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Despite the rebound in Asian stock markets Wednesday morning and the revival of U.S. consumer confidence on Tuesday, the Paris financial markets should remain febrile for the first day of September. Futures rose 0.59% to 3506 points, about 8.20am. The CAC 40 closed Tuesday August on a small increase of 0.11% to 3490.79 points. Throughout the month, the index in Paris lost more than 7%.

Vivendi raised its forecast

The set of interim results continued. Meanwhile Wendel and Altran particular, Vivendi raised its forecast for this year, after posting a 6.1% increase in sales to 13.9 billion euros and 6.6% of net income to a 26 billion euros.

Wendela investment company registered in the first half net profit of 124.5 million euros against a loss of 959 million for the same period of 2009.

Tuesday after-hours trade, Bouygues has issued a revenue down 1% in the first half and slightly raised its full-year sales (30.4 billion euros against 30.1 billion euros previously planned) .

Vinci reported interim results exceeded expectations. Its net profit was up 1.9% to 703 million euros and sales rose 2.3% to 15.5 billion euros, thanks to improved traffic conditions and benefits the acquisition of Cegelec.

Finally, Eiffage confirmed its forecast of sales for 2010 thanks to the growth of its backlog and achieved a 40% jump in net profit group share semi-annual 70 million euros payday advances .The operating profit has however declined by 2.6% to 412 million, within the scope of the downturn in work due to a climate of increased competition.

The investors also will keep an eye on Sanofi-Aventis. In the showdown, which contrasted with Genzyme, the CEO of biotech company judge, in an interview with Reuters, the high probability of finding an agreement on an offer from Sanofi on American group. However, he reiterated that Genzyme will not accept the proposed price of 69 dollars per share.According to sources close to the U.S. group will not negotiate at least $ 75.

PMI manufacturing program

On the macroeconomic front, the meeting will be especially marked by the publication of the manufacturing PMI in France (8.45am), Europe (11:00) and USA (16 hours), and the ADP survey which will give a first overview the situation on the labor market in the U.S. before the official data on Friday.

Other important indicators: the numbers of the car market in August in France (12:00). In July, new car registrations fell by 12.9% compared to last year, and 15.4% for the only French brands.

This time, the warning from Standard & Poor's regards the world's largest economy. If the U.S. wants to maintain their "AAA" rating, the highest possible, they should address their enormous budget deficit, said Thursday in an interview with John Chambers, chief of staff of the Department of State debts.

"It is very important to note the status of the U.S. Congress that takes into account very carefully to what the Tax Commission will propose," he told Dow Jones Newswires. Faced with the explosion of the budget deficit, President Barack Obama has established a bipartisan commission (Democrats and Republicans) in fiscal responsibility, whose conclusions are expected in December Guaranteed no fax payday loans. The warning from S & P added that Moody's mid-August.

The Obama Administration has pledged to halve the budget deficit of the state in 2013 and to stabilize the federal debt to 70% of GDP by 2015. The S & P economist has however rejected the scenario of a new recession, preferring to talk of a slowdown in growth.

"The U.S. economy has enough strength to grow by 2% this year and next year," he added.

The results of Yahoo! may lead to confusion in the markets. The U.S. Internet portal said in a statement released after the close on Wall Street a group net profit up 51% year on year to 213.32 million dollars in the second quarter. Brought back in action, this equates to 15 cents per share against 10 cents a year earlier. This result was above expectations of analysts who had expected 14 cents. In contrast, sales will disappoint. It appears virtually unchanged (2%) to 1.601 billion dollars during the period against $ 1.57 billion last year. But it is better than the 1.16 billion expected.

Operating profit jumped to 175 million dollars against 76 million a year earlier. Without taking into account a restructuring charge of $ 10 million, the increase is 32% low fee pay day loans."We are pleased to have continued to generate strong operating earnings and a sharp increase in margins," said the CEO, Carol Bartz, in a statement.

Side perspective, the band announced for the third quarter revenue target of between 1.57 and 1.65 billion dollars. Yahoo also relies on an operating profit of between 160 and 200 million dollars.

The news did not seem to have pleased the markets: in trade after the close on Wall Street, shares drop 4.67% to 14.49 dollars.

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Wednesday again, the Asian financial radiant, carried by strong quarterly results from Alcoa and Intel. On Thursday, the return to reality is brutal. Red dominates the markets and doubts about economic recovery back. The reason: the pessimistic talk from Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, who has already pulled down Wall Street.

The surprise drop in retail sales across the Atlantic (-0.5%) is the straw that broke the camel's Fed. The Fed is lowering its outlook for the world's largest economy to a range between 3% and 3.5%, while three months ago, it was a growth of 3.2% to 3 7%. New measures could even be taken to support the economy.

Japan sees a brighter future

A Tokyo Stock Exchange reacts badly to these ads.In mid-session, the Nikkei lost 0.95% to 9702 points, while the Topix loose 1.45% to 858 points. The more positive about the central bank (BOJ) in the archipelago thus pass almost unnoticed. This morning, though the latter has announced that she saw again significantly increased its growth forecast for the current fiscal year from April 2010 to March 2011, to 2.6% from 1.8% previously estimated. "An improvement is expected due to the increased growth of emerging countries," the BoJ said. This upward revision is due to the government, which in June raised its forecast for growth, also at 2.6%, against 1.4% in its previous estimate.

The BoJ has, however, slightly lowered its growth forecast for 2011-2012 to 1.9% against 2% previously expected free online credit report.Because of deflation, the monetary policy committee has also decided unanimously to leave its rate unchanged at 0.10%.

Slower Growth in China

On the stock markets of Hong Kong and Shanghai, investors are pessimistic. The key indices of the two financial centers are losing 0.28% (20.503points) and 0.36% (2461 points).

In addition to the Fed, the markets saw a dim announcing a slowdown in the national economy in the second quarter. China's GDP has been increasing by 10.3% yoy, against 11.9% at the end of the first quarter. Economists expect at least a growth of 10.5%. In the first half, the economy grew by 11.1%.

Side indicators, the index of consumer prices rose 2.9% in June over a year.Industrial production grew 17.6% yoy in the first half, while investment in fixed capital rose 25.5% year on year.

Oil mast

With China and Japan in the red, the other financial centers are also doubts the move. In Australia, the S & P lost 0.57% in India, Sensex 0.05% loose. Only the Korean Kosdaq climbed 0.69%.

Crude prices were also down on Thursday morning trade in Asia. A barrel of light sweet crude for August delivery lost 14 cents to 76.90 dollars a barrel, while Brent North Sea due to identical, yielding 53 cents to 76.24 dollars.

Long as three and a half football fields (365 meters) high as a building of twenty-two floors and off over fifty meters with a capacity of carrying more than 13,800 containers: CMA CGM Christopher Columbus, called yesterday morning in the port of Le Havre, is not the largest container ships in the world, the current record is held by a vessel Maersk which displays more than 400 meters in length. In contrast, the new flagship of the third arms Marseille is the largest unit flying the French flag. "It is the first in a series of eight container vessels to be delivered by the end of 2011," explains Jacques Saade, president and founder of CMA CGM.

In service on the Europe-Asia, this container allows the new generation, thanks to its volume capacity and performance techniques, to identify "a result two times" the previous generation of the "8500 box.

A major element for the group in search of funding partners as part of "restructuring" of its capital. And on the topic, Jacques Saade has not failed once again confuse observers by announcing the end of discussions for an entry to the Qatari capital of Holdings. This decision comes as discussions were also halted last week with the fund Colony, the other nominee with whom negotiations had been initiated free credit score.Both candidates associated with the Strategic Investment Fund (ISF), proposed to provide approximately 750 million dollars in capital and become shareholders but significant minority.

The recall of ISPs

"We stopped the discussions with the Qataris since the conditions were unacceptable. We are talking with other candidates, "says Jacques Saade said yesterday that all the good he thought of the Strategic Investment Fund. At that point the ISP held recalled yesterday that he would invest only sides "of one or more outside investors" and that he did not intend to go alone.Gilles Michel, head of the ISP, called a thinly veiled way for the resumption of negotiations with the funds of the Middle East: "Our hope is that it is signed with a partner that suits the company, representing Qatar Holding a partner entirely credible and serious. "Saade The guarantee will get an agreement with an investor before the end of July. In the wise …

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The stock performance does not lie. Since the beginning of the year, the Euronext Building & Construction fell 18%. Values that balance the index are battered stock market. Wednesday again, the index meant the worst performing sector in Europe. The Irish manufacturer CRH, which warned on its sales in 2010, lost nearly 9% while the French Lafarge realized the worst performance of the ACC. It also loses 28.95% since January 1. Over the same period, Saint Gobain coward 17.15%, while 11.24% abandons Vinci.

The Irish group has yet taken a cold snap in stating that its sales in 2010 would be affected more severely than expected by the consequences of fiscal consolidation in the euro area and slowing the pace of recovery in USA.

The news did not surprise analysts."The fiscal crisis has not improved the situation of the sector because governments are pushing the major works to reduce the growing deficit," said Harry Sebag, an analyst at Saxo Bank. The financial crisis has also hit the industry particularly since the latter is highly dependent on the banks with which it finances a large majority of buildings.

The figures for real estate in the U.S. are also very revealing. In June, there were only 300,000 new home sales on a new year while the consensus was expecting about 424,000 sales.

Outlook not reassuring

For the future, the industry should be very cautious. "We are in a context of sluggish growth and unemployment prevails with a high public and private debt.Certainly the infrastructure programs of national recovery plans may lead us to believe a recovery in the sector, however, this growth drivers must be qualified with the recently introduced austerity policies, "said Harry Sebag. For example, France had planned to inject four billion euros in the construction sector in 2009. But only 2.5 billion have been invested and a slowdown in public works is possible for the remaining 1.5 billion.

"Businesses have already significantly impacted margins and cut prices to gain market share over the weaker euro and higher commodity prices, driven by demand from emerging economies, clouding the outlook for the sector , "says the analyst.

There is no question of a collapse."The activity is still declining, but remained stable for the rest of the year is possible if the growth recovery by 2011," warns Harry Sebag.

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The controversy swells daily. After the Europeans, it is now the boss of General Electric to accuse China of putting a spoke in the wheels of foreign companies. "I'm really worried, I am not sure that ultimately they want that we will succeed," he complained to an audience of businessmen from Italy, reported the Financial Times on Friday.

Last Tuesday was a report of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, which accused China to increase the discriminatory measures. He denounced a "discretionary application of laws and regulations, the registration process unnecessarily complicated and" inconsistencies in the application of national criteria.

In Beijing, many business leaders say the word to cover: it is increasingly difficult to work in China."They understand that they can leave if they are not happy," says a corporate lawyer. Since April, the party newspaper, the China Daily, had sniffed the wind of revolt and was almost threatening."When foreign companies encounter difficulties in their projects (…) if they do nothing but complain that the foreign media and amplify the case without analyzing the merits and slandering the Chinese economy, they will end up delaying the process of improving the investment environment, "he wrote.

Funny way to appease the spirits when President Hu Jintao says it wants to "take concrete steps to reject any form of protectionism and unequivocal support free trade."

The World Trade Organization said in its latest report "Interest in China and its foreign suppliers of more rapid liberalization of China's service industries.But Beijing, which, in a gesture of goodwill, will leave July 15 rebates for export taxes on certain sensitive products, prefer to believe that foreigners "grunt" on account of wages.

Rising labor costs

Demonstration of support to employees of Foxconn, Hong Kong in June Photo credits: AFP

Off imminent. A new airline, African Oxygen, will serve the Dark Continent from late September, and this from Paris. The company has filed an application for a certificate of air from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This card is indispensable for the operation of airlines, should be obtained in the coming weeks. Thirty pilots and a hundred flight attendants have already been recruited.

To start, the company leased two Boeing 767 with U.S. lessor International Lease Finance Corporation. The first aircraft, currently in Miami, should be delivered in Paris on July 15, the second in mid-August. According to our information, Oxygen will be a scheduled airline flights to Africa, but will not provide charter flights.The aircraft will be equipped with an economy class and business class to attract "customers high contribution," including executives of oil companies.

Five destinations are planned initially: Luanda (Angola), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Conakry (Guinea) and Bamako (Mali). The company has obtained traffic rights to fly to these cities. She currently negotiate with Burkina Faso Ouagadougou to serve. By opening these destinations, Oxygen, which was established with a contribution of 25 million euros of "private European investors," said a source close to the case, addresses the most profitable destinations of Air France network. "The national airline is in a quasi-monopoly on Africa, says an analyst.Ticket prices are high due to a clientele of executives and individuals willing to pay the price for travel with Air France rather than African company. "

Lufhansa gaining momentum

Former executive of Airports of Paris, the founder of Oxygen, Steve Bokhobza, was chief of visits to several airlines. According to one of his collaborators, his intention is to recover the former Air France customers who now travel to Africa via the hubs of Lufthansa Group. The German competitor is indeed in full rise on the continent, where it already boasts so many destinations that Air France."As Lufthansa, Oxygen will offer prices 20% lower than those of Air France, said a close case, but will be direct flights from Paris." Eventually, the young company aims to operate four widebody to Africa and a dozen small devices in order to develop regional transport.

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LOS ANGELES Stars of pop music without panties, warriors of the night, and vampires sexy spiced sauce fame last year with the arrival of Lady Gaga, Conan O'Brien, Kirsten Stewart and Robert Pattinson – Superstars Twilight – the first in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

But despite their impressive debut (Gaga landed in fourth place in the list), is Oprah Winfrey is the winner of the year. After being supplanted by Angelina Jolie last year (Jolie finds himself in the 18th rank this year) and the Queen of the media takes the crown in the annual Forbes list of global super-celebrities. Winfrey earned $ 315 million over the last 12 months.

The moderator of televised debates had tears in his eyes when it announced that this season would be the last debate.This news has helped our self-made billionaire to get more mentions in the press than any other member of the Celebrity 100 list. Winfrey owes much to his show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and her magazine, her website is closely followed, his radio, his television shows and movies like Precious, who received six Oscar nominations. For the future, her Harpo production company, which launched the careers of Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz, will this fall Nate Berkus, a former decorator become moderator of debate.

A few months later, our lady launch Oprah Winfrey Network, a channel on the theme of lifestyle, in partnership with Discovery Communications (DISCA – news – people).

The remaining top

Beyonce Knowles win two seats to finish second in the list, with $ 87 million in annual revenue.His world tour of over 90 concerts has collected more than 85 million dollars to blow up a portfolio that combines album sales, fashion line House of Dereon and a range of promotional contracts ranging from Nintendo (NTDOY.PK – news – people) in L'Oreal. Beyonce, the female half of the couple's most powerful nation in the world hip-hop, has continued to expand his business empire beyond the music with the launch of its first fragrance, Heat, a few months ago.

Third position: director James Cameron. With the success at the box office of Avatar, the man who proclaimed himself "king of the world" has pocketed the tidy sum of 210 million dollars this year. Although his film in 3D has failed to win the Oscar for best film, he beat own record of Cameron cashing $ 2.7 billion at the box office to become the film that made the biggest revenue the history of cinema.(Titanic occupied this place for 12 years, with 1.8 billion dollars.) While the Blu-ray edition of Avatar's record-breaking sales and an expected result is, Cameron will certainly continue to be included in our list for several years.

Revenue increase

In response to market fluctuations and a global economy that appears reluctant to leave, the income figures contained in our Celebrity 100 list demonstrate a remarkable resistance.The stars of our list have in fact collectively won $ 4.7 billion this year, compared to 4.1 billion last year.

The Celebrity 100 list that includes movie stars and television personalities from television, models, athletes, authors, musicians and comedians, as revenues related to entertainment and media exposure (presence in press, television, radio and online). Given the growing power of social networks, we have added a rating of "social media" that reflects the presence of each celebrity on Facebook and Twitter. The income considered is the income before taxes between 1 June 2009 and June 1, 2010.Management fees, agents and attorneys have not been deducted.

Great start for Gaga

Lady Gaga was catapulted on our list, ahead of pop music stars like Madonna much more established (10th) and U2 (seventh). It has revenues estimated at $ 62 million to a global tour of 106 concerts and his willingness to partner with companies such as Virgin Mobile and Polaroid No teletrack payday loans. Not to mention that his fame and his theatrics earned him an enormous press coverage while his music videos are feeling on the Internet.Proof: This completes the first rocker visionary for social media and Internet presence in the Forbes Celebrity 100 100

Gaga is also the highest ranked newcomer on the list, leading a group that includes the Black Eyed Peas (48 million), O'Brien (38 million) and Robert Pattinson – Stewart, of co-stars Twilight. Pattison finishes at the fiftieth come up with an estimated 17 million dollars, but Stewart, who works on fewer projects outside of Twilight, placed 66th with 12 million dollars.

Woods is good for the moment

And to complete the top five: the golfer Tiger Woods.Despite his personal and professional setbacks this year (all the negative publicity has been removed from the list this year), the big target of sensationalist newspapers has still managed to earn $ 105 million between June 2009 and June 21010. Fact: The sources of income have declined since the scandals in his name (Accenture (CAN – news – people), AT & T (T – news – people) and the Pepsi (PEP – news – people) have abandoned Woods as spokesman), but he still pocketed millions from his contracts with Nike (NKE – news – people), Electronic Arts (ERTS – news – people) and Upper Deck.It is worth mentioning that the activity of designing golf courses has difficulties because of the global economic crisis.

His image tarnished should nevertheless result in a significant drop in the rankings next year.

Goodbye Smith

Celebrities and their revenues, which depend on new contracts and fans capricious, fluctuate widely from year to year. Among the victims this year we have Will Smith. After finishing 11th in the list last year with 45 million dollars, king of blockbuster films does not even ranked this year as he has not made any new film during the period analyzed.

Another notable absentee this year is rapper 50 Cent. In 2009, he was impressive 50th with revenues of $ 20 million.But his latest album, Before I Self Destruct, has sold only 500,000 copies and remained quiet as he lost 25% of its weight for the role of a cancer in a film that will be out soon, Things Fall Apart.

A few words on methodology

The Celebrity 100 list as the power on the basis of money and fame. Revenue estimates, which include revenues from movies and television shows, endorsement deals, books and other entertainment projects have been made for the period between June 2009 and June 2010. Figures have been rounded where appropriate. We also used other sources such as Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, The Nielsen Company and SNL Kagan.Celebrity is calculated using the number of results from Google (GOOG – news – people) Blog Search, the number of entries to television / radio LexisNexis, overall indications in the press on Factiva and the number of times the picture a celebrity appears on the cover of 25 consumer magazines. The social classification is calculated using measures such as the number of friends and fans on Facebook, and the number of followers on Twitter.

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The Paris Bourse is maintained in the zone of turbulence since it passes through Tuesday. The CAC 40, after nine sessions of gains chained and won 10.5%, has now three sessions of decline, losing 4.8%. So much so that since the beginning of the month, the benchmark index of the Paris took only 1.5% and rises to 3555 points.

This Friday, at the beginning, the CAC 40 has tried to resist, rising 0.24% to 3564 points, but the fragility of the ambient trend and volatility have prevailed and the index declining about 11 hours from 0 25% to 3546 points.

In the same time, the euro appears stable, very slightly positive at 1.2341 dollars after resuming colors Thursday as statistical mixed overseas sowed doubt about the robustness of recovery amércaine.

Overall, the atmosphere is tense markets. The Asian market on Friday morning, displays counters in the red.In France, unemployment has not risen so much since seven months.

Pressure mounts while also meet from tomorrow G20 Toronto. Discussions burning its menu.

National accounts in the spotlight

In France a quarter of an hour before the opening of trading, INSEE revealed a growth of just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2010, however, revising upwards the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last quarter 2009 to 0.6%.

Consumer spending has remained stable over the first three months of the year, reports the Institute.The purchasing power has registered a decline of 0.1%.

In the U.S., the third estimate of GDP is known to 14:30.

Banks up

As for values, Credit Agricole (-1.7%) Societe Generale (1.4%) BNP Paribas (+1.1%) and Axa (1.32%) appear at the top of the charts of best performance of the CAC 40, behind Vivendu which grimpede 1.7% to 17.5 euros.

In contrast, the values cars are worth, including Peugeot plir 0.67%, Renault, 0.36%, 0.6% Michelin. Construction is bad too, with Lafarge (-0.96%), largest decline, and Saint-Gobain (-0.25%).

Latecoère: 2.56% to 6 euros According to Le Figaro, the aerospace supplier will propose to its shareholders on Friday, meeting in General Assembly, the free allocation of share purchase warrants (BSA) in 2012.It has thereby remove some 43 million euros.

Bourbon: +3.3% to EUR 35 The group has unveiled its strategic plan for 2011/2015 including investment of 2 billion dollars in the marine service vessels for offshore oil.

Pressure on prices in the telecommunications networks transition to mobile technology fourth generation "LTE" should distribute the cards in this highly competitive sector, but not enough to halt the pressures on the prices of telecom equipment, told Reuters Chairman of the Mobile Division of Alcatel-Lucent, Wim Sweldens. The shares were down 0.85% to 2.2 euros, the steepest declines the CAC 40.

GDF Suez (+0.3%), Total (-0.5% to 38.25 euros), EDF (+0.5%) The price of gas will increase by 4.7% from 1 July to 6.3 million customers in France said Thursday the Commission of Energy Regulation.

The EDF Group postponed its decision to invest in an LNG terminal in Dunkirk (Northern), said Thursday a spokesman for the group. This terminal was supposed to compensate for some job losses related to the closure of the refinery from Total.

Computer Services sector companies might respond to better than expected quarterly results announced Thursday evening by Accenture. The Group's net profit stood at 564 million dollars (457 million euros), or $ 0.73 per share against 537 million ($ 0.68 per share) a year ago and $ 0.69 expected by Wall Street.

Alstom: -0.5% to 38.3 euros French industrial group on Thursday launched a U.S. production plant turbines, especially for nuclear power generation, for which he has invested about $ 300 million, according to a statement.