International & World Report

It only took ten days for the disaster that befell Japan to produce its first effects on European industry. Difficulties, suffering the effects of Hitachi, PSA Peugeot Citroën, today reduced the rates in most of its European factories. The activity will drop to 75% at Sochaux, Mulhouse and Sevelnord, and between 40% and 50% of normal level at Aulnay and Poissy, Madrid and Vigo (Spain) and Trnava (Czech Republic). Only Rennes Mangualde (Portugal) are not affected.

The price of lean

Hitachi manufactures flow meters, an electronic component essential to diesel engines fitted to 68% of cars sold in Europe by PSA. This supplier "gradually resumed its production," says the manufacturer, who expects "a return to normal within a week." In total, PSA works with a score of suppliers in Japan."In light of available stocks and the status of their production, apart from Hitachi, we have no particular problem so far," said a spokesman.

At Renault, only the Korean plant in Busan, more dependent on Japan, saw its production drop about 20%. Shipments of components left by ship from the archipelago to the continent before the earthquake. "We have before us a few weeks' supply, says the Diamond brand. Meanwhile, the group meets every day "several crisis centers" to list, among the parts come from Japan, "those that could pose a problem." Among the solutions: air supply or transfer to other suppliers.

According to the American Institute of forecasting IHS, all major manufacturers will still be affected by the disaster from mid-April.These, as well as many other industry groups of all sizes are now paying the price of the strategies carried out over two years. Once essential to profitability, the flow became tight, financial crisis requires a condition of survival. Manufacturers have made drastic efforts to preserve their liquidity. And to that end, they accelerated their policies to reduce their inventories.

Being lean makes some firms more vulnerable today. "The policy of active management of stocks is assumed that there is no break in the supply chain," said Philippe Waechter. The director of economic research at Natixis believes however that the model should not be questioned, "it is probably not possible to run a business as a rule by considering the occurrence of very low probability event."

The sensational espionage case that shook Renault continued on Sunday to "deflate". One of the three security officials of the automotive group into custody-to-view this weekend, Dominique Gevrey, was indicted for "organized fraud" and imprisoned following the dismissal last January three group executives for espionage.

Two other officials cautioned to view this weekend, including the director of security and close to Carlos Ghosn, Remi Pagni, however, were released Sunday morning, without any charges being brought against them.

The two frameworks safety first taken into custody-to-view, and Marc Dominique Gevrey Tixador, both authors of the report which led to the dismissal of three employees, have so far refused to reveal the name of the informant the source of accusations of espionage.By the reckoning of Renault's lawyer Wednesday to Europe microphone 1, the automotive group has paid an amount "of around 250,000 euros" in this anonymous informant, through an intermediary agent of a private company intelligence, to collect data that led to three dismissals.

Renault claims a "manipulation"

Renault's lawyer, Jean Reinhart, said the group will speak on Monday, probably in the afternoon, "by taking a long and detailed speech" that must be followed statements of expected attorney Republic.

The group claims not to know either the name of that source, and have asked the two security officials, "who are only to know, to deliver his name and address to the investigators," said Renault's lawyer .This same source who gave Renault numbers of three bank accounts which was based on the automotive group to accuse the three executives have coined strategic information on the program of Renault's electric vehicles.

However, investigators of the Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DCRI) claimed last week they had found "no evidence of bank accounts" on behalf of these employees, nor "any evidence of espionage." As a defense, Renault now evokes the idea of ​​a "manipulation". In an interview with Le Figaro, the number two carmaker, Patrick Pelata, said that if this hypothesis was confirmed, "Renault will be attentive to repair any injustice."He also designated himself as a scapegoat, saying the group will draw all the consequences of this case until the highest level of business is to say to me ".

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U.S. stock markets end up more or less sustained on Friday night. The Standard & Poor's 500 ahead by 0.19% to 1343.01 points, the Nasdaq 100 wins symbolically 0.08% at 2833.95 points. For its part the Dow Jones rises more frankly of 0.59% to 12,391.25 points.

Despite low volumes and a myriad of signs that rating is ripe for a correction, the Dow and the S & P-500 are of the highest in more than 30 months. The Nasdaq Composite him at the top for over three years. The S & P 500 is up 28% since early September and has doubled its level at the end of this week, compared to its low of March 2009, which represents the rebound 100% the fastest pace since the Great Depression .

The technical elements betray an overbought market but for weeks that the stock market defied expectations of a downturn, analysts arguing there is no shortage of investors willing to jump into the market at the slightest sign of weakness on the side for purchases on the cheap.

Investors, however, show a little worried after China announced the increase in reserve requirement ratio of its banks for the second time this year.A measure to fight against the abundance of liquidity in the economy and inflation and cons which always causes a little anxiety in the markets while China is one of the engines of global recovery.

Also note that the U.S. financial markets will be closed Monday.

The euro rebounded sharply against the dollar Friday, buoyed by renewed speculation about an early recovery of the rate of the European Central Bank (ECB) fueled by bullish about a board member of the institution. Around 15:00 to Paris, the euro bought 1.3646 dollars against 1.3605 dollars on Thursday night, the highest since a week.

On the macroeconomic front, there is no major indicator on the agenda of U.S. investors on Friday.However, the president of the Central Bank, Ben Bernanke, intervened in the G20 ministerial held in Paris, which are attended by Finance Ministers and Governors of Central Banks of the twenty richest countries in the world.

Bernanke defends monetary easing

The chairman of the Federal Reserve has defended the use in developed countries, the monetary easing measures, accused of causing the overheating market émergents.Selon Ben Bernanke, other factors such as the rigidity of exchange rates, themselves are also responsible for the monetary difficulties of developing countries.

He stressed however that if the difficulties of emerging markets are real, they are put into perspective. He said the influx of capital in developing economies also penalizes countries developed in the form of higher prices."The economic benefits work both ways. Thus, the increased demand in emerging markets has contributed significantly to recent increases delivery of raw materials in the world. "

However, rising food prices and energy that raised fears of higher inflation worldwide, brings many central banks to consider measures of monetary tightening to keep the economic recovery.

Apple in the viewfinder of antitrust authorities

DuPont – 4.75% to 24.05 dollars

The side of values, the giant U.S. chemical DuPont Friday extended its offer until April 1 friendly takeover of Danish group Danisco citing a need for more time to collect the green light from the European and Chinese Competition .The takeover bid of 6.3 billion dollars was announced Jan. 9, and then formally launched on January 21 last, was originally scheduled to end Feb. 22, but several major shareholders of Danisco said in recent weeks that they could reject the offer or they demanded a higher price.

Apple: -0.01% to 350.52 dollars

Antitrust authorities in the United States began to look at the online subscription service that Apple has just proposed to the media wishing to sell their products online, reported Thursday the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. computer maker Apple has unveiled Tuesday a long awaited subscription services online to various media (newspapers, music, videos), a new source of revenue for content publishers who rely increasingly on mobile devices. Apple imposes several conditions to the media who wish to include in its catalog.Offers and Promotions including subscriptions should be made "at a price less than or equal" to that newspaper sites, record companies and studios involved.

Wednesday is the U.S. internet group Google (+0.77% to 630.08 dollars), which launched its service in seven countries selling online for newspaper publishers, which it offers a platform where they will sell subscriptions and articles for unity, for a fee of around 10%.

BP: -0.40%, to 47.91 dollars

BP, listed on Wall Street was pinned by the committee of inquiry set up by the White House. According to the commission, the worst oil spill in U.S. history could have been avoided if officials had better BP considered a key test showing the vulnerability of the well.The commission was charged with investigating the causes of the explosion April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon platform, operated by BP, and wells that Macondo was by 1,500 meters. The disaster had killed 11 people in three months and dumped more than four million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The report focuses particularly poor trunk strength in cement wells installed by Halliburton and a key test conducted on this structure shortly before the disaster and that would have alarmed officials of BP.

NYSE Euronext: 2.22%, to 37.80 dollars

Defeat Global Markets, an alternative platform for trading of shares based in the United States, would be close to an agreement to buy Chi-X Europe, a transaction in shares of more than $ 300 million (220 million euros) said sources close to Defeat Reuters.Both groups are in exclusive talks since December. This new merger comes as the landscape of global stock markets will change with the announcement of the merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Canadian TMX.

Genzyme: 0.12%, to 75.36 dollars

The rating agency Moody's Investors Service announced Friday it had deteriorated by one notch to "A1" to "A2", note the long-term debt of Sanofi-Aventis after the announcement by the French of a agreement to purchase more than $ 20 billion of American society Genzyme.At 15:00 in Paris, Sanofi-Aventis was down 1.30%, 50.69 euros.

Intuit: 7.28%, to 54.11 dollars

Intuit, the accounting software, announced after the close of Wall Street have in the second quarter 2010/2011 adjusted earnings per share of 0.32 dollars against 0.31 dollars expected. The turnover reached 878 million dollars against 837 million a year earlier.

Nordstrom: 0.95%, to 46.92 dollars

Also after market, Nordstrom reported fourth quarter earnings per share of $ 1.04 against 1 dollar and an expected turnover of 2.82 billion dollars against 2.87 billion expected.

Also note, the start-up specializing in viral games, Zynga is in advanced talks with U.S. funds Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments for an investment of 250 million.The deal could value the start-to ten billion dollars and prepare for a possible initial public offering early next year.

The CAC 40 is continuing its momentum. At the opening, the index in Paris gained 0.34% to 4124.26 points. At the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 is 0.19% at 6049.43 points and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the DAX 30 was up 0.19% to 7414.23 points.

In terms of technical analysis, the trend remains positive in the short term. Exceeding candid 4130 points would signal a further acceleration upward.

Societe Generale its dividend multiplied by seven

On the podium of the largest increases in the CAC 40 include Sanofi-Aventis and Societe Generale, with respective increases of 2.88% and 2.53%.

In contrast, PPR, which reports tomorrow, shows the largest decrease (-0.56% to 115.15 euros) to Air Liquide (-0.27% to 95.37 euros) and EDF (-0 , 21% to 31.14 euros), which published Tuesday.

Societe Generale: 2.88% to 50.27 euros

Meanwhile, good news comes from the results published by companies, including Societe Generale.After publishing the results in line with market expectations, the banking group has increased its dividend in September by

Societe Generale in its wake Credit Agricole (1.97% to 11.89 euros), BNP Paribas (1.59% to 58.20 euros) and Natixis (1.19% to 4.06 euros) which must publish their results tomorrow (BNP Paribas) and next week (Credit Agricole and Natixis).

Sanofi-Aventis: 2.53% to 51.06 euros

Another announcement that should be reacted in financial markets, even if she was waiting for: the acquisition by Sanofi-Aventis U.S. biotech Genzyme. The two groups have reached an agreement in principle after the French laboratory which will provide $ 20.1 billion plus a certificate of conditional value.

On the macroeconomic front, the news is mostly American with housing starts in January (1430), the producer prices in January (1430), industrial production in January (15.15), the weekly inventory of crude oil (16.30) and the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the U.S. Central Bank (2030) Faxless payday loans.

Renault: 0.70% to 45.98 euros, Peugeot: 0.68% to 30.23 euro

For the EU, new car registrations fell 1.4% in January to 1,041,650 vehicles, announced Wednesday the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).Renault sales fell by 5.2% and Peugeot, 3.4%.

On the currency markets, the euro is rising again against the dollar, gaining 0.53% to 1.3559 dollar.

A battery of results to follow

M6: 0.88% to 18.26 euros

M6 was released on Tuesday a turnover and operating profit in 2010 increased, thanks to the general recovery in advertising expenditure.

Atos Origin: 1.05% to 41.79 euros

Atos Origin has more than tripled its net profit in 2010 to 116 million euros, indicating that they had "achieved its objectives." The group is confident for 2011.

Imerys: 0.43% to 51.86 euros

Imerys will rely on the growth of demand in its markets, particularly in emerging countries and in the paper and steel, to take over the restocking that has supported its findings in 2010, told Reuters its general manager.

Euler Hermes: -1.52% to 73.86 euros

Euler Hermes announced Tuesday a strong rebound in its annual results, driven by a drop in claims, and the resumption of a dividend to its shareholders.

ADP: 0.51% to 64.84 euros

ADP reported a January traffic up 5.5% from 2010.

Bic: +0.40% to 64.58 euros

The group of stationery and disposable Bic has made a net profit up 36.7% to 207.5 million euros in 2010, thanks to gains in market share and reported a very good start 2011.

Orpea: 1.52% to 35.12 euros

Orpea reported Wednesday in a double-digit growth of its business in 2010, supported by organic growth of 8.7% and its external development.Group homes was confident for 2011.

After market, it was the turn of Bricorama (turnover in the fourth quarter) and Icade (results in the fourth quarter) to submit their figures.

The tense situation in Egypt did not create panic among French tourists. The Association of Tour Operators (Ceto), tourists visiting Cairo aside, "there are no returns anticipated at this stage but returns natural." Even if all members of the association four to twenty companies have proposed to organize the repatriation. "I got the phone number of tour operators who are willing to make decisions quickly to ensure return," said President of the Union of Travel Agents (SNAV), George Colson. Club Mediterranee announced in particular have chartered a special flight Monday from Taba and took seats on scheduled flights from Luxor to Hurghada and enable its customers to anticipate their return. Thomas Cook meanwhile, decided to keep two aircraft on hand to deal with any possible emergency repatriation.According to figures from Ceto, 6500 French tourists were on Saturday on Egyptian soil. On Monday, they were more than 2000, mostly concentrated in cities along the Red Sea, where the situation is calm, according to tour operators.

Reports or trade

Also apply all of the precautions and have suspended all new departures until Wednesday, February 3 inclusive. Until Friday, February 5 for Fram. "Customers concerned may defer travel free at a later date on Egypt or any other programmed destination and current conditions of the tour operator," Ceto said. "We apply the same measures of compensation for customers unable to go to Egypt for those who could not travel to Tunisia make quick cash.They can choose to delay their departure until October 31, 2011, or opt for another of our destinations knowing that we will refund the price difference if any, "says one in Marama. To date from 2000 to 3000 the tour operator customers have decided to change their travel, particularly those with holiday dates are not flexible.

New destinations for next summer

Planners, the French also anticipate their summer holidays. Tunisia and Egypt every year, attracting over one million visitors hex. A tourist trade which are beginning to benefit from other countries, too sunny, and offering similar prices. France and the Riviera residing too dear, three destinations have won a great success. "We have seen bookings for Spain increased by 50% and those for Greece and Turkey to grow by 30%," enthuses Marmara.The tour operator said that "the French take it very early this year to book because they fear a run on these destinations and consequently higher prices." He said the desertion of Egypt and Tunisia should nevertheless be short-lived: "When will reopen these destinations, tourists depart. You do not forget the pyramids for any other destination. "

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The companies repatriate their expatriates from Egypt

After retirement, Bernard Thibault has found a new battle cry against the government: 35 hours. The boss of the CGT intends to fold the Executive following a decision by the European Committee of Social Rights (ESCR) – 15 independent experts appointed for six years and responsible for judging compliance with State law the European Social Charter – who "found a violation by France of the charter in terms of time working" on two points: the day passes and penalties.

The regulation of day passes (employees working a specified number of days in the year) would be contrary to European law because of weekly working hours' too long to be considered reasonable "(up to 78 hours week) and a violation of overtime laws (the package to employees who can not do).According to the CEDS, the system of penalties would be contrary to the rules applicable to weekly rest. "This is a decision of great significance since it potentially involves millions of employees," said the CGT leader that sum "the government and French companies to comply with the charter." Even if states are not required to comply with the decisions of CEDS – France has been "convicted" twice for the same reasons not taken into account – the boss of the CGT considered "appropriate" to them and even "force of law."

No legal

And Bernard Thibault, therefore, prevent: "Employers should be aware that some of their agreements ( guaranteed payday loans…) are considered contrary to the European Social Charter and, as such, reprehensible." And if companies do not want to reopen negotiations, the CGT will attack before the high court and its designees will initiate proceedings before industrial tribunals. "We will get the punishment of all those who will not comply, I can assure you", asserts the head of the Central Montreuil targeting the companies that make their employees at the maximum fee allowed by law, or 78 hours per week. Bernard Thibault, do not despair that companies ultimately doomed to return against the state for him to claim substantial damages. "It's happened before, it can happen again," he assures.

Xavier Bertrand, Minister of Labour, will not amend the legislation on working time. Neither today nor tomorrow. "What is the legal significance of this decision?" Pretended to consider Monday a close: None. No more than the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (which brings together foreign ministers) to which the decision of the CEDS was sent on September 13. The Committee of Ministers – which postponed on December 8 last consideration of this issue – had not followed in 2000 and 2003, the CEDS lesavis on mêmesquestions.

The year ended well with the New York Stock Exchange. The S & P, clawing 0.19% mid-session Wednesday at 1 260.86 points, its level was found Tuesday, 12 September 2008, the last session before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The index shows a nice rebound by nearly 7% since the beginning of the month. Making it the best December for twenty years. The Dow Jones, who returned last week with its levels of August 2008, gained 5% since the beginning of the month. In the end, "U.S. equities have had a very good year for stock markets," said Charles Dautresme, a strategist at Axa IM. The Dow has risen 11.36% since January 1, the S & P by 13.14% and the Nasdaq by 17.67%.

"The U.S. markets have both been brought by improved economic growth overseas, which should be 2 savings account payday advance.8% in 2010, by good corporate earnings and year-end by a renewed appetite investors for the risk at the expense of bonds, "says Didier Bouvignies, responsible for management at Rothschild & Cie Gestion.

Not to mention the 600 billion dollars of liquidity injected by the Federal Reserve to support the economy. "The sectoral composition of U.S. indexes also played. Technology stocks are well represented and have recorded good performances, "said Charles Dautresme. 2011 looks for the moment auspicious. ING IM economists estimate that for example the S & P will reach 1350 points by year-end …

The Paris Bourse she succeed in saving the 3900 points at the end of the year? Since Friday, nothing is more certain. ACC 40a chained Monday its fourth session in the red, troubled by rising Chinese interest rates announced during the weekend. Tuesday could be the fifth straight session in negative territory if investors follow the footsteps of their Asian counterparts. The latter, still reeling from Chinese advertisements, attended the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which reacted negatively to several national macroeconomic statistics. Moreover, the markets should not be supported by Wall Street. The U.S. stock market, which reopened yesterday after a long weekend, Christmas has indeed closed uncoordinated.

On Tuesday, however, could play several statistics on trends.In France, first, INSEE announced before the opening of markets, the growth of the French economy in the second and third quarters of 2010 was revised slightly downward, respectively +0.6% (cons +0.7% previously) and +0.3% (+0.4% cons).

United States, in the afternoon, will be published index of house prices, the index of investor confidence and the index of consumer confidence in December.

On the currency markets, the euro is rising against the greenback in the morning. It traded against the dollar 1.3229 (+0.32%).

Alcatel-Lucent is paying for corruption

As for values, Alcatal-Lucent will be awaited.The telecoms group has agreed to pay more than $ 137 million under a settlement of a case where he was accused by the U.S. court of having bribed some officials to win contracts in America and Latin Asie.En February, Alcatel-Lucent said it had provisioned 93 million euros in the framework of the case.

The General Assembly of SIIC de Paris has approved the transaction Contributed by SFL of two buildings in the district of La Defense business in exchange for 29.99% stake in the company.

Risc, specializing in computer services, has sold four of its foreign subsidiaries to the STS software company for 6.1 million euros.

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"China raised its interest rates

U.S. stock markets continue their momentum generated by new U.S. stimulus measures decided by the U.S. central bank. The Dow Jones climbed 1.09% to 11,336.90 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 ahead of 1.18% to 1212.13 points and the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.38% to 2575.39 points. On Wednesday, Wall Street has ended the session uptick in small volumes. The Dow Jones rose 0.24% to 11,213 points, the Nasdaq + 0.27% to 2540 points and the S & P 500 by 0.37% to 1197 points.

Wednesday night, the Fed confirmed as expected that it relaxed its monetary policy. The Federal Reserve will inject $ 600 billion by June 2010.

The dollar is at its lowest for nine months and a half

On the foreign exchange market, the news immediately plunges the dollar. On Thursday, the euro rose above the threshold of $ 1.42 for the first time in nine months and a half.In early afternoon, the euro was worth 1.4263 dollars because the dollar against 1.4130 on Wednesday.

On the macroeconomic front, the weekly jobless claims rose in the United States during the week to October 30 457,000 437,000 against the previous week. Economists on average had expected 443,000 entries.

The side of values, the maker of 3G chip for mobile Qualcomm announced a profit of $ 865 million (+8%). Turnover was 2.95 billion up 10% year on year.

For its part, the group distribution of "natural products" Whole Foods Market has announced a profit of 57.5 million, or 33 cents per share against 28 cents expected by the consensus faxless pay day loans.Turnover was up 15% to $ 2.1 billion.

Also note, the media group News Corp. announced a profit of 775 million, also above analysts' expectations.

Car values in the viewfinder

General Motors Wednesday finalized the terms of an offering of securities by nearly $ 13 billion to reimburse the state and make it a minority shareholder. The automaker expects to sell 365 million common shares at a price of 26-29 dollars apiece, totaling more than $ 10 billion. The deal values GM to just over 41 billion dollars.

In addition, GM announced Thursday being the first foreign manufacturer to be sold in 2010, with its joint ventures in China, more than two million vehicles in one year to the first global automotive market.

Also in the automotive sector, car sales for the month of October has been very positive, well above consensus expectations. They are up 13.4% year on year to 12.26 million units annual rate, and find their highest level in two years, according to statistics from Autodata.

Always on the side of values, the Japanese electronics giant Panasonic has announced Thursday that he had just invested $ 30 million in the small American manufacturer Tesla, specializing in electric car.Small California company that just made its IPO in New York, Tesla has never reached a profit since its inception but aims to break into the all-electric vehicle market.

The Paris Bourse should not escape the weakness in global equity markets. Investors have gasped in anticipation of the mid-term elections in the United States (verdict in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday) and especially the outcome of the meeting of the Fed, which will publish a statement on Wednesday evening, detailing the pace and extent of monetary easing decided.

Yesterday, Monday, the CAC 40 has scraped a few points, while Wall Street has ended the hesitation and Asian stock markets have not even responded to the new surprise increase in interest rates in Australia.India has also tightened monetary policy on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the CAC 40 index futures are predicting an opening decline of 0.34%.

The automotive sector is in sight on Tuesday

In France, at noon, the Committee of French Automobile (CCFA) will unveil the car market figures for the month of October.For the first time since the beginning of the year, an annual decline that should be recorded in the range of -1%.

At the same time, investors will take note of turnover in industry and construction in August and one in the wholesale and various business services, retail trade and personal services online pay day loans.

From this Tuesday through Thursday, the member countries of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) meet.

Areva close to 3 billion contract

The French nuclear group is expected to sign a contract for delivery of uranium worth three billion dollars with the Chinese utility CGNPC, during the visit of Hu Jintao in France at the end of the week, writes Les Echos in its Tuesday edition.

Altran will publish its sales on Tuesday morning.CAM will unveil his own tonight after the close of trading.

To be continued again this Tuesday, the shares Belvedere: the parent of Marie Brizard sells U.S. subsidiary to pay its debts. The Exchange has amply demonstrated his enthusiasm Jundi.

Vivendi also monitor, which remained the laggard of the CAC 40 index throughout the session Monday.