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 ".

The Spanish Treasury has managed to issue 2.5 billion euros of debt in three to four years but at interest rates much higher than in April .

Around 1:45 p.m., Paris lost 1.3% to 3,008.93, London 1.68%, 1.06% Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid 2.45% 2.37%. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of large values ​​of the euro area loose 1.63%.

The German government bond (Bund) and 10 years take an aversion to risky assets and its yield fell to a new record low as 1.43%.

The euro fell below $ 1.27 and is trading around 1.2668.

Barrel of Brent North Sea gives up 71 cents to 109.05 dollars.

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

.

According lsa.fr, the market share of the distributor was down 1.7 percentage points, to 21%, against 22.7% during the same period last year .

"The two main signs of the Carrefour group are affected by this plunge: hypermarkets in mind, which fell 1.2 points to 11.4% market share while Carrefour Market supermarkets them lose 0.6 points to 7.9%, "the site that it is adding Leclerc, Système U and Intermarché who benefit most from the decline of the French leader.

Carrefour declined to comment.

* 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.

Contrary to the predictions of earlier this year by Christian Noyer, Governor of the Banque de France, inflation does not decline in France. It remains even at a high level. In March, consumer prices rose 0.8% on month (after +0.4% in February), and 2.3% year on year. Normally this would result in a revaluation of rates of pay A booklet of 25 basis points, according to mathematical formula which is based on determining the rate of investment preferred by the French – 93% have.

The law provides that changes in rates of Livret come into force on February 1 and August 1. But large changes in inflation, such as increases currently observed may also result in rate changes on May 1 and November 1. In short: compensation should automatically go from 2.25% currently to 2.50% in a fortnight. There is a good chance they will not happen.

The government can indeed block the automatic adjustment of the booklet A. He has already done in the past, particularly to address the declining rate as in August 2009 – at that time, the rate had dropped 1.75% to 1.25%, while the application of the rule would justify a reduction to 0.25%. But at election time, the opposite is true: the government blocks the upward revaluation. This is what happened last February, while inflation already justified a rate increase to 2.50%.  

Increase the rate by 0.25 A booklet would cost 500 million euros effect (the total amount outstanding of 60 million accounts reached 223 billion euros) to the State, 700 million even if one adds the blue books. While the booklet A is a popular product, but it could still be perceived as a gift to investors. So the Livret A rate is likely to remain at 2.25%, at least until August 1.

"This level of rate barely covers inflation. At The booklet does not generate more over-compensation for savers, analysis Gommard Benedict, CEO of Cortal Consors. It is a product that preserves the purchasing power but which offers no more. " However, this low attractiveness of the booklet A should not lead to a massive outflow, estimated the specialist savings and online brokerage. Indeed, the booklet A "is a reassuring product in an increasingly anxiety-provoking," he concludes.

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.

This series of ads comes as more directors of Veolia, which Proglio, currently head of EDF, has, according to sources familiar with the matter, considered asking for the resignation of the current CEO Antoine Frérot at a council held in late February.

In a statement, Veolia announced that Denis Gasquet, Olivier Orsini and Jean-Pierre Frémont leave with immediate effect the group's executive committee and at the same time abandoning their duties within the group. 

Denis Gasquet held the position of Executive Managing Director and COO, Olivier Orsini as managing director and deputy general secretary and Jean-Pierre Frémont e ; was Director General in charge of Public and Community Affairs.

These changes were decided by Antoine Frérot to "accelerate the implementation of the strategic plan approved by the board of directors," it said in the release of the company.

Sylvain Boucher, who was previously secretary of the executive committee, also joined the proceedings which now, in addition to the CEO, seven against nine previously. 

Also Sylvain Boucher, it is composed of Jerome Gallot, Jean-Michel Herrewyn, Franck Lacroix, Jean-Marie Lambert, Jerome Le Conte, Pierre-François Riolacci.

At 15:25, the title jumped 4.28% to 12.66 euros while the index of blue chips rose 0.17% Paris at the same time.

"The acceleration of the strategic plan and tighter around Mr. Frérot teams were well received," said a trader based in Paris.

Another market operator, also based in Paris, points out that these departures had been widely expected by the market, believing that the benefits likely to die as ; knotting of short positions as well as upward revisions of recommendations. 

"The action moves as people cheer the departure of Denis Gasquet: it was at the head of the Environmental Services division during his disastrous performance and more recently he oversaw the restructuring, "he adds.

The strategic plan of Veolia plans to refocus the group on water, waste and energy services and reduce costs of 420 million euros by in 2015.

Veolia also planned to produce five billion euros in sales in 2012-2013 and reduce net debt to below 12 billion at end 2013.

Employees' bonuses on Wall Street fell by around 25% in 2011 compared to the previous year, according to an estimate released Monday by an independent agency in New York.

"We believe that the benefits of Wall Street totaled $ 10.5 billion in 2011, a level well below that of recent years, and that bonuses for the year fell 25%," says a news agency audit of the City of New York.

If compensation practices had changed since the 2008 crisis, with all or most bonus blocked for several years and their payment spread over time, generous bonuses had continued to be paid up to date on New York. Bank executives' bonuses on Wall Street in 2010 had even begun to rise.

The CEO of the investment bank Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein saw his pay triple for example in 2010 to two million. The other four main executives of the bank had also received the same salary increase while the performance of Goldman Sachs had been poor in 2010 (including net income had declined 37% and the turnover was eroded).

Moreover, Wall Street is expected to lose many jobs in 2012, according to the agency. "We believe that Wall Street will eliminate 4,300 jobs this year and wages, including bonuses, decrease by 7.5%," added the independent organization funded by public funds. The paper explains these predictions by "the changing environment in the financial sector", the economic slowdown caused by "problems in the euro area" and "rising oil prices caused by tensions in the Middle East."

For these reasons, the Agency Audit of New York lowered its forecasts for job creation in all sectors: it table more than 22,000 jobs created in New York in 2012, against 38,800 estimated in December and 44,400 in 2013 (against 50,000).

The U.S. rating agency Moody's said Friday night that lowered the credit rating of Greece to "Ca" to "C" to reflect the launch of the restructuring of public debt in Athens. This operation "entails expected losses of more than 70% for investors" who will participate, Moody's wrote in a statement.

Moody's assigns a "C", the lowest possible rating on its classification as it deems to borrowers on the edge of default, while a rating of "Ca" she attributed so far to the Greek public debt corresponds to the speculative issuers in which the failure seems likely. The agency says that in his view, the swap of debt proposed by the Greek government to its private sector creditors, whose success is imperative to allow "the provision [of Athens] a additional financial assistance of the euro area "will return, if completed, a" default "on" Greek government ". The agency was then referred to the new European rescue plan providing 130 billion euros of aid set in motion Thursday.

Its rival Standard & Poor's lowered the credit rating Monday of Greece to "SD", a level corresponding to "selective default", to reflect the debt erase operation launched three days earlier. S & P said it planned to raise the rating to CCC of the country, which she attributed to poor quality of issuers with a real risk of default, where such operation would have been fully completed, probably in mid- in March.

This is not the case of Moody's, which does not assign "perspective" to the Greek note, sign it refuses to speculate on what could be its evolution after the debt swap consumed. "Regarding the future, the program of the European Union and the proposed debt exchange will reduce the debt burden for Greece, but the risk of default of the country will remain high even after this exchange has been completed, "the agency wrote.  

"Moody's believes that Greece still faces challenges in the medium term solvency: the ratio of public debt to GDP is well above 100% for several years," the statement added.

Restructuring launched Feb. 24 to allow Greece to obtain a cancellation of debt of 107 billion euros. Athens proposes to give private creditors participating in the operation of securities worth less than 53.5% of those they currently hold. A quarter of those titles that creditors will receive bonds from the European Stability (EFSF), presumably with a maximum maturity of two years. The rest will consist of new Greek bonds with maturities ranging from 11 to 30 years, a period much greater than those they replace. Because interest rates that will yield these securities loss to creditors should be around 73%.