US & World News

The trade deficit the U.S. has grown against all odds in June to its highest level since October 2008, due to a decline in exports and imports indicate a slowdown in global demand, according to figures released Thursday by Commerce.

The trade balance posted a deficit of 53.07 billion dollars, while the market expected it to be reduced to 48 billion.

In May, the deficit had risen to 50.83 billion (50.23 billion in the first estimate).

Exports fell 2.3% against -0.5% in May, faster than imports (-0.8% after +2.9% in May).

Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, reported Friday a profit up sharply from April to June, supported by strong crude prices and improved refining margins, which offset the decline in production.

Earnings increased to $ 7.7 billion, or $ 3.85 per share, against 5.4 billion, or $ 2.70 per share a year earlier.

The turnover has meanwhile increased by 30% to register $ 69 billion.

The Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S expected EPS of 3.56 dollars and sales of 71.58 billion dollars.

Barrels of oil equivalent per day, production stood at 2.69 million, compared with 2.75 million products a year earlier.

Chevron set a target to produce an average 2.79 million barrels of oil equivalent in fiscal 2011. These forecasts assumed that the courses would be lower.

French rival Total, for its part announced Friday the results down in the second quarter, affected by maintenance operations and political unrest in Libya, but said his confidence for the second half.

The day before, Exxon Mobil posted a profit below expectations, affected by an activity lower than expected in the refinery.

The title Chevron dropped by around 0.7% by 1430 GMT.

The gold price reached a new record Monday in response to stalled negotiations on the U.S. debt, a few days of the date by which Washington could face a default situation.

The spot price of gold, which hit a peak at 1622.49 dollars an ounce, was up 1.1% to 1,615.74 dollars per ounce thereafter.

The forward price for August delivery gained 16.80 dollars to 1618.30 dollars an ounce, after reaching 1624.30 dollars.

The price of gold, which has reaped record during the last five quarters, is expected at the end of the week's biggest monthly increase since April.

The elected Democrats and Republicans in Congress have failed to agree on a compromise on how to achieve an increase in the ceiling of the debt and decided to work separately on separate projects.

While most investors believe in the conclusion of an agreement, the dollar always yields the field, as well as long-term U.S. bonds, in favor of gold.

"There are ultimately two choices: either you have a monetization of debt, a move towards fiscal consolidation (…). Before we had the last, the market will anticipate the first. It's just an excellent ad for the gold market, "said Nic Brown, an analyst at Natixis.

Consequence of the new wiretapping scandal, Rebekah Brooks resigned from his position as CEO of News International, British subsidiary of News Corp., said Friday the group of Rupert Murdoch, that weakens the case for both sides of the Atlantic.

The Director of the UK arm of News Corp, which is 43 years old, in turn pays the price of illegal wiretapping scandal practiced by News of the World, the weekly tabloid that the ultimate issue was published Sunday.

US-Australian tycoon media, which has already had to abandon its proposed acquisition of the total BSkyB satellite platform, has nevertheless tried to protect her in the storm, to the point of presenting it as his first priority when he arrived Sunday last in London in an attempt to extinguish the fire.

But the situation became untenable: Brooks, considered one of his closest advisors and protected, was editor of News of the World were made when practices denounced the most serious since the beginning of the scandal.

Many journalists who have suddenly lost their jobs due to the closure of NoW claim that the decision to end their week was only intended to protect Brooks.

In the political class, several elected officials, the majority and the opposition demanded his departure. Even the Prime Minister, David Cameron, estimated this week that his resignation was justified."He thinks he is the right decision," responded his spokesman after the announcement of the departure of Brooks.

Friend of the former executive director and her husband, the head of government is itself in trouble in this case to be hired as director of its communication adviser at Downing Street and a former editor of News of the World, Andy Coulson, who has since resigned and been prosecuted.

"WE apologize to the nation"

"My desire to remain on deck has made me a central point in the debate.This diverts the attention to this honest effort we made to solve the problems of the past, "writes Rebekah Brooks in a message to employees of News International.

"Therefore, I resigned to Rupert Murdoch and James," she says before expressing "a deep sense of responsibility towards the people we encountered."

Rebekah Brooks, who spent more than twenty years in the Murdoch press group, will be replaced by Tom Mockridge, who served as CEO of Sky Italia.

"I think Tom is the best person to know the company a bright future," said James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch's son who runs News Corp's activities outside the United States.

"We apologize to the nation for what happened," he also noted the son Murdoch.

The scandal involves accusations of piracy, by News of the World and with the help of private investigators, telephone messaging of thousands of people – the protagonists of news items, celebrities, relatives of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and even Perhaps, the police officials – and bribing police to get scoops.

The investigation began in 2005 with the publication in the News of the World of an article on a knee injury of Prince William.The royal family had then suspected of wiretapping and the police investigation had resulted in the imposition of prison sentences in January 2007, the correspondent in charge of the NoW royal events and a private investigator.

But new revelations have revived the case, which also affects the United States, where the Murdoch group, listed on Wall Street, is located (it has such as Fox, the Wall Street Journal and the tabloid New York Post) .

The FBI said Thursday it was investigating possible hacking of telephone messaging victims of the September 11 attacks.

France has nearly one million over-indebted households. A phenomenon that the government is unable to control. Explanations. Compared to other countries, French law is more protective for borrowers, especially on revolving loans or mortgages.

Indomitable scourge. Over-indebtedness in France grew visibly despite the maelstrom came the legislative framework in recent years. According to the French Federation of Associations Cresus (Regional Chamber of social debt), more than 900,000 households were in serious debt in late 2010. A number expected to reach one million by the end of the year. In the first half 2011, they were some 106 000 to file an application to the debt commission, or 12% more than last year."A record of debt is registered in France every three minutes," says the report, released Friday by the Tribune. On average, this issue amounts to 45,000 euros depending on the Bank of France, an amount much higher than in other European countries. How to explain this phenomenon, however, that policies seem to want to halt at all costs? Explanations.

Why does the debt continues to rise?

The crisis, it still. The causes of debt are found especially the deterioration of the purchasing power of households, followed far behind by the accidents of life (divorce, unemployment etc.). Thus, according to the Cresus, cash loans (telephone, electricity, the consumption credit) to cover the cost of everyday expenses represent 87% of over-indebtedness. The middle classes in particular seem more vulnerable: "They have a very heavy burden.Their kids do not have a scholarship. We must now borrow for education in all schools. It costs money. So they must have access to credit, but very often when they have taken loans and are unable to repay, they réempruntent, "said the site of Europe 1, Jean-Louis Kiehl, president of the Federation of Cresus associations. A situation more delicate than the middle classes generally have no access to welfare or housing benefits. Other at-risk population, the elderly, "who come to the aid of their children, borrow, take funds to help kids. (…) And it creates dramas that are tragic, "complained Jean-Louis Kiehl yet.

There is no legislation that regulates the debt overhang?

Indeed, this is a problem that governments are committed to resolve.Lagarde Law Reform consumer credit is the latest example. Specifically, the law's purpose is to enhance consumer protection by increasing the obligations of banks. Pre-contractual information clear and legible, the prohibition of misleading advertising too good, the evaluation of the creditworthiness of the borrower … since May 1, credit institutions can not afford anything and everything in the granting of credit. These also are exposed to significant fines if they do not respect their commitments. For Cresus However, this reform would be inadequate, too complicated and in some ways impractical. The regional network calls, in particular to end the system of assessing creditworthiness based on the declarative.It also calls for the government to create a positive file listing all the loans taken by individuals, prior to the presidential election. Today Lagarde Law only stipulates the obligation for banks to check the file with payment before granting a loan

What to do?

Strengthen legislation again and again … "Today there are people who have a salary, says Jean-Louis Kiehl, and took credit without that we have checked earlier if they had not already six or seven credits. Banks when are indebted to someone say it was not. " However, if the trend is great to attack only credit institutions to explain these failures, you have to keep right.Compared to other countries already, the French legislation is much more protective for borrowers, especially on revolving credit or mortgage, very few practiced by banks. In addition, some situations are inherently impossible to predict. This applies to the person who borrows money from a funding agency, loses his job, and finds himself in a few months unable to repay his or her loans.

Should we worry about this?

Difficult to answer that question without falling into schizophrenia. From a purely macroeconomic perspective, the level of indebtedness is not indicative of the average debt of the French, in fact much lower than in other European countries (70% against 83% for the euro area).But this is not necessarily a good thing when the economy is doing well: a high debt ratio helps because consumption and therefore growth. The right slider is finally a high level of debt but which allows borrowers to remain solvent. Finally, the tragedy of over-indebtedness in France can be understood as follows: "It is proof that the country become poor, and structural unemployment (long term) may be moving beyond cyclical unemployment. It is in this meaning that these figures are devastating. Redistribution of wealth does not work, "concludes Eric Heyer, an economist at the OFCE.

The Alcoa aluminum companies announced a multiyear contract Friday to around one billion dollars (700 million) by which it will supply the metal to Airbus. EADS

Alcoa will supply the aircraft manufacturer plates and plate alloys from current and advanced, stronger and lighter than conventional metals and composites.

The agreement was reached at the Paris Air Show.

The Alcoa aluminum will be used on most airliners Airbus single-aisle A380 jetliner to.

The action Alcoa earns 1.24% to 15.47 dollars on Wall Street in early trade.

Of France raised its forecast for public debt for the years 2011 to 2014 and confirms that the debt ratio will decline in 2013 and beyond, in a report released Tuesday by the Budget Ministry.

This report pre-policy debate of public finances, the Government confirms its path to reduce the public deficit to 5.7% of GDP end of 2011, 4.6% at end 2012, 3.0% in late 2013 and 2 , 0% in late 2014.

In 2010, the deficit stood at 7.1% after the revision of GDP on a level place in May 2005 by INSEE.

The government plans 30,401 job cuts in the public next year, including 14,000 in Education and about 7,500 in the defense, the continuation of the non-replacement of retiring in two.

"In 2012, the number of civil servants should return to its 1990 levels, or 150,000 less over the term of five years (2007-2012), equivalent to a reduction of 7% of the Public Service the state, "reads the document.

Government debt was 85.4% of GDP end of 2011, 86.9% at end 2012, 86.4% and 84.8% end 2013 end 2014.

The Government previously provided a ratio of 84.6% at end 2011, 86.0% in 2012, 85.6% in 2013 and 84.1% in 2014.

The Government confirms second predict economic growth of 2.0% this year and 2.25% in 2012.

It expects a 2.4% increase in household consumption in 2012 after 1.7% in 2011, a non-financial business investment up 6.7% after 4.7%, exports up 6 , 0% after 7.6% and imports up 5.9% from 7.5% in 2011.

Inflation eases slightly to 1.75% in 2012 from 1.8% this year.

The Italian government has asked Lorenzo Bini Smaghi to resign from the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, as part of a tacit agreement reached between Paris and Rome wants to ensure the accession of Mario Draghi as the monetary institution.

Former Governor of the Bank of Italy, is the only candidate to replace Jean-Claude Trichet, whose term ends in late October, but his ambition could face a refusal by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi to resign.

"There is a formal request from the government to resign Bini Smaghi," he said Thursday at the Press Council President Silvio Berlusconi.

MEPs endorsed Wednesday the appointment of Mario Draghi as President of the ECB, and the Heads of State and Government of the EU must validate definitively at a summit in Brussels on 23 and 24 June

Although there are no rules governing the nationality of the Executive Board of the ECB, several countries in the euro area have indicated they would not accept the presence of two Italian members within the monetary institution.

"To get the consent of France to Mario Draghi, our candidate for the ECB, there must be a French seat on the Executive Board of the ECB, this should happen through the resignation of Bini Smaghi," said the head of Italian government.

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who sits on the Executive Board since 2005 and whose term expires in 2013, declined to comment on the announcement.

"No comment, I do not answer," he told reporters.

In a speech earlier in the day, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi criticized the attempts of political interference in the functioning of the ECB, insisting on the independence of its members.

Last week, the vice-president of the ECB's Vitor Constancio has also considered that there should be no political pressure for the resignation of board members.

Moody's said Tuesday it had placed under surveillance the French bank Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas for a possible deterioration in their notes because of their exposure to the Greek crisis.

In a statement issued in Madrid, the rating agency said that the review will include the long-term debt and deposits.

"The main objective of these three reviews focus on the exposures of these banks to sovereign debt Greek, the Greek private sector and the potential inconsistency between the impact of a possible defect or a possible reorganization and their Greek current rating levels, "said Moody's.

For Credit Agricole SA, the main risk identified by the rating agency has on its Greek subsidiary Emporiki.The analysis is similar in terms of Societe Generale, which has a majority share capital of the Greek bank Geniki.

BNP Paribas has no subsidiary in Greece and its exposure, says Moody's, is "more modest". But it holds a mass "substantial" claims on Greece's debt.

Yves de Chaisemartin should lose the leadership of Altran, the shareholders of the technology consulting company having sided with the largest shareholder, Altrafin Holdings, claiming his departure.

After a stormy meeting, they voted for the election to the board of directors of two new representatives of Altrafin Participations, Philip Hall and Monique Cohen, rejecting the appointment of three independent directors, as proposed by Yves de Chaisemartin.

A board was convened in the wake of the general meeting at which the holding company controlled by Apax Partners is expected to easily obtain the appointment of Philip Hall as CEO, replacing Yves de Chaisemartin.

The investment fund, which has the support of representatives of the two founders of the board of directors, has in fact now six votes out of ten against four out of eight in the previous configuration.

"Game Over", commented after the vote the current CEO of Altran, who refused to bow to calls for the resignation of Altrafin.

NO VERDICT APPEAL

The verdict of shareholders was no appeal in contrast to what could suggest the applause for Yves de Chaisemartin in the room: Phil Hall, Monique Cohen were elected with 91.52% and 83.42% of votes.

With a quorum at 62.61%, the balance of power firmly in favor of playing Altrafin Holdings which owns 19.2% of the capital and 31.2% of the voting rights of society.

At 46, Philip Hall, who spent eight years in consulting before leading international groups such as Vedior and Geoservices, unsurprisingly should take the lead Altran when the company is on the road to recovery.

"I proved in my career that I have made strong developments in the international (…) and I think that is a topic of particular interest that Altran," he said.

Former McKinsey and Accenture, but it will build a reputation in a sector where it has so far not had the opportunity to exercise.

The meeting, held under the supervision of a bailiff in the presence of a large police contingent, led to heated exchanges.

"You wanted me to leave as we do from a chicken thief," shouted Yves de Chaisemartin, accusing Apax Partners will take control of the board of directors.

Altran's boss has defended the record of his five years at the helm of the group, saying the group's activities focus on project management and control policy costs were paid off.

YVES DE CHAISEMARTIN DEFENDS HIS BALANCE

"The strategy worked," he said at the podium, recalling that the group had recorded a double-digit growth of its turnover in the first quarter.

"I can tell you, even if the official turnover of the group's second quarter will be announced at the end of August (…) we are largely in line with these figures, with this growth and it will even accelerated, "he said.

While acknowledging that some things "could have gone faster," he again denounced the methods used by Apax, confessing to have considered to resign for personal reasons.

"We could organize a smooth transition smoothly," he told representatives of Apax, who sat in the front row.

They have defended their decision to want to appoint a new CEO, regretting that their dispute with Yves de Chaisemartin has been focused on the media and judicial fields.

"Despite the tremendous efforts made by the company, it is clear that the results do not go," said Maurice Tchenio, founder of Apax he represents the Board of Altran.

He has set several priorities for Philip Hall: conduct a strategic review by country and by business to better focus human and financial resources, accelerate growth both internally and through acquisitions and improve profitability for the bear "at the best ".

"The goal we have is (…) Altran again become the undisputed leader," he said, recalling that Apax had invested 150 million euros in Altran since his arrival in the capital in 2008 .

At 3:20 p.m., the action of Altran yielded 0.25% to 5.283 euros.Since the beginning of the year, it jumped 62%.