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Despite the recession and banking sector problems, the progress made by Italy makes her a role model, according to the institution. Mario Monti.

The Director of the IMF's European Department on Wednesday welcomed in Rome "progress" made in economic reforms by the Italian Mario Monti, saying they were a "model" for Europe.

"Progress" made by Mr Monti on the last six months is "truly a model compared to progress in Europe," said Reza Moghadam, during a press conference at the end of the mission Annual Fund in Italy. According to him, "Italy is on track and has made remarkable progress over the last six months."

"It is not easy to remember that Italy was facing a very difficult and dangerous," he said, but added: "but the work is not finished. It takes more effort to encourage growth. "For his part Mr Monti also said that" much remains to be done to resolve the backlog for years and the structural weaknesses "." This is not the time of guard down, "he said

. Monti took the head of a technical government last November, replacing Silvio Berlusconi. He imposed a severe austerity to the Italians to avoid the financial strangulation in the country, awash in a huge debt. It also adopted a plan to liberalize the economy and a proposed market reform Labour, currently before Parliament

. However, the implementation of austerity measures has a significant cost: they have accentuated the recession and, by extension, the difficulties banks

.

Holcim has suggested Wednesday that he would again increase its prices, a severe winter in Europe charged on net profit in the first quarter.

Sales of cement, concrete and asphalt decreased by double digit percentages in Europe and the net profit after minority interests stood at 10 million Swiss francs (8.32 million euros), far from the 41.2 million expected by analysts polled by Reuters.

Revenues increased 2.2% to 4.76 billion Swiss francs, compared with 4.718 billion consensus giving.

"The harsh winter has resulted in numerous decisions of sites in Western and Eastern Europe in February," said the second world cement in a statement. 

Cement producers, firms in a particularly energy intensive, face higher costs of fuel and electricity.

Holcim said it could offset the rising costs by raising prices, but Africa and the Middle East. As Lafarge, he observed that the costs of energy and transport seemed to stabilize.

European competitors Holcim, Lafarge and whose German HeidelbergCement, have warned that they would fall under their prices to offset rising energy costs. Holcim said it reverberate cost increases caused by inflation.

The Swiss group, which generates more than half of its turnover in emerging markets, expects increased demand for building materials in Asia, Latin America, Russia and Azerbaijan this year. It also provides an increase in demand in North America.

Spanish industrial production fell by 7.5% yoy in March, down significantly stronger than expected, according to data released Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Economists had expected a decline of 5.4% after falling 5.3% in February (revised).

The economic difficulties of Spain, the fourth largest economy in the euro area, recent weeks have given the debt crisis on the front of the stage.

The Spanish economy, sick man of Europe, is facing a "crisis of immense proportions", a minister said Friday, while the unemployment rate reached its highest level in twenty years and that Standard & Poor's lowered the rating by two notches of the sovereign debt.

The Spanish unemployment rate, one of the highest in the world, jumped to 24% in the first quarter, its highest level since the early 1990s. Retail sales fell for their part, for the 21st consecutive month, as the country is experiencing its second recession in three years.

"The numbers are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government (…) Spain is in a crisis of immense proportions," said the Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia -Margallo, during a radio interview.

The unemployment rate in Spain was 22.9% in the last quarter of 2011. Half of young people are unemployed and the numbers are unlikely to improve anytime soon, while fiscal savings of some 42 billion euros this year while undermining hope for growth for the country.

Standard & Poor's lowered the rating Thursday of the Spanish sovereign debt to "A" to "BBB +" with negative implications, citing the risk of fiscal slippages may be more important than expected.

The rating agency considers particularly likely that Madrid has to provide support to its banking sector.

Lowering S & P sovereign rating instead of Spain at the same level as that of Italy, to "adequate capacity to pay" – is a few notches away from the class speculative. From Fitch and Moody's, Spain has however always a "strong capacity to pay".

BANKS SICK

Friday morning at the Madrid Stock Exchange, banking stocks fell 3.38% while the risk premium of Spanish debt, measured by the yield spread between government bonds ; ten years, has jumped 10 basis points to 434 points.

"This is a very difficult situation. I do not think banks are trapped, but we need the government to quickly find out how they intend to do it for them, "said Gilles Moec, economist for Deutsche Bank ..

……. Spanish banks may require more public funds, said in the morning, the Secretary of State for Fernando Jimenez Latorre economy, while excluding the use of EU funds

. The Spanish government also plans to create a structure defeasance for banks' toxic real estate assets, three rounds of cleaning and consolidation of the country's financial sector was not enough to reassure investors of its soundness. 

Madrid has already come to the aid of several banks devastated by the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008 and investors feared, given the current economic contraction, a new wave of de defects credit which further weaken the country's financial sector.

The contraction of the economy also means that Spain is unlikely to achieve its fiscal targets this year despite a severe austerity.

While in Europe are increasing calls for measures to support growth, the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy reiterated its willingness to adhere to fiscal consolidation planned for the country. 

His government expects that the reforms of labor market flexibility adopted in the first quarter produce results next year. For now, many companies have primarily benefited the new rules to lay off more.

The Netherlands Tuesday awarded two successful bond lines that allowed them to raise two billion euros after the political crisis by the resignation of the government.

The agency of the Dutch public debt was between 1.5 billion and 2.5 billion euros.

"This is a good result under the circumstances. This is presented poorly yesterday but they managed to put it all in minutes, "said a trader in the bond market, who requested anonymity ….

….. "Place one billion on the line long term is particularly good sign," he said

. The yield on

line maturing in 2014 stood at 0.523%, down from 0.664% to yield the secondary market Monday ……. The yield on

.. line due in 2037 stood at 2.782% against 2.773% in the secondary market the day before

.

"Many investors believe that the Netherlands has solid fundamentals frankly. Yields are high but traders are satisfied, "said Lyn Graham Taylor, bond strategist at Rabobank

.

List of stocks covered Monday to the Paris Bourse, where the CAC 40 index is back above the 3,200 points (1.05% to 3222.70 points at 12:26), after its withdrawal 3.94% suffered last week, supported particularly by the energy sector.

* However, banking stocks suffer from persistent market fears about the financial position of the peripheral countries of the euro area, the performance of Spanish debt in ten years being spent at above 6% for the first time since the start of the year.

BNP PARIBAS leaves 3.55%, largest drop in the CAC 40, followed by Crédit Agricole (-3.28%) and SOCIETE GENERALE (-2.5%). The index Stoxx European banking yields 0.93%. ACC off, DEXIA (-11.54%) shows the largest decrease of the SBF 120 and Natixis were down 2.43%.

In addition, Citigroup cut its price targets on several French banking stocks.

* ENERGY SECTOR's is up at European level (+1.6%) while VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS jumped 18.49%, two Chinese groups planning to launch a takeover offer for the Danish manufacturer wind turbine, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Technip (3.83%) signed the largest increase in the CAC 40, MAUREL ET PROM was up 2.76%, 2.55% of CGG VERITAS and TOTAL of 1.96%.

GDF SUEZ wins 3.06%. The group announced the acquisition of 30% International Power (0.73%) that did not already own for 6.8 billion pounds (8.3 billion euros). He announced in the wake that it was within its target of recurring net profit CEOs for 2012 at between 3.7 and 4.2 billion euros, against 3.5 to 4 billion previously.

* DOLLAR VALUES are oriented correctly, the euro had hit a two-month low against the greenback, investors reducing their exposure to the euro area. EADS rose 2.7%, 1.29% and STMICROELECTRONICS ZODIAC AEROSPACE of 3.42% (largest increase in the SBF 120).

* Illustrating the continuing investor concerns for the situation in Europe, defensive stocks are sought. Air Liquide wins 1.96%, 1.5% or Pernod Ricard ESSILOR 1.38%.

* RENAUL PSA and win respectively 1.99% and 1.34%. According to trade publication The Letter VN Auto K7, orders for new cars in France saw their slow decline in March.

* INTERNATIONAL GECI remains suspended until Tuesday. The aerospace engineering company said it had been informed of the lapse of a memorandum of agreement to finance the project of French aircraft Skylander, and said it was exploring new ways of financing.

The project Skylander is grossly under-funded in its current setup and would require tens of millions of euros of additional investment, according to an expert report that Reuters was able to consult.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended down 0.81% on Friday, falling for the fourth straight session and recording its worst week in eight months, amid concerns facing renewed ; the European crisis of debt and lack of signs of new measures to support activity in the United States.

Volumes were thin due to the closure of many markets around the world for the Easter holiday and investors were cautious while awaiting the monthly U.S. unemployment figures.

The Nikkei lost 79.16 points to 9688.45 points. The Topix broader, yielded 6.86 points (0.82%) to 825.71 points.

"The very optimistic view of the U.S. economy has already been considered by the markets. We can not expect further monetary easing by the Fed, "said Ryota Sakagami for Nikko Securities SMBC

." On the other hand, we see the uncertainty on the front of the European crisis of debt, and general elections in Greece and the presidential election in France will only fuel the uncertainty. "

Ryota Sakagama said he expected that the Nikkei is maintained above 9,000 points, but that its correction will continue until the end of the month or until mid-May, when Japanese companies unveil their profit forecasts for the current year

…… At values ​​…, Toyota Motor lost 2.02% on profit taking. The action is up over 30% since the beginning of the year.

The stronger yen against the euro also weighed on exporters. Canon sold 1.03%, Panasonic and Sony 1.79% 2.04%.

The country now has 4.7 million jobless. In Andalusia, the region most affected, the unemployment rate exceeds 30%. Spanish unemployed line up at an employment office in Madrid.

This is a sad record that just defeated the Spanish economy. The number of unemployed in Spain has reached the end of March to 4.75 million people. This is the highest figure since the first release of these monthly statistics in 1996.

This figure of 4,750,867 job seekers also marks the eighth consecutive month of increase in the number of unemployed. And for good reason: without its economic engine, build, Spain is no longer able to create enough jobs. The short-term economic prospects are particularly bleak for this country that has returned to recession in the first quarter of 2012. After a low growth of 0.7% in 2011, the government anticipates a decline of 1.7% of GDP over the whole of 2012.  

Today, the Spanish unemployment rate is one of the highest in the OECD. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the rate was 22.85% of the workforce in late 2011. According to figures from the EU statistics office, Eurostat, which uses a different methodology, Spain posted an unemployment rate of 23.6% in février.En Andalusia, the region most affected country, the rate Unemployment exceeds 30% even.

The Spanish Government, these figures justify the ongoing reform of the labor market, even if it is painful. "It is necessary to recall the importance to have a framework of trust and flexibility for businesses, as one established by the labor reform," the Ministry of Employment in a statement.

But the public does not hear it that way. A sea of ​​people marched through the streets of Spain on March 29, after a general strike against the labor reform, in force since February. According to the unions, the reform will only exacerbate the scourge of unemployment, while the government itself provides for the destruction of 630,000 jobs in 2012 and unemployment at 24.3% at year end.

Labor reform is also involved along with the austerity plan intended to reduce the public deficit, which makes it even more unpopular. The government must reduce to 5.3% of GDP in the year-end deficit, after a slip up 8.51% in 2011, at great cost benefits. To do this, the government must present to Parliament a budget Tuesday of unprecedented stringency, providing 27.3 billion euros in savings.

French consumer confidence is still very low, but gains a point in February, according to figures from INSEE. The morale of French households increased very slightly.

French consumer confidence has improved slightly in February. The indicator that measures it wins a point from January to climb to 82, a continued low level, INSEE announced Friday.

This is the second consecutive month of rise of this index, which had declined in December to its lowest level since December 2008, 80 points (against a long-term average of 100).

The French are less pessimistic because of a slight improvement in their moral outlook on their personal finances (2 points) and the overall standard of living in France (4 points).  

Households are also slightly less pessimistic about the evolution of unemployment (down one point in the index, 64) even though they "are almost as many as in January to anticipate an increase", said INSEE in a statement.

A recession brought good ancréea the unemployment rate to a record in late 2011 and analysts note that the new provisions to hire and fire workers more easily create probably does not jobs in such a context.

The unemployment rate was 14% in the fourth quarter, announced the National Institute of Statistics, above the 13.7% projected in the program of international aid 78 billion euros.

In the third quarter of 2011, this rate was 12.4%.

Reform of labor law reduces redundancy payments for new hires to 20 days per year worked, against 30 before, and limits severance payments to 115,000 euros.