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Wall Street was unable to string together a fourth consecutive session. The New York Stock Exchange finished lower on Tuesday: according to preliminary figures, the Dow Jones gives 0.68% to 11,405.25 points and the Nasdaq, dominated by technology, 1.26% to 2523.11 points. After opening down, the markets have increased their losses after the meeting, much anticipated, between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Around 20 hours (French time), the Dow Jones lost 0.89% to 11,380 , 46 points after hitting a low of 11,292.63 points. The Nasdaq loose in turn 1.45% to 2518.22 points.

The ads at the end of the Franco-German summit failed to reassure the markets, concerned about the contagion of the crisis of debt in the euro area.Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy called for a "real governance of the euro area", the introduction of golden rule of balancing the budget in national constitutions and a tax on financial transactions. They, however, repeated their opposition to the creation of Eurobonds. These must be the "culmination of a process of integration and not a prerequisite," said Nicolas Sarkozy. For the French head of state, they would, in addition, "serious danger" to the most stable countries such as Germany and France.

After the meeting, European markets ended on a note hesitant. The euro was briefly argued against the greenback before going down. The European currency traded at 1.4402 dollars around 21 hours, down 0.21%, after reaching 1.4471 dollars in the wake of Franco-German proposals.Oil markets, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for September delivery closed lower. He lost $ 1.23 to 86.65 dollars. The September Brent sold his part of 0.4%, or 44 cents to 109.47 dollars.

European growth disappoints

The bad mood also follows the publication of European indicators disappointing that send negative signals about the health of the euro area. Germany, European locomotive, reported a surprise slowdown and sharp growth in the second quarter. The entire euro area saw growth of 0.2% after increasing 0.8% in the first quarter.

Two good news though: the rating agency Fitch affirmed the "AAA" rating on U.S. debt, along with a stable outlook. The Federal Reserve also reported industrial production rose higher than expected for the month of July.It advances by 0.9% thanks to the automotive sector and the heat wave that has boosted the use of air conditioners and thus power consumption.

The release of housing starts, down 1.5% in July, but confirmed the slump. The number of building permits has meanwhile Contracted 3.2%. As for import prices, they recorded an unexpected rebound, while export declined.

Values ​​to follow

On the corporate side, Home Depot (5.31% to 33.13 dollars) has issued a profit better than expected in the second quarter, while Wal-Mart (3.87% to 51.95 dollars) recorded a further decline in sales over the same period. The retail giant has nevertheless issued a profit and a turnover up more than 5%.

Agilent Technologies (-2.48% to 36.57 dollars) reported Monday after-hours trading from a profit of $ 330 million, or 92 cents a share, in the third quarter, up 62% The number of Business was up to 1.69 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway (-0.90% to 107.623 dollars) would have taken a stake in the retailer Dollar General (4.94% to 33.78 dollars).

Dell (1.94% to 15.80 dollars) has a higher than expected for deuxtrième quarter. It reached $ 890 million, up 63%. Saks (-4.63% to 8.77 dollars) has warned that he would discuss the fall "with a bit more caution" in light of general concerns about the economic recovery. The group, however, reported a loss of $ 8.4 million in the second quarter, against 32.2 million last year. Its quarterly revenue was also up 13% year on year.

It all starts in late July in the French newspaper Le Monde. In a lively pen, "Philae" tells, in twelve parts, how a role play between two traders who are bored leads to rumors of a plot against Angela Merkel and the euro, all on the eve of elections French law of May 2012 ….

In this series of summer, we follow the wanderings of a young journalist from the Wall Street Journal sent to Frankfurt, headquarters of the European Central Bank and the financial hub of Germany. The names of the characters in the story are well known: Bruno Le Maire, portrays in Germanophile finance minister, Mario Draghi, Governor of the BCE, to the old speculator George Soros. On the agenda of the masters of the economy, threats to Societe Generale, next target of a takeover bid, and the Italian bank UniCredit.Their exposure to Greek debt fueling concerns.

Although it is amazed by the accuracy of the descriptions and the likelihood of situations, the informed reader understands that this is a fiction. In August 2011, Bruno Le Maire is not finance minister, but of Agriculture, and Italy's Mario Draghi has not made the head of the ECB, which is still headed by Jean-Claude Trichet.

On a rumor of a fall fiction real

It seems, however, whether this summer series that has inspired the fictional journalists Mail on Sunday, the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail for a story published Sunday catastrophic. In this paper, Simon Watkins and Dan Atkins have Societe Generale "at the brink of bankruptcy after terrible losses from its exposure to the Greek debt" and UniCredit "could collapse so similar" to the French bank.

The journalists added that "David Cameron has interrupted his vacation last night [Saturday, ed] to discuss the situation with Nicolas Sarkozy", a fact that has not been confirmed but exists also in the series of daily French.

Listed on online sites such as CNN mentioned on many forums, Twitter by many users, copied on blogs, the article from Monday, August 8 heat the rumor machine. Many elements accrediting effect the veracity of the article in the Mail on Sunday: Societe Generale is very exposed to the Greek crisis. August 3, his boss Frédéric Oudéa announced quarterly earnings down after a depreciation of 395 million euros for the shares of Greek states.

Wednesday morning the rumor that the company would be general in a situation so serious that the French government should intervene to save her is growing the market. The surprise announcement of a meeting at the Elysee Palace on the financial situation in the morning is a bombshell, and credibility to the words of the Mail on Sunday. The lack of communication officers of the Societe Generale does not help.

Meanwhile, as the stock market collapsed and with it the other financial stocks. At the heart of a black session, rumors succeed: France could lose its triple AAA, the government must save the banking system …

Only the evening that the management of Societe Generale denounces rumors and application to the financial markets opened an investigation into the launch of these sounds.But the damage is done: the bank saw its stock melted from 14.7% in one trading session.

A series of unexplained errors

Several questions remain: how an article in the Sunday edition of a tabloid, usually specializing in photographic study of cellulite British starlets, he could be taken seriously and set fire to the stock market ? How is it also possible that the two journalists of the text may have been confused, which to be inspired by what has been a fiction?

The text of Philae is, indeed, confusing realism. Hidden under the pseudonym, a journalist from the Tribune, Brussels correspondent of the daily economic, and whose employment by the evening paper did cringe at the writing of the World.A French bank would also indignant at the tone of the newspaper that gave off the soap truth, so much so that the newspaper added from 1 August 1 line warning: "Le Monde reminds its readers that situations, facts and figures reported in this fiction is imaginary and should not be taken as an expression of reality. "

There are no quotes in the article by Watkins and Atkins, which are directly drawn from the World Series, but the charges against SocGen and UniCredit, and the words of the intervention of Nicolas Sarkozy to be found in both documents. The Daily Mail has deleted Article guilty of its online site and apologized, acknowledging that the paper was based on "false information". Thursday noon, the Cac 40 fell below the symbolic threshold of 3,000 points, while Societe Generale fell by 7.26%.

While looming two weekends among the busiest in passenger of the year, Air France warned of now-already-and its passengers that they may have to be patient. If the airline has reached an agreement with the seven unions of Stewart and hostesses, thus avoiding a first strike scheduled for July 29 and August 1, and with the pilots, who have lifted their strike notice of August 5 to 8, it still faces other threats to social movements.

Another notice of pilots

A threat is … drivers, this time those who are carried by three minority unions – the SPAF, the Alter and R'Ways – and who have filed a strike notice for the July 29 to August 1. As the crew before them, the drivers are protesting against the offensive "anti-low cost" Air France plans to launch in its databases province.The new operation is expected to result, according to the drivers, an increase in the number of hours worked and trips a day.

For now, this movement somewhat worried the company, which does not anticipate any disruption in traffic this particular weekend.

Mechanics harden the tone

Meanwhile, the management of Air France must also manage another conflict, less publicized than those of pilots and aircrew, but that could be acted upon: some 4000 engineers responsible for maintenance of 260 units of the company practice of walkouts, for seven weeks no faxing payday loans. If the company minimizes the facts explaining that the work stoppages of one or more hours that are 50 to 100 people, the impact on traffic is nonetheless real.

According to Le Parisien, Aujourd'hui en France, long flights and medium-haul flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle accuse each day delays of 15 to 20 minutes. Management also recognizes that it is obliged to postpone the launch of a two-plane in the evening to morning. Orly airport and Toulouse are also affected.

And before the stalled negotiations on wage demands, the engineers are threatening to get tough tonight at 22 hours. "Delays are possible and we do not exclude some cancellations," said Air France AFP. Alert bulletins on traffic conditions are published to the attention of travelers on the website of the company.

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Despite a sales increase of 3% to 7.9 billion euros in the first half and stable at 4.4 billion euros in the second quarter, Lafarge reported income down sharply from 34% to 260 million euros in the first half. The group warned that inflation and exchange rate effects will weigh on annual results. "The sector is still affected by high inflation and the absence of global recovery in developed countries," said Bruno Lafont, CEO of Lafarge, said in a statement.Half-year net income was, indeed, benefited last year, a gain of 160 million euros after selling its 17.28% interest in the Portuguese group Cimpor.

Weighed down by a huge debt of 14 billion euros, the rating agency Standard & Poor's has pushed the note of cement to the level of speculative transmitter – Lafarge claims to be "on track" to meet its debt reduction target of at least two billion euros in 2011. Two weeks ago, the group sold its gypsum in Europe and America in the Belgian Etex to € 1 billion (enterprise value) and they could sell in North America and Asia.In the second quarter, the group achieved 50 million savings in structural costs, $ 100 million since the beginning of the year, in line with the objective of a reduction of at least 200 million in 2011 .

The group still expects an increased demand for cement and provides a market growth between 2% and 5% in 2011 compared to 2010.

Back in the red for the Paris Bourse. At closing, the Cac 40 drops 0.77% to 3812.97 points. Investors are concerned about the United States. The elected representatives of the U.S. Congress again tried Sunday to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, but without success. While the Speaker of the House John Boehner had slammed the door to negotiations with the White House on Friday night, they have continued behind the scenes throughout the weekend between the Democratic allies of President Barack Obama, the Senate majority and their opponents Republicans, who control the House of Representatives. But John Boehner told his troops on Sunday night that no breakthrough had yet been obtained.

The situation becomes very tense nine days of the deadline mentioned by the Treasury before a U.S. default.This morning, this concern has led to a relapse of the Asian markets. For their part, the U.S. markets, which had already ended Friday without direction, changing declined Monday. According to the IMF, the United States may suffer a "severe shock" if the debt ceiling of the federal state was not found in time.

Greece is also in the news: Moody's today lowered the country's sovereign rating of "Caa1" from "It" with a development, saying the country was still facing major challenges medium-term credit.

Oil down

On the currency side, the euro declined slightly against the greenback at 1.4347 dollar dollar in late afternoon. Oil is also down.To 17.30 U.S. a barrel fell by 0.542% to 99.35 dollars, while the gold, he goes back to 0.84% ​​and is trading at 1615 dollars an ounce.

The banking sector in heavy losses

Dexia lost 8.09% to 1.95 euros, Crédit Agricole 5.44% to 8.92 euros, BNP Paribas 4.47% to 46.63 euros and Societe Generale 4.70% to 36.28 euros. Bank stocks suffer after degradation of the note of Greece by Moody's.

Axa (-4.26% to 13.72 euros), while welcoming the agreement reached by EU leaders on Greece, the insurers of the French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) said they consider favorably participation in the project initiative of private investors, as part of the options.

Values ​​to follow

Areva: 0.10% to 25.37 euros, EDF: -0.28% to 27.09 euros

The new president of Areva, Luc Oursel, who succeeded Anne Lauvergeon end of June, will make his first official Monday by hosting one of its plants in the CEO of EDF, Henri Proglio, showing the warming of relations between the two groups. EDF and Areva have signed an agreement at that time technically and commercially, prior to a more ambitious partnership to be signed in September.

JCDecaux: -3 pay day loans.87% to 20.24 euros

JCDecaux was down sharply, after seeing the recommendation on its way down to "hold" against "buy" before, by Citigroup.

Alstom: -0.16% to 39.42 euros

RATP has ordered 66 additional subway trains for more than 300 million euros, of which 200 million will fall into the hands of Alstom Transport, Alstom said in a statement.

Score: -0.59% to 18.44 euros

The reinsurer Scor reveals a growth of 22% at constant exchange rates, the treaty renewals in non-life and specialties of the 320 million of premiums up for renewal in mid-year.

Saint-Gobain: -1.26% to 41.94 euros

The group will buy the British network Build Center and French Brossette in Wolseley, which is the world leader in the distribution of equipment, plumbing and heating.He will spend 145 million pounds (165 million) to Build Center and 186 million euros for Brossette. "These two acquisitions (…) represent a contribution of over one billion euros in sales," says Pierre-André de Chalendar, CEO of Saint-Gobain, said in a statement.

Unibail-Rodamco: -3.44% to 143.88 euros; Klépierre: 0.88% to 27.41 euros

HSBC has initiated coverage of Unibail-Rodamco to "overweight" with a target price of 175 euros and raised its recommendation on Klépierre to "underweight" to "neutral."

LVMH: 1.01% to 130.55 euros

Consob is considering a complaint from an investment fund over the price offered to pay the French to buy the balance of Bulgari, confirmed Sunday a spokesman for the Italian stock market.

Total: -0.48% to 39.26 euros

The oil amounts to ten billion dollars (seven billion euros) of investment needed to develop the oil field north of Moho Bilondo off the coast of the Republic of Congo, said its CEO, Christophe de Margerie.

Valeo: 0.05% to 47.32 euros

The group announced Friday that its U.S. subsidiary Valeo Inc., based in Troy, Michigan, had received a request for information from the U.S. court as part of an antitrust investigation.

Fimalac: 0.07% to 27.84 euros

The group announced a sales increase of 11.9% on a comparable basis to 515.8 million euros in the first nine months of fiscal year 2010-2011.Its subsidiary, the rating agency Fitch Ratings has led to an increase of 11.7% of its turnover over the same period to 401.5 million euros.

After market, Seb and Klépierre publish their half year results, April Group will announce its earnings for the second quarter, Faiveley the first quarter. Mercialys and STMicroelectronics will publish their results for the second quarter.

The New York Stock Exchange opened slightly higher Thursday, supported by a better than expected in the United States and hopes of resolving debt crises, despite disappointing figures on U.S. employment: the Dow Jones gained 0 , 16% and the Nasdaq 0.15%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is 19.75 points to 12,591.66 points and the Nasdaq, dominated by technology, 4.30 points to 2818.53 points.

On Wednesday, the New York Stock Exchange completed a small drop in session hesitant, catching her breath waiting for concrete solutions to the debt crises in the U.S. and euro area.

President Barack Obama received Wednesday several leaders of Congress and the White House has once again expressed confidence in a political solution to the crisis of debt before August 2, to avoid a default."I expect us to find a solution," the president said in an interview with local TV KMBC Kansas City, renewing his call for compromises from both sides, whether its Democratic allies or his Republican opponents.

As on other major exchanges worldwide, operators will also have their eyes riveted to Brussels where 13 hours started at the extraordinary summit of the leaders of the euro area. The latter will try to find a solution on a new plan of aid to Greece to avoid contagion of debt to other countries deemed weak in the euro area. According to draft conclusions of the EU summit, the conditions of loans to Greece would be reduced. The idea of ​​bank tax was abandoned.

Busy schedule

On the foreign exchange market, the euro rebounded sharply against the dollar Thursday, buoyed by the draft agreement at the summit of the euro area in Brussels. Around 1330 GMT (1530 Paris), the single European currency was worth 1.4322 dollars against 1.4212 dollars around 2100 GMT Wednesday, after getting off to 1.4139 to 10:30 GMT. The euro climbed also clearly against the Japanese currency at 112.63 yen against 111.94 yen yesterday.

Oil prices were moving up slightly at the opening in New York, the market welcomed with relief the first details of the draft agreement between leaders of the euro area to meet the debt crisis cash advance today.Around 1:15 p.m. GMT on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for September delivery was trading at 98.84 dollars, up 44 cents from the previous day.

On the macroeconomic front in the U.S., the day will begin with the weekly jobless claims. They proved disappointing: the number of new unemployment benefit recipients back to 418,000 people during the week of July 10 to 16, the figures Aoccdrnig Department of Labor. Analysts had forecast 410,000 new registrations.

Values ​​to follow

The side of values, the publications will continue today before the opening of Wall Street including Travelers, Pepsico, Morgan Stanley, United Continental and AT & T.

Investors will pay particular attention to Intel as Thursday.The world of microprocessors released after the market close, quarterly results better than expected. Net income progresséde 2% to 3 billion, a record turnover, up 22% to 13.1 billion. The title loses 1.78% to 22.58 dollars.

For its part, American Express Financial Group exceeded market expectations by announcing Wednesday an increase in earnings in the second quarter from 31% to $ 1.3 billion, thanks to higher costs to its customers on the cards crédit.Le of revenue has in turn increased 12% to $ 7.6 billion, above the 7.35 billion expected by analysts. The title earns 1.42% to 52.83 dollars.

For its part, the distribution group online eBay issued a net profit of 283.4 million dollars for the second quarter, down 31% due to the acquisition of marketing services GSI Commerce. The action wins 2.68% to 34.06 dollars.

Always on the side of values, Google (0.83% to 600.28 dollars). would grow in telephony. The Internet giant has begun discussions to buy the specialist in mobile phone technology InterDigital says the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said the interest of the Internet giant for InterDigital comes in the wake of its failure on the redemption of certificates of the Canadian telecom equipment supplier Nortel. InterDigital, with a market capitalization of $ 2.8 billion, he is studying a possible sale.

Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier, the head of Saxo Bank

A further step for the tax on financial transactions tax known as "Tobin". The European Commission will propose its creation as part of its next Buget for the period 2014-2020. She hopes to raise up to 50 billion euros per year, according to European sources cited by Reuters.

Another major proposal for the new budget: funding for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would be frozen at their current level of 370 billion euros, the sources said.Taking into account inflation and the general evolution of European finance, this means that the share of the CAP in the budget of the European Union (EU) will naturally decrease.

Taken up by several Member States since the crisis, including Nicolas Sarkozy, the idea of ​​tax on financial transactions developed by the Nobel Prize in economics James Tobin is considered a credible solution to help poor countries fight against global climatique.Son rate should be moderate, at 0.05%.

Associations, however, immediately responded to the proposal from the European Commission. More and AIDS Coalition and accusing the EU executive to "divert [the tax on financial transactions] to his own benefit."The tax "is supposed to serve the South, where the financial crisis has already resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and still threatens the lives of millions more, including many AIDS patients," said Bruno Spire , President and director of AIDS Coalition PLUS, in a statement. "And now Europe is proposing that the money goes any poor countries, but in his own pocket? It is a scandal. "

The austerity budget of Italy to be approved Thursday also include a 0 overnight pay day loans.15% tax on financial transactions.

"The EU as a first step"

Ten days ago, the Commission President José Manuel Barroso had already discussed the proposed tax on financial transactions in a letter to EU leaders. "The Commission completes its impact and present a formal legislative proposal after the summer," wrote José Manuel Barroso.

"Our analysis shows that there is a strong case to decide whether a tax in the financial sector in the EU as a first step," he said, assuring that the Commission will "in parallel, continue to work for a global agreement on a tax on financial transactions. "

Supported by the Franco-German Cup, the tax "Tobin" has been a joint proposal of the French Socialist Party and the German SPD in their respective parliaments.The resolution was adopted in mid-June by the French deputies but less successful in the Bundestag, where she was referred to committee.

According to the French deputies, the EU legislative proposal should include "a tax on all financial transactions of 0.05%", including all stock exchange transactions and non-stock, securities, bonds and derivatives, as well as all transactions in the foreign exchange market to the tax base and revenue allocation to each of the national budget. "

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Pending the arrival of his eagerly awaited first smartphone with the Windows operating system Phone at the end of the year, and production "mass" in 2012, we have to wait markets and customers. That Stephen Elop, president of Nokia strived to do during the CommunicAsia exhibition in Singapore. "Our main strategy in the field of smartphones is to focus on the Windows phone," he said, for its next billion mobile.

For Nokia, it is urgent. Last month, the group issued a warning on its sales and results, giving even to make predictions, as the period is difficult.Its sales continue to decline, it would hold more than 13.1% of the smartphone market in the first quarter against 25% a year earlier.

But maintaining a strong presence of the Symbian operating system in its range and choice of Microsoft at the expense of Android leave many doubts cast. While the number of applications available on a smartphone is a paramount requirement, the Finn is not in the race. It strives for the time to catch up in smartphones, highlighting the N9 in Singapore, expected to outdo the iPhone and Android to its competitors. To do so, Nokia boasts jumble "three home pages," his "handy user interface," "better voice quality," connectivity … The N9 (under platform Meego) is also equipped with a NFC connection, which enables contactless payments.With this feature, shows that Nokia is still able to board the train for a new technology, not to watch the competition from without it.

With the launch of three new models (N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 will be sold in July) Nokia has pushed the highlight of its commitment to Symbian OS. These terminals will be equipped with the new update system Symbian Anna. Novelty of this new version, it will be downloadable for those who have already bought one of these phones. And over the next twelve months, Nokia will market up to ten new smartphones based on Symbian. From there to imagine that the Finnish and protects against possible setbacks of its U.S. partner, there is only one step.It also reaffirms its loyalty and its customers, accustomed to its operating system, and that it might lose by abandoning it completely. Hence the idea to favor a smooth transition.

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The very demanding certification labels for timber such as the FSC would they about to be marginalized by European legislation is less restrictive? Some pose the question today. Ardent proponents of the regulation adopted by the EU is no shortage of arguments to suggest otherwise.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) was established in 1993 after the Earth Summit in Rio. It offers large forest operators to comply with a specification very strict on environmental issues, social and economic return for obtaining a quality label could make a difference on the European market. It now comprises some fifteen million ha in tropical forests, including five for the Congo Basin and almost three for the Republic of Congo alone."But today, Europe is imposing a traceability system which is only legal and therefore much less stringent than the certification systems," warns Dr. Clotilde Ngomba, the coordinator of the forest fund Basin Congo.

Launched in 2003, the European program that meets the acronym FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade process) "aims to curb the production and trade in illegal timber," says Alain Pénelon, regional adviser for COMIFAC (Commission Central African forests). With a goal involve the largest number of forest holdings. "We had reason to push the FSC large farms," ​​says Mark Benedict, director of the firm Terea, "but it is very restrictive and very expensive and small businesses can not follow him installment payday loans. FLEGT system is intended for them. "The World Bank, the loss of value due to illegal logging accounts for more than 10 billion dollars and the loss of revenue for governments, 5 billion.

Legality encouraged

The main measure of FLEGT aims at establishing a partnership between Europe and a producer. It specifies the criteria to ensure that timber imported into Europe is of legal origin. It provides traceability, verification systems … "The implementation of a FLEGT agreement may take three or four years," said Alain Pénelon. Such a delay until October, Parliament ratified a new law prohibiting the arrival on European soil or wood products from illegal logging. "This will be the operators in Europe to ensure this," said the specialist.This regulation will apply March 3, 2013.

"I do not think there is a risk of competition between the two systems," he says. "The same mechanisms are highly complementary," insists Emmanuel Heuse support of FLEGT Democratic Republic of Congo. "These two systems must grow together," he adds. Optimists hope that the first step then bring FLEGT timber operations to proceed towards certification. Over the legality will be encouraged, more forest will be protected. It is urgent: despite improvements since 2000, tropical deforestation is very high. It is 5.4 million ha per year, equivalent to the area of ​​Costa Rica.