Business News & Financial News

Pflimlin Etienne, President of the Mutual Credit, announced Monday he was resigning his post at the head of the French mutual bank.

"I decided, for personal reasons, to end my functions as president of the National Confederation of Credit Mutuel, and the Federation of Credit Mutuel Centre Est Europe," he wrote in a statement released to the press by Credit Mutuel.

The banking group, in its statement, said that Michael Lucas, the current CEO of the Credit Mutuel will replace Stephen Pflimlin as President from October 14.

Previously, a source close to the group's management confirmed to Reuters that information revealed by the newspaper Les Echos.

"Yes, there is a press release that starts tonight at 18 hours, but I think I'll try to move forward," said the source had told Reuters.

Retail sales are backed up against all odds by 0.3% in Germany in July, posting a second consecutive month of decline in monthly, announced Tuesday the Federal Office of Statistics.

Over a year, retail sales rose 0.8%.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a monthly increase of 0.5% and an increase of 1.4% over one year.

The Paris stock exchange resumed on Tuesday the path of decline, concerns about slowing global growth had returned to second place the ads on mergers and acquisitions cause a rebound in European equities Monday.

Around 9:10, the CAC 40 lost 0.95% to 3519.44 points.

Accor (+1.5%) is the only value of the CAC 40 in the green after the group announced the sale of walls 48 of its hotels in Europe, allowing it to exceed its debt reduction targets for 2010.

Lafarge (-3.9%) shows the largest decreases of ACC. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch lowered its recommendation from neutral to underperform.

London fell by 0.7% and Frankfurt 0.63%.The European indices, EuroStoxx 50 and 300 Eurofirst yield more than 0.9%.

The dollar is trading around 1.2642 per euro against 1.2635 late Monday.

A barrel of U.S. light crude lost 88 cents to 72.22 dollars.

Carphone Warehouse, the first European distributor of mobile phones, publishes quarterly results above its forecast, thanks to smartphone demand, pushing up the stock price of more than 5%.

The British group showed some caution about the economic climate but said he was confident, however, achieve its goal for the year in April.

Of the thirteen weeks to July 3, the first fiscal quarter, sales in stores open at least a year rose 3.7% at constant exchange rates in the European market.

This increase is greater than analysts' forecasts that anticipated growth of 2%, according to a survey conducted by the company.

Carphone has also said that the three new stores opened since April in Britain under the name Best Buy have been successful had a "very positive", without giving figures.

Asked by Reuters about the economic outlook, the group general manager Roger Taylor said: "I am not a prophet of doom. But I do not presume to rapid growth, either."

The title gained 5.09% to 227 pence at 10h00 GMT, the FTSE 100 yielded 0.19%.

DuPont publishes a quarterly profit nearly tripled thanks to a double digit growth in sales in its five main business segments.

The number three of the chemistry in the United States has achieved during April-June net profit of 1.17 billion (900 million euros), or $ 1.26 per share, against 417 million (41 cents / share) on the corresponding period last year.

Excluding items, earnings were $ 1.17 per share.

Financial analysts had expected earnings of 93 cents per share according to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.It was not clear immediately that this consensus is comparable to published results.

The quarterly revenue rose 25.6% to $ 8.62 billion against 8.27 billion expected by the market.

DuPont revised upwards its forecast range for the full year, saying it now expects earnings per share (EPS) of 2.90 to 3.05 dollars excluding special items, against 2.50 to 2.70 far.

The market consensus gives an annual EPS of 2.64 dollars.

The action DuPont, one of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones gained 2.1% in pre-market transactions, to 39.80 dollars.

Wall Street could fall this week in a market upturn phase, but will require a new set of quarterly results convincing to feed the stock market rally that started in U.S. last weekend.

The markets have been digesting macroeconomic statistics found disappointing and pessimistic comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the U.S. economy, but the announcement of strong quarterly results by companies suggest a brighter future.

But this week, others are expected quarterly publications such as the oil company Chevron, DuPont chemist or the aircraft manufacturer Boeing.Good news would reassure investors.

Investors have had to readjust their forecasts for the economy with the latest statistics that portend a slowdown in the pace of recovery.

These data have also created divisions in the markets about the possibility of a new recession.If the concerns of a return to "W" began to fade among investors, publications positive would result in rising markets.

FIGURES OF THE GROWTH EXPECTED

"All indicators continue to signal growth, simply we are not moving as quickly as when we came out of the recession, which is totally logical," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at BTIG LLC, adding that the downward phase of the contract is completed.

He considers in particular that the beginning of July should be the low point of annual contracts.

Analysts hope to cheer the quarterly results this week after figures better than expected and forecast annual improvements announced last week by industry groups.

But the economy remains crucial. The series of publications macroeconomic expected this week will also be particularly monitored to determine the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.

The Fed should publish its Beige Book Wednesday on the economic conditions, while the figures for new home sales will launch the week Monday.

On Tuesday, it is the Standard & Poor's / Case Schiller home prices and consumer confidence, which will be followed, before investors only look the next day on orders of durable goods.

But it was the day Friday with the first estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) U.S. second quarter to be expected this week.

The U.S. stock markets opened on a negative note Friday as investors show some nervousness before the publication of the results of resistance testing taxed at 91 European banks.

A few minutes after the start of trading, the Dow Jones yielded 0.28% to 10,293.16 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 index 0.44% to 1088.89 points and the Nasdaq Composite 0.51% to 2234.45 points.

Losses are limited by satisfactory business results and publication of European statistics reassuring, especially in Great Britain and Germany.

Microsoft and Ford have published better than expected, the reaction of titles respectively 0.23% and 3.31%.

In contrast, the Citigroup opens down 1.71% to 4.02 dollars, the U.S. Treasury prepares to sell 1.5 billion shares to reduce state participation in the U.S. bank, gained during the rescue group.

The CEO of BP's Tony Hayward met with officials of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), one of the largest SWFs in the world, said an official source of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A UAE source told Reuters on Tuesday that BP had approached sovereign wealth funds to find a strategic partner to preserve it from any takeover attempt as it is mobilized by an oil spill that has caused the Gulf of Mexico.

Tony Hayward has made various "options" at this meeting, added the official source, without being more explicit.

Adia was not immediately available for comment.

A Saudi financial daily reported Wednesday that Saudi investors wishing to enter the capital of BP at 10% to 15%.

A delegation of these investors will travel to London to begin a dialogue with BP, said al-Eqtisadiyah, the main financial newspaper in the kingdom, without citing sources.

Action BP has lost more than half its value since the oil spill that began last April.

The British oil giant said it hoped to raise 10 billion this year to finance a fund for cleaning $ 20 billion that had opened under pressure from Washington.

Action BP earns 4.17% to 360 pence in morning.

Major European stock markets ended near their highest of the day and even down to Frankfurt and Zurich, investors remain concerned about the apparent fragility of economic recovery following the announcement of job destruction in the United States that many more 'Early in June

The Paris Bourse ended the session up 0.25% to 3348.37 points. However in the week, it sold 4.87%.

The U.S. economy has destroyed 125,000 non-agricultural jobs in June, according to Labor Department statistics, a figure slightly higher than expected.This is the first time since the beginning of the year that the U.S. economy is destroying jobs.

Moreover, following the division of Accor effective Friday, with the IPO of his ex-services division, became an independent entity called Edenred, it has jumped almost 30% compared to the reference price announced Thursday, while Accor has dropped from 4.64% to 23.53 euros.

In turn, Dana Petroleum has gained 22.34%, after being approached for a takeover, a possibility which has benefited other values in the oil or oil-related UK, as Premier Oil, Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil who gained 5.18 to 7.91%.

On the downside, Sanofi-Aventis has yielded 2.42%, according to press reports suggesting a proposed acquisition in the U.S. could reach 20 billion dollars.