The challenges of a European summit high voltage

Auto Date Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

European stock markets closed sharply higher Friday driven by hopes for concrete decisions for the euro area. Update on four major issues of the summit on Sunday. The European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel in Brussels.

European stock markets have taken the bull by the horns Friday night, driven by renewed optimism for two days of the EU summit must respond to the crisis in the euro area. Paris ended up 2.8%, Frankfurt 3.5%, London 1.9%, 2.8% and Madrid. The eyes are now fixed on Brussels, which is expected to announce concrete steps Sunday to save Greece, prevent contagion of the crisis in fragile countries in the euro area, and reassure the markets.Update on four major issues in this summit.

The loan to Greece is he paid?

Greece has a positive decision of the creditors (IMF, EU, ECB) after passing the test on Wednesday and Thursday of the street. Parliament passed a new law Thursday austerity which provides further wage cuts and layoffs in the setting of 30,000 employees. But if the payment of this sixth installment of the loan of 110 billion seems to be accepted by Brussels, the IMF's involvement is less. The institution is actually more pessimistic than Europe on the development of public finances of the country.

What level of discount for Greece?

The discussions relate "50%" according to a European source. This level imposed on the country's private creditors would erase 67.5 billion euros of Greek debt that will culminate later this year to 357 billion euros (about 162% of GDP).That's a lot more than what was agreed at the Summit of 21 July, the discount was set at the time to 21% of the commitment of private creditors. If this hypothesis is confirmed, this discount will remove 20% of the debt. The Union of Greek Industrialists (SEV) held Friday consequences "dramatic" if this level should be imposed on private creditors. But this statement should not weigh very heavy in view of the issues … However, the whole question is about the ability of Europe to offer a discount to private creditors 'voluntary' of their claims. For without this principle, the credit event could be delivered, which would open the door to bankruptcy of the country.

How much money to recapitalize the banks?

To allow banks to withstand losses on the country's debt, the EU will reassess the capital ratios of European banks to the tune of 9%.For this, the European Banking Authority (EBA) has assessed the need for recapitalization of banks from 80 to 100 billion euros. The question is whether this amount will be enough to reassure the markets knowing that the IMF rather evoked a level of capitalization to 200 billion euros. In all cases, the major European banks were against a forced recapitalization. And warned that, given the difficulties to obtain financing, this would lead them to reduce the size of their balance sheets. In other words, to reduce their lending activity.

How to strengthen the EFSF?

This is where things get complicated. For Paris and Berlin have not yet found agreement on the issue. For France, it would give the banking license to the European Financial Stability (EFSF) to enable it to refinance with the European Central Bank (ECB).Leverage and the ability to fund intervention limited to 440 billion euros that can lift the markets. Paris also wants the ECB to continue to buy bonds fragile as it has done for over a year. But Berlin and the ECB refuses, and instead want to change the Fund's insurer. It would ensure any losses would have to suffer the investors in the bonds of fragile states up to 20 to 30% in case of difficulty in these states to honor their commitments. This idea has received support Friday from 10 major European banks and insurers. But here, in addition to France, Spain and Italy do not agree. Rome and Madrid, this will create a rate difference between bonds and debentures. "No one in a financial crisis, venture to purchase securities that need a crutch," said EU official.This is mainly because of these disagreements has been decided a second peak of the euro area, next Wednesday.

The business results come into play on Wall Street

Auto Date Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Investors weary of the impact of the crisis in the euro area financial markets will have something else to put in their mouths this week: the results of business.

As each "earnings season" quarterly, the aluminum producer Alcoa, which will open the ball, his numbers are expected in the third quarter after the close of Wall Street Tuesday.

Business performance and prospects announcing they are considered an important barometer of the state of the global economy and are also likely to give an indication of the impact of the crisis in the euro area on profits companies.

But, having risen sharply over the whole of last week, Wall Street may have difficulty continuing to rise even if corporate earnings are better than expected.

Technical analysts have said in effect that the moving average of 50 days S & P 500, currently at 1178 points, could represent a significant resistance.

In the past week, the S & P benchmark for fund managers, has gained 2.1% to 1155.46 points, buoyed by the feeling that European leaders are now determined to solve the problems of their banks weakened by the debt crisis.

Nicolas Sarkozy traveled to Berlin on Sunday for talks with Angela Merkel of crisis, with a priority to overcome their differences on how to recapitalize European banks.

"Over the next three weeks, attention will focus on results – even if the situation in Europe will always be present in people's minds," said Ken Polcari, an analyst at ICAP Equities.

In addition to Alcoa, next week will also see the results of PepsiCo, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Mattel.

CONSERVATIVE ANALYST ESTIMATES

In light of the debt crisis of the area, but also signs announcing a slowdown in the global economy, many corporate earnings forecasts were revised downward by analysts in recent months .

"The forecast for the quarter just ended were very conservative so there are chances that companies do at least as well as the consensus," said Marc Pado, technical analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

In terms of macroeconomic indicators, market players expect including the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve, retail sales for the month of September and the feeling of households for the month of October, according to Index Thomson Reuters / University of Michigan.

The latest U.S. statistics have been rather better than expected, which has banished the specter of a return to recession in the United States and contributed to the rebound on Wall Street last week.

But, and this also applies to any positive impression left by the business results, although some indicators of the coming week confirm this trend, the positive effect could be negated if further deterioration of the debt crisis the euro area.

Greece confirms that it will exceed the deficit targets

Auto Date Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Greece missed the deficit targets that were assigned by its international donors for this year and next, according to figures released Sunday by the Greek Ministry of Finance after approval by the Government of the draft budget 2012.

Athens expects the deficit to reach 8.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, while the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had requested that the deficit does not exceed 7 , 6% of GDP.The draft budget projects the deficit will be reduced to 6.8% in 2012, against a target of 6.5%.

"There is money three months before the end of 2011 and the final estimate of a deficit to 8.5% of GDP can be achieved if the state apparatus and the citizens act accordingly," the Ministry in a statement.

"The draft budget will be submitted tomorrow (Monday) in parliament," he says.

Close of trading up with the financial sector

Auto Date Monday, September 26th, 2011

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%.

Wall Street, hesitant, managed to finish up 0.46%

Auto Date Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Wall Street closed higher Wednesday, a new set of economic indicators back feeding the hope that the Federal Reserve gave a new boost to the economy at its policy meeting in September.

But the fact is precisely that economic indicators have generally been disappointing Wall Street has been reluctant in the afternoon and the three major indexes are now spent in the red.

The Dow Jones gained 53.58 points (0.46%) to 11,613.53 points. The S & P 500 is 5.97 points (0.49%) to 1218.89 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index advances 3.35 points (0.13%) to 2579.46 points.

On the month, the Dow Jones loses 4.4%, the S & P gives 5.7% and the Nasdaq was down 6.4%.This is the worst month of the S & P since May 2010.

However, since the beginning of the year, the Dow shows a slight gain of 0.3%.The S & P 500, meanwhile, has still gained almost 9% in seven of the last eight sessions, led by sectors sensitive to the economic cycle.

The minutes of the meeting of the Fed's August 9, released Tuesday, shows that it has proposed a series of actions to support the U.S. economy at its meeting in early August, some members calling for bold action.

At annual meetings of Jackson Hole, held last week, the Fed chairman Ben Bernanke had said she would meet two days in September, instead of originally planned, to reflect on the possibilities of creating a new monetary stimulus.

In terms of statistics, job creation in the private sector in the United States were below expectations in August, according to the results of the monthly ADP released Wednesday. It was created 91,000 jobs in August, while the market was expecting 100,000.

Moreover, the index of purchasing managers in the Chicago area fell in August, slightly less than expected, while falling to the lowest since November 2009.The index published on Wednesday in August falls to 56.5 against 58.8 in July and a consensus on giving 53.5.

In contrast, industrial orders rose 2.4% in July in the United States, more than expected, driven upward by the strength of the transport sector, said Wednesday the Commerce Department.

The fact that, according to sources, the U.S. Department of Justice has hired Wednesday a procedure to block the sale of T-Mobile, U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, AT & T, for reasons of respect for competition weighed on rating during the session.

AT & T lost 3.85% and the S & P Telecommunications 1.63%.

Some values ​​high tech weighed on the Nasdaq, which explains its low gain closure.Apple sold 1.32% and 2.7% Nvidia for example.

Good performance of industry, however, with their S & P gained 0.68%. Caterpillar is 1.3% and 1.1% Honeywell International.

RPT-European banks too dependent on markets

Auto Date Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

European banks including Societe Generale and Dexia still suffer from their bad loans, but also another evil, more discreet: their dependence on debt markets to finance their operations.

Unlike some U.S. banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, which finance a larger share of loans with the deposits of their customers, private banks in Europe generally depend more on their loans in capital markets in the short term.

This exposes them to the whims of investors, may require a sudden interest rates higher for their money, or even remove it from the market place and the banks to thank you for a government bailout.

The sudden increases observed in recent weeks on the rates of short-term loan of some European banks in this respect revived memories of the 2008 financial crisis, when Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapsed in a liquidity shortage .

The recent turmoil highlighted the need for the European banks most vulnerable, to adjust their loan commitments that can actually pay their deposits.

"The European banking system must be redesigned and re-capitalized," said one institutional investor this money markets and based in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid offending customers.

Many banks have sought since the 2008 crisis, to raise their levels of deposits, with some difficulty.

In Europe, public banks and savings banks enjoy tax benefits because they can maintain their stranglehold on the market, said Rocco Huang, a professor at the University of Michigan.

The race then draws customers to higher costs, so that some institutions are turning to overseas, such as the Franco-Belgian bank Dexia, which recently expanded its network in Turkey.

FINANCING RISK

Fears about the financial health of European banks is easily exacerbated by their lack of transparency about their cash reserves, analysts said.Lack of clear data, investors resort to inadequate instruments, such as loan-deposit ratios ("loan-to-deposit ').

Dexia loans represent 2.5 times the sum of its deposits, according to data compiled by Keefe, Bruyette and Woods.For Societe Generale, the ratio "loan-to-deposit" is 1.2.

By comparison, loans JPMorgan use only two-thirds of it are lists of deposits under its customers.

To make up the difference, European banks therefore depend heavily on capital markets, including money market short-term, which can be risky in the current environment of distrust of investors.

The credit default swaps (CDS) – which measure the cost of insurance on default of payment – General Corporation has more than doubled in less than three months, reaching 303 basis points (bps) on August 19 against 138 bps on May 31, according to Markit.

At the same time, the share of the Company generally has lost about 49% of its value.For comparison, the CDS JPMorgan rose 75 bps to 125 bps, and the action has lost 21%.

This movement took place when a strong seller that major U.S. investment funds have withdrawn money market billions of dollars they previously injected in European banks through short-term loans.

In June and July, according to Fitch Ratings, the top ten funds have pulled 70 billion dollars (48.38 billion euros) or 18.4% of the money they had lent to banks Europe.

Finance is increasingly global, many of these funds have explained to need this cash if their investors wanted their money out of fear of failure to pay the United States.

This sudden loss of funding has forced banks to seek their dollars elsewhere, taking their rising borrowing costs in a way that seemed to indicate that they were in need of funding, said Mark Pawlak, strategist and vice president of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Societe Generale then attempted to allay fears about its financial strength by providing investors with details on its balance sheet during a presentation on August 3.

"The bank has no liquidity problems, its activity is healthy and its investment capabilities are intact," he said last weekend Oudéa Frederick, CEO of Societe Generale, in an interview with Journal du Dimanche.

Neither Dexia nor Societe Generale have wished to comment during this analysis.

Vivendi to use favorites and Discovery TVN in Poland

Auto Date Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Vivendi SA and Discovery Communications are among the five groups competing invited to submit an offer for the number two Polish TVN media, said on Tuesday sources close to the situation.

"Discovery and Vivendi have been contacted by ITI (the largest shareholder of DTV)," he told Reuters one person familiar with the discussions. "The transaction is expected in the first quarter of next year."

Another source confirmed this.

Vivendi declined to comment on newspaper articles that were already state of his interest in the Polish group.

DTV has a market capitalization of $ 2 billion (1.4 billion euros).

Wall Street opens higher on good employment figures

Auto Date Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Wall Street opened up Thursday after the publication of figures much better than expected on the employment front.

In early trade, the Dow Jones gained 0.56% to 12,696.48 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 progressed from 0.84% ​​to 1350.51 points while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.81% to 2856.95 points

According to the monthly survey released Thursday ADP, 157,000 jobs were created in the U.S. private sector in June, while economists polled by Reuters had expected only 68,000.

The weekly jobless claims have on the other hand decreased by 14,000 last week to the United States, far more than expected.

Values, NYSE Euronext took 2.27% in the wake of its shareholders vote in favor of the merger with the exchange operator Deutsche Börse.

Amazon progressed by 1.25%, surpassing Apple up 1.12% after a U.S. judge dismissed the Apple brand, which wanted to prevent Amazon.com from using the name "App Store".

The UMP will again discuss the 35 hours

Auto Date Monday, July 4th, 2011

The majority party starts on Tuesday an agreement on social reconstruction. The legal work will again divide the participants. The head of the UMP Jean-Francois Cope (here at a meeting in Paris in March 2011)

Again, waving a red rag to a removal of 35 hours in 2012, the former Minister Herve Novelli has revived a debate that divided the ranks of the UMP and calls into question the system of overtime, a key measure of the review of Nicolas Sarkozy.

As was quick to say so himself very liberal deputy secretary general of the UMP, it is for the time that a proposal of his party, to be discussed Tuesday at its "convention on social reconstruction. " Certainly not a "Presidential arbitration."

But still.Suggesting that the right could "go further" on the foreheads of 35 hours, the voice of the liberal wing of the UMP has seriously shaken his camp. "We propose that working time is part of the negotiation, industry or business, rather than being fixed by law," he said Saturday in the World.

On that front, Hervé Novelli is a repeat offender. Last winter, with the Secretary General of the UMP Jean-Francois Cope, he once launched into the pool for the majority of the pavement removal of the statutory working hours and some of the exemptions from linked to 35 hours.

Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand replied that they had while raising the legal working time would supersede the overtime tax-free and positive effect on purchasing power.Laurent Wauquiez and his colleague had warned against reforms that would "on the back of the middle class."

In January, Nicolas Sarkozy was buried, temporarily, the hatchet by recalling that "35 hours are no longer uniform and mandatory." Above all, he had set two conditions for those who want to permanently remove the card: "Do not touch the purchasing power of employees" and "not to weigh on business competitiveness." For the sake of appeasement, the head of the UMP and his deputy had decided to put their proposal in parentheses.

With less than a year of presidential, they decided to highlight boxes … Just after the opening match of the patron saint of the PS and "lady of 35 hours' Martine Aubry in the primary socialist. To meet the constraints of the fight against deficits, Jean-Francois Cope has pointed out that this time 35 hours costing 12 billion euros per year."We will not take the blow," he said. And to prevent the end of exemptions will increase the cost of labor, he emphasized the need to open "the site of the financing of social protection" by transferring the burden of the end of 35 hours on VAT or CSG , Hervé Novelli dixit.

Despite these precautions, the Elysee them opposite end of the same refusal. "There is no question of removing 35 hours, we want more purchasing power for the French," repeats it in the presidential entourage. "The UMP can say what she wants, if the President decides to stand, it is he and he alone, decide on its program." Elected in 2007 on the promise of being the "president of purchasing power," Nicolas Sarkozy knows – he often reminded – that overtime is one of the few achievements of a delicate balance in this area. Ségolène Royal (PS) has not taken wrong."Reaching the 35 hours (…) it would mean that Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected on the 'work more to earn more', today we would do the" work more to earn less, '"she mocked Monday.

Stop to the decline in unemployment

Auto Date Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

The number of unemployed went back up in May, 0.7%, according to statistics from job center.

The decline in unemployment in France was halted in May, showed statistics released Tuesday by the Ministry of Labour and job center.

The number of job applicants in category A (those who carry on any business during the month) in France rose by 17,700 (+0.7%) last month to $ 2,686,800.

This is the first increase since the beginning of the year. In one year, the number of unemployed in category rose by 0.3%.

By adding the persons engaged in small (B and C), the increase in the number of unemployed reached 1.0%, 39,400 more people in one month, reaching 4,078,500. On an annual basis, this figure represents an increase of 3.8%.