Business News & Financial News

European stock markets closed sharply higher Friday, praising the employment figures significantly better than expected in the U.S. in January and other U.S. statistics considered encouraging for e global economy.

The CAC 40 index ended for the first time above 3,400 points since early August, with a gain of 1.52% to 3427.92 points. For the week, the benchmark index of the Paris took 3.29%.

The London Stock Exchange has sold for 1.81%, 1.67% that of Frankfurt and Milan up 1%. The pan-European STOXX index rose 1.49% 50a.

Concerns about the apparent lack of progress on the Greek case, however, have plunged the Athens Stock Exchange.

"After a month of January for significant investors, European stock markets continued their advance (…) the announcement of a fall in unemployment in the United States to its lowest level in three years (8.3%) and an imminent agreement on Greece maintain the euphoria on global indices, "said Fabrice Cousté, CEO of CMC Markets France. 

The upturn in the U.S. employment continued in January, with the highest rate of job creation observed in nine months, and the unemployment rate fell to , its lowest level in nearly three years, reflecting the impact of growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 at the beginning of new year.

The growth rate of services sector in the U.S. has in turn greatly accelerated in January, while economists had estimated that it would evolve in the ME I beat that in December, according to figures released by the Institute of Supply Management (ISM). 

In addition, orders to U.S. industry rose for the second consecutive month in December, driven by increased business investment, and the rate of growth of the sector services has increased significantly in January.

In most cases, fast cash loans are credited to the borrower's account within 24 hours. Sometimes the time taken may be even less, depending on the amount of loan as well as the company which processes your application.

General Motors announced Monday the retirement of Nick Reilly, current head of the European activities of the group and its replacement next year by Karl-Friedrich Stracke.

The latter will take office as president of GM Europe on 1 January while retaining his current position as CEO of Opel.

General Motors had appointed in March the former head of engineering at the head of the European manufacturer Opel.

France should maintain its valuable credit rating "AAA" Despite the security which would make Paris a portion of the bond portfolio of troubled bank Dexia and a possible capital injection into banks, analysts said a Reuters poll .

They point out that this type of guarantee, recorded as an off-balance in the public accounts, and a possible capital investment banks, which could eventually generate a profit, do not pose a risk to the sovereign debt.

But the rescue of Dexia, which should be formalized on Sunday, and a new injection of public funds in other banks will form a new constraint on the flexibilities of the French government, which announced a few weeks ago to 12 billion euros of savings in order to preserve the triple "A" credit rating the highest possible.

Analysts point out however they can not confirm their hypothesis that once the details of the dismantling of Dexia are known.

The Belgian, French and Luxembourg reaffirmed Sunday after a meeting held at midday in Brussels their solidarity in the search for a solution that ensures the future of Franco-Belgian bank.

In a joint statement, the Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and French François Fillon stated that the three governments give their full support to the proposals of management of the banking group, presented at a Board of Directors scheduled to begin at 15:00 in Brussels.

The activities of the Franco-Belgian bank, first bank in size in Europe to be a victim of the crisis of sovereign debt in the euro zone could be split and the most risky assets confined to a separate structure.

Brussels and Paris are trying to agree on the guarantees afforded by the two countries to the hive to accommodate the bond portfolio of 95 billion euros in Dexia, hoping not to aggravate the situation of public finances .

The rating agency Moody's has also increased pressure on the Belgian camp Friday night: it has placed the sovereign rating of Aa1 by explaining kingdom under surveillance will include assessing the costs and liabilities that the state could play in supporting Dexia.

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%.

French Prime Minister spoke Thursday the necessary economic and social convergence between France and Germany, which will notament a common retirement age. Now it has to go to 67 across the Rhine. Prime Minister Francois Fillon presented Thursday, June 16 at the Small Business Congress in Paris a series of measures designed to "grow" these companies

Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Thursday it would move to a retirement age of communication between France and Germany, where the legal age of retirement has to go in the coming years from 65 to 67 years . Referring to the "convergence" between the two countries tax the Prime Minister came out of his speech Thursday at the awards ceremony of the creative audacity to Matignon to engage in a plea for a reconciliation of working hours and the age of retirement between the two countries.

"It will take time to go to a joint work, we must move towards a common retirement age, it will move towards a gradual convergence of economic and social organization in both countries because it is the key to survival and the development of the euro area and the European continent, "warned Mr Fillon, without elaborating.

The retirement age in Germany will rise gradually from 65 to 67 years under a reform passed in 2007 and intended to prevent the collapse of a system challenged by life expectancy and an ever-growing shrinking of the workforce. The decline in retirement age will, however, very gradually, reaching actually 67 years around 2030.

French pension reform, enacted in June 2011, provides a decline of 60 to 62 the legal age of retirement.

Bank stocks were the main victims of a new Black Monday stock market. But according to Dominique Dequidt, fund manager at KBL Richelieu, concerns about them are exaggerated.

Fears about the banking stocks have been very heavy on Monday on all European markets. In Paris, Societe Generale tumbled 8.64% to 20.25 euros, signing the largest decrease in the CAC 40. BNP Paribas lost 6.34% to 31.30 euros, Crédit Agricole (-5.51% to 5.84 euros) and Natixis (-5.68% to 2.55 euros). In the background, the difficulties of Greece, the threat of a lawsuit in the United States against 16 banks – including Societe Generale – for their responsibility in the subprime crisis, and the desire to recapitalize European banks by the IMF .Dominique Dequidt but remains optimistic.

What are the fears about banks today?

First, the gradual disappearance of the sovereign rating in Greece opened the door to further degradation, Ireland and Portugal in the lead. This is one of the great fears in the market today. Investors fear losses that may result in banking stocks that are exposed. Indeed some of the U.S. money market funds that had liquidity of investments in Europe have rather taken off the market last week. The second point is the deterioration of the American note in the summer. She amplified these fears and stoked fears of slowing global growth.

These fears are justified?

It is not really justified, at least in the short term. It is mainly a crisis of confidence that undermines the market.But look closer, banks are healthy. When we look at the credits granted by banking institutions in Europe, there is no need to panic. They rose 3% in the first quarter and 4% in the second. And despite a rather European growth at half the second quarter.

Banks are robust enough to withstand the risk of European sovereign debt and the threat of global recession?

Yes, in the event that we are not witnessing a collapse of the banking system. But there is no need to be as alarmist as the IMF on the recapitalization of banks. They have made big profits in the first half. BNP Paribas, despite its 450 million refinancing of provisions in the Greek debt, posted a profit of more than 2 billion euros in the first quarter.

But banks are very fearful to lend to each other.The level of cash placed with the European Central Bank has reached 151 billion euros Friday …

We are in a tense situation since the beginning of August the fears are heavy on the strength of some banks. Hence the difficulty they face to lend to each other. This level is certainly high compared to six months ago. But we are still far from the amounts of their outstanding 2008 in which the ECB had reached astronomical levels.

The trial of the U.S. federal government against 16 global banks – including the general society – he may weigh on an already difficult climate?

I do not think, at least for France and Europe. They are not involved in the trial. And regarding the risks of fines, it is called, in the extreme case, a sentence that would amount to hundreds of millions of euros.This is a difficult but there is no major concern to have.

To what extent can we expect an impact on the real economy if the situation worsens?

Banks have made a big effort on their balance sheets, it is not in the same situation of overheating than during the crisis. They are now well prepared for the state of distrust of the markets. But the phenomenon of double-dip recession may occur. 3 months ago investors imagined a soft landing in growth after the good figures of 2010. Today expectations are more cautious, and go up to imagine a recession in 2012.

The unemployment rate in France within the meaning of the International Labour Office (ILO) decreased slightly by 0.1 points in the second quarter to 9.1% on average in metropolitan (9.6% including the overseas departments -mer), according to data seasonally adjusted (SA) Interim released Thursday by INSEE.

The number of unemployed stood at 2.580 million in city, or 37,000 fewer than in the first quarter.

The unemployment rate in the first three months of the year have been confirmed at 9.2% of the workforce in metropolitan and 9.7% with Dom.

In one year, the unemployment rate in France fell by 0.2 points in the second quarter.

The unemployment rate for 15-24 year olds has fallen more sharply in the second quarter than the general population: 21.9% on the mainland, it folds down 0.9 points from January to March and a point in one year.

INSEE no longer publishes monthly unemployment rate since 2006, after a controversy over its methodology.

Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, continues to do so, however, and announced Wednesday a rate of 9.9% for France (Dom included) in July, a level below a tenth of a point the average for the euro area.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange finished up 0.23% Tuesday, buoyed by the surge in Wall Street yesterday, but the gains were limited by lingering concerns surrounding the strength of the yen on the foreign exchange market.

The Nikkei gained 21.02 points to 9,107.43 and the Topix, broader took 1.94 points (0.25%) to 779.06.

The Tokyo stock market has benefited from the good performance observed the day on Wall Street, thanks to a major merger or acquisition in the technology sector and hopes for solutions to the debt crisis in the euro area.

Google announced Monday the acquisition of the handset manufacturer Motorola Mobility for approximately $ 12.5 billion (8.7 billion euros) in cash to strengthen the market share of its mobile operating system Android.

The announcement Japanese technology support certain values, including the manufacturer of parts for smartphones Murata Manufacturing, which ended up 1.34%. The chip maker Elpida Memory has meanwhile increased by 5.08% while Renesas Electronics gained 1.86%.

But the strength of the yen on the foreign exchange market continues to worry investors. The dollar was trading around 0600 GMT to 76.81 yen.

"In addition to the summer slowdown, we could wait a while before the Japanese market will regain momentum after days of strong sales of last week," said Masatoshi Sato, senior strategist at Mizuho Investors Securities.

The Nikkei has lost some 7.6% since the beginning and is still in its 25 days moving average located at 9656.06.

No support plan in Cyprus is being discussed, said Thursday the European Commission, following the deterioration of the country's rating by Fitch.

"The Cypriot economy is basically sound.We must make certain decisions on the reforms (but) no aid plan is under discussion at any level whatsoever, "said a spokesman for the EU executive.

Wednesday, Fitch lowered its rating two notches on Cyprus, "A-" to "BBB" with negative implications by estimating likely that the country is seeking foreign aid to ensure its funding requirements, which would make the fourth member of the euro area to request an international bailout.

The downgrade occurred on days when the Cypriot government introduced an austerity plan of 600 million euros, which aims to reduce the public deficit to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012.

Imerys The French got the green light Friday to the European Union for the acquisition of Talc de Luzenac, owned by Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto announced the sale for $ 340 million in February as part of its focus on its most important assets.

The European Commission, which acts as an agency competition for the 27 countries of the European Union said Friday that the transaction did not raise any particular problem of competition.

Talc, the softer rock that is, is mainly used in animal feed, ceramic tiles, chewing gum and powdered to make care of the same name.