The rescue of Dexia organized emergency

Posted by admin on October 4th, 2011

Private Dexia has decided to save himself. Almost. A board of directors convened this evening to endorse the plan for ending the crisis that developed hard its CEO, Pierre Mariani. Faced with a massive liquidity crisis (the other institutions did give more credits), the Franco-Belgian bank has no choice but to sell the family jewels while isolating its portfolios and non-performing assets in a " bad bank. " It is a page of history which European banking turns. Because at the end of this work, there should exist no more of this construction Franco-Belgian.

Pierre Mariani, who arrived in October 2008 to save Dexia strangled by a need for short-term funding of 265 billion euros of assets impossible to meet, had done everything to reduce the group's balance sheet. In three years, he was able to reduce the need for 96 billion.Las! With sovereign debt crisis, which has again closed the valve finance is still far too. And states can no longer play the firefighters.

Thus, Pierre Mariani resolved to opt for an orderly liquidation scenario. Instead of sales, the Franco-Belgian group prefers to speak of "backing of (its) business franchises." Retail banking in Belgium, the Turkish subsidiary Denizbank, asset management and private banking: all subsidiaries of Dexia will seek and lessee in the coming days. According to one familiar with the matter, some sales process is well underway. Britain's Standard Chartered, in particular, did not hold in recent months to report its interest in the coveted Denizbank.

However, if the Franco-Belgian group has some beautiful assets, some remain unmarketable.Difficult indeed to generate interest for Italian or Spanish Crediop Sabadell open doubt about the state of public finances in Italy and Spain. Initially, according to our information, Pierre Mariani had planned to build packages of assets, including both of the jewels and lame ducks, so as not to keep the latter in his pouch. But this option proved too complicated to implement. However, it is urgent if we are to preserve the clients who are starting to worry greatly poor credit personal loans.

Political issue

This sense of urgency felt this weekend in Paris. After weeks of tension, the Deposit, the Postal Bank and Dexia reached an agreement after final dealings these days under the blue helmet René Ricol.The portfolio of loans to French local authorities and will be taken over by an entity owned by Caisse des Depots et La Banque Postale.

The operation has, as revealed Le Figaro (our editions of September 24), an interest factor: out of stock of Dexia about 80 billion euros of assets, primarily loans to French local authorities to transfer them to the new entity. For the Franco-Belgian bank, it will be much less to refinance. Dexia Municipal Agency, the company that issues mortgage bonds on behalf of Dexia, also switch into the orbit of the CDC and the Postal Bank in order to maintain the AAA rating necessary for its operations.

With this scheme, Dexia will be able to blow some time, time to complete the rest of his program.The creation of the "bad bank", in particular, may be difficult, given its political and financial stakes. French and Belgian States, indeed, should be asked to give their guarantee for installation of such defeasance. In other words, adding safeguards in a situation where all states are seeking to reduce their debt instead is far from a challenge.

On Monday evening, the Minister of Economy, Baroin, met his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders, in conjunction with the meeting of finance ministers from the euro area. The French and Belgian governments "do the right thing" to support their banks, said Didier Reynders.

The financial restructuring of Dexia, finally, could have serious consequences for Belgium and its banking system.Some Belgian shareholders of Dexia, as the Holding Communal, would have difficulty recovering from an operation on the truth value of their assets. Relations between France and the United will play at the moment.

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The Competition Authority punishes hard Canal +

Posted by admin on September 21st, 2011

It's a real bolt from the French audiovisual landscape. Wednesday morning the Competition Authority has just withdrawn the authorization in 2006 to Canal + to buy its rival TPS. Result, Canal + and its parent Vivendi will re-notify their proposed acquisition of TPS before the competition authority in a one-month periods. In addition, the authority sanctioning Canal + up to 30 million euros.

The reason for this? The Competition Authority considers that Canal + has not complied with several of the 59 commitments made during this operation.These commitments were supposed to ensure that the encrypted string abuses its dominant position in pay TV.

Among the reasons for this heavy penalty, the Competition Authority Canal + accuses of not having available to third party distributors (telecom operators and their channel packages on ADSL) in a timely manner the seven channels mentioned in the commitments. Worse, the Canal + group would deliberately degraded the quality of TPS Star, the only pay channel capable of competing with its own channel Canal +. Finally, the group led by Bertrand Meheut failed to comply with certain commitments regarding relationships with independent channels.Clearly, it takes advantage of its dominant position to impose commercial conditions "opaque and potentially discriminatory"

Gendarme Competition

All of these unfulfilled commitments had been badly negotiated in 2006, on the redemption of GST. Telecom operators, Orange had in mind battled against Canal +. The Competition Authority had imposed severe conditions, but Canal +, no one has apparently ignored it.

With this decision, the Competition Authority comes on strong. She returns to the operation which allowed Canal + to eliminate competition in the market for pay television. Above all, the competition watchdog the fact at a time when Canal + ready to leverage its position in pay television to attack the free TV market with the acquisition of Direct 8 Direct and Star.

In a brief statement, the Canal + Group announced this morning that he took "note of the decision of the Competition Authority to date. He noted the highly unusual and disproportionate in relation to alleged breaches identified and appropriate action will commit. "

For the audiovisual group chaired by Bertrand Meheut, "it is naturally not possible to challenge a merger that's almost five years. The Competition Authority sees clearly in this decision means to force the group CHANNELS + to enter into new commitments, applicable beyond the end of those foreseen in the 2006 authorization, "said he.

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"Rent furnished to better secure its rents"

Posted by admin on September 13th, 2011

The rules were amended by the law Borloo 2005 to protect tenants, including termination of the lease. The initial investment is also more important. Choosing to rent furnished, rather than proposing the empty slot, remains interesting in many respects to the owner. Freedom of contract remains high on the lease and the lessor is entitled to require the tenant much more extensive guarantees for the payment of rents, which are also higher than in the case of an unfurnished apartment cash advance loan no fax. Valerie Valin-Stein, journalist for The Monthly Individual realizes this month dedicated to a folder furnished. It provides some things to consider before launching.

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Growth in the euro area will continue to slow

Posted by admin on September 9th, 2011

The horizon of the global economy darkens. The European Central Bank (ECB) has lowered on Thursday its growth forecasts for 2011 and 2012, warning that the level of uncertainty is extremely high. The guardian of the euro expected to grow 1.6% in 2011 and 1.3% in 2012 in the euro area, against 1.9% and 1.7% previously forecast.

"Uncertainty" was in this context, the key word of the monthly press conference of ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet: "There is a huge level of uncertainty in the world." The risk is now the forecasts rather than the ECB may be too optimistic, he implied. And, because of the negative effects of the crisis in financial markets observed this summer and the debt crisis in the euro zone in particular.

After a good start to the year, growth "will be very moderate later this year," warned the president of the ECB. Consumption may be lacking. "Unlike recent months, the ECB no longer considered as the confidence of consumers and entrepreneurs will support domestic demand," says Ken Wattret, chief euro zone economist at BNP Paribas. In the early morning, the Bank of France has published growth prospects for the Hexagon journals also down for the third quarter (0.1% versus 0.2% previously).

For inflation, the ECB has not touched its projections. It still expects 2.6% price increase in 2011 and 1.7% in 2012. As the guarantor of price stability in the euro zone estimated a few months ago that inflation was under pressure, it recognized that today the risks were "balanced."A code word meaning that it did not expect an acceleration in prices in coming months. It therefore left unchanged its interest rates, it increases instruments when it believes that inflation is accelerating payday loans lenders.

Despite the alarmist tone about the economic environment, "we do not think that the ECB will lower interest rates anytime soon," said Cedric Thellier, economist at Natixis. "We expect a rather long status quo accompanying amorphous growth and low inflation."

The rush of blood against the United States of Trichet

Questioned by a reporter relaying German criticism against the alleged lack of independence of the ECB under the European Treaties, Jean-Claude Trichet has lost some of his cool. "We're doing our job, which is not easy," he said."Our mission is to ensure price stability, what we have done so impeccable. I'd love to hear praise for the work today! "He exclaimed.

Some German observers, very attached to monetary orthodoxy, condemned the purchase of bonds by the ECB. "If we had to implement this program, because states have not acted properly. He did not exercise sufficient oversight they should have. Remember, in 2004 and 2005, some governments-France, Germany and Italy, not to name-calling for the relaxation of their obligations "deficit, he accused. "We have always asked the contrary full compliance criteria deficit.But we have not preached in the desert. "

In this context, Jean-Claude Trichet reiterated, on behalf of the ECB, the extreme urgency for the States to implement measures to restore the balance of public finances. "Governments must be prepared to cut spending if targets are not met," he said. He also called for the deregulation of regulated professions.

Why Russia is losing its satellites

Posted by admin on August 26th, 2011

This is the first crash of a Russian cargo ship for thirty years. The ship Progress M-12M, which was to supply the International Space Station (ISS), catapulted the wrong orbit by the Soyuz rocket, crashed Aug. 24 in a desert region of Altai (South of Western Siberia) . A week earlier, the Russian space agency Roskosmos has lost contact with the Express AM4 communications satellite, launched by the Proton rocket. The Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) has lost contact with six satellites over the last nine months, representing a total cost of 16 billion rubles (400 million), according to estimates.

A sector that has suffered from funding amnque

These few accidents have nothing to coincidence. A series of failures and a multitude of launch delays "for technical problems" are symptomatic of the troubles facing the aerospace sector in Russia.According to experts, they are the result of lack of funding in the 1990s. After the fall of the USSR, the government was not able to support programs in the aerospace industry in the long run, leaving this area for many years. Funding for this sector has taken the early 2000s, with an annual budget that has tripled between 2005 and 2011, increasing to $ 3 billion (2.1 billion euros), of which 700 million (490 million) in the form of commercial contracts. However, the salary of a junior engineer in a design office in Moscow Roskosmos always varies between 20,000 and 25,000 rubles (500 to 625 euros), while the average salary was over 40,000 rubles (1,000 euros) in the capital Russia in July this year.

A technology gap

Moreover, the funding problem, everything happened right after the fall of the Soviet Union, the sector has accumulated since its inception in the 1960s an important technological gap. According to the Scientific Director of the Space Policy Institute Ivan Moissev interviewed by the Russian daily Vedomosti, the current failures in the sector are linked with the Soviet legacy. At the time, the state spent a large budget for space exploration, and Russian rockets were cheaper than American rockets. As a result, all equipment were mass produced, not that special attention be paid to quality. "A satellite was lost soon be replaced by a new," recalls one specialist Roskosmos, noting that before 1991, the space agency was not used to account for missed assignments.Today, trying to fill Roskosmos somehow technological backwardness of its devices by integrating systems of foreign manufacture. But this poses problems of compatibility between them.

Soyuz is not affected in Guyana

European partners, however, remain optimistic about Russian involvement in the Galileo project. Russia announced in 2010 its intention to join the program launch navigation systems alternative to the American GPS. The project led by the European Space Agency (ESA), will start on October 20 with a deployment in orbit of the first two satellites from the Guiana Space Center (SMC), through the Soyuz. Asked by Les Echos Friday, Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA into perspective. "We're doing a difficult job.The difference between success and failure is minimal, simply a failed component to move from one to another, "said he.

Having sacked the former head of the Russian Space Agency in April, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered Roskosmos to make changes "radical" in the production cycle of spacecraft. The management agency has also decided to suspend for now the launch of all flights of Soyuz spacecraft until the cause of the accident with the vessel Progress to be clarified.

Since the withdrawal of the U.S. shuttle Atlantis, France and Russia are the only replenishment of the International Space Station with its Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV), launched by Ariane and Soyuz.

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CAC 40: 3000 points, a psychological threshold

Posted by admin on August 23rd, 2011

The CAC 40 is risky there twice this month. He was immediately returned. The threshold of 3000 points, as seen on the Paris market was down on Thursday 11 and Friday, August 19. On Monday morning, the Paris index recurred, opening down 0.85% to 2989.60 points. But again, it started to rise immediately after slipping below 3000, and closed on Monday evening at 3051.36 points (1.14%), having flown over 3100 points During the session this afternoon.

The level of 3000 points may well not be a technical threshold (it does not automatically trigger a sell order or purchase), it still plays a role of "support" on which the market arises before rebounding .Daniel Gravier, Head of Sales Trading at XTB France, believes that "this psychological level is transcribed in the courts and thus returns to a technical threshold."

The cross downward psychological sounded an alarm in markets which do not have a habit of getting carried away by their feelings. Professional traders define their purpose of orders passages through complex mathematical calculations, generated by high-powered software that constantly scan the share price indices, securities, commodities and all that is listed in order to predict the best time to invest or sell. And to build the software, the banks are recruiting the cream of engineers. But in this world of numbers, there is also a psychological dimension.So, see the CAC 40 fell below 3,000 points spurred the market to recover.

"This is a symbolic level, for its part says Harry Sebag, an analyst at Saxo Bank. In times of great nervousness, while visibility is poor, investors cling to benchmarks in the short term payday loans. It's an excuse to reposition itself for purchase. This morning, we felt that the markets began to rebound because the shares had suffered a significant discount. " And hope for regime change in Libya was a good news for oil companies operating in the country, making a breath of excitement to the Paris Bourse.

"Safeguards" but also to accelerate the panic

"These thresholds are safeguards on which the market rebounds," says Harry Sebag. But the psychological effects of contracts may jégalement ouer a role accelerator panic attacks.The violent stalls indices observed recently on global stock markets have shown. In Paris the CAC 40 fell by 32.4% since July 1, affected by short-term concerns (the debt crisis in the euro zone, bad macroeconomic indicators in the U.S. and deteriorating debt rating for American Standard & Poor's), but not only. "In late July, the market downturn downward was rational, said Jean-Louis Mourier, an analyst at Aurel BCG. However, the extent of movement and the high volatility experienced by markets in recent days show an overreaction. "

The index in Paris he could sink even lower? The scenario is possible if the disappointing macroeconomic indicators continue to grow and corporate earnings in the third quarter does not reassure investors, said Harry Sebag.Saxo Bank analyst would watch while the threshold indicated by the software, around 2850 points or even 2500 points. "But I hope we will not get to that," he adds.

EU cut aid to countries unruly

Posted by admin on August 18th, 2011

Solidarity … under certain conditions. Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have called on the table a proposal to increase pressure on countries in the euro area would not make enough effort to balance their finances. Structural funds, the grant made by the European Union (EU) regions, would be suspended to encourage States to comply with the "golden rule" budget.

"Payments from the Structural and Cohesion Funds should be suspended in the countries of the euro area that do not comply with the recommendations of the excessive deficit procedure", suggests the president of the French Republic and the German Chancellor in a letter Communication to the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

All states of the European Union benefit from the funds created in the 1990s.The three main funds (European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund and Cohesion Fund) are paid to countries that request it. Any region whose gross domestic product is less than 75% of the EU average receives these subsidies with the aim to help them develop.

Thus, 49 billion are paid each year as part of regional policy for 2007-2013 fast cash loans. In total, 347 billion euros, or 35.7% of the total budget of the European Union, which are allocated to regional aid policy.

20.4 billion for Greece, 21.5 billion for Portugal

To critics of these funds, the aid is ineffective: among the first beneficiaries are precisely the most indebted countries in the euro area.For 2007-2013, Portugal and must receive 21.5 billion euros from structural funds and cohesion, Greece 20.4 billion, Italy and Ireland 28.8 billion 901 million.

By transforming this aid as an instrument of pressure to encourage States to more fiscal discipline, the EU could further depress the areas most in need. But the idea is gaining ground as European leaders explore all the ways out of the euro zone debt crisis.

The idea is not new, and Germany is also one of the strongest promoters. The proposal in that the Franco-German duo at the end of the meeting Tuesday she will succeed in finding support among other member countries? The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has also expressed Tuesday in favor of these sanctions.

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Asian stock markets rebound

Posted by admin on August 15th, 2011

Asian stock markets found the way to the rise on Monday. After the extreme volatility of the previous week, investors will decide to follow the bouncing of European and American markets. The Nikkei index of Tokyo Stock Exchange has thus concluded the day on a rebound, from 1.37% to 9086.41 points. The broader Topix index has returned 1.16% share to close at 777.12 points.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange was shaped in the early morning hours. The course of the Japanese currency gave him a break by staying roughly stable against the dollar, the ticket to turning throughout the session around 76.90 yen. The principals in Tokyo were also pleasantly surprised just before the opening of evolution by the numbers of gross domestic product (GDP) of Japan in the second quarter, which showed signs bode well despite the severity of the shock collected after the earthquake of March 11.

The archipelago has suffered from April to June the third consecutive quarter of decline, gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0 instant payday loan.3% over the previous three months. This decline of 1.3% annualized, but well below that expected by economists, and most of them hope an upturn in the summer.

Moreover, time was also optimistic. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively gained 2.98% and 1.21%. Exchange Syndey advanced 2.64%.Seoul and Bombay were closed due to holiday.

Oil up

Oil prices were also up Monday morning in electronic trading in Asia in the wake of the Asian stock markets, but the gains are likely to remain limited because of persistent concerns about the state of the global economy, analysts said.

In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in September gained 22 cents to 85.60 dollars. That of Brent North Sea crude for September delivery took 27 cents to 108.30 dollars.

The Fed is worried openly about the growth

Posted by admin on August 10th, 2011

After the European Central Bank (ECB), it's time for the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) to dive into the arena. The Central Bank of the United States met on Tuesday FOMC's Monetary Committee. Supposed to be, usually, a meeting classic, this appointment has turned the eyes of the financial world in crisis meeting. It is indeed the first time the Fed meets in public since the beginning of the financial crisis and especially his first public speaking since the deterioration of the financial rating of the United States by Standard & Poor's.

Not surprisingly, it has maintained its key interest rates between 0% and 0.25%. However, she said that this policy would be extended "until mid-2013," sign it receives considerable stress on growth. In fact, she says, "the risks to the economy rose" and growing "considerably slower than expected."

Other measures

"The Fed is playing a tough game with the words, it must show it is taking the situation seriously, without making too much not that the markets are worried about a return to recession," said Philippe Bruneau, Director central bank Neuflize OBC. For the latter, "the only good news for the current crisis is the drop in oil prices, which dropped below the 80 dollars a barrel after reaching $ 115 in the spring. A decrease of $ 10 is equivalent to 0.3 percentage point of growth in addition to the United States. " It is not certain that the message of this evening of the Federal Reserve reassured. Especially since three members of the Monetary Committee voted against the decision to keep rates from 0 to 0.25% until 2013.Evidence that the division now also prevails in the central bank.

Taking note of the slowdown in action, the Fed said "consider further steps to promote stronger economic growth." But without saying more. "Ben Bernanke was forced to send a message to investors and told them that he will continue to support the price of U.S. government bonds, weakened by the S & P's decision," said Antoine Brunet, director of AB Markets.But by not precise commitments, Ben Bernanke shows how the scope is narrow to implement this new policy unconventional.

China, the first lender in the United States which it holds more than 1.3 trillion dollars in debt, is fiercely opposed to these measures, particularly in quantitative easing, which is for the Fed to directly purchase U.S. Treasury debt. "To walk the printing press allows the U.S. to go into debt on the backs of low-cost external creditors," a summary of the economists of HSBC. Moreover, "it keeps the dollar at low levels and put pressure on emerging currencies, including the yuan." The Chinese authorities find themselves faced with an alternative: let their currencies appreciate or prevent this movement, which requires in turn create the currency.Action inconsistent with their goal to fight against inflation (see cons below). "In one way or the other, China is losing, 'the experts of HSBC. The previous quantitative easing campaign was very unpopular in China. A new one could cause actual casus belli. With the key threat by Beijing to stop buying U.S. Treasuries.

U.S. agreement: that the market expects

Posted by admin on August 1st, 2011

On the night of Sunday to Monday, an agreement was reached between Republicans and Democrats to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. A favorable outcome that immediately reassured the markets: when Barack Obama announced the compromise to 2:45 Paris time, Asian stock markets – open to this hour – surged after learning that the failure to pay the United States was avoided. The Nikkei in Tokyo rose 1.7% immediately before finishing up 1.34%. Later, in Europe, major indices also showed the green, like the Cac 40 in Paris, which opened up 1.35%, and the ragagnant 3700 points, the Footsie Londoner, who took 1.07 % and the Dax in Frankfurt (+1.5%).

Safe haven, gold subside sees the outbreak of the course, which showed great concern on the part of investors.The yellow metal, which was still worth almost 1630 dollars per ounce on Friday, and is around 1615 dollars fell on Monday. Another indicator of the relief the markets: oil, which accounts for the opening of Wall Street about 2.7% to 98.28 dollars.

Immediate response as the currency market, the dollar has suddenly taken against major world currencies, particularly against the yen (the dollar rose from 77.3 to 78 yen per hour), just after the announcement.

Market reassured for a time only

Thus, if the news was appreciated at the time, markets have not been won by either euphoria and await confirmation of the plan by one vote. Yet some Republicans have expressed strong opposition to the agreement. Already around noon on Monday, the dollar back down a little, one euro was trading against 1.4437 dollars (0.23%).Same against the Swiss franc, another safe haven, which goes back to full speed against the dollar and finds its historical levels of force, to 0.78 Swiss francs to the dollar. On European stock markets, the increases were massed in mid-day. Then on Wall Street, the Dow has advanced little in early trade to 15.30, about 0.7%. Not enough to make up for the fall of 4.4% registered in the past week.

Then, around 3:45 p.m., the European and American markets have nose dive.It is not there a sudden distrust towards the agreement on U.S. debt, but a strong reaction of markets to the publication of the U.S. ISM index, which measures the strength of manufacturing activity across the Atlantic and came out in sharp decline.

Many uncertainties remain

A disappointing statistic that echoes the poor performance of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter, and falling very badly, while the federal government announces measures of fiscal restraint. The markets also show careful because the details of the agreement remain unclear. In addition, the debt ceiling would require a new vote in early 2013, after the presidential elections.Now remains to be seen how the rating agencies will react to reductions in planned expenditure, less important than they hoped.

However, they have warned: even if the United States are not lacking, this would not prevent the AAA rating of the country may be degraded. In this case, markets may again sink into depression.

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