+0.7%) last month to $ 2,686,800.

This is the first increase since the beginning of the year. In one year, the number of unemployed in category rose by 0.3%.

By adding the persons engaged in small (B and C), the increase in the number of unemployed reached 1.0%, 39,400 more people in one month, reaching 4,078,500. On an annual basis, this figure represents an increase of 3.8%.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in Ireland increased by 1.3% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months, according to official figures released on Thursday, well above expectations of analysts who had forecast 0.8%.

However the gross national product (GNP), considered by some economists as a more accurate indicator of the state of the Irish economy, fell by 4.3% over the same period, while a stagnation was expected.

According to the Central Statistics Office, GDP rose 0.1% year on year between January and March, while GNP decreased by 0.9%.

The figures in the fourth quarter of 2010 were significantly revised, with a decline of 1.4% a quarter over quarter for GDP, against 1.6% previously, and an increase of 0.3% GNP (2.0% initially).

For the full year 2010, the Irish economy has experienced a contraction of 0.4% against 1.0% previously announced.