Archive for January, 2010

United States: exceptional growth in late 2009

January 30, 2010 - 9:45 pm Comments Off

Year End Spectacular for the U.S. economy. According growth reached 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Economists had forecast between 4.7% and 5.4%.

This unexpected development will limit the historical downfall of GDP over the year to -2.4%. The U.S. economy had not experienced such a decline since 1946.

In the fourth quarter, growth was supported by the recovery in business inventories, the resumption of investment and exports, says the Federal Bureau of Statistics payday loans for bad credit . In addition, imports, which are deducted from GDP, slowed. These factors have offset the slowdown in federal spending and household consumption.

The Kindle boosts Amazon results

January 29, 2010 - 1:45 pm Comments Off

In 2009, net income of Amazon rose 40% to $ 902 million or $ 2.04 per share. The U.S. Internet provider has presented these figures Thursday after the close of Wall Street, at the same time it announced its net profit for the fourth quarter, which soared 71% over the same period a year earlier, and rising to $ 384 million, or $ 0.85 per share.

During the last three months of 2009, marked by the holiday shopping season, Amazon's sales jumped 42%. Its turnover in the fourth quarter then reached $ 9.52 billion, which is better than expected. Due to a favorable currency effect, sales in the fourth quarter rose more rapidly in international markets (ie markets UK, French, German, Japanese and Chinese, which together grew by 49%) on the northern markets American (36%).But the two geographical areas show a growth rate similar sales since the currency effect is offset, and equivalent volumes.

This dynamic sales at year-end allows Amazon to total $ 24.51 billion worth of sales throughout the year, or 28% more than in 2008 low fee payday loans .

The group attributes this performance to the success of its electronic book reader, the Kindle, released in a hundred countries. "Millions of people now have the Kindle, and those who have a Kindle read a lot. When we have two editions (print and digital), six editions we sell Kindle books for 10 paper, "said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.

On its forecast for first quarter 2010, Amazon is planning a sales growth of about 32 to 43%.Its quarterly revenue could be up to 7 billion dollars. Over the period, operating profit could rise by 13% to 50%, Amazon said.

The group finally warned that its Board of Directors has endorsed a program of share repurchases by the group, amounting to 2 billion dollars.

"IPad: strengths and weaknesses of the Apple tablet

The Paris Bourse remained in negative territory

January 27, 2010 - 6:13 pm Comments Off

The CAC 40 fell back into the dark red. After a morning spent in sharp decline, the index in Paris was trying to recover. The index began in Paris plunges more clearly in the red at mid-session.

Around 1530, ACC fell 1.26% to 3.7591,15 points.

"The results of U.S. companies in 2009, better than expected, are completely ignored by markets that focus on three issues: Obama and his banking project, the re-appointment of Ben Bernanke to head the Fed and the organization of economic slowdown China by the Beijing authorities, "said Xavier de Villepion, fund manager at Global Equities.

This decrease in the overall rating takes place amid concerns over banks, while in Davos, experts discuss the modalities of regulation put in place in this sector."Investors fear that they reduce their size or they are prohibited from carrying out activities on their own funds," says Alice Lhabouz, manager Turgot Asset Management.

The morale of French stable consumption in Germany decreased

The publication this morning by the INSEE, a stabilization of the morale of French households had no impact on investors. The moral of households has remained virtually unchanged in January, the indicator is measured taking 1 point to -29 points, sharply up from the lower reaches in late 2008 but still below the average of the last fifteen years.

From the industry side, INSEE also announced that "the balance of opinion on the overall demand in the fourth quarter picked up strongly, thus approaching its long-term average.For the first quarter 2010, demand prospects remain however below the average long-term view of industry expectations.

The corporate failures of August 2009 will, they are known in 12 hours. After Exchange, 18 hours, Pole employment must disclose the number of requests and offers of jobs in December. Globally, the International Labor Office (ILO) has provided figures on employment depressing. "The number of unemployed worldwide reached almost 212 million in 2009 due to an unprecedented increase of 34 million compared to 2007, the eve of the global economic crisis," says the ILO.

In Germany, consumer prices fell 0.6% in January, posting a year increased 0.5%, said Wednesday the Statistics Bureau of Land. In December, prices had risen by 0.8% over the month as the year.

In the United States, all are attentive to the conclusions of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed that interest rates will at 20:15. Before that, Americans will unveil the promises of home sales in December (16 hours) and the weekly oil inventories (16:30) free business cards .

Risk arbitrage STMicroelectronics

As for values, STMicroelectronics reported Tuesday after market loss of $ 70 million in the fourth quarter, or 8 cents per share, against a loss of $ 366 million (42 cents per share) a year earlier. But this figure is below expectations of analysts.In exchange, having been one of the few titles CAC 40 to receive up to the opening (0.82%), the action was down in red, mid-session: — 1.20% to 6.03 euro).

Apple must introduce a new product on Wednesday the United States. It should be a new eBook reader electronic touch and connectable to the Internet. France Telecom (-0.53% to 16.77 euros) through Orange and Vivendi (-1.51% to 19.25 euros) via SFR should look at the new "toy" of the Apple brand.

Thomson (-2.82% to 1.03 euros) meets on Wednesday a special general meeting to discuss the restructuring of its debt and the adoption of its new name, Technicolor.

Spir Communication (-1.23% to 21.71 euros) on Tuesday reported a further decline in sales in the fourth quarter, down 11.4%.

Rusal, the Russian mining group, is listed first in Paris and Hong Kong.The group was not well received on the Chinese markets. He lost 10% in early trade. Investors have booked him in Paris the same cold reception: the title lost 11.10% to 17.70 euros.

Areva (-2.24% to 338 euros) and GDF Suez (-0.44% to 28.08 euros) would be full discussion for several months to conclude a partnership in nuclear power, confirming a report in Les Echos. Cependat No information has been taken in this regard.

Klepierre (-2.91% to 26.66 euros) Tuesday announced a turnover in 2009 increased by 22.6% to 246.5 million euros.

AXA (-0.77% to 15.40 euros) recorded an increase of 11% of its turnover in 2009 to 24.5 billion euros.The growth was 14.5% in life insurance.

Inter Parfums (+0.83% at 18.12 euros) for its part, announced a turnover down 6.2% at constant rates for 2009 to 259.2 million euros.

M6 (-0.03% to 19.12 euros) Lafuma (+0.33% to 11.99 euros) should publish their figures for the fourth quarter after market close.

Eiffage (-1.64% to 39.38 euros) will publish its balance sheet in 2009.

Note that the bank this morning are especially misguided: BNP Paribas (-1.04% to 52.15 euros), Credit Agricole (-1.35% to 11.71 euros) and Societe Generale (-0.85% to 43.15 euros) saddled the index, in a heated in Davos.

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"The Asian exchanges still sluggish

Public debts worry Coface

January 19, 2010 - 2:41 am Comments Off

A shock exceptional in its scope but not its duration. Coface, which examines the risks of outstanding companies, announced Monday at a symposium on the country risk, the end of the credit crisis. While recalling the unprecedented nature of this recession, the worst post-war related to the bankruptcy of Lehman. Between its 2007 peak and the lowest point in 2009, the global economy fell by 6.1 points, two times the oil crisis of the 1980s or the collapse of the dotcom bubble.

"There is a strong correlation between the curve of defaults and that of economic growth, said President Francois David. For six months we see an improvement in creditworthiness of companies. "After rising 19% in the first half of 2009, the total payment incidents has decreased by 40% over the last six months.With this improvement, Coface has revised upwards its ratings, while it had conducted several waves of decommissioning throughout the crisis. Note that unlike traditional agencies, which follow the sovereign debt, the insurance company is only interested in credit risk business. The improvement is true for most industrialized countries. The A2 rating of the United States is no longer under negative watch while France, Germany and Japan, in particular, came under positive watch.

Household debt

But if the bulk of the storm passed, many clouds darken the sky of the recovery. It is primarily the weakness of private demand, which remains constrained by the debt ratio and savings rates, and deterioration of the labor market."The key to growth lies in the particular behavior of the American consumer, accounting for 18% of global GDP," notes Francois David.

Another black spot, the rate of industrial capacity utilization remains limited, especially slowing business investment. "The recovery in 2010 will depend even public spending," says the chief economist at Coface, Yves Zlotowski. With the risk of digging a little more deficits. The situation is particularly alarming for the "pigs" – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain – where the debt has increased the most between 2007 and 2011. "The markets could force them to implement budget cuts, which contribute more to the recession," said Yves Zlotowski. The economist is also concerned about overheating in China and the rebound of stock markets, including commodities, stronger and faster than the real economy.Coface expects global growth in 2010 of 2.7%, driven by emerging markets (5.3%) against 1.4% for developed countries.

The Cac 40 in the green returns

January 15, 2010 - 7:14 am Comments Off

Optimism is back in the Paris Bourse in mid-afternoon Thursday, while U.S. statistics, published at 14:30, emerged in below expectations. ACC back above the 4,000-point mark.

The number of registered unemployed in the United States was up more than expected during the week ending January 9, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department.In data adjusted for seasonal variations, these weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose for the second consecutive week to 444,000 against 433,000 (revised) the previous week.

Another disappointment, retail sales in the U.S. fell against all odds in December, according to official figures released Thursday in Washington, but this masks a bad performance review of their surge up the previous two months.

Around 15.15, the CAC 40 yields 0.08%, to 3997 points, passing under the 4,000 points.

Investors will also pay attention to the news conference the Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, at 16 hours and the speech of the Governing Council of the ECB.

The latter announced that its key policy rate should remain at 1% level where it remains since May 2009.In the U.S., retail sales for December at 14.30, the import price for the same month at the same time, as well as requests weekly unemployment benefits will be scrutinized.

As for currencies, the euro decreased again. The European currency fell by 0.13% to 1.4503 dollars. For raw materials, oil appears in sharp decline. The barrel of light sweet crude for February delivery lost 2.84% to 79.29 dollars, while that of Brent North Sea at the same maturity, lost 2.40% to 77.76 dollars. Oil stocks have risen more than expected last week in the United States.

Ubisoft suffers

The Renault Group (Renault, Dacia, Samsung and Lada) in 2009 recorded a decrease of 3.1% of its global sales to 2.3 million vehicles in global market decline of 3.7% and a slight increase its market share (+0.1 percentage points to 3.7%), it intends to strengthen in 2010. Figures similar to those unveiled by Peugeot (+1.47%) a few days ago. After gleaning 0.1% at the opening, title coward 0.43% to 39.32 euros in mid-session.

The French game publisher Ubisoft video Wednesday revised downward its financial targets for its fiscal year 2009/2010 lagged, partly because of disappointing sales of some games and the postponement of several launches. Sanction Immediate Exchange: action coward 4.67%, to 9.6 euros. It is the largest decline of the SBF 120.

GDF Suez has announced the sale to Shell Egypt for a 20% concession in the Alam El Shawish, and keeps 25%.The sign under the worst performance of the ACC with a decline of 2.21% to 29.16 euros.

The group Vivendi (+0.2% at 21.02 euros), which challenged the participation of two of its shareholders and Adam collective proceedings conducted in the United States, was dismissed Wednesday by the Tribunal de Grande Instance Paris.

The French ready-to-wear Camaieu (+4.89% to 148.94 euros) plans to continue its development policy in 2010 and plans to open nearly a hundred shops.

bioM?rieux (+3.12% at 83.02 euros) on Thursday announced the acquisition of Meikang Biotech, a Chinese manufacturer of rapid tests, and its production site in Shanghai. Vet'Affaires (7.38%) reported a turnover of 92.7 million euros in 2009. Riber (-2.80%) confirmed its net profit target for 2009.

This is the second day of strike in the Paris airports (ADP).A two flights was canceled Thursday morning following the request of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to Orly airport, the second day of strike among air traffic controllers, has been a journalist from AFP . The action takes ADP 0.68% to 57.81 euros.

A monitor also: Pernod Ricard (-0.05%)) who will make a point about its business. Carrefour (-0.53%) will release its annual results after the stock market.

Alcatel is the challenge of saving energy

January 12, 2010 - 7:06 am Comments Off

The world of telecom and Internet is one of the largest energy consumers in the world. Also, the giants of the industry can not stand idly by. Alcatel-Lucent and its famous Bell Labs in the United States have therefore taken the initiative to create a consortium, called "Green Touch" to floor on this issue. From the outset, the consortium brings together the best researchers. Around the Bell Labs of Alcatel and research laboratories of Samsung of South Korea are three of the most prestigious American universities specializing in technology: Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard. The National Institute for Research in Computer Science (INRIA) and laboratories from CEA-Leti in Grenoble are part of the French side, and the Belgian research institute IMEC.Finally, two operators, Telefonica, and Swisscom, join the adventure.

For six months, Bell Labs, the famous centers of R & D of Alcatel-Lucent, consider a crucial question: "How much energy a telecommunications network can it be reduced without affecting capacity information transmission? "

Networks must be completely redesigned, including the architecture should be changed. For example, "wireless telecommunications are one of the largest contributors to the energy needs of a network. It is easy to reduce the power emitted by an antenna, and therefore consumption, removing his show in all directions in space and focus the signal to the next station or end user, "says the boss research at Bell Labs.Moreover, the power of an antenna of a wireless network can be reduced by using tricks to encode the signal. "Thus, information can be extracted even if the noise level is high." Architecture is another central point: "To perform a calculation, the human brain needs a million times less energy a computer, thanks to its apparently chaotic! "

Consumption divided by 10 000

"After six months of work, we have calculated, based on our many disciplines such as physics, mechanics and quantum computing, it is possible to reduce, at most, by 10 000 energy d a telecommunications network, "said Gee Rittenhouse, head of research at Bell Labs. "We can not do everything alone.We have therefore decided to create a consortium, called "Green Touch," whose objective is already reduced by 1 000 the energy of a telecommunications network within five years. This consortium will bring together four groups of actors: universities, industrial laboratories, research institutes, non-profit and telecommunications operators, "said Gee Rittenhouse.

Besides protecting the environment, this research will have another impact: Increase the amount of data transmitted in the network without increasing the radiation, which concern both consumer groups.

Offices: the market is recovering

January 8, 2010 - 11:06 am Comments Off

According to preliminary data released this morning by Immostat-IPD, the total investment in commercial property (offices, shops, warehouses) in Ile-de-France for the past year totaled 5.2 billion euros. This figure compares with a volume of 8 billion in 2008. This is the bottom of the range anticipated by the professional last October. In fact, the last quarter that saved the furniture with a total investment of 2.54 billion euros, or nearly half the activity of the year.

Also in Ile-de-France region, which contains 70% of national activity, take-up, which agglomerates investments by enterprises for their own needs and leased, moved it to 1, 8 million square meters for all of 2009, against 2.4 million in 2008 and 2.7 million in 2007.At the same time, the supply of offices immediately available is up 6% at the beginning of the year compared to last quarter, representing 3.26 million square meters.

For 2010, even if professionals are optimistic, they believe that further improvement observed in late 2009 will depend on the quality of provision and financing needs. Many uncertainties remain, particularly on the employment front, leaving fear tougher price point operators. In terms of rental values, "the time is still correcting, notes and DTZ. After declines of 10 to 25% depending on the relevant markets, the movement should continue, says the consultancy. Accompanying measures (exemption from rents and attendance), already strengthened in 2009, should still be denser.

Car sales at the highest since 1990

January 5, 2010 - 10:26 am Comments Off

This is the highest level since 1990. In total, more than 2.268 million new registrations were recorded in 2009 against 2.050 in 2008 according to figures released Monday by the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA). Sales of new passenger cars rose by 10.7% in raw data in 2009 compared to 2008. December to sign a noteworthy performance. In that month alone, the new car registrations in France rose by 48.6% from December 2008 to 228,451 vehicles. It was the eighth consecutive month of increases.

Regarding manufacturers, the Renault group that makes the best sound of the game's pin registrations totaled 566,240 cars in 2009, up 14.9% over 2008. The Renault brand is up 12.5% over 2008 to 505,521 vehicles.Dacia, the Romanian subsidiary of Renault, which truste third place cars most reliable according to a survey UFC Que Choisir, has gone to 60,719 copies, an increase of 39.5% compared to 2008. For December alone, group sales jumped 94.3%. Bernard Cambier, which argued that these figures before publication in micro BFM on Monday morning was not far short.

In the second place manufacturer, PSA Peugeot Citro?n sold 717,485 cars in 2009, up 13.3% over 2008. Peugeot has sold 377,665 models (+9.8%) against 339,820 for Citro?n (17.4%). The PSA group sales rose 35.3% in December.

Hyundai is the foreign brand that recorded the strongest growth in 2009: +24.8% to 42 663. Then came Nissan's partner Renault (+20.2% to 45,899 cars) and Ford (+17.8% to 145,066 vehicles).

Scrapping bonus and bonus Green

In a difficult economic environment for the sector, this figure is the unexpected achievement. The area owes its hi in 2009 to support strong measures undertaken at the height of the economic and financial crisis. The automotive sector is crucial for the French economy, then appeared as a major potential victims of the crisis.

The French government had introduced a scrapping bonus of 1,000 euros for the replacement of vehicles over 10 years, as part of its recovery plan of 26 billion euro, introduced in December 2008. The reduction of this premium, which rose from 1,000 to 700 euros on 1 January, said the accelerated rise in registrations recorded at the end of 2009.

This new reacted positively sector securities on the Exchange.Renault signs the strongest increase in the CAC 40: 4.56% at 37, 85 euros, while Peugeot is 1.71% to 24.07 euros.

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