Hot Economic News Releases

Ebay announced Friday that the Court of Appeal of Paris asked to pay LVMH 33 million euros in the American group in the context of infringement case between the two companies.

The online auction site had been sentenced in June 2008 by the Commercial Court of Paris to pay a total of 38.6 million euros to repair luxury group for dissemination and distribution of counterfeit perfume out of approved circuit.

Ebay does not detail the decision of the Court of Appeal but the Chief Executive in France, Yohan Ruso, said in a statement that the injunction against the U.S. group has been "reduced in scope" .

LVMH believes his side that "the principle of responsibility, this decision confirms the decision of 30 June 2008 by the Commercial Court of Paris.

The group emphasizes that the Court condemns eBay to pay $ 5.7 million in damages and interest and open "the possibility for applicants to hire additional remedies in foreign courts for compensation for damage suffered in their territories.

The Commercial Court had held late June 2008 that eBay had committed "serious misconduct by failing in its obligations to ensure that its activities do not generate illegal acts."

Despite the appeal of eBay, the court ordered the provisional enforcement of financial sanctions.

It was the first trial of this magnitude on the sale of branded products on the internet. The court had held at first instance that the auction site could not hide behind the fact that he was only putting in connecting buyers and sellers.

Before LVMH, Hermes also had won a ruling against eBay but for a sum much smaller. The site had been convicted by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Troyes to pay 20,000 euros in damages to luxury goods group in the Rue St. Honore.

Commercial judges had sanctioned the sale of counterfeit goods from eBay imitation leather goods from Louis Vuitton and Dior Couture clothing.They had also sanctioned the sale of authentic fragrances and cosmetics brands Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain, on the ground that LVMH had not chosen this diffuser.

Coface, which announced Monday a further improvement in results due to the recovery of its performance in the insurance authorized by a decrease in claims and believes that its results any credibility to public offerings.

The credit insurer, 100% subsidiary of Natixis, the subject of strategic thinking since last February in BPCE, parent company of Natixis on his future within the banking group.

Commenting on the results of Coface published on Monday its chief executive, Jerome Cazes, said at a press conference that discussions had not been completed and that there was "no urgency".

However, he said "feel that the scenario of a public offerings in 2011 is gaining credibility with the results" the first half.

The credit insurer is considered unlikely scenario of recurrent growth under the policy followed by recovery in the United States and China and the dynamism of world trade, and expects a further improvement in claims in the second half.

"This situation (macroeconomic) can anticipate the second half a further improvement in claims, continued cost control and growth turned positive in its turnover," notes Jerome Cazes.

The company saw its second quarter results continued the recovery started in the last quarter of 2009, with operating income of 31 million euros after a loss of 76 million a year earlier and a positive result of 24 million in the first quarter of year.

PERFORMANCE ASSURANCE

Driven mainly by the insurance, which rebounded thanks to a decline in claims, despite a turnover fell 2% at constant rates to 303 million euros while the ratio claims fell to 59% in the second quarter, against 63% in the first.

Coface's objective is a loss ratio between 45% and 50% in the next 18 months as well as productivity gains three points per year.

Operating income from insurance activities has reached 31 million euros, against a loss of 126 million a year earlier and a positive result of 24 million in the first quarter of 2010.

In services, where sales fell 8% to 65 million euros, operating profit was halved to six million euros while in factoring it increased to 10 million EUR cons has a two million earlier, on sales up sharply (+21% to 29 million euros)

Net profit stood at 20 million euros, against a loss of 37 million a year earlier and a profit of 15 million in the first quarter.

Shareholders' equity improved to 1.311 million euros, signing up 21% from the end of 2009 and 11% from the end of 2007, before the outbreak of the financial crisis, mainly driven by the capital increase occurred at Natixis first quarter.

As part of its strategic plan 2010-2012, after which Coface is a net profit of 250 million euros, the group also wants to become a rating agency that specializes in financial firms.

In response to criticisms of credit insurance during the crisis, the company has introduced a free access to its insured ratings to their clients.

ABN Amro, nationalized by the Netherlands at the height of the crisis, said Thursday that most of the charges related to the integration of Fortis Bank Nederland was behind her while reporting a half year loss of nearly one billion euros.

The bank warned in May it expected to massive losses for the first half of the year due to a very high volume of loads.

It launched in June a new warning, explaining that its losses would be higher still, because of additional charges that Fortis would go for legal reasons.

On Thursday, the number one Dutch asset management and retail banking from third countries, has not yielded much information on the reasons for these provisions, but said they were "connected with international activities conducted in the past. "

The state has spent more than 26 billion euros to buy ABN Amro and support, making this rescue one of the most expensive in the world.Its managing director Gerrit Zalm said it was unlikely that the taxpayer comes one day even.

The owner of the bank said on Thursday he expected that the integration of schools is finalized by the end of 2012 and the government should find a way out for the group between 2013 and 2015.

The CFO Jan van Rutte meanwhile estimated that the costs of integration were mostly gone.The operation, however, should lead the bank to pass a new charge of 400 million euros in the second half.

Current profit stood at 325 million euros during the first half, partly due to higher net income from interest, while the impairment of assets decreased by more than half.

ABN Amro, however, reported a net loss of 968 million euros, including a charge of integration of 481 million euros and 812 million loss on assets sold to Deutsche Bank under any injunctions European competition authorities.

She also had to spend 265 million euros in additional legal expenses.

List of key values to follow Monday on Wall Street.

CAMPBELL SOUP *

The group is considering a power supply of 1.5 billion pounds (2.3 billion dollars) on the activities of Britain's United Biscuits Cookies, reported the Sunday Times.

The U.S. group is not interested in the industry "snacks" of United Biscuits bought in 2006 by Blackstone and PAI Partners and that they intend to sell, according to information published by Reuters last month.

Closing price: 36.64 dollars.

* HEWLETT-PACKARD

* 3PAR

* DELL

Hewlett-Packard said Monday it proposed to acquire the data storage company 3PAR priced at $ 24 per share in cash, competing with the offer made last week by rival Dell.

The proposed HP is 33% larger supply of Dell, which accounted for at the time of its announcement a premium of 87% over the course of 3PAR.

The action of 3PAR blazing 37% in pre-market trade after the announcement of the offer from HP.The action of the computer group yielded 1.0%, however.

Closing Speaker: U.S. $ 39.85

Closing 3PAR: U.S. $ 18.04

Closing Dell: 12.07 dollars

* AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP

The U.S. Federal Reserve plans to reduce approximately 3.6 billion dollars (2.8 billion) credit line open to the insurer, which illustrates the growing confidence of the authorities in the group's ability to do without public support, Bloomberg reported, quoting an informed source project.

In addition, ILFC, the aircraft leasing subsidiary of the group, has paid nearly four billion dollars by the Fed after raising capital from private investors, officials said Sunday close to the matter.

Closing price: 35.17 dollars.

* 3M

The U.S. industrial conglomerate could spend about two billion dollars (1.6 billion) on acquisitions this year, twice more than its previous estimate, said Monday its chief executive in an interview with Reuters.

Closing price: U.S. $ 80.66

* AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS

The share of industrial gases group could grow by 20% within a year if its offer AIRG fails or if it ends at a price less than $ 70, says Barron's in its latest edition.

The offer values currently Airgas to 63.50 dollars per share.

Closing price: 75.01 dollars.

* WASHINGTON POST

After declining in recent weeks, triggered by concerns raised by its Kaplan education subsidiary, the title is outrageously cheap, says Barron's.

Closing price: 347.68 dollars.

U.S. stocks opened lower after the announcement of a sharper than expected slowdown in economic growth in the U.S. in the second quarter.

In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones lost 0.8% or 80.53 points to 10,386 points while the Standard & Poor's 500 index yielded 0.9% or 10.25 points to 1090 points and the composite index the Nasdaq fell by 1.2% or 27.41 points to 2224.54 points.

The U.S. economy slowed sharply in the second quarter at an annualized rate of 2.4% against 3.7% in the first quarter, according to figures published Friday in the first estimate by the Commerce Department. The market was expecting growth of 2.5%.

On the values front, Merck was down 1.6%.The pharmaceutical company has yet reported Friday in quarterly earnings above expectations.

Chevron was down 0.8% despite a profit tripled in the second quarter.

The European Union announces it will appeal the conviction of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on subsidies provided to Airbus.

Airbus and Boeing accuse several years to receive public funding they deem illegitimate.

On 30 June, a panel of WTO experts found some illegal European subsidies provided to Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS, giving due in part to a U.S. complaint filed in 2004.

The appeal against this decision the EU will be filed before a special meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body of WTO, says a source close to the case.

The meeting, which started at 10:00, was convened at the request of the United States in the adoption of the June decision by the panel of experts, which would have forced the EU to end in 90 days to grant British, German and Spanish on the A380.

"This issue is too important to allow misinterpretations Group of Experts (DSB) without challenge," the EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht, in a statement.

The call of the EU must be treated within 90 days, according to WTO rules.

In the day Wednesday, a lawyer for Boeing reported confidence in Boeing regarding this procedure.

"We are confident about the outcome of this appeal, as we were when the U.S. had opened the proceedings," said Robert Novick, a member of the firm WilmerHale.

"We are confident that the outcome of this appeal will be known by the end of the year."

A complaint against the European American aid mechanisms to Boeing would be decided on July 16, but the decision has been postponed to mid-September.

Louis Welsh, CEO of EADS, has held this postponement unfair.

Industrial production increased in the U.S. in June, against all expectations, above-normal seasonal temperatures have boosted the use of air conditioning and therefore the production of electricity, official statistics show the Federal Reserve.

Production was up 0.1% in June while economists and analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an average decline of 0.1%.

The May figure was confirmed at 1.3%.

For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production has emerged up 6.6% yoy, lower than the 7.0% increase recorded during the first three months of the year.

The production sector of utilities rose 2.7%, higher than the Fed said the sharp rise in the use of air conditioning.

Manufacturing output fell for its 0.4%.

The utilization of production capacity has remained stable at 74.1%, but remains below 6.5 points to its average over the period 1972-2009.

The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring these statistics to assess the possible inflationary pressures, which could affect its monetary policy.

The oil has closed lower Wednesday on the physical market in New York after the publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Federal Reserve.

The text of the Fed shows that its members say they have to be ready to take further measures to support the economy if the climate deteriorates.

The contract on August U.S. light crude ended on a down 11 cents, or 0.14%, to 77.04 dollars a barrel.

The Japanese consumer confidence improved for the sixth straight month in June, reaching its highest level in almost three years, a sign of an increase in economic recovery in the archipelago.

The index measuring the sentiment of households, which reflects their views on income and employment, reached 43.5 in June, its highest since September 2007, according to figures released Tuesday by government departments. In May, the index was at 42.8.

The government has revised upwards its opinion on the mood and now believes it is oriented towards improvement.

The index remains below 50, meaning that pessimists still outnumber optimists.

Paris and European stock markets are falling sharply in early trading Monday in the wake of New York and Asian stock markets after U.S. employment figures disappointing trial amid lingering fears about possible negative effects of the crisis debt of the eurozone on the global economy.

Around 9:05, the CAC 40 index, which opened in low of 1.69%, losing 1.61% while the euro hit a four-year low this morning in Asia. The Paris index, which fell 2.86% on Friday, could go to fill the gap opened on 26/05 at 3348.64 and go test area supports 3276, said Alexander the Drogoff, technical analyst at Aurel BGC.

No value of the CAC 40 is up.

London drops 1.16% 0.98% and Frankfurt.The European indices, EuroStoxx 50 Eurofirst 300 lost 1.28% and 1.16%.

The euro remains under pressure and is trading around 1.1947 dollars after hitting a low of 1.1878 to four years. On Friday, he finished at 1.1936, his fall was caused by fears of debt crisis in Hungary.

The bonds of the core countries of the euro area benefited from strong risk aversion. The German Bund yields to 10-year benchmark euro area, relaxes and drops below 2.6% to 2.57% and the return of the French OAT maturing going well under 3%.