Archive for the ‘business opportunity’ Category

01
Feb

Increase in sales of Ford and Chrysler in the United States, decreased GM

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Chrysler saw its car sales in the U.S. jump 44% in January, thanks to his Jeep, while his great rival General Motors has lost ground. Chrysler sales have far exceeded the expectations of some analysts who had forecast an increase of 35%, confirming the return unlikely the smallest U.S. automaker, three years after depo t balance. By contrast GM, the largest U.S. carmaker, has announced a 6% drop in sales in its home market last month, while Ford Motor saw sales increase by 7% over the same period, supported by the success of its Focus small cars, whose sales rose 60%. So far, January sales are part of an annual rate of 13.7 million for the entire market, exceeding the target of 13.5 million some analysts. These sales are increasing, even as automakers limit the financial incentives, which was their primary strategy before the restructuring of 2009. "The days when we were looking at any price to gain market share is over and most manufacturers are focusing on what is really important, ie on profitability," TrueCare says analyst Jesse Toprak. 11 years average age for GM, which sold 167,962 vehicles, the market was expecting a decline of 9% compared to January 2011, when the group had made offers. The group expects a car market in the United States between 13.5 and 14 million units in 2012, while the American branch of Volkswagen, for its part provides a market of 13.7 million over the year. Aging cars, which are now reaching a record average age of 11, promote the increase of new car sales, U.S. households back on the market after having postponed their purchases during the crisis. Ford, No. 2 in the U.S., sold 136,710 cars, up slightly behind the expectations of some analysts polled by Reuters. VW and Nissan Motor Co also announced an increase in sales in the U.S. market. VW's sales rose 48% to 27,209 vehicles, supported by the arrival of its Passat sedan, and Nissan rose 10.4% to 79,313 units. During a conference call, Jonathan Browning, director of VW in America, estimated that U.S. consumer confidence improved, but not at a steady pace. Chrysler released Wednesday its first annual profit since 1997. The group was No. 4 in sales in the U.S., behind GM, Ford and Toyota. Sales of Toyota in the U.S. rose 7.5% in January to 124,540 units. By 1900 GMT, the GM shares gained 1.54% to 24.39 dollars while Ford lost 0.64% to 12.34 dollars while the S & P 500 advanced 1.15%.

19
Nov

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This former railroad 55 years succeeds Jacques neighbor to the presidency of reformist union.

Louis Philippe, 55, Friday officially took the presidency of the CFTC, at the end of the 51st Congress of the Confederation of Christian, the union announced in a statement. Pascale Cotton, 47, including the issue of pensions specialist, became general secretary of the CFTC and Bernard Sagez treasurer.

Elected for three years, Louis Philippe, a former railroad worker in Alsace, succeeds Jacques Voisin, he was number two. The office has also confederal three Vice-Presidents Jean-Louis Deroussen, Michel and Joseph Thouvenel Coquillion and a deputy secretary-general Pierre Mencas. At this congress, the CFTC voted to maintain its independence and its Christian values ​​despite the law of representation that darkens the horizon.

"The CFTC because it is meaningful and that can provide the link to our society's social cohesion that is lacking becomes itself a credible solution for the workers and their families," argued Louis Philippe ended Congress.

16
Nov

Growth: Berlin outperforms its European neighbors

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Germany has registered a growth of 0.5% of GDP in the third quarter. Much better performance than the average for the euro area (0.2%). However, analysts expect a stagnation or a decline in GDP in the fourth quarter. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Germany has registered a growth of 0.5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter, a better performance than its French neighbor, which attests to the strength of the first European economy to the air hole waiting . Without revive its vitality from the beginning of the year (+1.3% in the first quarter), growth resumed during the summer months, depending on the initial estimate at constant prices and seasonally adjusted, published Tuesday by the Federal Statistical Office Destatis.

05
Nov

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The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed up 1.86% Friday, the Japanese financial sector has benefited, as Wall Street and European stock markets, the prospect of Athens abandoned its proposed referendum on the bailout of the country.

The Nikkei gained 160.98 points to 8,801.40 and the Topix, broader, took 13.44 points (1.82%) to 752.02.

Over the whole week, accusing the two indices, however, a decrease of 2.8% and 2.5%.

The beginning of the week had led to panic after Prime Minister George Papandreou had overtaken everyone by announcing Monday he would submit the bailout of Greece to a referendum.

04
Nov

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A depreciation of 798 million euros spent on Greek sovereign debt held in the portfolio has plunged the quarterly Commerzbank in the red and forced the second German bank to abandon its annual targets.

"We continue to be incurred by our original goal of an operating profit of four billion euros for the group, but given the market environment, we will not be able to reach next year" , said Friday Martin Blessing, CEO of Commerzbank.

In early trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the title of the bank fell by 5.53% to 1.656 euro while the index grouping the European banking stocks gained 0.61%.

Having already reduced its exposure to the most indebted countries in the euro area over 20% to 13 billion euros, a discount of 52% spent on the Greek securities, Commerzbank said it would continue to reduce its portfolios of sovereign debt issued by Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Greece.

The bank charged an operating loss of 855 million euros in the third quarter against a profit of 116 million a year ago and a Reuters consensus of 683 million euros.

The profits generated by the core business of Commerzbank – loans to medium-sized German companies – continued to be substantial, said the bank to 344 million euros.

27
Oct

Europe welcomes the commitments "average" of Italy

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EU leaders welcomed the pledges made rigorous by Silvio Berlusconi. But in Brussels, we expect that the Italian promises with deeds. The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at the European Summit of October 23, 2011

The commitments offered by Italy Wednesday to clean up its finances were judged "satisfactory" with its partners in the euro area, provided they are implemented, but this success was overshadowed by a controversy with Germany. "The EU summit welcomed the commitment of Italy. These ambitious measures to liberalize the economy must be applied," said the President of the European Union Herman Van Rompuy, after a summit of the area euro in Brussels.

"Yes we are happy," confirmed the Head of French State Nicolas Sarkozy during his press conference. "But we expect their achievement," he warned.Silvio Berlusconi has assured of his intention to run. "If we do not respect our commitments, we will no longer credible," he admitted leaving the summit. He promised to present a timetable for the adoption of the measures announced by the Italian Parliament. The head of the Italian government has incurred the wrath of Chancellor Angela Merkel ensuring obtaining apologized for his behavior at the EU summit last Sunday, what curtly denied the spokesman of the Chancellor.

"There was no excuse because there were no grounds to apologize," said Steffen Seibert on his twitter account. When asked about confidence in Silvio Berlusconi, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkorzy had exchanged amused smiles before answering. The film of this scene of 19 seconds was repeatedly broadcast in the media and Italian Silvio Berlusconi had felt humiliated.The conclusions of the detail a series of measures to be implemented in two years to reduce the huge debt of 1,900 billion euros, or 120% of GDP currently to an amount representing 113% of GDP in 2014.

The Italian leader is now under surveillance by the European Union. The Commission is invited "to monitor in detail the measures and monitor their implementation," said Merkel, adding that Rome had committed to provide "all information in detail." A balanced budget will be achieved in 2013 due to austerity measures totaling 60 billion euros by 2014. Italy has pledged to outline a plan to revive growth by 15 November.The retirement age as part of "old age" will be raised to 67 years from 2026 and a plan for disposal of public assets for at least five billion per year will be conducted over three years.

The growth plan aims to liberalize the Italian economy by opening markets to competition and to support business and innovation through tax deductions. The labor market will be reformed including "new rules of dismissals for economic reasons in the employment contracts of indefinite duration." All these commitments are recorded in the summit conclusions.The head of the Italian Government had been put up against the wall Sunday by its European partners, which required firm commitments on reform and a clear timetable for implementation in order to reassure the markets and to ensure that Italy is the next victim of the debt crisis, which would jeopardize the entire euro area.

24
Oct

The French economy contracted in October

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The Markit PMI fell below 50 in October, indicating a contraction in activity. View of the Port of Marseille

The French economy contracted in October, according to the PMI index released Monday by the firm Markit, which fell to the lowest in twenty-nine months, to 46.8 points in October against 50.2 in September. " The French private sector falters and comes into contraction zone at the beginning of the fourth quarter, "said Jack Kennedy, economist at Markit, said in the statement of the firm. "The impact of European debt crisis in the real economy may be felt, especially on trust and the level of demand," said Kennedy.

According to the study, the activity of the French private sector declined for the first time since the summer of 2009 in October.The 50 points, the index has gone down, marks the boundary between phases of expansion and contraction phases of the activity. The decline in the index below this threshold is the result of a sharp decline in activity in the services sector, the highest since 27 months, he said. Mr. Kennedy explained that the growth had so far relied on the services sector and noted that "manufacturing output declined for the third consecutive month."

The economist has estimated that these numbers could result in "a significant quarterly rate of contraction of gross domestic product (in the range of 0.5-0.6%)." "The curve is currently followed by the activity lets consider a recession, unless a quick turnaround." The PMI, compiled from a survey of 750 companies operating in France, is a leading indicator of economic conditions, considered reliable by analysts.The provisional figure released Thursday based on a percentage of responses from about 85%.

18
Oct

A triple threat of France

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Moody's is given three months to determine whether his perspective "stable" on "AAA" tricolor is still justified. The rating agency said that financire the financial strength of the French government has weakened. The Minister of Economy and Finance Baroin presented Wednesday, September 28 in Council ministresle of the state budget for 2012.

The rating agency Moody's Investors Service gave the first Monday penknife to the sacrosanct "AAA" rating of France, announcing that it gave three months to determine whether his perspective "stable" was still justified in view of the deteriorating economic situation."Over the next three months, Moody's will monitor and evaluate the stable outlook (the note of the country) in the light of progress made by the government to implement" the measures announced to reduce the budget deficit, said the agency rating in a statement.

France has currently the highest rating possible from Moody's (a "Aaa"), as from its main rival Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. This high rating allows it to borrow on the markets in very favorable terms to finance its budget deficits. If the prospect of this note should be revised to "negative", this would imply that Moody's would likely reduce the medium-term (usually for a term of three to twelve months).And France would become the new big country, after the United States to lose the precious talisman financially.

The agency is careful to note that this review is part of its annual study on the accounts of France and that it is not – at this stage – a decision on the note country. But it is the first of three major rating agencies and to cast a shadow on the "Aaa" French. Last week, Moody's had yet to confirm the strength of the French note, after the announcement of the restructuring of the bank Dexia.

Keeping the promise of deficit reduction

In addition to the ability of the French government to meet its budget commitments, Moody's says it will consider in its deliberations "new negative developments in the economy or financial markets."In its statement, Moody's notes that the financial strength of the French government, although still very high, "has weakened, as is the case for other countries in the euro area, as the economic and financial crisis in the world has led to a deterioration in its debt ratios, which are now among the lowest rated countries Aaa + + ".

For Moody's, so it is "crucial" for France to maintain "investor confidence in its ability and willingness to deal with unforeseen challenges."Or "France could face a number of challenges in the coming months – such as the need for additional support to other European countries or its own banking system, which could increase so significant commitments that must support the country's budget, "said Moody's.

"The deterioration of debt ratios and the ability to see new potential liabilities are putting pressure on the prospect of stable rating Aaa + + of the country," said the agency. For Moody's, the French government now less room for maneuver in 2008 (…) "during the crisis of" subprime "." The continued commitment to implement economic reform measures and budgetary and visible progress in the goals "for reducing debt" will be important for maintaining the stable outlook "of the note of the country, the agency warns.

15
Oct

Brazil wants a reform of the IMF before injecting capital

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Emerging nations demand that the governance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) be reformed before they inject new capital, said Friday the president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff.

These remarks came as some voices in the G20 countries that the IMF to receive new funds to help Europe in particular.

Brazil is prepared to increase its contribution to the IMF, but he wants in return, emerging economies have more a say.

"Emerging markets may be asked to participate in the capitalization of the Fund (…) But for this they need to be more involved in managing the Fund, "said Dilma Rousseff at an event held in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil.

Last month, Brazil, combined with all other countries of BRIC – Russia, India, China and South Africa – had tried to coordinate support for the euro area.

Brazilian policy makers hope that the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers held in Paris on Friday and Saturday leading to action.

05
Oct

The Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 0.86% at closing

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The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended down 0.86% Wednesday after clearing its initial gains, foreign investors still selling, especially as Fast Retailing, a title traditionally enjoyed, fell sharply after the publication by the distributor disappointing numbers.

The Nikkei lost 73.14 points to 8,382.98 and the Topix, broader, sold 9.93 points (1.35%) to 726.25.

At this level the two indices are close to the lowest reached in March after the earthquake and tsunami.

Fast Retailing finished down 4.03% after announcing that sales on a comparable basis of Uniqlo, knew fell 10.7% year on year in September.

The markets also reacted to the presentation to the United States to the new version of Apple's iPhone.

Softbank and KDDI, which will market the new Apple smartphone, finished in decreases of 4.42% and 0.9%, outweighing the disappointment after the presentation of the new general manager of the Apple brand Tim Cook .