International News

While falling the first quantitative estimates on the losses caused by the bacterium E. coli (EHEC) on the French market garden industry, the doubts expressed Friday by Bruno Le Maire, who feared a "very negative impact" on the French production of vegetables, proved correct. So much so that the French Minister of Agriculture will visit Brussels on Monday to ask European authorities to release the compensation for French fruit and vegetables. That's what he said last night during a trip to Washington as part of the preparation of a G20 meeting.

The bill could climb quickly, especially if other European countries adopted the same position. Only in France, in a week, the losses for the chain of cucumber and tomato were almost 5 million.In Spain, they reach for the entire industry around 200 million euros, according to the Spanish Federation of Producers and exporters of fruits and vegetables (FEPEX), 75 million euros for the single chain of cucumber.

Germany will not pay

Ultimately, who pays for that damage? The issue remains unresolved, some arguing that Germany, by criminalizing the original Spanish cucumbers in the spread of the disease, is mainly responsible for the current situation and the financial losses suffered by producers. Since then, the vegetable has been exonerated, no evidence has been presented that is causing the infection. For some, Germany should pay the compensation sought. A scenario has completely rejected on Saturday a Reinhard Schäfers Europe, the German ambassador in France no fax payday advance."I can not imagine it will financially compensate," he said, justifying the information given by a need for transparency. "When we did, we had found something on some cucumbers Spanish. When you have information to one point, you must tell the public, "he added.

"We are victims of an epidemic," he said. That is what concerns us for now. There are mechanisms at European level to deal with it ", confirming the position of Bruno Le Maire.

Expected meeting June 17 in Luxembourg

In addition, the Minister recalled Friday absolute necessity "not to lower our guard for food safety," tackles and the attempts by some European countries to "re-nationalize agricultural policies."Having considered excessive embargo imposed by Russia on European imports of fresh vegetables (594 million euros in 2010), the Minister has however called for a "total safety" at the intra-European and its boundaries, based on traceability and controls. There remains the question of the cost of such tests. A question that Bruno Le Maire has not evaded, but without giving numerical estimates. This position closes, the minister should defend it on June 17. A meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg should indeed be confirmed within 48 hours to study the responses to health crises, but also to improve their prevention.

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Sony continued its demining operation. Sunday morning, leaders of the electronics group broke the calm of a week full of holidays in Japan to hold an emergency press conference after hacking data of 78 million customers of the platform game online PlayStation Qriocity and a new music download service. On this occasion, the head of consumer business group, Kazuo Hirai, presented his "sincere apologies" and announced a series of measures to "restore confidence" of players.

The situation is serious. Between April 17 and 19, the network information Sony has suffered a virus attack that allowed hackers to capture data from users of the PlayStation Network (PSN), including their name, date of birth, email address and password.Above all, Sony has "not ruled out the possibility" that the bank details have been stolen. Even if the information was encrypted, some 10 million bank details can be found potentially in nature.

Measures of common sense

Faced with this threat, Sony executives have started to deliver the recommendations make sense. They advise gamers to "look at their records and monitor the history of their purchases by credit cards, and change their username and password on other online services if they were identical to those entered on the network PlayStation. This change of password will be imposed when the PlayStation Network and Qriocity service, suspended since April 20, will return to service in the coming days.Players receive one month's premium subscription service for the PlayStation, as compensation paydayloans.

But Sony has also enabled internally to prevent such mishaps from happening again. The electronics giant has announced "measures to improve the security of its network, with the establishment of a" monitoring software automatically to defend against new attacks, improved data encryption , more sophisticated means of detecting intrusions on the network and adding new firewalls. A "Mr. Computer Security "will also be appointed.

A survey in France

On the investigation front, Sony has relied on the expertise of two companies specializing in computer security, while cooperating with authorities in several countries, including the FBI in the United States which are grouped as many users.Official inquiries have been launched or are about to be committed by Great Britain, France, Australia and Hong Kong. For now, no information was provided on the likely perpetrator of this piracy and their motivations.

According to Kazuo Hirai, it is too early to evaluate the accounting consequences of piracy. The cyber attack occurs however at a delicate time for Sony, faced with the consequences of the terrible earthquake and tsunami of March 11 in Japan that led to the temporary shutdown of some of its plants. It also touches the heart of its development strategy in video games, which relies more on online play with each new generation of consoles, and thus the players' confidence in buying from a distance.

Zhou Mingwang is a young Chinese entrepreneur very reactive. Twenty-four hours after the official announcement of the royal wedding between William and Kate, 16 November, Zhou placed online on its website chinamingwang.cn a copy of the engagement ring, a large blue sapphire set with diamonds, worn at the time by Princess Diana, she received a gift from Prince Charles.

The jewel, consisting of a zircon crystals and 14, is sold for a whopping $ 2.75 to $ 8 per piece, the price varies depending on the quantity purchased. Located in Yiwu city, south of Shanghai, a center of low-cost production, Zhou took care of changing the jewel just enough to avoid infringement litigation payday loans in one hour.

For the first orders from Great Britain, flocked applications everywhere, even Australia. Recently, a French magazine has purchased 35,000 for a commercial transaction.

If the idea has since made a few followers among the competition, the young man, who has already sold more than 100,000 copies, table for this year on a strong rise in earnings thanks to Kate and William. Friday, he will follow the ceremony in his factory with 40 employees.

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U.S. exchanges to raise. After closing sharply lower Monday, Wall Street opens on Monday, up slightly Tuesday. The Dow Jones gained 0.12% and the Nasdaq rose 0.22%.

Before the publication of the results tonight Yahoo and Intel, the return to stock market indices through better than expected corporate earnings and renewed housing construction in March.Housing starts rose 7.2% and building permits by 11.2%.

The day after lowering the outlook on the U.S. debt by Standard and Poor's, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the country was "in a much stronger position (than other countries) to deal with its difficulties. "

Oil prices continue to fall Tuesday in the opening exchanges in New York, as investors questioned the impact of high prices on demand.In early afternoon on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of light sweet crude for May delivery traded at 106.25 dollars, down 87 cents from the previous day.

Citigroup: 0.90% to 4.46 dollars

Citigroup announced Tuesday that he gradually got rid of a portfolio of 12.7 billion dollars of toxic assets account for a large portion of its losses during the crisis in order to mitigate the anticipated effects of the implementation establish rules of Basel III.

Johnson & Johnson 2.98% to 62.26 dollars

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday net profit down 23% to $ 3.47 billion for the first quarter but remained higher than expected (3.2 billion dollars). Turnover, up 3.5% to $ 16.2 billion, also exceeded expectations (15.83 billion U.S. dollars).The group raised its forecast for annual earnings per share, taking it to a range of 4.90 to 5 dollars, against a previous range of 4.80 to 4.90 dollars and a forecast of analysts of 4.83 dollars.

NYSE Euronext: 1.17% to 38.77 dollars

Nasdaq OMX stock exchange operators and IntercontinentalExchange noted Tuesday their proposed purchase of NYSE Euronext board of directors of the places in New York and Paris payday loan.

State Street: 2.08% to 45.60 dollars

State Street issued on Tuesday a quarterly operating profit rose to 444 million, or 88 cents per share, slightly above the consensus.

General Motors: -1.33% to 29.57 dollars

The U.S. Treasury could sell much of 33% of shares he still owns stake in General Motors this summer or fall, according to a source familiar with the matter.Neither the timing nor the size of the sale, however, have yet been determined.

Goldman Sachs: -0.42% to 153.14 dollars

Goldman Sachs announced Tuesday a 72% decline in earnings in the first quarter compared to last year to 908 million. Analysts expected a profit of about $ 477 million. The turnover of the bank stood at $ 11.9 billion in the quarter, down 7% year on year but higher than the 10.2 billion expected by analysts.

Bank of New York: -1.78% to 28.68 dollars

Bank of New York reported Tuesday in a 4% rise in quarterly profit to 625 million, supported by higher asset management revenues and commissions.

Seagate Technology: -2.91% to 17.32 dollars

Seagate Technology will buy the operations of disk drives from Samsung Electronics for $ 1.4 billion in cash and stock, said on Tuesday South Korean group.

Texas Instruments: -0.98% to 34.45 dollars

Texas Instruments on Monday announced a quarterly profit slightly below expectations. The first quarter earnings rose to $ 666 million, or 55 cents per share, against $ 658 million and 52 cents a year earlier.

Harley Davidson: -1.68% to 39.04 dollars

Harley Davidson reported earnings per share of $ 0.51 in the first quarter, below the consensus at $ 0.53. The group recorded quarterly revenue of 1.06 billion euros, against 1.05 billion expected.

While the Arab riots continue, the World Bank has sounded the alarm. In Washington, facing the 24 countries that make up the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) responsible for setting broad policy guidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the institution said that "a worsening of conditions in the Middle East and North Africa could derail global growth. "

It considers in particular that "if oil prices were to rise sharply and permanently, whether due to growing uncertainty or a significant disruption of oil production, global growth could slow by 0.3 percentage point in 2011 and 1.2 points in 2012.The World Bank said that volatility in oil prices and agricultural products had been "even higher" than usual in recent weeks.

"Act Now"

The World Bank has, however, tried to reassure his interlocutors: currently, the impact is limited to local economies themselves. The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt for example cut the growth of both countries about three percentage points in 2011, compared to what was planned three months ago. "The growth in Egypt and Tunisia should be about 2.5% and 1.5% respectively," says the Bank.A very inadequate compared to their population growth in a context of energy prices and food costs.

Internationally, the economic disruption, "if they remained at this stage, should have limited impact globally," said the World Bank payday loans. Its president Robert Zoellick, however, urged the international community to act now. "Wait until the situation stabilizes, it will lose opportunities," he said

The IMF on the alert

The signal seems to have been well received by IMFC. Its 24 members and confirm that "the immediate economic impact of developments in some Middle East and North Africa require particular attention."The cards are distributed: the World Bank's objective to "strengthen its support" in these two areas and the IMF's role to conduct "economic evaluation" for an "action plan".

"Of course we stand ready to assist, on the side of technical assistance and funding on the slope," assured the IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said at a news conference. "The example of the Middle East has highlighted this issue, the fact that you can have good numbers in terms of sustainability without growth," he added. Remarks relayed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: "Today, the change underway in the Middle East calls for rethink and refocus the commitment of the international community.These transitions involve ultimately the people, increase their opportunities and their freedom. "

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The government takes action to defuse the controversy over rising energy prices. And Francois Fillon has "taken a series of measures to limit the impact of energy prices on the purchasing power", Matignon said Tuesday in a statement.

The Government has expressed particular the cancellation of the rising gas prices initially expected July 1. In addition, departments will review the tariff applied to gas prices. Gas prices rose 5.2% Tuesday, bringing to more than 20% price increases year over year. With the calculation in force today, it might also increase again by 7.5% on 1 July.But while the subject of rising prices are especially sensitive to thirteen months of the presidential election, Eric Besson, Minister of Industry, Energy and the Digital Economy, had already indicated that decisions were expected at the end arbitrations and the Elysee Matignon "in the days to come."

The government also plans to review the public service contract that binds GDF Suez to the state, "to make it more favorable to the ultimate consumer when the market prices are persistently lower than the price of long-term contracts." Since early 2010, GDF Suez, owned 35% by the state, which offers fares. The CRE then verifies that they conform to the formula.This was pronounced in recent days to a new formula.

"Special contribution" of oil

Another measure expected: the oil companies will now be drawn upon to finance the oil import bill. They will finance the upgrading to 4.6% "of the flat rate mileage apply for tax revenue in 2010 compared to the level used in 2009." This tax deduction will allow those who use their cars very much to offset soaring fuel prices bad credit payday loans. Matignon stresses with the oil companies define the form that this "special contribution". The idea of ​​a fuel voucher donated to the poorest households had been discussed but time does not appear to have been selected by the state.The establishment of a solidarity fund, financed by oil tankers, would be the preferred path to creating a new tax.

But this idea goes wrong with the oil companies. The president of the French Union of Petroleum Industries (Ufip) Jean-Louis Schilansky pointed out that the "flexibility" was "extremely small".

Focus on energy savings

Moreover, the Prime Minister indicate that electricity prices for households will increase by 2.9% on 1 July 2011, then remains unchanged until 1 July. An increase of more than 5% until 2015 had been raised so far, an increase of nearly 30% by 2015.

Finally, the State affirms its commitment to achieving energy savings."The Grenelle environment in 2020 will continue the energy reduction through the support of renewable energy, energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions." The government will thus to 1.35 billion euros the program "Living better" which assists households in a precarious situation. EDF, GDF Suez and Total will participate in 250 million euros in the program.

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The International Monetary Seminar, which opens Thursday morning in Nanjing to the Chinese seems in some embarrassment. President Nicolas Sarkozy inaugurated in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister Wang Qingshan, the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde, finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries.

While the Elysee this meeting as "an important symbol," "a unique event," which "enshrines the weight of China in the global economy", Beijing sees an "informal seminar, and academic "according to Jiang Yu, spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The official news agency Xinhua pretended to discover, there ten days, the presence of the French head of state by saying he would meet with Chinese officials, without specifying which ones.As for the Chinese embassy in Paris, who knew where the meeting was held in Nanjing, it stated that the seminar was "entirely organized by France" and that the Chinese were content to "make available the infrastructure is everything. "

In fact, Nicolas Sarkozy, who arrives Wednesday afternoon in Beijing, will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People, for bilateral talks followed by a dinner on the G20 and international diplomatic issues, including Libya and Japan, where the French president is scheduled to visit Friday.

Pressure on the yuan

"The Chinese will reserve a special welcome to Nicolas Sarkozy, to commemorate the visit of Hu Jintao to Paris and Nice," we are assured at the Elysee.But China, which the press is unleashed strikes against Libya, did not seem to want to advertise around this movement, hard won by France.

Although the seminar does Nanjing officially "no money in particular", and emphasizes the "structural reform of the international monetary system", Beijing knows that its monetary policy will be at the center of discussions. For Westerners, the Chinese currency, the yuan, which traded at 6.56 yuan to the dollar is undervalued by 20% to 30%.

If the Chinese authorities have made the fight against inflation their priority of economic policy, Beijing does not intend to dictate the way forward.A revaluation of the yuan would most frank yet to effectively fight against inflation, Washington insists.

Unlike the U.S., France does not address the issue of the yuan so front, preferring to advocate a stronger role of the Chinese currency in the international monetary system, a step sought by Beijing, which will require ultimately, the yuan's convertibility and liberalization of its exchange rate regime. "The purpose of this seminar is to reach a common diagnosis on the strengths and weaknesses of the current international monetary system and develop possible reforms for the G20," said the French presidency.

The dollar, global reserve currency risk is in the sights of Paris and Beijing.First holder of U.S. debt, China's central bank estimates that the dollar will continue to weaken this year because of "low interest rates and deficits."

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The call for EU aid is no longer a taboo subject for the Portuguese Government, as the tense political crisis in Lisbon. Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos has clearly mentioned on the sidelines of the Eurogroup meeting on Monday in Brussels. "If we trigger a political crisis right now, it will create great difficulties for the country to enter the financial market and I think it poses a risk to our financial capacity," he warned.This crisis, he added, "actually helps to push the country into the arms of foreign aid."

Although this is surely a final attempt to pressure the opposition, accused of causing the crisis before a crucial vote on new austerity measures Wednesday in Parliament, the Portuguese government may have to accept the financial rescue plan that seeks to avoid for months.

In this standoff, the Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates, will all play their politics. To save his head, he is seeking the approval of members to its savings plan, the fourth in less than a year. The plan, which includes tax increases and cuts in social benefits, is highly unpopular, even if it saves time and the markets.

By national pride, Jose Socrates resists the offer of financial assistance from the EU and the IMF for weeks."It's politically very costly to surrender its sovereignty, we have seen with Ireland," says Jacques Cailloux, chief economist at Royal Bank of Scotland. Knowing that the government is facing a social discontent increasingly marked. On Saturday, thousands of Portuguese officials and private sector employees, beat the pavement against the policy of austerity, rising unemployment and job insecurity.

"Socially unjust"

Jose Socrates was tried on Monday, throughout the day to rally the party leaders to his cause. But he struck again with the adamant opposition leader Pedro Passos Coelho right center, which rejected "any negotiation with the government, denouncing a" socially unjust program "that affects" the most members vulnerable in society. "The leader of the PSD had abstained from previous votes austerity, saving twice as Socrates motions of censure tabled by the anti-liberal left.

But this time, "it's over," urged Pedro Passos Coelho, who has said this weekend in favor of outside help. Faced with political stalemate, the scenario of a European rescue, like that of Greece and Ireland, appears imminent. And more so that the financing conditions in the markets remain very difficult. The rates of ten-year bond rose again yesterday, against 7.262% 7.212% Friday. By June 15, Portugal must face debt maturities of over 9 billion euros.

"The problem is that the appetite for the Portuguese debt is gone. Investors have lost confidence, "added the economist.Anxious to reassure the markets and the European Commission, Pedro Passos Coelho particular favorite in the event of early legislative, reiterated his "unwavering support to a structural reform program aimed at fiscal consolidation, reducing debt and economic growth." Lisbon is committed to bringing the deficit to 4.6% of GDP in 2011, 3% in 2012 and 2% in 2013.

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After opening down, Wall Street back into positive territory on Friday. The Dow Jones gained 0.16% to 12,003 points, the S & P 500 ahead 0.50% to 1302 points and the Nasdaq rose 0.33% to 2710 points. Caution remains appropriate. Investors fear the consequences of the earthquake that hit Japan last night. Bad news that comes on top of disappointing indicators released Thursday and the tensions that persist in Libya.

Oil continues to unwind

These concerns, however, help to relax the price of oil which opened Friday down $ 3.05, passing below the 100 dollars to 99.65 dollars exactly.

On the macroeconomic front, retail sales in the U.S. rose 1.0% in February from January, as analysts anticipated, according to figures released Friday in Washington by the Department of Commerce.

U.S. consumer confidence fell in March, according to an index released Friday by the University of Michigan, which was 68.2 against 77.5 the previous month.

Restocking of manufacturing firms and corporations increased 0.9% compared to December in the U.S., according to figures released Friday by the Washington Department of Trade and rather good news for the U.S. GDP.This increase is slightly greater than the median forecast of analysts who gave 0.8%.

AIG: -0.49% to 36.30 dollars

The insurer American International Group said on Thursday to buy back $ 15.7 billion in cash (11.4 billion) of mortgage assets that the U.S. government had recovered during the financial crisis through the bailout group.

National Semiconductor: 3.88% to 14.71 dollars

National Semiconductor has published an annual turnover less than expected for the third quarter of fiscal year due to destocking at its distributors, but its forecast of sales growth for the current quarter is in line with expectations .

Clearwire: -1.74% to 5.65 dollars

The Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow has resigned as part of a wider reshuffle at the head of the wireless network operator, amid difficulties to finance its investments and dispute between the group and its majority shareholder Sprint Nextel.

Chevron: 0.64% to 99.71 dollars

Chevron announced the sale of its refinery in Pembroke, Great Britain, for 730 million dollars U.S. refiner Valero. The latter said in a separate release that the acquisition would be accretive to its earnings immediately, adding that the transaction should be finalized in the third quarter.

Apple: +0.41% to 348.09 dollars

Apple launches this Friday the marketing of the new version of its iPad tablet.

In Brussels

Ireland and other followers of the corporate tax can breathe a minimum: despite the Franco-German ambitions, the future "pact" of European competitiveness does not require them to raise their tax benefits. But the respite promises of short duration: in mid-March, the European Commission intends to deliver this explosive issue on the table, with the tacit support of Berlin and Paris. In the EU, the tax is a matter of national sovereignty, with the right of veto in the European sphere. Each state tax at will. Some heavy, some lighter in the image of Ireland.For a generation, Green Island was a sampling of 12.5% on profits (against 23% on average in the EU and 35% in the U.S.) one of the essential attractions of its strategy investment-oriented multinationals.

The tide turned last fall when Dublin came to the window to rescue the euro. On this occasion, Nicolas Sarkozy noted that Dublin could also replenish its coffers by looking for revenue wherever they are: "I can not imagine that our Irish friends do not use their flexibility, their taxes are lower than others ", he let go at the bend in October.

Harmonization

Since Angela Merkel took over by making a minimum taxation of benefits one of its key European Pact of competitiveness. "The market was clear: Germany and its financial strength will fly to the rescue of the euro and European countries in trouble if everyone holds itself home to a minimum of discipline free business cards. The corporate income tax and especially the convergence rates in the EU are part of the arsenal. With Ireland, four countries find themselves in the sights, both inside and outside the euro area: Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

To obtain the necessary adhesion to the "pact" of seventeen of the euro area, the chairman Herman Van Rompuy and Angela Merkel have finally put some water in the Franco-German wine.The declaration to be submitted to the Summit of the euro on Friday in Brussels, commits the Heads of State and Government to restore order to public finances, but she advocated, explicitly, "without harmonization of tax rates."

Proponents of tax convergence has not said its last word. Five days later, on March 16, the Barroso Commission intends to relaunch the debate in another way: it wants to harmonize the tax base of corporation tax in the EU, that is to say providing a tool for Twenty-measure common to September Once established this barometer, it will be possible to establish a recognized scale. It is up to the big states, it is said in Brussels, then back to the political pressure against dumping tax.

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