Posts Tagged ‘efficacy’

19
May

The crisis in the euro area dominates the G8 Camp David

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U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Saturday at the G8 summit at Camp David, to cooperate with Europe on a program combining the plans to reduce deficits measures to promote growth, to prevent the crisis in the euro area could destabilize the global economy.

The head of the White House and leaders of seven other industrialized countries, meeting in the presidential retreat in Maryland, the heart of the Catoctin Mountains, sought to reassure financial markets face difficulties of Spanish banks and the risk that Greece leave the euro zone. 

"We are all determined to ensure that growth and stability and fiscal consolidation, are part of a package of measures to ensure the prosperity of our citizens, we all want, "said Barack Obama during the resumption of talks on Saturday morning.

After meeting with U.S. President, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that progress had been made on how to address the debt crisis and ; rising oil prices, the two main threats to the global economy.

David Cameron said he had found among his G8 counterparts "a growing sense of urgency on action" to exit the eurozone crisis. 

"Contingency plans must be implemented to strengthen banks, improve governance and strengthen the firewall devices – all these things shall be implemented quickly in order to any eventuality, "he said.

But he added that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had "absolutely right" to demand that the countries of the euro area take the necessary steps to reduce their deficits.

On Friday, setting the tone of the summit, Obama had matched the proposed Francois Hollande supports incentives to growth facing austerity advocat ; born by German Chancellor that appeared isolated. 

"IMPERATIVE TO CREATE JOBS AND GROWTH"

The U.S. president has agreed with his French counterpart on the fact that the fight against the crisis in the euro area is "an issue of extraordinary importance, not only for Europeans but also for the global economy ".

He called for "a responsible approach that is coupled with a strong growth agenda".

Angela Merkel advocates instead a strong fiscal discipline to reduce the debt level. Its isolation is even greater than the draft final communique of the G8, seen by Reuters, plans to emphasize "the need to create growth and jobs".

"Germany is almost completely isolated," said Domenico Lombardi, former head of the International Monetary Fund. "(…) It is now clear that Greece has become a crisis systemic, "he added.

G8 leaders also discussed the Iranian nuclear Saturday.

Barack Obama said Friday that all participants remained committed to an approach combining sanctions, pressures and diplomatic talks with Tehran. 

"We are all involved here with a determination to continue the approach of sanctions and pressures combined with diplomatic discussions," he told reporters.

"And our hope is that we can address this issue in a peaceful manner that respects the sovereignty and rights of Iran within the international community, but also recognizes its responsibility s ".

15
May

Banks to withstand worst-case Greek, says ACP

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Banks and insurance companies French are able to cope with a possible exit of Greece in the euro area, said Monday the Prudential Control Authority (ACP).

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.

11
May

JPMorgan announces a trading loss surprise

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The first U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase said Thursday it recorded a trading loss of two billion dollars (1.5 billion) following a failed hedging strategy, which has forced its CEO media to apologize.

Since late March, the direction of investments of the bank "has had significant market losses in its credit portfolio synthetic," said the company in a document submitted quarterly to the stock market authority, the SEC.

In the off-market transactions, JPMorgan fell by 5% to 38.67 dollars in its wake other financial stocks. 

The bank said that the gains also up for the loss of trading, which would reduce the "gap" at $ 800 million.

"That could cost up to $ 1 billion or more," said Jamie Dimon, CEO of the group, during a teleconference convened at the tope you where he apologized to analysts.

"ONE OF THE KINGS OF WALL STREET"

The loss of dollars might be less important than the reputation of the bank.

JPMorgan posted a total assets of 2,320 billion at the end of March with $ 190 billion of equity.

JPMorgan was previously considered a risk manager gifted, never having announced losses during the financial crisis. It was the bank strong enough to buy investment bank Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual Bank when they went bankrupt in 2008.

"Jamie has always been presented as one of the kings of Wall Street," said Nancy Bush, bank analyst experience. "I do not know how all this turned out so badly and so quickly given his knowledge and his risk aversion."

Jamie Dimon, called the mistakes "huge". He acknowledged that mistakes were particularly embarrassing in light of his public criticism of so-called "Volcker rule" to ban the proprietary trading at major banks.

He said he still believed in his arguments against the Volcker rule. The problem here at JPMorgan, he argues, for the performance of the hedging strategy.

The hedging strategy that failed was "inefficient, poorly supervised, poorly built and all that," said Jamie Dimon. "This violates our principles," he added.

The direction of investments is a department of the bank used for large transactions to cover this or that particular operation, such as loans to companies whose credit rating is speculative grade.

30
Apr

Michel Barnier supports a Growth Pact in Europe

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Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market, was in turn declared in favor of a pact for growth in Europe in addition to the fiscal pact adopted in late 2011, which austerity measures provoke political unrest throughout the region.

"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."

30
Mar

A lower deficit facilitates the task of the next president

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The government deficit in France in 2011 was lower than expected, which will facilitate the task of the next president if the economy does not collapse.

After 5.2% of GDP last year, instead of 5.7% expected in the Finance Act, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, favorite polls, have pledged to re reduce the public deficit to 4.5% and 3.0% end of 2012, limit the European stability pact in late 2013.

The effort would be lower than expected.

The outgoing president praised the figure of Friday.

"France has done much better thanks to the efforts of the French," he said, renewing his promise to reach 3% in late 2013. 

But the trend was poor in January and a sharp economic slowdown is expected for all of 2012, likely to derail the accounts if it were larger.

The "good" figure of 2011 on Friday will also be confirmed by further appreciation expected on May 15

The government balance includes accounts of the state, local and social security funds. It has not been positive since 1974.

Nicolas Sarkozy promised to return to balance end of 2016 and his Socialist opponent François Hollande end of 2017.

DOUBTS IMPORTANT FOR 2012

In January, the government deficit, which is the largest component of public deficit fell by less than a billion euros over January 2010.

A negative signal, even if the accounting parameters are not identical, to the rise or fall, a positive impact of € 2.6 billion having been such registered in January through the sale of radio frequencies.

The government deficit in February will be released April 6.

Especially, strong economic growth this year, which largely determine the amount of revenue is uncertain. 

The government has just raised its growth forecast for 2012 to 0.7% against 0.5% earlier (after 1.7% in 2010), while Francois Hollande provides 0.5% .

International institutions and economists are less optimistic, the IMF providing 0.2%, 0.3% OECD and the European Commission 0.4%.

The evolution of public finances is crucial for France, already deprived of its precious AAA by Standard and Poor's and sees its sovereign rating placed on "negative outlook" by the three major rating agencies.

Borrowing costs on financial markets may increase, which would make the effort to restore data even more important. 

The yield differential ("spread") between the French public debt to 10 years and German debt is currently above 110 basis points, or 1.1%.

This level is much lower than that achieved in November, at the height of tensions on the debt in the eurozone, to nearly 200 points, but it is much higher than the observed 30 to 40 points s during "normal".

24
Mar

European shares open slightly higher

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The main European stock markets opened slightly higher on Friday after four sessions of consolidation, while the growth prospects in France were revised upwards.

In Paris, around 9:15, the CAC 40 gained 0.19% to 3,479 points. The DAX 30 is 0.3% and the FTSE ahead 0.20%. The Eurostoxx 50 is 0.22%.

Values, EADS gained 1.75%. The German government is preparing to buy 12% stake in planemaker taking over the holdings of Daimler and several private banks, it was learned Friday from the German government source.

BOLLORÉ gained 2.7% after announcing a 19% increase in operating profit.

BT gained 4.8%. The British telecoms operator plans to pay two billion pounds into its pension fund as part of a new plan more advantageous than nine years.

The French government raised its economic growth forecast for 2012 to 0.7%, against 0.5% previously, and was lowered to 1.75% for 2013, against 2.0%, said Minister of Economy Baroin.

This announcement follows the revision by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), its growth forecast to 0% in the first quarter and 0.2% in the second quarter of 2012.

Moreover, the overall business climate in France has improved significantly in March, to 95 points, an increase of 4 points, according to INSEE. 

In the U.S., the indicator of home sales in the nine will allow investors to refine their expectations of recovery in the industry and the economy in general.

23
Mar

David Cameron goes to war against binge drinking weekend

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The "binge drinking" – drinking very popular with young people – cost 3.2 billion euros per year in British public health service. The Prime Minister has decided to increase the price of ciders, beers and spirits. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, to Parliament.

This is a serious blow to the culture of beer. British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday a series of measures, including an award minium of 40 pence per unit of alcohol, to fight against "binge drinking", drinking bouts which cost 2.7 billion pounds (3.2 billion euros) per year in public health service.

"The binge drinking + + accounts for half the consumption of alcohol in this country," said the Prime Minister. "My message is simple. We can not continue like this." It proposes to introduce a minimum price of 40 pence (50 cents) per unit of alcohol (10 ml of ethyl alcohol) sold.  

The measure will hit priority ciders sold cheap, strong beer and spirits sold off. For example, an extra strong beer that contains three units of alcohol would see its price from 75 pence to 1.20 pounds (1.40 euros). The strong cider, four units of alcohol, would almost double their price in almost two euros. The minimum price is to include the purchase of alcohol at bargain prices in supermarkets.

"Let's be clear, this will not affect the pubs," he told Mr Cameron. "A pint of beer contains two units of alcohol, if the minimum price is 40 pence per unit, the pint will not be affected." The government says the measure could even benefit the pubs, preventing supermarkets from selling at bargain prices. The government plans to prohibit the promotion of "two drinks for the price of one" and introduce a tax for pubs that open late, a way to offset the cost to ensure public safety in their neighborhood.

The culture of "binge drinking" has led last year by 1.2 million hospitalizations and a million crimes and crimes related to alcohol, according to official figures. The government intends to launch a consultation in the summer. Future legislation will apply in England.

Scotland is also considering a minimum price for alcohol. "We will launch a consultation, but a minimum price of 40 pence would result in 50,000 fewer crimes each year and 900 alcohol-related deaths averted annually by the end of the decade," said Mr. Cameron. The retail federation has protested vigorously. In contrast, associations fighting against alcoholism and the medical applauded the announcement.

16
Mar

India, a market of 145 billion by 2030, according to Airbus

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The Indian aviation, booming, will need more than 1,040 new aircraft by 2030, with a total value of $ 145 billion (111 billion euros), said Thursday the aircraft manufacturer Europé Airbus, an EADS subsidiary.

"Urbanization and increasing concentrations of population, combined with the development of a middle class and dynamic economic growth, supporting demand and this trend should continue," the group said in a statement.

07
Mar

Statoil sells its stake in Lukoil to a large pool of Iraq

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Statoil confirmed Wednesday it was in talks to sell its stake in the giant oil field of West Kourna 2, in Iraq, Lukoil and its Russian partner, according to Iraqi sources the sector, two companies have reached an agreement.

Statoil has a 18.75% share, and sales to the Russian Lukoil will give a 75%. The remaining 25% is held by a public company in Iraq.

An agreement will allow the Russian company to become the only dealer outside of one of the largest oil projects in the pipeline in Iraq, while Norway will become the first major Western band to withdraw from an Iraq project in recent years.

"Statoil has reached an agreement with Lukoil to sell its stake in Kourna West 2 and the Iraqi Oil Ministry has approved the agreement," said a source from the Iraqi oil sector.

Another Iraqi source confirmed the agreement. "Statoil has sold its stake in Lukoil and Lukoil is now the sole operator of Kourna West 2", it was reported.

For its part, Statoil has simply said that the process was underway.

"Lukoil and the Iraqi authorities have previously confirmed that we had initiated a process to transfer shares of our project Kourna 2 West in Iraq," said a spokesman for Statoil. "We will when this process is completed," he added, without comment on the transaction amount or timing.

The Norwegian public company has been considering for some time to leave Iraq to refocus on less risky assets around the world, according to industry sources. Statoil plans to invest several billion dollars in deposits in the U.S. or offshore Norway.

27
Feb

Lisbon put food on the face of trade deficit

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Portugal hopes that an increase in exports of wine, cork and fruit will help reduce its trade deficit, said Monday the Portuguese Minister of Agriculture in an interview with Reuters.

Assunção explained Cristas want to restart the operation of unused land while providing incentives that would turn the trade deficit in food surplus.

Portugal is already the world's largest exporter of cork and the seventh largest exporter of wine. Its agriculture, which includes logging and the production of many varieties of fruits, olives and oranges through the strawberries and cherries, represents 10% of its gross domestic product.

But the fertility of its land and its mild weather did not permit him to achieve food self-sufficiency.

Production of the sector remains fragmented mainly because of the small size of many farms, inheritance of land reform following the Carnation Revolution of 1974 after decades of Salazar dictatorship.

Came to power last June in favor of early elections, the majority center-right led by

Pedro Passos Coelho hopes to reverse. 

"Our food exports have great potential even though we still have a trade deficit of 30%," said Assuncao Cristas Reuters.

If he succeeded in transforming its trade deficit in food surplus, Portugal could hope rebalance its overall trade balance, which would be of great help when he e ty forced last year to accept international assistance of 78 billion euros.

In 2011 already, the Portuguese trade deficit narrowed by 25% over the previous year to return to 15.2 billion euros.

This reduction is mainly due to the austerity measures imposed on the Portuguese with its implications on domestic demand. 

Meanwhile, food exports rose 17% last quarter 2011 to 1.2 billion euros. This increase is the second largest after the one recorded on refined petroleum products.

"The prospects for improved trade balance in the food are good, we planted lots of new land, for example, olive groves and vineyards," said the Minister of Agriculture.

"The food industry (…) can really help Portugal when domestic consumption is low."

According to forecasters, the Portuguese economy expected to contract 3% this year and the unemployment rate has hit a record 14%.