US & World News

European shares finished higher Monday, with the financial sector, buoyed by speculation of lower interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) and new measures to support banks.

However, markets have reduced their earnings during the afternoon for lack of more precise statements confirming the rumors.

The CAC 40 index finished up 1.75% to 2859.34 points (final closing), while London has been 0.45%, 2.87% Frankfurt, Milan and 3.32% EuroStoxx 50 2.84%.

The index of the banking sector has been 3.57% and 6.42% of the insurers, with an increase of 8.18% for Axa, from 5.44% for Societe Generale and BNP Paribas for 3.99%.

Canal + has breached commitments made at the acquisition of TPS, said Wednesday the Competition Authority, which withdraws the decision to authorize the transaction and places the encrypted string in a difficult position even as the authorities are looking at its stake in the TV division of Bolloré.

Vivendi's subsidiary is accused of several violations by the Authority of the 59 commitments made in 2006, some considered "essential", what prompted the regulator to decide on the first withdrawal of authorization in its history, plus a fine of 30 million euros.

The Authority one month left to the parties concerned to inform him of the operation again, which would be studied on a new basis.

"We will put everything flat.The authorization of 2006 no longer exists.We will discuss again all under the market situation today, "said Bruno Lasserre, President of the Authority, at a press conference.

The regulator could start by redefining the characteristics of the market affected by the operation, by drawing a border more or less clearly between the segments of pay television and free.

With a dominant position in pay TV, Canal + is a relatively small player in the free.

"There is no doubt that we will do a thorough review of this matter," whose outcome is likely to be one of two options: allow the operation by asking for new commitments to Canal +, or give a green light by imposing unilateral orders, said Bruno Lasserre.

Canal +, for its part that it would initiate action against that decision, saying it "is of course not possible to challenge a merger nearly five years."

The pay-TV may request that the State Council an interim order to suspend the regulator's decision, giving the necessary time to the State Council to rule on the merits of the case.

CONCESSIONS

The regulator's decision comes as the acquisition of a 60% of Canal + in the television division of the Bolloré group – which includes the general channel Direct 8 Direct Star and music, as well as advertising – is waiting for the green light authorities.

"Channel is clearly in a dominant position in the pay and instead abused.Now he wants to go in the free, "said one media analyst who declined to be named.

"I do not think that this decision will undermine the 'deal' with the GST or cancel Bolloré, but all this will lead to new commitments by Canal in both the paid and free."

Canal + has struck a blow in early September by announcing the takeover of two DTT channels free of Bolloré, a process seen by experts as a threat to TF1 and M6, and is expected to reshuffle the cards in the French media landscape .

If it is validated, the transaction would enable Canal Plus to have a total of three free channels on DTT counting i> Télé, making par with TF1, owner of NT1 and TMC, and distancing M6, W9 holder.

The subsidiary of Vivendi, however, could be asked of concessions by regulatory authorities, because the regulations up to seven the number of possible frequencies for the TNT group. However, the acquisition of Direct 8 Direct Star and bringing to eight the total channels of Canal +, not counting its draft free channel called Canal20.

Examination of the application and Direct 8 Direct Star will be done separately from that of the GST case, but delays are likely to be concurrent, around six months, said Bruno Lasserre.The Authority, he added, has not received any notification for the time of Canal + Group for the second file.

This increase in tax rates, btisée "Buffett rule", only affect 0.3% of taxpayers, less than 450,000 people. President Barack Obama issued Tuesday, August 2, 2011 text authorizing the raising of the ceiling of U.S. debt.

President Barack Obama will propose Monday to raise taxes on millionaires so that they reach at least the same percentage of their income than that applied to middle-class taxpayers, said Saturday the New York Times.

Citing government officials, the newspaper says Obama will present a draft on this issue during a speech at the White House, he calls the "Rule Buffett", named after the multimillionaire Warren E. Buffet.It was recently pointed out that the richest Americans pay a smaller proportion of their income in federal taxes than middle-income employees.

Profits on investments – such as profits from capital, dividends or premiums paid to investors and holders of risky investments – are taxed less than wages, in fact, explains the New York Times. In addition, those receiving more than 106,800 dollars do not pay Social Security tax.

The newspaper said Obama will not show the tax rate or clear it intends to apply the amount it hoped to achieve through this measure and will not provide further details, these should be included in a program long-term deficit reduction.However, it will call savings of $ 300 billion over ten years of health insurance for the elderly and medical aid to the needy.

A joint committee of Congress is working on a bipartisan agreement on the budget to be presented in late November while the Republican representatives opposed the project of the president to tax the companies in the sectors of oil and gas and individual income above $ 200,000. The tax would only affect 0.3% millonnaires taxpayers, less than 450,000 of the 144 million returns recorded in 2010, according to The New York Times.

Economic growth in Germany this year will be closer to 3% to 2.5%, on Friday said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The statement came after the German banking association BdB on Wednesday cut its forecast 2.8% growth in the country for 2011, while the RWI Institute said that the risk of a recession had increased.

While the EU finance ministers meet Friday in Poland to discuss among others the debt crisis, Merkel reiterated her opposition to Eurobonds and felt that Europe should consider the possibility of intervening in the medium term to States that fail to meet their duty of fiscal consolidation.

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.

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 Paris Bourse falling off again in early trade Thursday, the rating agencies have struck again sovereign debt, and this time, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Around 9:15, the CAC 40 index lost 0.79% to 3763.27 points at the start of the day a national holiday in France that could be very active, stakeholders who have opted for a long weekend.

Moody's warned late Wednesday it may lower the rating of "Aaa" – the best – the United States if President Obama and the Republican opposition failed to agree on raising the federal debt ceiling to time wanted to avoid a default.Discussions between the President and the Republican leaders have been strained Wednesday, and do not seem on the verge of success.

Fitch, for its part, S & P as a month ago, degraded to "CCC" the note of Greece.

The banking and technology are among the largest declines the CAC 40, while Lafarge, which has entered the active phase of sale of its gypsum in Europe and South America, is the only value of the CAC 40 in green (1.69%).

Alcatel-Lucent (-2.44%) and Capgemini (-2.0%) recorded the largest declines in the index.

Company lost 0.75%, 0.49% Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas 0.2% after opening down more than 1.5%.

London was down 0.58% from 0.32% and Frankfurt.

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.

Wall Street opened higher Tuesday, as foreshadowed the future.

The Dow Jones gained 0.4% to 12,138.17 minutes after opening. The Nasdaq Composite Index is 0.4% to 2713.08.

The S & P-500 is 0.45% at 1291.93. The index touched the day before a low of more than two months after pushing important technical thresholds.

The S & P 500 lost 5.5% since its peak reached in early May.Some investors anticipate an increase in volatility in the market and maybe even a downward movement before the stock market stabilizes.

Peter Cardillo (Avalon Partners) said that the threshold of 1,275, but will if pressed, he expects a new wave of releases.

The Exchange expects the speech on the economic situation that has to pass the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday. Officials from the central bank felt disappointing recent statistics and one of them suggested that this could push the institution to postpone its crisis.

Values, Microsoft takes 0.4% to 24.11 dollars.The computer giant announced on Monday evening at the E3 development project of its KINECTS, the motion sensor for its Xbox video game console, which it intends to make a tool to also influence the choice of television channels, of conduct research on the internet or working on platforms like YouTube.