International & World Report

Three days after the loss of the AAA assigned by Standard & Poor's, Americans woke up in shock Monday in what they perceive as a true national humiliation, while the two parties were the blame.

All weekend, politicians and economists have debated the television studios of the legitimacy of the downgrade of U.S. debt. The subject continued to occupy most of the news on Monday, forcing Barack Obama to step up. In a short statement, Bush blasted credit rating agencies. "The United States still deserve the AAA," Has he said, wanting to be evidence that investors had continued to buy Treasury debt on Monday. Quoting Warren Buffett, the famous investor, as he believes "the United States deserve a quadruple A!."

A political weapon

However, Barack Obama acknowledged that the issue of deficits had become critical and assured that he would make proposals to address them in the coming weeks. He reiterated his commitment to reforming the U.S. tax system, which will require higher taxes for the wealthy, and agreed to amend, at the margin, its reform of social security (Medcare) considered too expensive by many of economists. He also called in turn Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and José Luis Zapatero, Spanish Prime Minister, to discuss the need for coordinated action to avoid a slowdown in the global economy.

Yet Barack Obama, who Monday sought a message of optimism by saying that economic problems "can be solved," has not convinced Wall Street that ended the session by falling 5.55%.U.S. President knows that the degradation of S & P is a political weapon for his opponents. "This degradation is that of the Tea Party, because a minority of people went against the will of the majority of Republicans," has dealt Democratic Senator John Kerry.

Republican side, it was blamed on Barack Obama. "I recognize that there are shortcomings, but they come in large part to the failure of the president to lead the country. The Republicans control only a third of the government, "said Senator John McCain.

The former director of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, offered his own reading, Sunday on NBC. "It's not a question of assessment of rating agencies. There is zero chance that the United States fall into default (…). What S & P has done is hit a nerve.He faces the pride of America, "he said.

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Further escalation, that night, in the war between the elected officials for several months Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. to find a solution to the need to reduce the U.S. budget deficit. Having failed to reach an agreement with Barack Obama, the chairman of the House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, Friday slammed the door to negotiations with the president.

At issue this time, as the Republican's will vote Democratic president to make an additional $ 400 billion of tax increases. A demand unacceptable, according to Boehner, while the two sides had previously agreed to a ceiling of one trillion dollars in additional tax revenue.This Saturday, the threat of a default by August 2 of the world's largest economy has thus further increased.

Of default formally excluded

The President has convened several political leaders to an emergency meeting Saturday afternoon at the White House to try yet again to reach compromise. Both sides say they are confident of raising the debt ceiling (14.294 billion U.S. dollars), reached on May 16, but whether common ground had been reached on the amount of the uncapping. Barack Obama and John Boehner have ruled out a formal non-payment within 10 days.

But the talks still face the question of the amount of budget cuts and debt reduction.Republican side, John Boehner said that after the new clash, he preferred to look to the leaders of the Senate to find a "reasonable" on these issues. Which casts a big doubt about the outcome of negotiations Saturday with the president, which is called Boehner. Democratic side, Barack Obama is prepared to assume full political responsibility to raise the debt ceiling in order to unlock at least for a time, the status quo. "If that's all Congress can do, I will sign an increase in the ceiling to take us to 2013," the president said.

Obama recalled that he had proposed to the Republican's $ 1.65 trillion spending cuts various offers an "extraordinarily fair" said the president.But still not enough for John Boehner, who accuses the president's inability to take "tough decisions" on reducing public spending. Boehmer wishes to bring to the 3 trillion budget savings over 10 years.

Time-critical

The time to find common ground is critical. The readiness of Barack Obama to convene a further meeting this Saturday is a sign that the U.S. president does not want to wait until the deadline of August 2 to reach an agreement. "We have more time in front of us," he said.

Recalling that Wall Street opened Monday, the president pointed to the impact on financial markets of such uncertainty. "Americans are outraged" by the inability of Congress to act, he said.This willingness to find a solution is also shared by the Republican camp, in which counsel highlighted the urgency of an agreement by Monday. What then leave both parties ten days to write a non-redundant legislation and get it validated by Congress.

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Courted by the stock exchanges around the world, Chinese private enterprises would they be about to fall into disgrace? After several scandals revealed in recent weeks, rating agencies go up to the plate one after the other. Fitch Ratings yesterday estimated that fraud cases were probably only just begun in the Middle Kingdom.

The U.S. agency has assessed 35 companies listed on the Shanghai and is ready to review its portfolio of Chinese. She considers their standard accounting and trading in Shanghai as many "key indicators of their weakness."

Although the Chinese accounting standards, adopted in 2006, are very close to IFRS (international financial-reporting standards), audit firms have not the confidence of investors, and obviously not the rating agencies which still largely prefer the four major (Ernst & Young, KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche).The Fitch report said that companies from these large firms "would be more difficult to publish than those fraudulent reports go through domestic companies."

Fitch does not mean to review the scores awarded to different companies observed, adding that they "are already taking into account the context of a Chinese legal environment and an under-developed documentation, practices and specific business low corporate governance practices. "

Nevertheless, this case is the latest blow to Chinese companies. Last week, Moody's, which was hoisted the "red flags" of sixty-one companies that note. Fitch's rival evoked particular the opacity caused by a family shareholding in forty-three of them.

For several weeks, scandals involving Chinese companies listed multiply.Everything was packed in June, with the case Sino-Forest the title of which collapsed in Toronto. Since February, the business of handling accounts or misrepresentation of results had already forced many companies to delist in the U.S..

Loss of confidence

In total, nearly forty companies have shown irregularities, not the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Constable of U.S. markets, has established a special committee to investigate these Chinese companies.

Hong Kong is no exception.The financial analysis firm Dealogic calculates that Chinese private enterprises were canceled or postponed them of trading, the equivalent of $ 3.8 billion.

Finally, there is a shift among investors who gradually give more confidence in the state, whose sovereign debt is rated A + by Fitch and Aa3 by Moody's, as private companies.

Pressure mounts on Barack Obama. While the deadline of August 2 approach, the U.S. president can not convince Republicans to vote on raising the debt ceiling of the United States. He must now face the threat of a deterioration in the country's sovereign rating from Moody's. Wednesday evening, the rating agency said it could in the coming weeks to lower the American note, currently the highest possible AAA, AA category, which is an investment category.

Moody's became the first of the three major rating agencies to place the note in the United States under surveillance with risk of a downgrade. In a statement, she said, receive "a possibility of increasing the maximum statutory debt is not found in time."Without an agreement, the U.S. could miss some payments on government bonds in circulation, she says. The dollar and U.S. bonds fell after the announcement. The dollar's share has compounded its losses. In morning trading, the euro is worth 1.4196 dollars.

The agency intends to end the monitoring as soon as it can conclude whether a defect is avoidable or not. It will then decide if the United States are entitled to keep a stable outlook on their ratings, on the basis of the budget negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. But even if Congress manages to avoid a technical default in August, increases the likelihood of a revision of the outlook to negative in the weeks following, told Reuters Steven Hess, Moody's analyst."The fact that they do not agree on are the maximum debt shows that the outcome of negotiations on the status of long-term debt may not be very positive," said he.

Recall

Following this announcement, the Deputy Treasury Secretary for Finance interior, Jeffrey Goldstein, said the Moody's decision was a timely reminder of the need for Congress to avoid a default and to seal an agreement to reduce serious budget deficit.

For Democrat Chris Van Hollen, the words of Moody's demonstrated the danger in the ideological debates. "The fact that Moody's places the United States under surveillance and downgrade our rating to AAA underlines the danger of those who would do our economy and our jobs hostage to a rigid ideology instead of acting in the best interests of our country, "he said.

Tense discussions at the White House

The opinion of Moody's fell just before the fourth interview in four days between Barack Obama and the leader of the Congress. According to a Republican parliamentary attaché, she was the most tense of all. To conclude the meeting of Wednesday, the president of the United States would have meant he would no longer concession, even if it were put at risk its mandate. "I got to the point where I have to say 'enough is enough!" Is Ronald Reagan would sit here? I reached my limits. This may possibly lead to the end of my presidency, but I will not yield on this point ", would he have said.

Denying the information that the President had left the room abruptly, an audience member who requested anonymity confirmed that he had expressed his exasperation, saying, "Enough!".Barack Obama, who will again parliamentary leaders on Thursday, has also asked to renounce the political maneuvering, according to a member of the Democratic Party.

In this context, the President of the U.S. central bank (Fed), Ben Bernanke, warned that failure to pay the United States would create "huge problems" for the country and a "major crisis" in the world .

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Unexpected rebound of the French industrial production in May. While economists had forecast a 0.5% increase in average industrial growth reached 2% over the month, according to figures released by INSEE on Monday. The only manufacturing industry, that is, outside of energy production, rose 1.5%. Germany, the first client of French industry, recorded a similar rebound in May (1.2%).

The increase is explained by a return to normal imports of parts produced in Japan, interrupted after the earthquake. "The disruption of production caused by the disaster Japanese, which affected production in March and April, were apparently stronger is believed," Dominique Barbet analysis, economist at BNP Paribas.

The car saw its production increase by 2.5%

All sectors are displayed in green in the month of MayThe production of electronic and computer equipment rose 2 online pay day loans.3%, the textile industry of 1.3% and rubber and plastics 2.2%. The car, itself, saw its production to rebound by 2.5%. In this context, chemistry and medicine show more modest increases of 0.3% and 0.5% in May Only agricultural and food industries suffer a decline of 0.2% of their business.

From March to May, manufacturing output increased by 0.9%. Compared to the same period last year, manufacturing output rose 4.8%, INSEE said. Despite these positive figures, French growth to slow in the coming months, according to the Bank of France. The institution has revised down its outlook, relying now on an increase of 0.2% of GDP for the second quarter (April to June).

Saturn must be profitable in three years: it is the objective that its new owner, HTM Group, has set. The holding of the family group Mulliez (Paragraph, Kiabi, etc.). Boulanger strengthens its brand with 35 stores in French Media Saturn, a subsidiary of the German Metro, which she bought on June 30 for an undisclosed price.

"Saturn knew generate traffic in its stores with low prices and promotions, but never developed Internet business and has never managed to be profitable," especially in front of supermarkets are on the same niche (26 % market share), explains Layous Bernard, director of purchasing and marketing Boulanger.

"With Saturn, Boulanger changes category. Faced with global suppliers, we will have greater purchasing power and we will be known to the public, "he says.The distributor of multimedia products and services and appliances improves its national coverage with this acquisition, which "saves 3 to 4 years of expansion." Even if Baker is, first, giving up open the store on the outskirts of Saturn provided Avignon and on the other hand, give five other outlets of the brand (Toulon, Le Havre, Mulhouse, Aubergenville , Angers), and a shop in Tours Boulanger to respect the opinion of the Competition Authority on the merger.

No project abroad

The integration of the stores kept Saturn, which carry a turnover of 500 million euros, will allow Boulanger (97 stores) to reach the 2 billion mark in sales in a French market the electrical appliance 22 billion euros, according to Gfk.

"The market has been growing steadily for twenty years, with the exception of 2009," says Francis cord, CEO of HTM Group. Since the beginning of the year, but the activity is again down, 1.2%, except for sales professionals on the Internet, such as Darty and Fnac. These are already doing about 10% of their sales through this channel, twice as Boulanger, who made his priority. Points boulanger.com withdrawals and will appear in the old Saturn, because a client of two picks the order.More reason to want to see HTM Group "soon" its goal of 150 stores Boulanger on the rise, with major cities and especially Paris-line of sight. International expansion, produced by its competitors, remains a dream, "but before going abroad, one must be strong in our home market," said Francis cord. Confident, it provides a higher turnover of Boulanger 3% over the year, at constant perimeter.

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At Paris Air Show, Airbus steals record after record. While the European aircraft manufacturer has been a landmark order yesterday from the Indian carrier IndiGo, involving 180 Airbus A320 150 A320neo, a subsidiary of EADS could do better on Thursday. During the fourth day of the Paris Air Show, Boeing expected to announce the largest order in the history of civil aviation in the number of devices with 200 A320neo from Air Asia.

In addition, American Airlines is about to acquire from Airbus over 100 single-aisle A320 series, according to Bloomberg. The price of the order could amount to about $ 8.5 billion at list prices. These devices replace less efficient airplanes like the Boeing 757 and MD-80.This command would be a setback for Boeing since the company is usually the client U.S. aircraft manufacturer, Airbus' main competitor.

After its intention to buy A320neo, the airline GoAir Indian low cost has signed a firm order this morning for 72 medium-haul of its kind.

Since the beginning of the show, the success of the A320neo is undeniable: it should pass the milestone of 1000, just seven months after its commercial launch. Subsidiary of EADS has already exceeded its targets since was 500 A320 orders by the end of Bourget.

Other models also reap Airbus orders this Thursday

The A380 also encounter expressions of interest. Skymark Airlines has confirmed Thursday morning ordering two A380s.The amount of this additional order would reach at list price, $ 750 million.

In addition, Airbus hopes to get "a significant portion" of the large order that would formalize Air France-KLM this summer, said Thursday Fabrice Brégier, Chief Operating Officer of the European aircraft manufacturer. The French company could opt for the A350 model. "We believe that the A350 has advantages over the Boeing 787. For us to make to Air France-KLM, "commented the manager.

For now, the official death toll is over 700 orders and options, including 347 firm orders for Airbus in three days. The total amount of these orders, at list prices, at more than $ 65 billion.Boeing is so far below as the U.S. garnered 126 orders and options, including 61 farms, pour19 billion.

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After years of uncertainty, Galileo, the European satellite navigation, has reached a milestone Wednesday with the signing at Paris Air Show, the last two industrial contracts awarded to Thales Alenia Space (281 million) and EADS-Astrium (73.5 million) for the realization of the "ground segment" of the device. Namely, a network of 21 stations to receive and rebroadcast the signal transmitted by satellites, distributed on the surface of the globe as well as two control centers based in Italy and Germany, "Now it remains to put satellites into orbit and build ground facilities.Galileo becomes a reality, "welcomed Jean-Jacques Dordain, the Director General of the European Space Agency that provides project management of this mammoth project on behalf of the European Union.

The first two satellites to be launched on October 20 at 24:00 (French time) from the Kourou space center, a Russian Soyuz rocket that will be the first launch from French Guiana. Another dual launch is scheduled for first half of 2012. Once the first four satellites positioned 20,000 km above the in-orbit validation phase (IOV), which is essential to test the operational capabilities of the system will begin.The signal they transmit back to Earth will allow users equipped with a suitable receiver to determine their position in real time, with an accuracy of one meter.

But to ensure comprehensive coverage of the territory, with this level of performance, both in cities (where buildings cause interference) in mountainous areas, Galileo must be supported, ultimately, a fleet of 30 satellites .

"At the rate of a dual launch every six months, we hope to place 24 satellites into orbit by the end of 2014," said Wednesday the European Commissioner for Industry, Antonio Tajani. A level at which Galileo will begin to be operational. The remaining six satellites will be purchased now through the "500 million euros of savings" on the project budget, said Mr. Tajani.Specifically, "the European Commission will request 1.4 billion instead of $ 1.9 billion for the next financial perspective (2014-2018)". An amount that will add 3.4 billion to the current fiscal year (2009-2013).

A market of 90 billion euros

This "good news" is undoubtedly to reassure policy makers on economic and technical and financial viability of a project that has accumulated delays since the launch of the first test satellite Giove-A in December 2005. In addition, it is clear that Galileo will be operational more quickly, more quickly in the European economy will reap the benefits.

The market for satellite navigation, today mainly occupied by the American GPS, is estimated at 90 billion euros for the period 2010-2030.

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While the rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded three notches note of Greece who becomes the country with the lowest rated in the world, the eminent economist Nouriel Roubini sees the end of the eurozone. In an article published in the Financial Times, the man who announced the financial crisis of 2008 estimated that countries of the European periphery abandon the euro within five years.

In the eyes of Nouriel Roubini, the debt crisis that weakens current euro area highlights the flaws in this monetary union. In fact, the euro zone has never been an "optimum currency area", ie a group of countries has any interest in sharing a single currency. There is indeed always been too strong and competitive economic differences between countries in the euro area.The founding fathers of the euro area, however, hoped that the differences between fiscal, monetary and exchange rates are offset by an acceleration of structural reforms within the euro zone countries. These measures would then have enabled the countries of the eurozone converge.

Without economic convergence, the euro area is doomed to failure

But "the reality is quite different," says Nouriel Roubini. Following the establishment of a common monetary policy, countries are folded on the weapon budget to adjust their economic policies. Very different policies have been implemented within the eurozone. Consequently, the lack of fiscal discipline in countries like Greece and Portugal involved in the birth of speculative bubbles in other countries like Spain or Ireland. And finally, the peripheral countries have become less competitive.

Economist reaffirms that to work, creating a currency area must be accompanied by a fiscal policy even as the establishment of supranational sources of income or the issuance of sovereign bonds Commons. In the absence of economic convergence, the euro area is doomed to failure, according to the economist.

Thus, Nouriel Roubini believes that there is now a way to restore the competitiveness of peripheral countries: leaving the euro, return of national currencies and depreciation. Such a scenario seems inconceivable today, is the economist who said that nothing says that in five years this idea has not gained ground, especially if the economies of peripheral countries are stagnating. Unless the idea of ​​a Euro reaches more federal drilling, some European leaders call for that greater European integration.

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After several months of development, GDF Suez has now officially launched its website for the 218,000 employees of the group, to enable them to support the development of micro-enterprises scattered around the world. While the week of microcredit is nearing completion, this unique initiative could give a fillip to microfinance solidarity.

Specifically, the site presents a selection of projects to be financed in a variety of countries (currently Peru, Lebanon, Senegal, Tajikistan, Cambodia pending, the Philippines and Madagascar). On the basis of information given to them, employees may choose to assist a particular activity: the purchase of pigs, creation of woolen hats, launching a candy … The proposed assistance takes the form of a 0% interest loan of EUR 20 minimum, payable in 6 to 18 months.The money is paid directly online (via credit card or Paypal account) and the loan is secured by local microfinance institutions. After retrieving their application, lenders are obviously free to reinvest or not the amounts paid on other projects. The site is open to employees and everyone who would be invited by employees.

The project has been fully assembled by MicroWorld, a subsidiary of PlaNet Finance, an NGO founded by Jacques Attali in 1998. Until now GDF Suez already funding specific programs through PlaNet Finance (Microfinance & Energy in Morocco and Egypt "Business in Suburbs in France). With this initiative, "Suez regains its banking business," joked Jacques Attali before noting: "Today's world is not socially sustainable.To reduce this gap, democracy is the first medium and the second is to give people the means to achieve ". Knowing that many of them will create their own jobs, he said that credit is a key lever for growth of these enrepreneurs. Even should you avoid some pitfalls: microcredit must learn to go along with ecology to be truly sustainable and must avoid certain abuses observed in India in particular or some companies claiming solidarity finance is much closer to practices of loan sharks.

GDF Suez side, if the group has funded the launch of this initiative and promises of matching shapes subsidized loans, it also recognizes the benefits expected from this operation. Firstly in terms of internal cohesion.The website encourages the creation of virtual communities and circles that can strengthen the bonds within a group and engage the best young troops. And then of course there is the group's image. CEO Gerard Mestrallet has also not stood in the preamble to introduce the launch of the new advertising group whose slogan is "Be good to men" and his view that illustrates the positioning of the company.