US & World News

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%.

The funds invested by Libya in France should be used to purchase medicines and food aid. A demonstration in support of the rebels Libyan National Transition Council to Benghazi in May 2011.

France has earmarked 259 million dollars, 182 million euros, of Libyan assets that have been available to the National Transitional Council (CNT) for "humanitarian purchases," said Monday the French Ministry of Foreign. "These are funds that belong to the Libyan people" and that "for the purchase of medicines, food products," said CNT's new ambassador in Paris, Mansour Saif al-Nasr at the end of a meeting with the head of French diplomacy Alain Juppe.

France considers that the CNT representative body of the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi, is now the "sole owner of governmental authority" Jamahiriya.Alain Juppe "the caller said that the process of thawing of Libyan funds was successful and has enabled the LSC to provide the sum of $ 259 million. The CNT can now benefit from these funds for humanitarian purchases, in compliance with European regulations, "said a statement from the Quai d'Orsay.

"The special envoy of the CNT was informed that he could move into the premises of the Libyan embassy in Paris", they added the same source. The French "have promised to hand over the keys soon." The embassy "is currently under the protection of the French police," said Mansour Saif al-Nasr, who took office last week in Paris.

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.

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.

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.

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.

YGM Trading distributor plans to acquire European luxury brands to expand its portfolio in China, a promising market that may well become the first in the world within 10 years.

YGM, which already holds licenses on Aquascutum Asia and the French brand Guy Laroche, said Tuesday aimed unlisted companies, European, preferably already in the Asian market.

"We really think our strength is in Asia, and is a growing market," he told Reuters its CEO Shirley Chan.

Immediately after the announcement, the action group YGM – with a market capitalization reached $ 435 million (300.4 million euros) – has jumped from 9.3% to its highest since December.

Distributors and YGM Trinity covet such European brands as increased purchasing power of Chinese consumers grows to turn to foreign luxury brands, while in China soaring rents and labor costs is a challenge major sector development.

YGM, which distributes men's suits, evening dresses and leather goods from a range of brands including French, Charles Jourdan, but Ashworth, and J. Michel ReneLindeberg, said he wanted to expand "more aggressively" in China in coming years.

According to analysts, YGM has an ample cash to engage in acquisitions, or 54.85 million dollars last fiscal year, nearly double the previous year.

Last week, YGM has reported an annual profit increase of 42.4% for the fiscal year ended in late March, to 36 million. Buoyed by strong demand in China, its sales came out up 16.4%.