US & World News

Kweku Adoboli was detained after appearing in court on Thursday. He is responsible for the loss of $ 2.3 billion by UBS. Kweku Adoboli in London.

Kweku Adoboli, the trader accused UBS of fraud that cost $ 2.3 billion in the bank, was detained, following his appearance before a London court Thursday. The boy will remain jailed at least until his next hearing on October 20, announced the judge.

One of the counts added was retained by the court in this case for a fraud committed between October 2008 and December 2010. "He is sorry for what happened, beyond what it can express," said his lawyer, Patrick Gibbs. "He went to the people of UBS and told them what he had done. It is now appalled by the magnitude of the consequences of his disastrous miscalculation," he added.

The trader, 31, who appeared Thursday in dark gray suit and blue tie, is suspected of fraudulent transactions within UBS. He was charged and detained last Friday in London. His lawyer did not indicate whether he intended to plead guilty at this point. The gendarmes of financial markets in Switzerland and the UK have also launched independent investigations into the circumstances of the losses incurred by UBS.

Much criticized for his handling Simois since the earthquake and the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Naoto Kan throws in the towel. Naoto Kan waives his salary as prime minister of Japan as the nuclear crisis is not over.

Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said Friday his resignation from the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ, in power) and his departure next week of the government. "Today (Friday), I resigned from my position as party chairman," he told MPs the DPJ. "Once a new president is elected, I will give up right away my prime minister and my government resign."

DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, confirmed that the election of the successor of Naoto Kan will take place Monday morning. The winner will be elected prime minister, probably the next day by Parliament.In Japan, the president of the majority party in the Chamber of Deputies is assured of his appointment to head the government, even with a Senate controlled, as is the case today, by the opposition.

Fifth prime minister in five years, Naoto Kan, 64, elected in June 2010, finally threw in the towel after suffering for months attacks by the Conservative opposition, but also those of his own camp, to manage considered calamitous disaster of March 11. Fell to the lowest in the opinion polls, the leader of the center-left government is criticized for his hesitation and awkwardness face of disaster caused by the massive earthquake and the giant tsunami that devastated the coasts of northeastern Japan and caused a very serious nuclear accident at the plant in Fukushima.

Finance Minister Seiji Maehara to favorite Estates

In early June, Mr.Khan had promised to leave office after the Parliament had passed three bills close to his heart. The law on a supplementary budget for reconstruction in the affected areas was passed in July, and the two other texts, on the issuance of bonds to complete the budget and the development and use of renewable energy were adopted Friday.

"Today, important laws were passed. On June 2, I thought I'd pass the baton to a younger generation. The conditions are all met," he said. Referring to his record, Naoto Kan has acknowledged that there had been "very hard times." "I think I did what I had to do in very difficult circumstances," he added.

Among the favorites to succeed him include former foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, 49, the most popular with the Japanese in the polls, and the current finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, 54, a supporter of increased the consumption tax, currently set at 5%. If elected, Seiji Maehara, who is on the other hand opposed any tax increase, will become the youngest Japanese prime minister since the Second World War.

Brent crude was down more than $ 3 Monday, passing below 106 dollars, while the progress of Libyan rebel suggests a possible resumption of oil exports of the country.

Rebel fighters swept into the night from Sunday to Monday in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, where thousands of people took to the streets deserted by the forces of Muammar Gaddafi who have appeared against little resistance to the insurgents.

At 6:50 GMT, Brent North Sea yielded 3.40 dollars (3.13%) to 105.25 dollars.For his part, U.S. crude gave up about a dollar to 81.18 dollars, also sealed by the gloomy outlook of the global economy.

Before the outbreak of the uprising in Libya, the country, a member of OPEC produced about 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), nearly 2% of world production.

Most of Libyan crude supplied European refineries and disruption of those exports has pushed the price of Brent crude to a peak of two and a half dollars to 127.02 in April.

Full recovery of Libyan production could take years but the rebels said they hoped a quick return to normal. Analysts said a production of one million bpd could be achievable in a few months.

Japan is considering a new intervention on the foreign exchange market to stem the rising yen, which reached a record high Friday against the dollar, the daily Nikkei reported Saturday.

If the yen continues to rise, the Japanese authorities will once again intervene in the market to slow the progression of the yen, the newspaper said without citing its sources.

Faced with the volatility of world markets, investors preferred safe haven on Friday as the yen. The dollar fell below 76.25 yen before rebounding.

Germany and France are convinced, the Tobin tax should be adopted in Europe. Yet critics are numerous, and markets are particularly skeptical.

This time is the right one? For years now that the tax on financial transactions is discussed in Europe, the leaders of the euro area has never been convincing. Tuesday night, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel said they would suggest that the European Union in September of a tax on financial transactions, "an obvious need" according to the German Chancellor. The two leaders did not specify the terms of this measure, but the French Minister of Economy, Baroin, and his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, confirmed to be working earnestly on the subject.The tax is "the subject of extensive work with the German Ministry of Finance," according to Bercy.

Many critics and fuzzy terms

For several months now that the European Commission relaunched the idea of ​​a European tax on financial transactions, which, if it was fixed between 0.01% and 0.001% of the transaction, would yield between 30 and 50 billion euros per year. MEPs had then voted by a large majority (529 for, 127 against). A tax as proposed by the Commission could fund the EU budget to alleviate the contributions of member states.

But this tax, partly designed to limit speculation, is not without its critics. Too easily circumvented, too complicated to implement, too risky …since its development in the late 70's by the economist James Tobin tax on financial transactions is routinely ostracized, especially by its critics assert the impossibility of setting up a different scale than the global . In fact, if the tax does not apply to all financial markets, it may benefit those who do not have adopted and which will recover, de facto, the flow of transactions. A warning given recently by the ECB President, Jean-Claude Trichet, who said that "a tax imposed in Europe and not elsewhere would result in a significant loss of activity for Europe."

London reservations

But this time, Brussels is certain, the project is expected to reduce the risk of outsourcing transactions with a plate large enough to avoid trade-offs between financial products.Arguments that clearly did not echo long-awaited in the British, the most resistant to the device. "The government will continue to conduct discussions with international partners (…) but otherwise the relevant transactions will simply move to countries that do not apply," he said including a spokesman for the UK Treasury Wednesday. But without the agreement of the United Kingdom, impossible to adopt the draft. Even the Berlin admits the tax on financial transactions should apply to the 27 EU members, assured the spokesman for the German government. According to the Irish Minister for Finance, the tax would ultimately very unlikely to achieve unanimity among member states."There will be many objections from countries with strong financial services sector, such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and even Paris," he argued.

Markets do not believe that half

Little appreciated in the early morning by the financial markets, this proposal was eventually discredited quickly by banks and stock traders who were quick to report their skepticism about the project. The association of German cooperative banks BVR, quoted by Reuters, said for example that the tax would fail to restore stability in the markets if it concerned only the euro area. "In the end, the financial sector has not suffered the ad simply because nobody believes," concludes one analyst Saxo Bank.

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).

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.

The U.S. economy created more jobs than expected in July and the unemployment rate fell slightly, according to official statistics released Friday.

Last month, 117,000 non-agricultural jobs were created, according to the Labor Department.

Economists on average had forecast 85,000 jobs created.

Statistics disappointing June (18,000 births) was revised to 46,000.That of May was also revised upwards from 25,000 initially to 53,000.

Overall, the private sector has created 154,000 jobs, against 115,000 expected.

The unemployment rate retreated slightly to 9.1%, while analysts expected the same from one month to the other at 9.2%.

In July, 24,000 manufacturing jobs were created, while 11,000 were expected.

The public sector has in turn eliminated 37,000 jobs, after having destroyed 39,000 in June.

The European Central Bank has sought Thursday to come to the rescue of the euro area by buying government bonds Portuguese and Irish, and providing a new measure of liquidity for banks.

After the decision of the ECB to leave rates unchanged three – the main refinancing rate is maintained at 1.5% – its president Jean-Claude Trichet, said the buyback program obligations of the bank, dormant since March, continued.

Traders reported observing market purchases from the ECB, even though the president was speaking to the press.These speakers discussed including the acquisitions of Portuguese and Irish debt on secondary markets, but not Spanish or Italian debt.

Jean-Claude Trichet suggested the hint that the operation was actually in progress. "I will not be surprised if you were watching before the end of this conference," he said.

Investors were disappointed with the purchase of paper non-Italian and Spanish: the performance gap between the obligation to ten years Spanish and German Bund reference widened to 400 points against 386 points Wednesday closing while spread the obligation Italian / German rose to 392 points, the highest since the introduction of the euro.

"Trichet said in a hurry the recovery of bond purchases.There was no statement from the ECB, but just a vague answer to a question. We can doubt the seriousness of the ECB on this point, "said Holger Schmieding, Bank of Berenberg.

"The ECB may have missed an opportunity to act more convincingly.The key now is to see if the ECB intervenes in the Italian and Spanish bond markets, and to what extent, "he added.

RATES MAY CONTINUE TO MOUNT

Jean-Claude Trichet has acknowledged that the Executive Board of the ECB, unanimous on interest rates and measures of monetary support, was divided on the issue bonds.

"We are not unanimous, but the overwhelming majority of bond buyback operation," he said during his press conference.

At midday, the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso called for increasing the capacity of EFSF.

The ECB was called upon to act against the rapidly deteriorating situation in Spain and Italy, where crises similar to those countries already bailed out would have consequences far more serious.

Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB would conduct an operation for six months to strengthen bank liquidity by providing facilities for short-term financing until at least January 2012.

Many banks Greek, Portuguese and Irish have more access to capital markets, and some in Spain and Italy also depend on the support of the ECB.

"Given the renewed tensions in some financial markets (ECB) has also decided to conduct an additional refinancing operation with a maturity of approximately six months (…)", submissions being paid in full, said Jean-Claude Trichet.

But despite this return mode response to the crisis, the ECB president hinted that interest rates were likely to continue to increase.Central banks in Switzerland and Japan are in contrast to the easing in order to prevent excessive inflation of their currencies.

"We will continue to monitor very closely all developments related to the increasing risks to price stability," said Jean-Claude Trichet, using a formula already used after the rate hike last month.

Before the press conference, economists believed that the use of this phrase would mean another rate hike before the end of the year.

Ford reported a 9% increase in sales of new cars in the U.S. in July, as a percentage, better than General Motors, but worse than Chrysler.

The second U.S. automaker said it had passed 180,865 units last month.

Earlier in the day, General Motors announced a 7.6% increase in sales in July in the United States.

Chrysler shows in turn a 20% increase in sales.

Around 4:35 p.m. GMT, Ford gave 2.43% to 12.05 dollars and GM shares to 27.50 2.03% while the S & P 500 lost 1.07%.