Archive for the 'business success' Category
European shares opened lower Friday, risk aversion intensified significantly after Fitch downgraded Greece Moody's and that of several Spanish banks.
At 9:02, the CAC 40 index, which lost 1.2% Thursday, yields 0.74% to 2989.85 points.
The London Stock Exchange drops 0.88%, the Frankfurt up 0.9% and 2.02% fall of Madrid. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index fell by 1.03%.
Fitch Ratings downgraded the sovereign rating Thursday of Greece "B-" to "CCC", citing the growing risk of the country leaving the eurozone.
Moody's lowered the rating Thursday from 16 Spanish banks, including Santander SAN.MC, the largest in the euro area, suggesting the reduced capacity of the Spanish State to provide financial support to ; more of them.
The Stoxx European banks index was down 1.56%.
Illustrating the renewed risk aversion of investors, the 10-year rate of borrowing has fallen under German 1.4%, against 1.43% the day before closing.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro continues to trade at less than $ 1.27, to 1.2660 dollar.
The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, however, considered that the current turmoil in financial markets should subside within one to two years.
Qatar continues its buying spree abroad, entering the capital of the British oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and considering a stake in Italy's ENI, according to news reports.
Last month, Qatar had already strengthened the capital of French Total to 3%.
A Shell spokesman confirmed Friday that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund bought shares in the group but did not say how much this participation rose.
The journal Middle East Economic Survey reported earlier that the Qatari sovereign wealth fund was "in very advanced discussions" to take 3% to 5% stake in Shell.
"We are delighted to welcome Qatar Investment Authority as a shareholder in major long term Shell, particularly in view of our excellent strategic relationship with Qatar," said a spokesman in a statement ;.
According to Reuters data, a 5% stake would make the emirate's largest shareholder Shell.
At the London Stock Exchange, Shell action progressed from 0.46% at 10:20 GMT when the European sector index of the energy lost 0.49%.
According to the Middle East Economic Survey, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is also in talks to take a stake in Italy's ENI. The group did not wish to comment.
Qatari sovereign wealth fund has been very active in recent years, taking stakes in various sectors ranging from automobile manufacturer Porsche at the British bank Barclays.
Qatar is among the top five shareholders and Total also holds interests in several other French companies, including Lagardère, Vinci and Veolia.
Russia plans to give the International Monetary Fund (IMF) additional resources of over ten billion dollars but the exact amount will be determined in coordination with other emerging BRICS group says, has Saturday announced the Russian Minister of Finance.
"We have already said that the minimum contribution (Russia) would be 10 billion, the question now is to change this amount of increase to reflect the need for additional resources of the IMF" said Anton Silouanov to the press.
"We will coordinate with our colleagues in the BRICS and decide together what we can do," he said on the sidelines of a meeting between the IMF and World Bank in Washington.
The group said BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The G20 countries have pledged Friday to provide the IMF additional resources of $ 430 billion to address the debt crisis in the euro area.
According to Anton Silouanov, most of this amount, $ 362 billion, had already been promised before. "We have about 70 billion" to distribute among the contributors, he said.
Emerging economies, which were far more recipients of aid, this time have joined the effort, even if they expect, in return, that their weight within the international financial institutions increased at the expense of that of Europe.
NEW QUOTAS
The G20 committed on this road Friday, promising that the voting rights of emerging nations, called quotas, will be raised at the summit of the IMF scheduled in October.
Russia welcomed the decision, even though she was careful not to make quota reform as a precondition for the payment of its contribution. The new quota system must be clear and understandable, insisted Saturday the Russian Minister of Finance.
"We propose that the quota calculation is based primarily on two main indicators, the size of gross domestic product (GDP) of each country and the volume of their gold reserves and foreign currency," said Anton Silouanov.
If such criteria were to be retained, Moscow's influence in the IMF would increase considerably, with Russia third of global foreign-exchange reserves, with 516.7 billion dollars.
Some countries of the BRICS group said, however, have argued in favor of a better consideration of the weight of GDP, acknowledged Silouanov.
"Many countries believe that further dialogue in this area. Some countries have a quota have no interest in it is recalculated and prefer, obviously, that we keep the current formula, without bring change, "he said
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China widened the fluctuation band of its currency. A measure to reassure the markets following the slowdown in growth, but also a real business strategy. Interview with Sebastien Barbe, senior economist at Credit Agricole-CIB. Doubling the maximum fluctuation of the yuan is a diplomatic act, with a real strategic significance …
China conducted today to double the ceiling of fluctuation of the yuan. Should we consider the measure as a real movement towards liberalization of the Chinese currency? What impact will the measure on the evolution of the currency? Our questions to Sebastien Barbe, senior economist at Credit Agricole-CIB.
As of today, the yuan is really undervalued, or does it happen, as claimed by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, to its equilibrium level?
It is difficult to answer this question with certainty. We lack precise figures which we can really conclude. This is indeed some, however, is that the yuan is much undervalued than five years ago. China has actually taken steps since constant progressive revaluation of its currency. If during the subprime crisis the exchange rate with the dollar was frozen, the yuan has appreciated against many currencies of emerging countries over the period. It is better to resonate well in terms of real effective exchange rate.
Doubling the maximum fluctuation of the Chinese currency translate into a genuine process of internationalization? Does it not rather a symbolic approach?
In reality, these two aspects will play. But the increased ceiling remains above all a measure of scale. Eventually, the Chinese will be able to fluctuate even more their motto. This is a significant step towards liberalization of the yuan. If in the future the Chinese are more confident about international politics, they are probably glad to have introduced this measure. It is a reform that will eventually play and count. At the moment, it's more of an accompaniment of the process of internationalization of the yuan. The symbolic is seen in turn at different levels. A message of confidence, first, compared to the rate of growth. A willingness to reassure the markets, while China's growth tends to slow down. By extending the maximum fluctuation of the yuan, they take the chance to see their currency appreciate more, which would hurt exports and thus their international trade. It's a real soft landing that is looming for the Chinese. We can then analyze this decision as "an act of economic diplomacy" aimed at their trading partners. If China loose a little ground on the control of its currency, it will have greater legitimacy to demand a return to its partners, by being much more demanding. Specifically, it could expect from Europe, its largest importer, that it demonstrates a much better coordination. The measure is reflected, and will add weight to China in its trade relations.
While doubling the currency became effective today, the yuan was at the opening down to the dollar. How do we tend to expect in the future?
The assessment should continue, perhaps not spectacularly, at least as concerns about the European market will also remain strong. Europe is the largest importer of China, a major evaluation on the rise of the yuan should now be discounted. Within a year or two, things may have to evaluate more quickly. To give you a figure, we believe that the yuan could appreciate the full year from 2.5% to 3%. Even up to 4.5% in the event of Europe show signs of recovery. But to date, caution should remain the watchword.
Volkswagen has further increased its stake in truck manufacturer MAN, as part of its planned merger of its two main activities of trucks.
The German automotive group now owns 73% of the shares of MAN and 71.08% of the total capital, MAN announced in a statement Friday.
Volkswagen previously held 55.9% of the voting rights and 53.71% stake.
VW wants to increase integration between MAN and Swedish Scania, he also controls, in order to save at least € 200 million in procurement, production and research and development.
In addition, the Wolfsburg group wants to encourage cooperation between the two truck manufacturers and its own activities to create vehicles capable of exceeding a set Daimler and Volvo.
Volkswagen holds 71.8% voting rights in Scania and 49.3% of its capital.
MAN has declined to comment, a spokesman for Volkswagen could not be immediately available for comment.
Wall Street has won more than 0.5% Wednesday, ending a series of five sessions of declines, driven by soaring title Alcoa after the gen ant aluminum, which opened Tuesday the "earnings season" has reported an unexpected profit for the first quarter.
The Dow Jones industrials gained 30 0.70% or 89.46 points, to 12,805.39 points. The S & P-500, wider, took 10.12 points, or 0.74%, to 1368.71 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced on his side of 25.24 points (0.84%) to 3,016.46 points.
Tuesday, within the scope of concerns about global economic conditions and, perhaps, of a correction, the S & P 500 benchmark index of the managers fund, had fallen under its 50-day moving average for the first time since December.
Cyclical sectors, which have fallen sharply in recent days, took advantage of a movement to purchase cheap, the fund financial echoing 1.59%, including a gain of 3.75% to 8 , $ 86 for Bank of America.
The action Alcoa has closed up 6.34% to 9.90 dollars after the group, considered a good barometer of the U.S. industrial sector, has emerged, to everyone's surprise, a positive net income in the first quarter of 2012, benefiting from improved market conditions.
"Expectations were very low so a positive start to the earnings season is a positive sign," said Jack Ablin, Investment Officer at Harris Private Bank.
"That said, we can take stock of the health of other sectors throughout the week and the market will perhaps stand still before a complete picture."
Google, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are among the heavyweights of the American side who must publish their interim results this week …. The fall of some
….. 1.5% S & P 500 Tuesday was most marked in four months. Investors are now assessing whether the downturn on Wall Street-which is up sharply since the beginning of the year is an opportunity to enter a market that remains on a good launch e last six months.
Two hours before the end of the session, in its "Beige Book", the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy had continued to grow over the last months of winter, adding that rising gasoline prices starting to worry consumers and businesses throughout the country.
This appreciation of the Fed had little impact on the trend of the day.
Concerns about the debt crisis of the euro area eased somewhat after the statements of Benedict Coeuré, board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), saying that the purchase of government bonds remained a weapon available to the ECB.
The Apple stock lost 0.36% to 626.20 dollars after the U.S. Department of Justice announced legal action against Apple and two large e publishers for agreement on the price of electronic books.
The way Johnson & Johnson has little reaction (-0.11% to 64.13 dollars) a verdict of a judge of the State of Arkansas saying that the pharmaceutical company was fined a , 1 billion dollars after being convicted by a jury of having used illegal tactics to market a drug.
After a record year 2011, property transactions are spread downwards, credit dries up and prices began to decline. In short, all signs of a turnaround in the market are there. The question is what will be its magnitude. . The reasons for the sales record in 2011
The real estate prices continued to rise last year but this has not prevented sales of existing homes to beat their time record. According to the report released Thursday by the notaries of France, some 858,200 transactions were recorded last year, up 9% from 2010. In fact, only sales in the Province recorded a record with a jump of 14% over one year. The Ile de France, however, suffers a fall of 8%. This exceptional performance overall is therefore explained in part by the boom in sales of second homes. And would therefore be the consequence of the change in the taxation on real estate gains, which came into force in February. Indeed, we see a surge in transactions in the Tarn (31%), Correze (28%) and in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques (24%). Add to this the prospect of stopping interest loan in the former in late 2011 that prompted first-time buyers to anticipate an acquisition. Nearly 300,000 homes have indeed been funded in part by this system in 2011.
The reversal observed in early 2012
Such dynamics do not observe this year. The reasons are promoted in 2011 – the planned abolition of tax incentives – rather play against the market. Bazaille Pierre, president of the property market notaries, table and a decline in transactions from 15 to 20% in 2012, representing a range of 700 to 740,000. A reversal has already begun and abruptly, as evidenced by the unprecedented collapse of home loans. According to the Bank of France, the amount of home loans granted in February was the lowest in 32 months, falling by 41% compared to January and by 49% compared to February 2011. And this trend continued in March according to the Housing Credit Monitoring that evokes a fall in the amounts awarded by 36% over the first quarter, compared to the same period last year.
"The decline is alarming. Such a sharp decline was not foreseen, is concerned Mouillard Michel, professor of economics at University of Paris X Nanterre in charge of this observatory. In 2011, production reached 160 credit billion. This year it should rise to 120 billion, or slightly less. " And to emphasize "a drop of this magnitude is unprecedented," even during the 2009 crisis. Ditto when property prices had soared between 1989 and 1992: the decline in home loans that result had reached only 15 to 18%.
For him it is a sign that "everything is going to crash, even on the market of large cities." A pessimism that also feeds on the situation in the nine, the number of housing starts collapsed since the beginning of the year. "We have never seen a level of construction as low since 1986" says he. Notaries, themselves, are less alarmist. They believe that Paris and the vibrant cities of province, like Nice, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Montpellier, lower volumes may be limited to around 5%.
The reasons for the reversal
The tax reasons – the end of PTZ + in the old or the disappearance of Scellier in nine – are not the only explanation for the drop in home loans, and therefore transactions. The changing attitude of banks also plays a role. "Besides being confontées to slower growth or even recession, European banks are facing new prudential rules and have a capital ratio more important," said Marc Touati, chief economist of the financial holding company Assya. Incentives to limit risks, they are much more selective in granting loans, imposing more restrictions on prospective borrowers (need input, etc..).
The market downturn also reflects the uncertain economy, the unemployment rate is rising and the prospect of higher taxes for 2012. Results for Nicolas Tarnaud, an expert in real estate, "we fail to commit more over time, we will rent. And first-time buyers are the first affected." Finally, the French expect the outcome of the presidential election.
In short, demand is sluggish, "depressed" for Michel Mouillard. "This is the first time we observed an important loosening of intentions to purchase real estate," said the academic. A recent survey of the observatory Housing Credit / CSA, only 4% of households say they want to buy property in the next six months, down 29% compared to 2009.
Finally, property prices are still at historically high levels. From 2000 to 2011, they more than doubled in France (117%), even more in Ile-de-France (+138%), and almost tripled in Paris (186%). While household incomes, these, only increased by 26% over the same period. Reflecting a shift, according to some, the existence of a housing bubble that can only end up deflating, or even explode.
What price decline in 2012?
The question is whether such a crash is possible. Notaries exclude the hypothesis and favor a simple soft landing. "2012 will be a year of correction and sobering price," sums up Peter Bazaille. For the full year, they expect a 5% decline in the most tense areas in terms of supply as Paris and some regional cities. The rest of the territory, they anticipate a decline "more or less pronounced", 5 to 10% depending on the area.
Marc Touati plans to share a scenario a bit rougher. "Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, the note of France may be degraded, he says. In this case, the rate of OAT (obligation akin to treasure) would increase by one point, and it would be the same for credit rate, which could rise to 6% or 7%. "In this case, Economist expects a decline of 10 to 15% of property prices
. For his part, Michel Mouillart refuses to talk down price. This does not prevent him from displaying his pessimism. "For now, the market collapses, with 20 to 30% less activity in 2012, and the problem is that n 'there is no prospect of a rebound. And we do not see how to get out of bottoming "
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Molson Coors Brewing will buy the fund CVC Capital Partners brewer of Eastern Europe StarBev to 2.65 billion euros, the U.S. group is keen to develop its presence in the market s emerging.
Molson Coors has prevailed over the Japanese Asahi Group, which was not willing to pay more than three billion dollars for StarBev, according to people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. brewer is mainly present in mature markets such as USA, Canada and Great Britain with brands such as Carling, Coors Light and Blue Moon.
With this acquisition, expected to be accretive in the first year, the share of emerging sales expected to rise from the bottom of a single-digit margin to around 15%, estimated Molson Coors.
StarBev is present in the Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovakia.
Nevertheless, analysts are wondering about the synergies of the transaction, which is why the action lost nearly 3% to 44.35 dollars on Wall Street.
"Being present in emerging markets is positive but this acquisition seems quite devoid of potential for synergies," said Kaumil Gajrawala, an analyst at UBS.
The transaction represents about 11 times Ebitda of StarBev, 241 million euros, which also carries a turnover of 700 million euros.
CVC bought StarBev to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, in December 2009 and had sold given the interest shown by several brewers among which, besides Asahi is believed to know, were Carlsberg, Heineken and SABMiller.
CVC had paid for its acquisition of approximately $ 2.2 billion.
Nicolas Sarkozy is the "worst manager in history," Friday accuse Michel Sapin and Jerome Cahuzac, two experts on public finance team of Francois Hollande.
This attack follows the satisfaction of the Head of State after the announcement of a 2011 deficit lower than expected.
"Nicolas Sarkozy is carrying the six worst deficits in history recent budget," wrote the former finance minister and the chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, in a statement.
They recall that before the crisis, the largest deficits of the Fifth Republic had been achieved when Nicolas Sarkozy was budget minister (1993-1995).
"The figure of 5.2% budget deficit in 2011 compared to the GDP hides the continuing and disturbing increase in debt of France," they continue.
"The other significant figure announced by INSEE, is that the increased revenue from taxes paid by the French," they add.
Nicolas Sarkozy promised if elected to bring the public accounts in balance in 2016, for the first time since 1974. Francois Hollande provides balance in 2017.
European shares ended lower Tuesday, in response to statistics from the U.S. consumer confidence but more importantly to the decline in Total, which has stalled and resulted in values energy in its fall.
In Paris the CAC 40 showed a loss of 0.92% to 3469.59 points. Elsewhere in Europe, Frankfurt finally stable (0.00%), Madrid lost 1.03%, 0.56% and London Eurofirst 300 0.50%.
In the wake of Total, which lost 6%, the values of European oil and gas realize the worst performing sector of the day, with a loss of 2.37%.
The market is worried about the consequences of the gas leak occurred Sunday on the platform of the Elgin-Franklin French oil tanker in the North Sea.
U.S. consumer confidence fell in March and inflation expectations have never been higher for 10 months, according to the Conference Board index released Tuesday.
For its part, Wall Street pauses, ranging from missing a day after rising to peaks of nearly four years. However, the S & P 500 is on track to register its strongest quarterly performance since 2009.
Markets have also heard of another American Statistical relatively sluggish. The prices of houses have not changed in January, suggesting that this struggling sector just to turn the corner, shows the S & P Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.
Total accuses its biggest loss since December 2008, following discussions that represented a volume of five and a half times its daily average of 90 days.
"It reminds the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Difficult to know the extent of damage at this stage but when in doubt, it is better to sell. The action does BP is never recovered, "said a trader based in Paris
. BG, which has a stake of 14% in the deposit Elgin, lost 2.9%
. Philippe Gijsels (Fortis Global Markets) emphasizes that portfolio adjustments at the end of quarter amplified gains in the FTSEurofirst 300, which makes it vulnerable. "This is the usual set of month-end, which imposes an upward pressure to the side and makes the market very overbought. I think the beginning of next term will see profit-taking, "he said
. For Lynden Branigan (Barclays Capital) would require the FTSEurofirst 300 plunges below 1,050 points to break the uptrend. But he is relatively optimistic and sees a buying interest occur between 1069 and 1072, the Friday low and the 50-day moving average, respectively, with resistance at 1109, the peak in March.
Italy and Spain have sold debt without concern Tuesday, what can be interpreted as a sign of market confidence in their ability to recover their public finances and reform itself.
Italy has placed 3.8 billion of zero coupon bonds to two years with a yield of 2.35%, the lowest since November 2010, against 3.01% during the operational previous generation.
Spain sold 2.6 billion euros of treasury bills at three and six months yields moving in opposite directions to each other.
The Italian paper, however, suffered in the secondary market shortly after the auction, traders were saying that the award came too soon after the big award of € 7.3 billion of indexed bonds last week.
The dollar rose slightly against the euro and more markedly against the yen, maintaining its gains despite a statistical lackluster consumer confidence.
This increase comes in a market hit and little fluctuation, traders cautiously gauging the remarks made yesterday by the Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
Growth of the U.S. economy will have to accelerate job creation that do fall further unemployment, Ben Bernanke said Monday.
Oil prices have turned down after Bloomberg, citing an official from the energy sector, had reported that the U.S. planned to tap into strategic reserves ; cal.
U.S. officials have been saying for months that draw on reserves is one of the options available to address market disruption. Reuters reported this month that London was ready to work with Washington to take on strategic reserves in the current year.
No details were available on information from Bloomberg, which is not known whether it signals a change in tone or intent on the part of the U.S. government.
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