Hot Economic News Releases

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%.

Christian Noyer, Governor of the Banque de France (BDF) and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), said Wednesday he did not hold to the basic scenario of an economic recession for France.

At a press conference in Singapore, he added that the fiscal measures taken by France were sufficient and the exposure of French banks to Greece quite manageable.

At the euro area, Christian Noyer said that the level of sovereign bond yields did not reflect reality, the day after an auction of Italian bonds where yields reached nearly 8%.

Inflation in the euro zone will return to the objective of the ECB in the next few months, also said the board member of the institution in Frankfurt, adding that all that was necessary would be done to avoid deflation or fight against inflation.

European shares are sharply higher Monday in mid-session, encouraged by the hope that European leaders propose new measures against the debt crisis at the approach of the EU summit of December 9. But traders believe the rebound mainly technical, due to purchases cheap, European values ​​being dropped last week to a low of seven weeks.

Around 12:20, the CAC 40 index advanced 3.6% (102 points) to 2959 points, rising to 3,000 points after falling 4.67% last week.

The London Stock Exchange gained 2.04%, 3.10% that of Frankfurt and Milan up 3.08%.

During the Franco-German summit in Strasbourg, Angela Merkel has made the ECB does not undertake more to calm soaring interest rates, preferring a stronger fiscal discipline to the States. But it is not safe for the German economy … Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Markets continue to worry for Europe. The Paris Stock Exchange (-0.18%), Frankfurt (-0.54%) and London (-0.24%) have once again closed in the red on Thursday night. Investors were disappointed by the Franco-Germano-Italian held in Strasbourg, and has not provided an answer to soaring interest rates of the states of the euro area. Italian and rates again exceeded 7% in late afternoon.At this summit, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy said they would do "proposals to improve the governance of the euro", refusing however to include a reform of the European Central Bank to establish as lender of last resort and thus relieve the rates. It was the wish of the French president, but Angela Merkel is always hostile. She prefers to impose a priority in budget control by Brussels that would oblige member states to return quickly to the nails of the Stability Pact. But this strategy is not without risk for Germany itself, as shown by recent events.

Interest rates on the rise

This is not a fire, but heat stroke has occurred. The rates at which to finance Germany jumped to 2.26% on Thursday, the highest since late August after a failed fundraising in the bond market Wednesday.

French banks, which publish their accounts in early November for the third quarter, are expected by investors on their performance in market activities and their cost of funds after the market storm of summer has suddenly melted during their Stock Exchange.

Beyond the impact of depreciation on new Greek debt as a result of the Europe Agreement of 27 October and an expected revaluation of debt that will boost results, they should undergo a significant decline in their income banking and investment (BFI), analysts said.

Institutions such as Barclays, UBS and the Swiss German Deutsche Bank, have all recorded sharp decline in income and profits in this sector.

"Given the volatility in the markets since this summer, we will look closely at the impact on market activities," said Christophe Nijdam, an analyst at AlphaValue.

"We'll see if there was blood in the trading rooms in both equity trading activities (actions, Ed) and fixed income (interest rates, Ed)," he says.

The quarterly results will also be an opportunity for French banks to specify the measures they intend to implement to enhance their financial strength to cope with the debt crisis in the euro area in early October that forced the Franco-Belgian Dexia decommissioning.

As part of the recapitalization of the banking sector, the European Banking Authority has estimated that a total of 8.8 billion euros deficit capital of BNP Paribas (2.1 billion), Societe Generale (3.3 billion) and BPCE (People's Bank, Savings Bank) (3.4 billion).

Unions and bankers expect in the context of a degradation of the environment that they are announcing job cuts, especially in their BFI.

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.

Air Liquide confirmed Wednesday seek an improvement in its net profit in 2011 "in a normal environment," despite a slowdown in sales growth in the third quarter, still worn by the emerging markets.

The world leader in industrial gases reported 1.5 billion euros in investment decisions, with a target maintained over two billion over the year.

The group, which is German competitor Linde and Air Products and Praxair American, achieved third quarter sales of 3.597 million euros, up 4.9%, 6.6% in like.Over nine months, growth was 7.7% on a comparable basis.

The cluster gas and services, which provides the bulk of group sales, saw its growth slow to 7.7% in the third quarter on a comparable-a pace of 9.5% over nine months, largely due to an unfavorable base effect.

The division, however, also suffered a slowdown in demand for metals producers in Western Europe and Canada and the end of a rebound in the cycle of investment in equipment sales and installation of electronics, which returns to a level "more normal".

The stock closed Tuesday down 1.38% to 92.12 euros, in line with the CAC 40 index, giving a market capitalization of 26.14 billion. It was down 2.7% since the beginning of the year.

The investment company Eurazeo announced Thursday a loss of 106.3 million euros in the first half due to losses on derivatives and goodwill.

The results related to the business are better and Eurazeo shows a revenue increase of 5.3% to 1.907 billion euros.

EBIT (earnings) of consolidated companies adjusted to 200.5 million euros it is up 7.7% over the same period last year.

Eurazeo reported a stable net asset value to 70.1 euros 70.3 euros against 31 December 2010.

The financial holding company, which had returned to profitability in 2010, reiterated its goal to create 2 billion of value creation by 2014 thanks to new acquisitions.

Eurazeo has launched this year in a series of acquisitions by taking over the fund OFI Private Equity, participation in the group of ready-to-wear Moncler and the land administration.

The holding company has stakes in listed companies such as Accor or private car rental company Europcar.

According to the founder of the Right People, this is "fight against the profiteers from the bottom and the top profiteers of the social ladder." Thierry Mariani, Minister of Transport, and founder of the Right People, right wing of the UMP, will create a file for benefit recipients.

Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said he wanted "a general file of recipients' social, in order to fight against fraud, in an interview with the Sunday Journal dated August 7.

Founder of the Right People, bringing together some forty members embodying the right of the UMP, Mr Mariani says that the group will present "a couple of proposals on sovereign issues, employment and social justice" in the future presidential campaign.

He said these include "fight against the profiteers of + down + and + top + profiteering of the social ladder.Against fraud, I support the creation of a file which lists recipients of general all benefits received. This will see the abuse. One person can affect unduly the RSA in several departments, as none of them does not cross the records, "said he.

Regarding those "from above", Mr. Mariani is in favor of the taxation of "very high financial returns," while "the difference with the contractors, who, themselves, are advancing the country. Against these abusive situations, in top and bottom, our position is balanced, "says he. The Minister also ensures that "security must be a campaign theme" but "it must be accompanied by a stronger justice."

European shares ended Tuesday's session on their largest decline in 11 months, progress on the U.S. debt was largely overshadowed by fears of a slowing global economy and the contagion of the debt crisis to Italy.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1.80% (19.26 points) to 1048.71 points, its lowest closing level since the end of August 2010.

In Paris the CAC 40 index yielded 1.82% (65.26 points) to 3522.79 points, its lowest closing level since Aug. 31, 2010.

The benchmark index of the Milan stock exchange has meanwhile dropped 2.53%, reaching its lowest level in 27 months in the wake of the banks heavily exposed to the Italian debt, including UniCredit, which lost 5.77% and Intesa Sanpaolo, which lost 5.24%.

"The fear is that the market returns to the world recession in the euro area, it is the peripheral markets will suffer the most," said Alessandro Giansanti, strategist for ING in Amsterdam.

Cyclical stocks have accused the heaviest losses.The Stoxx European banking stocks fell 2.54% and 2.61% mineral.

BNP has come down by 2.46% after announcing a profit below expectations in the second quarter, particularly penalized by a provision of 534 million euros in Greece's debt.