Business News & Financial News

The trade balance between imports and exports French deficit was over 69 billion euros in 2011, the Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Pierre Lellouche. This is more than the previous record of 2008. View of the commercial port of Marseille

The Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Pierre Lellouche, announced a trade deficit of 69.6 billion euros in 2011, more than the previous 2008 record of 56.2 billion, in an interview published on the website of Figaro Tuesday. "With a trade deficit reached 69.6 billion euros in 2011 (after 51.4 billion in 2010) the results are less bad than expected," said the minister who had, in mid-January, revised down the estimated 5 billion annual deficit, previously estimated at 75 billion.

"In 2011, our imports have increased 11% to 498 billion. At the same time, more than 117 000 firms sold their products abroad, a figure unchanged from 2010, "said Secretary of State." Our exports increased by 8.6%, to 429 billion euro – which will create 90,000 jobs this year "has he congratulated

. Surplus for the food processing and aerospace

" We can be satisfied with the functioning of certain sectors: agribusiness is experiencing a historic surplus of 11.4 billion. The aircraft also implies a surplus of 17.7 billion through the sale of Airbus 534 "also said Pierre Lellouche

. It is observed that exports French grew less in 2011 than Germany, but also that exports from Italy, Spain, UK and U.S.. The global market share captured by France and has deteriorated significantly since 1990 from 6.2% 3.6%

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Deposits record debt have accelerated last year after a slight dip in 2010. The number of filings in 2011 with commissions of over-indebtedness on the mainland increased by 6.6% compared to 2010, 232,493, announced Wednesday the Bank of France. It increased by only 1% in the first nine months of 2010. The number of cases handled, it is more sensitive it up by 10.1% to 239.647.Dans detail, the commissions have used the new possibilities offered by the law Lagarde, effective the end of 2010, which allows them to not go before the judge for approval of a plan to erase debt. The number of recommendations to erase debt, also called personal recovery proceedings without liquidation (the judge orders the sale of household goods over-indebted if any) has been increased almost tenfold between 2010 and 2011 . As a result, the number of recommendations approved by the judges jumped 30% to 48,797 in 2011.Parallèlement, the number of cases referred to committee by the judges was down 22% in 3549.

The party of the presidential majority proposes the opening of branch agreements on legal working hours. For the head of the UMP, Jean-Francois Cope, the output of 35 hours is "inevitable." The national secretary of the UMP Jean-Francois Cope

The UMP will propose at its convention, which opens Tuesday, the opening of branch agreements in areas where the 35-hour "lasting problems arise," said Tuesday the Minister for Ecology Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet on LCI. "Our position, which will be presented tonight is to give the possibility to open branch agreements. There are branches in which lasting 35 hours pose problems despite the flexibility that we have done," said Ms Kosciusko-Morizet.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet did not specify which areas were specifically concerned, however, saying that all branches should be able to open negotiations."But there are areas where it is more complicated than others, where the division of labor is much less homogeneous than in others," she said.

In an interview published Tuesday in La Voix du Nord, the Secretary General of the UMP Jean-Francois Cope said that "the crisis, the output of 35h is inevitable, since it secures the purchasing power" .

The oil services group CGG Veritas said on Wednesday quarterly net earnings above expectations, boosted by strong performance of its subsidiary Sercel and recovery of marine activity.

The specialist geophysical services and equipment for the oil industry recorded a utilization rate of the fleet marine marked improvement, while Sercel, its subsidiary specialized in the production of geophysical equipment, has reported a significant increase sales of land equipment.

"Our results have improved significantly this quarter. They are excellent for Sercel.

European shares closed Friday up and recorded a third straight session of gains, as Wall Street made by U.S. jobs figures better than expected in September.

"The employment report for this month is also surprisingly good as last month was surprisingly bad. The labor market remains weak and the Fed should not be impressed by this report, which suggests an EQ3 (a third cycle of purchasing government bonds) at the FOMC meeting of November 2, "said Rob Carnell, economist at ING Financial Markets.

The CAC 40 index gained 0.66% to 3095.56 points but under the highest of the day (3126.0) after nearly 8% over the previous two sessions.For the week, the index rose by 3.81%.

London has been 0.23%, 0.54% Frankfurt and Milan 1.29%. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.81%.

"The European stock markets appear to initiate a phase of stabilization, as the actions of several sectors (banking, insurance, oil, utilities, telecommunications). This reflects the extremely low valuations of these securities," said Vincent Guenzi, strategist at Cholet Dupont.

Axa (5.10%) finished at the top of increases in the CAC 40, followed by Total (2.85%) and Peugeot (2.56%).

Carrefour (-3.66%) registered the largest decline of the CAC on profit taking.EADS lost 3.32%, hit by the rise of the euro, which fell from 1.3190 dollars late Monday at 1.3485 late Friday afternoon, the day after the announcement of new measures support to banks by the ECB.

In the bond market, the performance of the German government bond (Bund) and 10 years has reached 2%.

The growth slowdown coupled with the dynamism of the labor force will not help to reduce the number of unemployed, estimated employment center in its economic outlook. Agency employment center in Nice

Employment center does not provide for improvement on the unemployment front table and at best a stabilization of the number of job seekers in 2011 and 2012 and, at worst, a deepening if growth turned out lower than forecast government. "The slowdown in job creation combined with the dynamism of the labor force should not be allowed to initiate a decline in unemployment," said employment center in its economic outlook published Tuesday, October 4.

For 2011, the Agency plans to increase the number of job seekers without any activity of 5000 and 78,000 by including persons who have reduced activity.These predictions are based on a growth assumption of 1.75%, made by the government. Next year, "unemployment started to decline," if growth remained at 1.7% (assuming the government), with a decline in the number of job seekers with no activity on the order of 5000 and 12,000 by integrating people with reduced activity.

However, "if growth slowed in 2012, unemployment would continue to grow," said employment center. Based on a growth assumption of 1.4% (the IMF), the number of job seekers with no activity would increase by about 27,000.The prospect of a "stabilization of unemployment seems reasonable, except major accident" by the end of the year, said at a press briefing Christian Charpy, general manager of employment center.

Job creation is not strong enough to absorb the increase of the labor force

But, "unemployment will not reach the level it had before the entry into recession in early 2008," noted Bernard Ernst, director of studies of employment center who recalled that in previous crises of 1974 and 1992 the Unemployment had found "quite quickly" its pre-crisis. These forecasts are more optimistic than those of UNEDIC (unemployment insurance) that, based on growth in 2012 of 1.2% (consensus of economists) has provided an increase of 36,700 unemployed with no activity this year and 55,500 next year. "At this stage, a forecast of 1.2% in 2012 seems overly pessimistic," said Mr.Charpy.

Employment center provides, in addition, 130,000 net new jobs this year by companies affiliated with unemployment insurance, but the momentum is down (44 000 in the second half, against 96,000 in the first). In 2012, job creation should remain the same (126 000) if growth remained at 1.7% but reach only 101,000, with growth slowing to 1.4%. These new jobs do not seem sufficient to reduce unemployment because they are less than the increase in the labor force estimated at 140,000 or 150,000 per year.

According to Bernard Ernst, the labor force could grow more than expected after the announcement by INSEE in mid-May to strong growth in first quarter (0.9%).The prospect of an upturn in the economy brought on the labor market of people (youth, women etc) that were not previously found that increased enrollment in the employment center lists the "first mover" and people signing up for a "return to work," he said. "Registration for employment center are not independent of the economy" said Mr. Charpy.

Hermes currently finds no sign of spending restraint to its customers despite a darkening economic outlook, said Sunday the manager of the French luxury group on the fringes of Paris Fashion Week.

"At the moment, there is no impact on our sales," said Patrick Thomas told Reuters, adding that think the purchasing power of customers in the luxury had not yet been assigned.

"The fact that it does not see today does not mean it will not happen", he warned, however.

"When there are moments of macroeconomic concerns, it always results in our businesses."

The values ​​of luxury was heckled last week in the markets, amid concerns about the evolution of the Chinese market and the strength of demand for luxury goods in slowing global economy.

Patrick Thomas, however, has sought reassurance about the level of sales of Hermes in September. "September went well," he said.

In addition, the manager of the saddle on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore said Hermes would soon create the family holding to sanctuaries a majority stake in the group face to the appetites of LVMH.

"It'll be soon. There are many administrative procedures," he said.

Gold was well on Monday to undergo its biggest drop in three days the last 28 years, investors are turning away from commodity markets to protect themselves from the potential impact of a default on the remaining Greek countries in the euro area.

"Gold is one of the few assets that remained in positive territory this year (…), so when investors are looking for money, they sell assets that have underperformed.Basically, gold is a victim of its own success, "wrote in a note Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS.

The price of spot gold was trading at 1,623.19 dollars per ounce to 11:25 GMT, down some 3%.

During the last three days, gold has fallen nearly 10%, its biggest decline in this time interval since February 1983.

"This shows that in times of extreme stress, there is no adequate substitute for liquidity," said Tom Kendall, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

Gold has dropped more than $ 100 last Friday's rebound against the greenback and rumors of liquidation of positions by large hedge funds.

The lack of consensus for a solution to the crisis of sovereign debt in the euro area has pushed gold to new heights this year, reaching more than 1,900 dollars per ounce.

"The increase in the volatility of gold prices was a clear indication that gold was no longer a low-risk assets," said Nic Brown, on commodities strategist at Natixis.

5500 communities and public institutions are still contaminated with highly volatile lending rates, which could cost them up to 3.9 billion euros. The key points of the problem. The bank Dexia had sold 25 billion euros in loans structured to 5500 clients. Complex mechanisms and uncontrollable

The toxic loans are loans that have a hand-indexed floating rate indices extremely volatile, likely to cause a spike in interest rates. Some loans are indexed to such an exchange rate of foreign currencies. According to their variations, interest may pounce. Release cites the case of municipalities that have seen interest rates rise to 10 or 15% this summer because of rising Swiss franc, their credits are indexed to such currency. However, some loans are still running until 2025 or 2030.The low cost of borrowing in the early years convinced the financial services community, who thought to save money without receiving the opacity and complexity of products.

Read about: Local authorities caught up toxic loans

5500 communities and institutions concerned

Liberation published on Wednesday a confidential document from the bank Dexia Credit Local (DCL), which amounts to 5500 the number of local authorities and public institutions which have made French toxic loans between 1995 and 2009. In total, the bank would have distributed 25 billion euros for these clients.Or "as estimated by the bank, the additional cost of these loans was estimated at 3.9 billion euros at the end of 2009," wrote Liberation, "which means that communities should pay a penalty of this order" .

Libération.fr provides a map of France infected bodies, municipalities, regions, departments all political stripes combined. Antibes, for example, has borrowed 60 million euros. It must repay 21 million extra. In Rouen, the risky loans represent 53% of the debt, for a total of 162 million euros.The city has already been provisioned 500,000 euros in 2009 and 1 million in 2010 to cope with soaring interest rates of its loans.

Read about: Local authorities still mired in the toxic loans

The HLM also contaminated

As local authorities, social landlords have contracted toxic financial products before the outbreak of the banking crisis. Exposure to risk financial products could reach 50% for a dozen of them.

Read about: What you should know about the crisis of public housing

The toxic loans account for 8% of the debt of public housing

Dexia in its sights

In a report published in 2009, the Court of Auditors has confirmed the responsibility of banks, which provide "information over-optimistic or even wrong, to borrowers, guaranteeing them virtually no risk."Among them, the Dexia Group, the first local lender. In 2008 and 2009, its share in domestic credit has also plunged by 40, then 20%. Are also singled out the savings banks, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale. But the Court of Auditors also accused local authorities, who have adopted "a speculative approach" by borrowing structured.

Read about: Credits toxic local irrational, greedy banks

A double threat to taxpayers

Adding salt may be administered for. Exponential to pay the interest, communities can cut back on investment and substantially increase local taxes."The rise of the Swiss franc is a college at least for the Seine-Saint-Denis", says the chairman of the General Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, Claude Bartolone, in Libération.

Read about: The tricks of the departments to make ends meet

"The financial department is dramatic"

Legal action

From 2009, Saint-Etienne was the first city to announce its intention to assign the Deutsche Bank before the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris to set aside 20 million euros of toxic loans. In February, Claude Bartolone has also filed a complaint against the bank Depfa, Dexia and Caylon, hoping to overturn the 63 risky loans taken out between 1997 and 2008. He had already assigned Natixis in 2009.Other procedures, initiated by municipalities, are under way.

Read about: Borrowing toxic Seine-Saint-Denis attack three banks

Toxic loans: the politicians do block against banks

Claude Bartolone accuses Dexia "scam"

Some changes since 2008

In the months that followed the discovery of toxic loans in 2008, the government initially tried to minimize. The charter of good conduct promised at the time of the crisis has emerged in January 2010: it forbids banks to offer loans to local governments whose interest rate changes based on indices high risk. In practice, this rules out any link with commodity prices and equity markets.For their part, communities agree to more transparency on their debts and loans.

Tuesday, communities have come to begin the process that should lead to a funding agency dedicated to local investment, without automatic recourse to the banks. It could be operational in 2012 and would cover, in ten years, a quarter of loans to local market, which totals 20 billion euros. A bill will be tabled in Parliament with a view to its adoption before the end of the year.

In its hunt for tax evaders, the U.S. Department of Justice is now turning also to Israeli banks, with branches in Switzerland are suspected of helping U.S. citizens evade taxes in their country, we learn from sources close to the file.

The banks involved are Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi le-Israel BM and Mizrahi-Tefahot.

This extension of investigations to Israeli settlements mark an intensification of the fight against tax evasion, which opened in 2007 against UBS and Credit Suisse recently against continued.

However, Israel is a state close to the United States with whom he maintains close diplomatic and military support from more than $ 3.1 billion per year.

Aviram Cohen, spokesman for Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv, said Thursday that "the application related only to statistical data. It appears that these data will be used to an agreement between the Swiss and American. Obviously, the Bank Leumi Switzerland is cooperating fully with authorities in accordance with the law. "

According to the Swiss press, U.S. officials now have statistics of ten Swiss banks suspected of justice by helping their clients based in the United States to evade taxes.

The Deputy Minister of Justice James Cole sent a letter on August 31 asking for statistical information to Swiss banks in September and three Israelis.It gives them until Sept. 23 to provide details of their customers.

UBS has already passed under the yoke of American justice, having delivered nearly 4,500 American identities of customers in addition to the payment of $ 780 million to avoid a trial that had threatened its existence.