Daily International Headlines

Hair care have more mystery for Unilever. The giant Anglo-Dutch food and cosmetics has officially on Monday the takeover of Alberto Culver, a manufacturer of hair products U.S. $ 3.7 billion in cash. The operation was revealed Sunday by the Wall Street Journal on its website.

As announced in the newspaper, Unilever will buy the U.S. $ 37.50 action against a closing price of 31.48 dollars Friday, representing a premium of 19%. Alberto Culver has a market capitalization of 3.1 billion dollars and reported sales of $ 1.6 billion for the fiscal year ended in September 2009.

Through this acquisition, Unilever expands its range of hair care brands TRESemmé and Nexxus, Alberto VO5 and more. The product portfolio includes brands skin care such as St. Ives and Noxzema."These products will complement the existing portfolio of Unilever brands that already includes Dove, Sunsilk and Clear", welcomed the group's boss, Paul Polman. "This acquisition of Unilever the world's leading hair care, the second shampoo on the market," the statement said.

Unilever continues its policy of external growth, only a year after the acquisition of Sara Lee, a specialist in hygiene products, for $ 1.275 billion.

The U.S. stock market could try to take a step forward Friday. Futures on Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advancing 0.44% respectively at 1125.30 points from 0.56% to 1992.50 points. On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange finished the session down after the publication of economic statistics halftone United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has surrendered 76.89 points to 10,662.42 points and the Nasdaq, dominated by technology, 7.47 points to 2327.08 points. The broader index Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.83% (9.45 points) to 1124.83 points.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro rose in the morning this Friday at 1.3335 dollars against 1.3312 the previous day. The euro, which was still worth $ 1.27 on September 13, this week surpassed $ 1.34 for the first time since late April.Analysts from Exane BNP Paribas have revised their estimate of the euro against the dollar at $ 1.35 over the next 12 months on average.

On the macroeconomic front, investors expect the number of such durable goods orders, a key indicator of consumption across the Atlantic and sales of new homes in the United States.

Nike's net income up

The side of values, the U.S. manufacturer of sporting Nike released Thursday after the close of Wall Street net income up 9% year on year. Net income for the quarter ended Aug. 31 totaled $ 559 million, or $ 1.14 per share, while analysts were only waiting unsecured personal loans $ 1.01. But for specialists Aurel BGC "the most important thing is that Nike ad growth of its global wholesale orders 10% to $ 7.1 billion.Replenishment of stocks and sustained sales will support the growth that is strong in all divisions of Nike. "

For its part Apple has jumped on Thursday a new step on the podium of the largest market capitalizations in the world, the Chinese giant PetroChina lovely place second most expensive company in the world. The action of the U.S. computer group took 0.41% to 299.82 dollars, hitting a new record when an analyst raised its sales forecast for the iPad. It focuses its total weight on the stock market to 266 billion, against 265 billion for PetroChina. The Apple brand was snatched up to number three in May to its arch rival Microsoft. The U.S. oil ExxonMobil with a market capitalization of $ 310 billion, is number one worldwide.

Always on the side of values, EDF and Constellation go to the rescue of their joint venture.The electrician tricolor and Constellation Energy have initiated discussions to save their joint venture in the nuclear agency Bloomberg understands.

According to final figures from closing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has surrendered 76.89 points to 10,662.42 points and the Nasdaq, dominated by technology, 7.47 points to 2327.08 points. The broader index Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.83% (9.45 points) to 1124.83 points.Comme the day before, the indices instead of New York experienced a volatile day, clearly not orienting lower than in the last hour of trade.The NYSE has in fact rose slightly Thursday at mid-session, indicators better than expected in the United States allowing the market to meet its initial losses

On Wednesday, Wall Street had ended down: the Dow Jones lost 0.20%, 0.63% Nasdaq and the S & P 500 0.48%.

A series of negative indicators has plagued the atmosphere at the opening:

– The weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose against the U.S. during the week of Sept. 18, said Thursday the Labor Department, illustrating the continuing difficulties in the labor market. They stood at 465,000 against 453,000 (revised) the previous week, breaking two consecutive weeks of declines. Economists were predicting an average stability to 450,000.

– In Germany, growth in private sector activity slowed sharply in September, suggesting a slowing of the recovery of Europe's largest economy after posting a record growth in the second trimetsre. The manufacturing PMI fell to 55.3, against 58.2 seen in August and 57.6 expected by economists. It is at its lowest level in eight months. The services PMI index also fell to 54.6, against 57.0 expected and 57.2 in August, its lowest level in seven months.

– In France, the composite index fell to 58.5 in September, reaching a low of six months, after 59.5 in August. The synthetic indicator of business climate has gained one point to 98 but that for the month of July was revised down by one point.

– Overall, the growth in business services and manufacturing in the euro area slowed more than expected in September.The PMI "flash" of services fell to 53.6 against 55.9 in August, falling to its lowest level since February. It appears below the consensus estimate of economists and analysts polled by Reuters, which gave 55.5.

However, investors liked the composite index of leading economic indicators in the United States, supposed to give an idea of the changing conditions in the next six months, rose 0.3% in August, more than expected . On the front real estate, sales of existing homes rebounded 7.6% in August, after falling in July to their lowest level since 1995.These figures compensated the first increase in the number of newly unemployed for the first time in five weeks, a nasty surprise for analysts.

Another positive: the expectations index to a year in services, the largest sector of the euro area rose one point to 68.1, its highest since April.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro held steady above $ 1.33 and remains at its highest in five months. For his part gold continues to beat his record. The ounce of precious metal climbed to 1296 dollars this night.

Blockbuster tumbles

The side of values, Starbucks (-1.85% to 25.45 dollars) has announced its next higher sale prices on some coffee. The rise in coffee prices (the highest for 13 years) and sugar (up 43% since June) put pressure on margins in the group.Kraft Foods (-0.13% to 31.27 dollars) has already raised its prices in August.

The U.S. computer group HP (1.52% to 40.15 dollars) will scan the library of former Beatle Paul McCartney.

For his part RIM (-0.65% to 47.32 dollars) has confirmed the upcoming release of an Internet tablet, called BlackPad. The surprise came from the operating system: RIM will use the software for the QNX Software Sytems that the group has acquired and is developing operating software for the automotive sector.

Also note, Bed Bath & Beyond (3.21% to 43.40 dollars), a distributor of household equipment and food and health, announced a profit of $ 182 million above expectations.For its part Red Hat, the Linux software company, announced a profit of 23.7 million.

Blockbuster (-23.64% to 0.04 dollars), the video rental company, is expected to announce today its passage under the protection of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Act, according to a source cited by Bloomberg. Blockbuster's debt is close to $ 900 million.

General Motors Place from North American investors most of the securities being sold to mark his return on the stock market, according to sources familiar with the matter quoted by Reuters. After split, the listing price should be between 20 and 25 dollars, the sources said. GM has not yet determined the overall valuation of the company, nor the price range of action, sources said.

The Council for Strategic Analysis (CASE), a forecasting attached at Matignon, presented Wednesday the first study on the impact of global freight, land, sea and air on climate change.

The transport sector represents only 10% of total global emissions of carbon dioxide, but its strong growth in fact "bad student" in the fight against climate change, said Vincent Chriqui, CEO of CAS. Since 1950, world trade has grown twice as fast as the gross national product. The European Union has taken over the objectives recommended by scientists of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of halving by 2050 the total release of CO2 from energy, the Industry, construction, agriculture and transport.The objective of stabilizing emissions for transport alone, seems modest in comparison. But it is the road map as realistic, the report said CAS fast cash advance.

The Strategic Council makes a series of proposals that pass for the road sector, the introduction of European emission standards "even global" for vans and trucks, not subject to the same constraints as cars , to establish a carbon price in the European Union. Without waiting for technological advances, Vincent Chriqui advocating "common sense solutions, often the least expensive and most effective." An example: a Norwegian shipping company, hit by the crisis, wanted to keep his thirty cargo traffic, despite the lower volume of goods transported. To cut costs, he imposed a fleet reduction of 10% of the speed.The result: fuel economy by 30%.

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International institutions give a little break to Greece. Greek banks have indeed had more time to pass the test of resistance called "stress test" as the country tries to raise funds on international markets.

Thus, the famous Troika, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and European Central Bank have reached an agreement with the Greek Central Bank, said the Financial Times. Originally scheduled for the end of September, tests on the creditworthiness of Greek banks in trouble are carried over a month. The results for the first nine months of the year, banks and the outcome of the fundraising of the National Bank of Greece, the first lender in the country, will be published only in a month.

All in good time.The country is trying in fact to convince the current international financial community on progress in terms of deficit reduction and structural reforms to prepare for the return to Greece in the financial markets short term personal loan.

The stress tests were conducted by the European supervisor, CEBS (Committee of European Banking Supervisors), in July of 91 European banks. Following these tests, the Greek banks ATEBank (Agricultural Bank of Greece) had failed the tests. It must thus raise at least 242.6 million euros to meet regulatory capital requirements. These tests have been controversial, however. Their lack of discipline would not have detected the full amount of the debts of Greek banks. According to a note from Morgan Stanley, 90% of the debts of the country's banks were not taken into account.

The Senators have a "margin" to amend the law on pension reform adopted Wednesday at the Assembly, Nicolas Sarkozy announced. One of the sticking points is the reduction of inequalities between men and women. Since Thursday, senators are considering allowing some women to continue to receive full pension that stopping work at 65 rather than 67 years.

This amendment concerns only the mothers of three or more children who had to interrupt their careers several times to deal with it. A restriction that is received with coldness in women's rights activists. Marie-Pierre Martinet is secretary general of the French Movement for Family Planning (MFPF), moderate feminist positions.Asked about the proposal, it is disappointing to his many boundaries.

The figaro.fr: How do you see this adaptation of the bill on pension reform?

It is a false good measure, the scattering and not taking into account the overall gender difference in access to retirement. In fact, it would introduce new inequalities between women themselves.

First, it only benefit 37,000 women, all telling anyone, compared with the entire French population. The impact of this idea is limited because in France, the fertility rate dropped to 1.99 children per woman in 2009. It was 2.02 in 2008. It is still far from the mother described in this proposal. One also wonders what the real intentions of the senators on this point.Develop a measure reserved for women with three children like a pro-natalist policy that could encourage women to get pregnant more often to enjoy a "real" retirement.

Second, only women who pay large enough to invest in a proper storage system can resume work when they have more dependent children. Nurseries, kindergartens aid, baby-sitters are expensive and more children are, the more costs are multiplied. This is the second limitation of this legislative arrangement.

The figaro.fr: What do you suggest to improve this reform?

It has been several months since the feminist organizations like Planned Parenthood or Dare feminism mobilized so that the gender dimension is taken into account in this reform. Members are struggling to grasp the issues, unions too.One has the impression that Gerard Larcher tries to catch a thread this issue. [Chantal Brunel, UMP deputy, had already proposed this development in July, before it is rejected by the Assembly, ed].

We regret that it is not a comprehensive reform that would reduce inequalities caused by differences in wages, which would improve the situation of women on arrival at retirement, regardless of age.

Little known, yet it is one of the biggest commercial successes of Renault internationally. Korea became the third largest market in 2009 the group ahead of Italy and Brazil, with 134,000 cars sold.

Only ten years after its creation, Renault Samsung Motors (RSM), 80.1% owned subsidiary of Renault, has managed to find a place in the shadow of local giant Hyundai-Kia, which owns three quarters of the market. After reaching 10.8% market share in 2009, the brand has this year exceed 13%, which constitutes a record. Although RSM has problems of GM Daewoo – assigned by the bankruptcy of its parent last year – and Ssangyong, placed into administration.But Renault's Korean subsidiary benefits mainly to the success of its new products: SM3 and SM5 sedan, launched respectively in July 2009 and January 2010 in Korea, and also for Europe.

Result, RSM sales jumped 65% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2009, reaching 175,000 cars. Accelerated development through exports are growing faster than local deliveries, to the rest of Asia, including China. "When they kept fighting all day with Asians, we are now able to make products that they like," said Jean-Marie Hurtiger, the president of the Korean subsidiary.

The latest generation of models RSM has been largely developed in technical center Giheung, 50 kilometers from Seoul, essentially using Renault technology."With Hyundai-Kia, and with a more limited range, we decided to differentiate ourselves by adopting a premium positioning," explains Jean-Marie Hurtiger. Thanks to its good performance in quality and reputation of Samsung Electronics, the manufacturer can afford to sell its models about 5% more expensive than its rivals.

When in 2000, Renault bought the automotive operations of the giant Samsung, which began in 1997 at the height of the crisis, the manufacturer produced that year fewer than 30,000 cars in the Busan plant in south-east . Today, RSM feels a bit cramped. The brand plans to assemble 280,000 vehicles this year, the maximum.

No unions

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan has made no secret he was looking for additional capacity in this country, particularly because of the competitiveness of the local currency against the yen.The group, which has finally decided to acquire Ssangyong whose price was considered too high, considering from 2 to 3 shifts of production to Busan, which would produce 320,000 cars a year. The construction of a second plant on the current site, located in the country's largest port, is also under consideration.

If the plant of interest as the group is also for its productivity. At this site, where the average age is only 33 years, employees, well trained, are generally less expensive than their paid counterparts Hyundai-Kia, older, says a local official. Another feature, rather surprising in the former Board, RSM is the only Korean manufacturer "do not want unions," says Lee Joon-Geol.A few Democratic politics, but "avoids the factory strikes" sometimes violent suffered by competitors.

For the best quality located at the group, "Korean labor costs 70% less in Busan in a French factory," says Jean-Marie Hurtiger. The gain was similar among suppliers who provide the site and more importantly among small subcontractors. Profitable since 2002, RSM has lost money last year, in times of crisis, but now earns "decent living", as its leader.

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AirAsia tackles at Air France. The low-cost subsidiary of the Malaysian company, AirAsia X, would sweep over the Orly airport this winter. The Cohor (Association for the coordination of schedules), which last week announced the award of 1248 "slots" for the airport in Paris, has awarded 208 slots annually, the equivalent of two weekly flights, AirAsia X .

"Companies that have received these new opportunities on an annual basis may, if they wish, the carts start at the end of the summer 2010 season underway," is from 31 October. According to La Tribune, AirAsia X plans to start flights between Paris and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in early 2011. Eventually, the company has the ambition to provide four round trips per week, following the pace of aircraft deliveries.

The arrival of this new competitor is not good news for Air France, which does not serve Kuala Lumpur.AirAsia X is already shaking the prices on London. The company proposes to effect a one-way Kuala Lumpur-London Stansted to 145 pounds (175 euros). This occurs especially with a new poll conducted this summer with Air France pilots found that 89% of them think that their management strategy is "inadequate" to counter the low cost.

"For nearly ten years, companies are cutting general cruppers market European point to point," remarked the National Union of Air Line Pilots (SNPL) in a leaflet last week. "Air France-KLM is no exception to the rule. Hundreds, even thousands of jobs are at stake. " Air France carried 6.5 million passengers across its international network in August (-1.2% YoY). By comparison, its rival low-cost airline Ryanair carried 7.6 million passengers on its European network (12%).

The revolution of low-cost long-haul

However, Air France is actively preparing its cons-offensive. Sources inside the company revealed in early September that the company would have found the answer with the launch of a new low-cost subsidiary next year called "Air France Express. This would provide domestic flights and is based in Marseille, Nice and Toulouse.

But the ambitions of AirAsia X are all the more threatening they go beyond regional borders. The Asian company wants to revolutionize air travel by imposing the concept of low-cost long haul. Founded in January 2007, Air Asia X is 20% owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, which already has several successes to its credit in the airline at low prices.Galvanized by the successful launch of Virgin Blue's second airline, founded in 2000 in Australia, then the contractor has spread its wings in the American sky, launching Virgin America, in 2007.

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Faced with 20,000 demonstrators from Saturday to challenge his austerity policy, George Papandreou, Greek prime minister, has remained firm in its position: further austerity and strict refusal to restructure its debt."The logic of the debt restructuring would be catastrophic for the economy, for our credibility, our future," Papandreou stressed Sunday during a press conference in Thessaloniki (northern Greece), after announcing Saturday the main lines of economic policy for 2011.

In case of suspension of debt payments, "it would then collapse to a potential and likely the banking system, and the loss by Greek families of their properties, it would be a tragedy," he added paperless payday loans.

The Prime Minister stressed that his government had worked since he took office eleven months ago to avoid "bankruptcy" to his country, whose debt reached EUR 300 billion (115% of GDP).The deficit amounted to 14% of GDP in 2009.

His government had to adopt a series of strict austerity measures in exchange for a loan of euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of 110 billion euros over three years, "he said.

Optimism should end this Friday at the Paris Bourse. After the publication of measures encouraging the United States and the good performance of the Nikkei, supported by better than expected growth, the CAC 40 is expected to slow its progress towards the 3800 points. Around 8:25, futures were down 0.40% at 3706.50 points. On Thursday, the index in Paris closed above 3700 points (1.22%).

On the macroeconomic front, important indicators are the program: in France, industrial production in July and the price of oil and raw materials imported in August.The euro area will publish an initial estimate of the balance of payments in the second quarter.

On the currency market, about 8:00, the euro lost 0.17% to 1.2677 dollar.

On the side of corporate banking stocks will again be monitored by investors on Friday, while the Basel Committee should announce this weekend's solvency requirements for banks.

Values cars will also follow, while Renault and PSA could pay off sooner than expected third loan that the state has granted them during the crisis, according to La Tribune.

According to Le Figaro, the Central Committee of Air France company would have a cash deficit of 8.9 million and a loss of 14 million for this year.