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

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While the markets are worried that the Hellenic Republic is forced to leave the eurozone because of the political impasse in which it is located since the legislative elections, Christian Noyer, the pre President of the ACP group explained that no French financial difficulties would set if this scenario were to occur.

Asked whether French banks and insurers could resist such a scenario, Christian Noyer, who is also governor of the Banque de France and member of the Board of Governors of the European Central Bank ( ECB), said: "My answer is yes."

" I know of no group that would be put in difficulties by an extreme scenario of Greece, "he said at a press conference to present the 2011 CPA report

. He also recalled that French banks, which are among the foreign banks most exposed to Greece, had provisioned the Greek sovereign debt they hold in their account up 75%

. The European Commission said Monday hoped that Greece remains within the euro area, while requesting new exhibitions ; ties to honor its commitments

. Everywhere on the planet, however, banks are preparing to work with a new currency in greece. 

In France, Credit Agricole, is particularly vulnerable to Greece because of its local subsidiary Emporiki, has also said on Friday prepared for all eventualities.

"The risk is virtually no longer supported by the private sector which has already funded a large part of Greek debt," said Franklin Pichard, director of Barclays Exchange. "The Greek debt is essentially supported by the European states."

"Meaningless"

The CPA also pointed at his press conference that French had since the crisis strengthened their financial strength and they now showed capital ratios "hard "(so-called 'core tier one') above 9%, above the requirements of the European Banking Authority (EBA).

Asked about the risks of contagion from the debt crisis in the euro area and on the budgetary situation of Spain, Christian Noyer said that no other European country was in "a situation comparable to Greece."

"Assimilating Spain to Greece is meaningless," he insisted. 

The ACP also said that the government sought a "permanent solution" to the Credit Immobilier de France (CIF) including the ability to refinance on the markets would be put to the e ; evidence in case of deterioration of its rating by Moody's.

Finding that the mortgage specialist had a solvency situation "very satisfactory", Christian Noyer has nevertheless recognized that the model of organization and activities of the CIF-oriented refinancing markets, had become "difficult to manage" because of the financial crisis in the euro area. 

According to Les Echos, the British bank HSBC was mandated to find a buyer at the ITC which several bond saw their listing be suspended early last week.

The specialist services for conformity assessment and certification confirmed target for 2012 unless economic downturn, a "strong" growth in its turnover and its operational result ; rationally adjusted.

On January-March, it achieved a turnover of 868.3 million euros, showing organic growth of 8.6%, against 6.5% over the same period the last year. 

Changes in the scope of the group also contributed 1.2 points to growth in sales through acquisitions that represent a number of annual sales accumulated over 110 million euros on the basis of 2011.

"The group is in advanced stage of negotiation on other acquisitions that should be finalized during the year," he says in a statement.

The quarterly sales also includes a positive impact of exchange rate fluctuations of 2.2%, reflecting the appreciation of the U.S. and Australia and the Chinese yuan.

"The outlook for 2012 are well oriented and well, except further deterioration of the economy compared to current projections, the group should experience a strong growth of its turnover (…) And adjusted operating profit, in line with the strategic plan objectives BV2015, "said in a statement the CEO, Didier Michaud-Daniel ….. The plan

…. growth of 9% to 12% on average per year in sales at constant exchange rates, generated e for third through external growth, and improved operating margin of 100 to 150 basis points in 2015 compared to 2011

.. ……. In exchange, the action Bureau Veritas finished Thursday at 68.80 euros, valuing the company at 7.5 billion euros. The stock has risen 21.4% since January 1 after falling 0.74% in 2011

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"I support what is working on an initiative for growth in addition to agreements on budgetary discipline," he says in an interview published Monday by the German newspaper Die Welt.

Such an initiative would pass, in the short term, increased by an endowment from the European Investment Bank (EIB), a more efficient use of structural funds of the European Union and bonds dedicated to finance infrastructure projects, says Michel Barnier. 

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the European Union is working on a growth plan to inject $ 200 billion of investments in sectors such as infrastructure, clean energy and high technology.

The idea of ​​complementing the "fiscal pact" signed last year by a panel of growth support the political debate in Europe for several weeks, many voices emphasizing the risk of austerity encourage a relapse into recession in countries weakened by the crisis. 

At the end of last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed support for capacity building of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and use more flexible infrastructure fund of the European Union to support growth.

President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said last week that the eurozone needed a "Growth Pact".

Francois Hollande, the Socialist candidate for the French presidential election, has placed top priority in the renegotiation of the Treaty on European budgetary discipline signed in March by 25 of the 27 EU countries to include a section on "growth", an initiative criticized right. 

The German government said Friday that issues related to growth and employment in Europe would play a central role at a summit of heads of state and government in late June.

According to Michel Barnier, a further liberalization of the internal market of the European Union could support the growth over the medium term.

"In the long run, I would like the establishment of a European industrial policy in strategic areas so that we redevenions a manufacturing center and not mere consumers of Chinese and American."

The Spanish Treasury has now covered half of its funding program for the year, benefiting from the liquidity pumped into the financial system by the European Central Bank (ECB) at its two refinancing long-term ("LTRO") in December and February. 

The Spanish Treasury has auctioned 1.12 billion euros of debt in two years and 1.42 billion euros of debt in ten years to increase coverage ratios, respectively, 3.3 and 2.4 against 2.0 and 2.2 at previous auctions of this type.

Performance of paper came out two years down to 3.463% against 3.495% at an auction in October, and that of ten years up to 5.743% against 5.403% in January.

European stock markets as the single currency have reduced their earnings a few minutes after the results of the auction, investors holding these mixed before returning color to the result of French a debt issue in line with expectations. 

"The coverage ratios for both the two years since the decade are quite good, but yields are clearly higher," explains Nick Stamenkovic, bond strategist for Ria Capital Markets.

"The real problem of Spain remains a serious budget situation and growth. Until there are signs that the government is currently implementing its program of consolidation medium-term budget, and signs of life in the Spanish economy, investors will worry the path of the debt to GDP (gross domestic product) in the medium term ", says he.

BREATHLESSNESS

Secondary market, the Spanish bond yields climbed to ten years around 5.88% against 5.79% before the auction. It was back above 6% Monday, as investors worried the country's budget problems.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday to expect that Spain lacks its deficit targets set under the supervision of the European Union in 2012 and 2013. Impaired loans of Spanish banks have also reached in February to their highest level since October 1994, illustrating the fragility of the country's financial sector.

Spanish banks, in fact excluded from the primary bond market because of their toxic real estate assets, used a large share of loans from the ECB to buy sovereign debt issued by Madrid.

Meanwhile, foreign investors increasingly shun the Spanish debt: investors residing outside the country have reduced their holdings of Spanish sovereign debt to 42% in February, against 50 % two months earlier. 

With half of its funding program in 2012 already covered the Spanish Treasury can now afford to issue debt at a slower pace if its costs borrowing remain high.

"The Treasury can afford to slow down (…) but Spain remains battered and locked in a negative feedback loop," said Jo Tomkins, strategist for 4Cast .

"The domestic banks have undoubtedly played a key role in the success of today's program, but we found increasing signs of slowing post-LTRO, and c is something that should be monitored carefully in the weeks and months ahead. "

The distributor saw sales totaling 22.5 billion euros over the first three months of the year, slightly below the consensus reached by Reuters (22600000000).

As reported, net sales sign up 1.5% with a positive calendar effect and an increase in gasoline prices. But like basis and excluding gasoline, sales were virtually flat (-0.1%) and without the calendar effect, they were down 2.1%.

The group, which recently welcomed its future CEO, George Plassat – the latter will be appointed to head the company as of June 18 – and battle to regain market share in France and Europe, gives no indication of its expectations for the current year.

In the opinion of analysts, the upturn in Carrefour, which suffers from poor positioning of price, high exposure to southern Europe weighed down by the crisis as well as a format – the hypermarket – in difficulty in France, will take time and investors should be patient. 

According to those of Oddo Securities, "the year 2012 should be another year of sacrifices in terms of results" and the Group's recovery could take three or four years.

Excluding the calendar effect, sales of Carrefour in France fell 3.1% in the first quarter and those of its hypermarkets, large black dot of a number of European distribution, have accentuated their fall at -5.8%, after falling 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

In Europe, sales fell 3.8% on a comparable basis and excluding petrol, leaded by a plunge in Spain (-6.1%) while they increased by 8.6% Latin America and continued to fall (-4.3%) in Asia.

In Paris, in early trade, the CAC 40 gained 0.16% to 3,507 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 is 0.4% to 7,104.83 points. In London, the FTSE advance of 0.2%. The pan-European index Stoxx 50.

The Fed chairman once again on Monday expressed concern about the long-term unemployment, but he questioned the idea that this problem is due to ; structural factors outside the scope of monetary policy.

The consumer confidence index calculated by the German research firm GfK is down at the approach of April, to 5.1, ending six months of gains, income expectations households being affected by rising fuel prices.

But the morale of French households is up against him for the month of March, returning confidence index five points. 

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is in turn mounted to its highest level since the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, the Nikkei ended up 2.4%.

The Nikkei gained 160.78 points to 9,929.74 and the Topix broader, took 12.55 points (1.5%) to 848.71.

The Nikkei hit a session high at 10,007.62. This is the first time in seven months that exceeds the psychological threshold of 10,000.

Values, exporters have taken their game, Honda took 2.8%, Toyota +2.7% and 4.25% Sony.

The Institute of Frankfurt bought about 38 billion euros of Greek debt under the program says SMP (Securities Market Programme) and these securities are now worth about 50 billion euros. Forego these profits would reduce Greece's debt.

"Stock options pollute the debate. That's why I'm going to give up half of the stock options were granted to me in 2010, "says Jean-Paul Agon, who won 10.7 million euros in 2010 (including options and shares) according to the annual report published on February 14 Proxinvest

. "(Of the 400,000 stock options received 2010), I will keep 200,000 to share a dynamic performance with our shareholders, "the French boss highest paid in the CAC 40 in 2010 in the interview excerpts of which were published on the newspaper's website Saturday

. "And in April, I will propose to the Board a complete halt of the system of stock options L'Oreal, for everyone and this year. "

Instead of stock options which benefit coefficient to 2.300 people in the group, the CEO of the world's number one cosmetics, had already relinquished his stock options in 2009, wants to establish a system of performance shares.

"After four years of house, our managers will receive bonus shares if the company met certain performance criteria. It is more transparent and less random," he says.

Asked about executive compensation in large groups, he said: "The public interest is not to lower wages, but business leaders have a tax system that generates more redistribution. I fully assume my signature to the call of the Nouvel Observateur to pay more taxes. "

Sixteen heads of major French companies signed in August in the columns of a weekly call for the establishment of an "outstanding contribution" of the French the most favored reducing government deficits they believe threaten "the future of France and Europe"

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