Posts Tagged ‘money’

Brazil: Carrefour retreats

Posted in life, news, online, publications, special by admin on July 14th, 2011 | Comments Off

Carrefour and its major shareholders still have progress to make to master the subtleties of samba. The merger of the Brazilian subsidiary of global distributor with the second casino, Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA), is abandoned.

Scaffold for months in the back of its local partner Casino Abilio Diniz (President and owner of 21% of GPA), with the support of BNDES, the Brazilian equivalent of the Deposit, the project would have allowed Crossroads take control of all activities involving the two Brazilian groups. The company, known as Pao de Acucar Novo, would have made 30 billion euros in sales and held 32.3% of the local market, against 11.1% for the U.S. WalMart.

Las.Faced with fierce opposition from Casino, which supports the development of this project is contrary to the shareholders' agreement binding Abilio Diniz, BNDES announced its withdrawal on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. While Diniz seeks private investors to substitute for Brazilian BNDES, he lost some of its political support.

This halted the project is mostly a failure for Carrefour, which had the most to gain. The group chose to take advantage of the disagreement between Diniz and Casino to join in a risky project, rather than seeing the Brazilian partner with WalMart. If successful, Carrefour could forget his many disappointments. The group is not out of a serious area of ​​turbulence in its domestic market, putting pressure on its outstanding CEO Lars Olofsson and its principal shareholders, Groupe Arnault and Colony Capital payday advance lenders.The latter, entered the capital of the retailer in March 2007, when the action was worth 53 euros, have increased the project, or attempted to bounce the stock price, which dropped by half since: sale of Brazilian and Chinese subsidiaries , public offerings of real estate branch, split Dia. In vain.

Brazil lost the battle has also cast a cruel light on the performance of Carrefour in the country, its first growth opportunities ahead of China. Abilio Diniz revealed that the operating profitability of Carrefour Brazil was 1%, seven times less than that of GPA. Casino and pointed the loss of market share of hypermarkets in Brazil, for the benefit of supermarkets and convenience stores.If its chain of wholesale stores Atacadao is a success, Carrefour, local leader, sees its hypermarkets suffer against those of Extra, a subsidiary of ABM.

Overconfidence

After 550 million of provisions recorded by Carrefour last year as a result of accounting fraud at its Brazilian subsidiary, the latter saw his image tarnished again. The withdrawal of the BNDES also shows that Carrefour had underestimated the political power relations in Brazil, or too trusted Abilio Diniz …

If new proposed combination with GPA must be submitted to the board of Carrefour in the coming months, it would still be opposed to casino, and no political support in Brazil. This time, the independent directors of Carrefour might well make their voices heard.

Drought could push up the price of a half of beer

Posted in economy, features, online, people, resources by admin on June 28th, 2011 | Comments Off

The "minicanicule" announced for the next 48 hours will probably only reinforce the trend: "With the good weather that prevailed in France, beer consumption has registered an increase of 2.7% over the first months of year, "said Pascal Chevremont, managing director of France Brewers, whose 76 members account for three quarters of the beer produced in France. The increase is mixed following market segments: + 0.6% for cafés, hotels, restaurants and up 3.7% in supermarkets.

The warm spring and very dry, however, is not very good news for the sector. He has had a devastating effect on crops of malting barley."With the rain in recent days, there may be good surprises, but overall we expect yields down 55 quintals per hectare or so, a decrease of 10 to 20% compared to Last year, "Christophe fears Grison, president of the network Farre (Forum of farming environmentally friendly), himself a farmer of malting barley in the Oise.

Especially since the quality risk, too, to be less. "The water did not fall at the right time, we expect to see the analysis made after the harvest on the eating quality and protein content of barley, says Pascal Chevremont. Decommissioning of feed barley malting barley should be more important. "

Christmas Beer

The offer should be hexagonal in decline. Yet France is the second largest exporter of barley after Russia cash advances pay day loan.The price of this raw material, essential to the manufacture of beer, will therefore remain at high levels. According to the latest monthly bulletin of economic FranceAgriMer (the body responsible for collecting data on agricultural crops in France), prices have more than doubled in one year, more than 235 euros a tonne. They even reached in early May 320 euros per tonne on the futures market Euronext.

For the moment, "the brewers are working on stocks three months ago," said Michel Portier for his part, Director of Agritel, a company specializing in risk management in the prices of agricultural commodities. So no risk of immediate price increase of the half at the counter.

The first harvest of barley into malt today – it takes between 150 and 200 grams of malt to make a liter of beer – will not be in the glasses before the end of the year, with Christmas beer.

"But ultimately, it will have an impact on the final product increased barley as packaging, another important component of cost, also recorded significant increases," warned Pascal Chevremont. Tariff negotiations ahead sandwiched between the purchasing of large retailers – which sells three-quarters of the beer – and the four major brewers, who control more than half the world market: AB InBev (Leffe), SAB Miller, Heineken and Carlsberg (Kronenbourg).

Expected to temper the Paris Bourse

Posted in economics, news, people, publications, top news by admin on June 9th, 2011 | Comments Off

Prudence and tensions are on the agenda of this meeting Thursday at the Paris Bourse. As in Asia this morning, investors should remain focused on the weakness of the recovery in the U.S. while the CAC 40 plunges inexorably. The Beige Book from the U.S. central bank (Fed), published during the session on Wall Street has reinforced the comments made by chilling the day before Ben Bernanke: "Economic activity continued to grow in general, but a small number of regions have expressed some slowing. " This verdict has resulted in lead Wall Street to its sixth straight decline. The highest since February 2009.

The situation is especially worrying that the U.S. government can not reach agreement on a possible increase in the debt ceiling from the federal government, which must yet be approved before August 2.After S & P and Moody's, Fitch has in turn launched an alert on U.S. debt, menançant the triple A of the country.

Responsible macroeconomic news

In this context, the publication of a new set of indicators in the United States will be closely watched. The program first, the weekly jobless claims. Then follow the figures in the trade balance and inventories of wholesalers. European news will be as important to the ECB decision on interest rates.

In France, payroll employment has increased its recovery in the first quarter and the balance of agency has eased, according to Insee. The sectors mainly merchants have created a total of 58,200 jobs after 48,300 over the last three months of 2010, an increase of 0.4% against 0.3% on the previous quarter.

The euro and oil up

On the currency side, the difficulties U.S. leads the euro to rise against the greenback. The single currency is trading against 1.4628 dollars in morning trading.

Side oil prices are trending upward, failing agreement within OPEC to increase production of crude, analysts said. In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for July delivery took 49 cents and $ 101.23 that of Brent North Sea crude for delivery gained 27 cents identical to 118.12 dollars.

Values ​​to follow

Club Med

The group announced on Thursday a profit of 10 million euros in the first half, against 3 million in the first half of 2010.The indicator of profitability of the villages of the French group jumped 67% to 47 million euros.

Remy Cointreau

The group reported a net profit 2011en 2010-down more than 18%, to 107.5 million euros, 109 million lower than expected by the market.

Air France-KLM

The airline announced Wednesday an increase in passenger traffic in May, albeit at a slower pace than in April, which had benefited from favorable comparison bases.

EDF

EDF could be tested by the weather this summer. RTE, the French electricity network operator, today the government's scenario for the summer. Dry weather and heat wave could cause the system to its limits.

Aeroports de Paris

ADP announced Wednesday it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the operator of airport services 3S Group to cede a majority stake in its ground handling activities.

Sopra

The shareholders gave the green light Wednesday to the proposed demerger and listing of Axway Software, the software division of group counseling and services.

Saint Gobain, Bolloré and Ruby hold their general meeting today.

The noose is tightening around the sale of illegal timber

Posted in Uncategorized, economy, opinions, people, technology by admin on June 6th, 2011 | Comments Off

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.

Wall Street should raise a red flag

Posted in economics, events, features, resources, top news by admin on May 23rd, 2011 | Comments Off

U.S. stock markets, should decline to open Monday. Futures on Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 recede by 2% to 1314.90 points and 2320.25 points to 2.06%. On Friday, the NYSE has closed down, yielding to concerns about debt Greek and dragged down by disappointing results considered in the distribution sector. The Dow Jones lost 0.74% to 12,512.04 points and the Nasdaq 0.71% 2803.32 points. For its part, the broader index Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.77% to 1333.27 points.

Wall Street has been particularly impacted by the poor performance of the distribution sector, while groups of clothing Gap and Aeropostale have published results below expectations and disappointing forecasts.

At the same time the sovereign debt crisis in Europe should still produce their effects.On Friday, ratings agency Fitch Ratings lowered by three notches to note the long-term debt of Greece and warned it might lower it again in the coming months. At these fears have been added turning on negative outlook of the Italian debt by Standard & Poor's and the defeat of the Spanish government in local elections Sunday, while the country's fourth largest economy in the euro zone, has a social rebellion Unpublished.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro fell sharply against the dollar on Monday, falling below the $ 1.40 for the first time in over two months. About 11:00 am in Paris, the European single currency was worth 1.3982 dollars against 1.4155 dollars on Friday night. The oil prices were also down sharply penalized by the rising dollar.Around 24:00 in Paris, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for July delivery traded at 109.34 dollars on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) in London, dropping $ 3.05 from Friday's close. In electronic trade the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of light sweet crude (WTI) for the same period fell by 2.78 dollars to 97.32 dollars.

On the macroeconomic front there is no major indicator on the agenda of U.S. investors on Monday. The rest of the week will include more animated with new home sales tomorrow, as well as expenses and income of households, Michigan index, and promises of sales Friday.

Corporate results will also rare that week. Investors should remember, however, the publication of Applied Materials, Tuesday, and especially the speech that accompanies it.The group was downgraded by Goldman Sachs Friday because of a reduction in forecast request to the semiconductor industry. The same day, Compuware will also give his views on the changing demands of business and therefore on the strength of their investment in information technology. Specialist Wholesale, Costco is also expected and HJ Heinz. Finally, luxury will be honored, with Polo Ralph Lauren (Wednesday) and Tiffany & Co (Thursday).

The side of values, the U.S. group Fortune Brands continues to focus on liquor by selling its activities in the Gulf for $ 1.2 billion in cash, according to an advisory opinion Monday on the website of the U.S. stock market authorities. Fortune Brands had said last month that these activities, grouped in the Acushnet Company, had intended to leave the group.The acquirer is a special purpose company formed by the sporting goods company Fila Korea and Mirae Asset Investment Funds Private Equity. Fortune Brands plans to complete its focus on alcohol during the second half. It still needs to make it to split its business into the locks and fittings, Fortune Brands Home & Security, whose shares will be distributed to current shareholders of the conglomerate. Following these transactions, the group will be renamed Beam, in reference to its flagship brand, Jim Beam bourbon, whose roots date back to 1795. The future group Beam have in its portfolio of brands such as Maker's Mark (bourbon), Sauza (tequila), Courvoisier (cognac), Canadian Club (Canadian whiskey) and Teachers (Scotch whiskey).

For his part, Foxconn Technology Group has suspended production at its Chinese plant in Chengdu, which produces iPad2 including Apple, following an explosion.Also according to Reuters, Apple will launch a streaming service and storage online music, having concluded agreements with Warner Music Group (WMG), EMI Group and Sony Music Entertainment.

Marvell Technology has announced an investment of $ 200 million to Israel for accelerated research and development of key technologies in the field of mobile communications.

Pfizer received U.S. regulatory approval of the drug (FDA) on Sutent (sunitinib malate) for treatment of certain rare types of pancreatic cancer.

Sears Holdings has announced the resignation of its chief financial officer Michael Collins. William Phelan, vice president and in charge of management control, will temporarily replace it.

The professional social network LinkedIn, should still be under the spotlight after his triumphal entry into the stock market last Thursday.

The "digital mum", a new Eldorado brands

Posted in business, money, publications, special, world by admin on April 27th, 2011 | Comments Off

Click image for larger graphic.

The CAC 40 moved above 4000 points

Posted in economic, economics, economy, events, features by admin on April 22nd, 2011 | Comments Off

The day after a jump of 2.46% which allowed the Cac 40 to exceed the 4000 points, the index is still up: 0.29% to 4016.19 points in ouerture. Last night Wall Street has ended sharply higher and higher over the past three years, supported by the technology sector, and this morning, Asian markets are doing well. The London Stock Exchange opened higher by 0.26% from Wednesday's close at 6037.71 points. The DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange shows him, up from 0.62% to 7294.58 points.

Side currency, the euro continues to rise inexorably. This morning, it still takes 0.32% and 1.4568 dollar rating, a level not seen since December 2009. The next resistance is at $ 1.46. On the commodity front, oil flies: the classes were still on the upside this morning, boosted by gains on Wall Street the previous day.In morning trading, a barrel of light sweet crude for June delivery took 53 cents to 111.98 dollars. That of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery gained 38 cents to 124.23 dollars. Wednesday, the price of a barrel of oil jumped more than three dollars in New York, under the effect of an unexpected fall in stocks of petroleum products in the United States and a sharp weakening of the dollar.

On Thursday, the economic program, we will now German Ifo barometer at 10 am, followed very investors.United States, the traditional weekly claims for unemployment benefits fall to 14.30, then 16 hours, the composite indicator of economic activity will be unveiled in March, and the figure very important activity in the region Philadelphia in April.

Schneider, Lafarge and Plastic Omnium in top billing

Side values, Schneider Electric (3.41% to 118.15 euros, higher up) has published a turnover up 26.5% in the first quarter to 4.94 billion euros and confirmed its objectives of growth and profit for the year 2011. According to its chief executive Jean-Pascal Tricoire, interviewed by Le Figaro, there are no talks with U.S. giant Tyco.

Just behind Lafarge rises from 2.87% to 47.74 euros. Goldman Sachs noted in his advice on the purchase value, which was previously neutral.Then comes Plastic Omnium (2.70% to 65.50 euros), whose turnover grew by over 36% in the first quarter, estimates that its activity should remain good in the second quarter due to production global automotive always supported.

Scor climbed 2.61% to 19.48 euros). Nomura has begun monitoring the reinsurance industry in Europe with a conservative view but has positioned itself to purchase at Scor.

Debt Eiffage (2.18% to 43.63 eruos) is not a concern, said in an interview with Les Echos published on Thursday Deputy CEO of construction group and concessions, while stressing that the goal was to reduce the debt of 300 to 400 million for each of the years 2011 and 2012.

The French group Alstom (1 make quick cash.93% to 44.57 euros) and China's Shanghai Electric together through the creation of a joint venture their boilers from coal, creating the market leader.

Accor, Sodexo Bénéteau and shunned

Conversely Accor disappoints sharply (-4.39% to 30.07 euros): the hotel group has seen its business grow by 5.8% in the first quarter and remains confident in the continued recovery in the hotel cycle in 2011 .Turnover totaled 1.354 billion euros in first quarter (+5.5% organic) with respect to 1.359 billion provided by Reuters.

The manufacturer of pleasure boats Beneteau (-4.06% to 14.89 euros), has announced a reduction by more than half its operating loss in the first half of 2010-2011 compared to the same period last year and confirmed its performance targets throughout the year. [

it was discovered this morning that Sodexo (-1.49% to 52.07 euros) has revised upward its forecast for annual revenue: the world's second largest catering, now thought behind Compass do for 2010 – 2011 a growth of around 4.5% so far it expects a growth of 3 to 4%.

Publicis (-1.59% to 38.27 euros) this morning publishes an organic growth of 6.5% over the period to 1.286 billion euros, against 3.1 in the first quarter of 2010 and the chairman of Publicis, Maurice Levy anticipates that 2011 will be "good or very good."

The wine and spirits group Remy Cointreau (-1.46% to 53.90 euros) Thursday announced revenues for its fiscal year 2010-2011 (ending March) up 12.4% to 908 million euros, with demand still very strong for its cognacs, particularly in Asia.

APRR (0.45% to 50.92 euros), whose activity increased by 4.1% in the first quarter, expects a less favorable trend in the second quarter mainly due to higher prices fuels that could affect the traffic of cars and trucks.

Safran (+0.88% at 24.53 euros) holds a general meeting at 10 o'clock during which shareholders have entrusted to Jean-Paul Herteman a second term and appoint the CEO, while Vivendi will be held at 10:30. Jean-Bernard Levy, "Vivendi saw a major turning point" means the Chief Executive has explained to Le Figaro in an interview the group's strategic direction. Meanwhile, technology stocks, widely acclaimed yesterday, should still be viewed on Thursday. The record results from Intel, the giant high-tech, support the entire sector in the world.

The Director General of the transatlantic exchange operator NYSE Euronext (-0.96% to 26.78 euros), Duncan Niederauer, on Wednesday defended its proposed merger with Deutsche Börse, the finding most relevant to the strategic plan as a redemption the Nasdaq and the ICE documentation of decommissioning.

After-hours trading, we take note of the quarterly results from Michelin, Boiron and BioMérieux.

Vivendi takes full control of SFR

Posted in economics, events, opinions, people, top news by admin on April 4th, 2011 | Comments Off

The negotiations have accelerated over the past week between Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of Vivendi, and its counterpart Vittorio Colao, CEO Vodafone. The two sides finally reached an agreement Sunday to 7.75 billion euros plus the payment of a dividend of 200 million euros in the first half, Vivendi puts his hand on the 44% stake in SFR it does not already own. The transaction is expected to close in late June 2011. This sum values ​​SFR to 17.6 billion euros, or 6.2 times its EBITDA. A valuation standards-compliant transactions in the telecom sector.

With this transaction, Vivendi finally control the entire second French telecom operator who weighs 12.5 billion euros in sales and has 21 million mobile customers and 5,000,000 fixed customers."For the first time since the creation of SFR in 1987 by Generale des Eaux (Vivendi ancestor) that the second French operator has a single shareholder," said Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of Vivendi. However, SFR and Vodafone will retain preferential trade agreements for three years. These agreements relate to roaming subscribers of SFR in France and beyond those of Vodafone when they travel to France. The agreement also covers joint management of major international clients. "Now more SFR may be present outside of France and develop new services for its customers," said Jean-Bernard Levy. However, Vodafone will not be the operator of Vivendi's holdings abroad as Morocco Telecom and GVT in Brazil. For these operations, "Vivendi will retain management," said Jean-Bernard Lévy

SFR occupies an important place in the Vivendi group.During the years of crisis in 2002 when the group collapsed under 32 billion euros of debt, he found his salvation by acquiring a majority stake in SFR from British Telecom for 4 billion euros. Thus, Vivendi could access the cash flow of its telephone subsidiary, which enabled him to honor the payment of its debt. SFR, Morocco Telecom and GVT, Vivendi telephony is clearly becoming a telecoms group. Its media activities: Canal +, Universal Music and Activision Blizzard are now a minority. However, the group intends to use the cash from SFR to strengthen it.

"Last but not negligible for Vivendi shareholders, this transaction will increase our annual profits, which allow us to increase the dividend for 2012," promises Jean-Bernard Levy. The current dividend is 1.40 euro.

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The sale of the iPad 2 braked by the Japanese crisis

Posted in life, money, opinions, people, top news by admin on March 19th, 2011 | Comments Off

The festival will she wasted Friday, scheduled for the Commercialization of the iPad 2 in 25 countries, including France? It is likely that the shelf is available in limited quantities. "We do not comment on rumors or speculation," says the firm at the apple, which states that the sale of its Internet Tablet in Japan will be delayed. Research firm iSuppli IHS is more worried: "The consequence of the earthquake in Japan may pose logistical problems and disruptions in the supply chain of the iPad 2."

Since its launch on March 11, success is such that the iPad two runs out. 0.5 to 1 million units were purchased, according to experts. Sales that underpin the world leader in this market to Apple, after the sale of 14.79 million in the first iPad 2010.Now, the Cupertino company will face "a lack of components produced in the devastated region, which includes the" electronic compass AKM Semiconductor, very difficult to replace the battery and, probably, advanced technology glass screen produced by Asahi, "says IHS iSuppli. Memory chips, supplied by Toshiba, can be replaced by those from South Korea's Samsung and Micron Technology of the U savings account payday advance.S.. However, despite the label "Made in China" battery, IHS iSuppli notes that its components are made by Apple in Japan, which buys Archipelago, due to the special shape of the battery polymer lithium-ion batteries.

Zero stock

Even if the iPad 2 is assembled in the land of factories, in Shenzhen, the Taiwanese Foxconn group, Apple claimed at its suppliers 'best practices' which include a "lean production with zero inventory", invented by Toyota.These difficulties are likely to affect the iPhone. Sony Ericsson mobile world number six, said that its smartphones could be in short supply. The handheld gaming Nintendo 3DS relief could also be lacking. "Japan will have an impact for all groups of consumer electronics," said Friday Crohas, CEO of Archos.

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Wall Street rebounds

Posted in economy, finance, international, resources, special by admin on March 17th, 2011 | Comments Off

The NYSE will start Thursday's meeting in sharp rebound, while Japanese engineers are trying everything possible to cool the reactors at Fukushima and avoid a major nuclear disaster. The Dow Jones climbed 1.09% to 11,738 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advancing 1.33% respectively to 1274 points and 1.40% points to 2653 points.

Thursday's meeting, however, promises once again to be febrile given the uncertainties surrounding the nuclear disaster in the archipelago. Wednesday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones dropped 2.04% to 11,613.3 points and ended at its lowest since Dec. 31.

The VIX volatility index, also called "fear index," jumped over 20% Wednesday and flew more than 45% since the beginning of the week.And according to analysts at PFG Best "it is not impossible that the Vix found record levels at the height of the financial crisis, the index could well triple.

In Tokyo on Thursday, the Nikkei closed down 1.44% moderate, affected by the surge in the yen and suspended the efforts of Japanese technicians near the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. For the first time since the nuclear crisis, the Japanese army helicopters dumped in the morning about 30 000 liters of water reactors 3 and 4 of the plant. The results of this operation are not yet known.Moreover, to support the Japanese economy, the Bank of Japan injected 6,000 billion yen (about 54 billion euros) Thursday on the money market, bringing to 34,000 billion yen, its total contribution since Monday.

Inflation at the highest

On the currency markets, the euro continued its rebound against the dollar on Thursday, while the yen was changing to levels not seen since the Second World War against the greenback, buoyed by speculation of remittances in Japan following the devastating earthquake on Friday. 111H00 to Paris, the euro bought 1.4053 dollars against 1.3906 late Wednesday, its highest in four months.

On the macroeconomic front, the meeting was punctuated by the publication of numerous U.S. indicators.The weekly jobless claims were initially declined more than expected in the United States during the week to March 12, at 385 000 401 000 cons (revised) the previous week, said Thursday the Labor Department.

Higher oil prices is being felt in the United States on consumer prices, which have experienced in February their largest increase since June 2009, according to figures released Thursday by the Washington Department of Labor faxless pay day loans.

The industrial production fell unexpectedly in February cons, largely due to mild temperatures that have weighed on the sector of services to communities, according to official statistics released Thursday.According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, production fell 0.1% after an increase of 0.3% (revised from -0.1%) in January.

Guess and FedEX published

The values ​​listed after the close Fifth Third Bancorp has repurchased $ 280 million contract warrant issued to U.S. Treasury for the bailout of banks.

The mail group FedEx (4.91% to 89.47 U.S. dollars) Thursday raised its forecast for revenue and margin for the current quarter and next, an announcement that pushed its way in the exchange pre-market trading. "We expect a continued positive trend increases turnover and margins in the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012," said Alan Graf, chief financial officer.

Guess (-9.07% to 39.89 dollars) posted net earnings rose to $ 105.4 million, or $ 1.11 per share in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 29, against $ 87.9 million , or 93 cents per share last year.

By contrast, Qualcomm (4.36% to 52.70 dollars) said its deliveries should not be affected by events in Japan, noting that the supply and production within the company was sufficiently diversified in this such situations.

Renaissance Re Holdings (-1.77% to 62.77 dollars) said the floods in Australia will have a negative impact 30 to $ 190 million on first quarter results 2011.The earthquake in Japan should also have a significant effect on the accounts.

For his part, Rollins (1.01% at 19.01 dollars) has announced that its subsidiary, Orkin had opened a new office in Shanghai.

Also note, Apple (2.55% to 338.42 dollars) lost 4.5% Wednesday after an analyst from JMP Securities has degraded the value of the first degradation by an analyst since October. 90% of analysts remains to buy Apple. But, clearly, the group's growth could be affected by events in Japan and greater competition, especially in the segment of mobile phones, experts say Aurel BGC.

ON Semiconductor announced that its turnover in the first quarter 2011 could be affected by the situation in Japan at 2% to 4% of its turnover, due to disruptions in logistics.