US & World News

JCDecaux has significantly exceeded expectations in the third quarter, posting a sales growth almost twice the stated goal, boosted by its transport division and the dynamism of France.

World number one outdoor advertising company in front of the U.S. Clear Channel Outdoor, has for the first time provided a forecast for the full year, saying rely on organic growth of about 5% of its turnover .

"The current economic uncertainties lead us to be cautious," said Chief Executive and Co-CEO Jean-Francois Decaux, in a statement, while the group's growth stood at 6.7% in the first nine months of the year .

Schneider said Thursday lowered its forecast for 2011 operating margin mainly because of a mix more negative than expected in terms of activity and contribution of geographic areas.

The French specialist of electrical equipment said in a statement that it now expects an EBIT margin (earnings before acquisition costs and impact of integration and consolidation of acquisitions in the year 2011) of 14% instead 15% previously forecast.

However, the Group confirms its forecast for organic growth of between 6% and 9% for the year.

"We expect, however, that profitability is impacted beyond the forecast, the combined effect of a mix more negative, due to growth of solutions greater than that of products and geographic mix less favorable, and a stronger inflationary pressures in emerging economies, "said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chief executive, said in the statement.

The turnover of the group reached 5.697 million euros in the third quarter, representing organic growth of 7.7%.

At 9 months, organic growth reached 9.3%, faster than the annual target.

The activity "Power" (38% of sales in Q3) recorded organic growth of 7.6%, "Energy" (21% of sales) increased by 7.3%, "Industry" (19% of sales ) 6.6%, "IT" (15% of sales) of 12.6% and the activity "Buildings" (7% of sales) 3.0%.

The activity remained stable in Western Europe, the main market of the group (31% of sales), while Asia organic growth of 15% and North America 9%.

Emerging markets, which posted growth of 14%, now represent over 40% of the total turnover of Schneider.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the chairman of Nestlé, is sounding the alarm over soaring food prices. It could mean new revolts in poor countries. An Indonesian dried corn grows, without benefit of the inflation of commodity prices. Indonesia is now the largest importer of maize. REUTERS / Sigit Pamungkas (INDONESIA – Tags: BUSINESS FOOD) AGRICULTURE)

The food prices are expected to remain high, which could lead to new hunger riots in developing countries, said President of the Swiss group Nestle in an interview published Friday.

"We have reached a level of food prices substantially higher than we had before. They are expected to stabilize at this level," said Peter Brabeck-Letmathe in this interview with the daily Salzburger Nachrichten.

"When you live in a developing country and we spend 80% of its income on food, we feel bound to it differently from us," where such expenses are around 8%, he argued.

For him, new hunger riots like those that had rocked Africa, Haiti or Indonesia in 2008 are likely to recur. "The situation is similar, it has become the new reality," he said.

Soaring food prices this year is considered one of the reasons that contributed to the "Arab Spring" in North Africa and the Middle East.

The price increase is attributed both to speculation, climate change, increasing population, or to changes in dietary habits in some emerging countries like India, where the middle classes have significantly increased their consumption meat.

For M.Brabeck-Letmathe, the issue of water is also crucial. "We already consume today" too much water, he said, encouraging businesses and consumers to waste less.

Italian energy company Acea said Wednesday its intention to take legal action against EDF regarding the acquisition by the French in 2005, through its affiliate Edison, a majority stake in Edipower.

Acea believes that EDF has acquired illegally participation in conjunction with Aem Milano, now part of the company A2A.

European shares opened sharply higher Tuesday, extending their rally started Friday afternoon, still supported by expectations of further measures to stem the debt crisis in the euro area.

At 9:36, the CAC 40 index advances 2.79% at 2939.25 points after taking 1.75% Monday, with a volatility index down 4.31% to 47.81 points.

According to the U.S. television network CNBC, which cited a European financial responsibility, a special fund could be created through the European Investment Bank to issue bonds and purchase of European sovereign debt.Bonds could also serve as collateral for the ECB, CNBC added.

Austria's Ewald Nowotny, a member of the Governing Council of the ECB, for its part, said at a conference at Harvard University, an increase in the size of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) was likely but would probably not as important as what some people expect, "not the order of a thousand billion" euros.

The "rally" bear markets are more violent, says Frederic Buzare, head of equity management at Dexia Asset Management, which has 85 billion euros of assets under management.The rebound will not last if investors do not get clear action plan to resolve the crisis, he added.

In this type of policy-driven market, it's all about the risk premium. The valuation ratios are no longer relevant, adds the manager.We spend more time reading the statements of leaders (political) to study the balance sheets of companies, he says.

For his part, U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday night that the crisis of European debt was "afraid the world" and that European leaders attacked the problem but not as quickly as needed.

Other major European markets, the London Stock Exchange gained 2.1%, the Frankfurt 3.2% and 2.6% in Milan, while the pan-European index STOXX 50 wins almost 3%.

Bank stocks are still at the top of increases in the CAC 40, with a gain of more than 9% for BNP Paribas, over 8% for Societe Generale and more than 7% for Credit Agricole. Axa takes 7.8%.The index of banks in Europe advance 3.5% /

But all sectors benefiting from the rebound on Tuesday, including cyclic, with a rebound of 4.5% of the index motor and 4.1% of commodities that had posted the weakest performance yesterday.

A barrel of U.S. light crude rose 2.6% to 82.29 dollars and Brent from 1.2% to 105.22 dollars, causing the oil companies and related industries in its wake.

The performance of the German government bond (Bund) and 10 years is around 1.9% against 1.8% the day before closing, while the euro is stable against the greenback around 1.3530 dollar.

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.

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.

The perspective attached to the sovereign rating of the United States could be raised to stable if the bipartisan agreement on reducing the U.S. deficit is being implemented and if the tax cuts of the Bush era are eliminated, said Monday director of sovereign ratings Standard & Poor's.

In an interview with Reuters Insider, David Beers warned that the rating agency would closely monitor whether the U.S. Congress is at what he has committed.

S & P on Friday denied the United States of the note "triple A", giving them now rated AA + coupled with a negative outlook.

David Beers reiterated that there was at least one in three chance that the U.S. sovereign rating is lowered again within 6 to 24 months.

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided on Sunday night if it buys Italian bonds to contain the new onset of fever that gripped the euro area, it was learned from sources close to the institution.

The ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet wants his board of governors to take a final decision on the takeover of Italian paper after the announcements made Friday by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on accelerating reforms to reduce the public deficit Italian, said a source close to the ECB.

The reaction of the ECB is further expected that the clock may be difficult Monday morning in European markets as investors draw conclusions from the lower by Standard & Poor's rating of U.S. sovereign debt to AA +.

According to one source, the Governing Council will meet from 17:00 GMT to make a decision. If he decides to take over Italian bonds, the ECB and central banks in the euro area will come into action on Monday morning at the opening of the markets.

Another source close to the ECB said that the Governing Council could also consider the implementation of emergency measures.It could, for example, provide liquidity to prevent a freeze in money markets.

A third source, also close to the ECB, said that the meeting was postponed in the evening to allow time for governors to analyze the measures that could be announced by Washington after the S & P lowered the debt rating sovereign.

Thursday the ECB has reactivated its share repurchase program of sovereign debt in order to calm soaring interest rates of some countries in the euro area bond markets but has so far bought only small quantities of Irish debt and Portuguese, while speculation is focused on Italy and Spain.

The European press is reluctant Sunday between disbelief and apocalyptic messages after the decision of S & P.

Germany's Welt Am Sonntag as "Der Crash" (the crash) and writes: "Nobody could have foreseen the spectacular crash, and now we need a healthy dose of gallows humor to handle such a situation."

Der Spiegel asked: "U.S. debt, euro crisis, chaos on the stock exchanges: the world will he go bankrupt?".

Also in France, the abatement is required. Le Journal du Dimanche as "The world on the edge of the crash."

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.