Daily International Headlines

The case of the fraudulent trader at UBS will ultimately cost his position to the Director General of the Swiss bank. The institution announced in a statement Saturday that the departure of Oswald Grübel. "Today, the UBS Board of Directors has accepted the decision of Oswald Grübel, Group Chief Executive, to retire from office. The Board asked Sergio Ermotti to assume this interim position. This appointment is effective immediately, "said UBS.

The board of directors of the group was convened in plenary session Friday in Singapore. Initially, Oswald Grübel had yet to defend him. According to press Helvetic, he had to enjoy a visit to the Singapore sovereign fund GIC, which holds 6.41% of UBS, to ask the Board of Directors of the bank vote of confidence.He wanted to get his approval to remain in power until early 2013 and to complete the restructuring of the banking and wealth management at UBS.

Oswald Grübel, CEO of UBS. Photo Credit: Steffen Schmidt / ASSOCIATED PRESS

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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If tourists have their holidays ruined by this July "rotten", the farmers themselves are partly reassured by the rain. The drought, which promised to be catastrophic end of May, appears to be narrowly avoided. For the first time in several months, the rains approached normal in June, easing the dry surface soil. However, only the northern regions have truly benefited. The first half of July and greatly reduces the effects of drought on the eastern countries, such as Rhône-Alpes and Burgundy, where the normal monthly rainfall has been exceeded. The West remains in a difficult situation.

Ranchers are in trouble

These rains helped to clarify some of the grain prospects.The agency has adjusted FranceAgriMer last week its forecast of wheat production, providing 32 million tons instead of 31. What remains below the 2010 harvest, already one of the less good the last two years.

If rain has arranged grains, however, it comes too late for some farmers. Given the difficulties to feed their animals for lack of grass in the meadows, it has been prematurely cut down some of their livestock. For others, it was necessary to buy straw to grain. Contracts were signed with them, which helped to avoid speculation and keep the price around 25 euros per tonne.FNSEA has signed agreements with the SNCF for transporting the straw with the cost and highways to avoid tolls for trucks.

Despite these measures, the additional cost of purchasing straw will reach 10,000 to 50,000 euros per farm, according to the FNSEA. Some farmers will use a short-term loan from the Credit Agricole, at preferential rates (1.5 to 2%). This will allow them to wait until payment of the advance on the compensation of losses due to drought.

This advance, initially planned 100 million euros, has already been revised to 200 million and will be available by the National Fund for risk management in agriculture in mid-September. Nicolas Sarkozy also pledged to offset one year's repayments of loans to farmers in 2009.Christophe Chambon (Young Farmers) estimates that the measure "will give an impetus to helping farmers," but wants more: a deferred annuity of total loans.

Discussions intensified and meetings are multiplying as we approach the summit of Heads of State and Government of the euro zone on Thursday in Brussels. The challenge: to present a lasting solution to the Greek crisis by adopting a second aid plan. Despite the hesitation at the head of Europe, the markets want to believe a lasting solution. Paris wins Wednesday mid-day 1.45%.

Sign, however, difficult to finalize a common position, the meeting of finance officials of the euro zone has been extended from Wednesday night to Thursday morning. In turn, the summit will begin with an hour late, at noon instead of 11 hours.

"No great advances"

The postponement will allow a little more time to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to resolve disputes between the two countries: they meet on Wednesday afternoon in Berlin.The two countries have different objectives. Angela Merkel has applied to shower expectations. There will be "no great progress," she said Tuesday. Before insuring, Wednesday midday, the German government will show good will. And she was "very confident" of finding a common position with France to achieve "good results" on Thursday.

Recognizing that markets will forgive a bad meeting for nothing, Paris wants instead a "durable solution" is found, insisted Wednesday the government spokesman Valerie Pécresse, after the Council of Ministers. It "passes through the Franco-German couple" she added, pointing out that the main resistance to the alternative of issuing bonds were European, according to the French Government, "a German resistance."

If Paris and Berlin hold the key to an agreement between European leaders, they always seem to oppose it on ways to involve banks in terms of aid to Greece. If the amount of effort required to banks of 30 billion euros, a consensus, the methodology to be divided. Paris wants, as the European Central Bank, avoid at all costs that Greece is found in default. Germany intends to take less care. She suggested including the development does not place a tax credit, which the industry sees an evil eye.

"Agreement on the fundamentals"

The French Minister of Economy, Baroin, wanted reassurance."There is a broad convergence of views, there is an agreement on the fundamentals, there is a desire to make more sustainable debt Greek and there is still some discussion on the part of private, but it's more a discussion of degrees and not a discussion of values, "he said.

While the Franco-German leaders will finalize their position, the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will be in Brussels to meet at 17 hours, the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso. The aim of the summit is crucial on Thursday, insisted on Wednesday the spokesman of the Greek government: "We have tomorrow (Thursday) a peak in determining the future of the country and Europe, Prime Minister (George Papandreou ) engages in a battle to ensure that Greece will stand on two feet. "

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The Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) announced Friday it had postponed to August 4 decision to initiate or not an investigation of the role played by Christine Lagarde in the case Tapie.

"One of the members of the commission has indicated that he was later forced to recuse himself," said Gerard Palisse, president of the petitions committee of the Court. "The alternate member of the Court which could have us make up for his part that he himself was unable to do so immediately without prior knowledge of the case. The Committee decided to defer consideration of this matter Thursday, August 4, "he added.

The former French Minister of Economy and current executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is suspected of "abuse of authority" in the arbitration in July 2008 on the case Tapie, Credit Lyonnais faxless cash advance.The businessman, who felt cheated after the sale of Adidas in 1993 with Credit Lyonnais, had obtained 285 million euros of public funds.

In May, the Attorney General of the Supreme Court, Jean-Louis Nadal, asked the petitions committee of the RGC to investigate the matter. If the Court decides to initiate the investigation, it should be long and Christine Lagarde would not be considered for several years. The new leader denies IMF, meanwhile, abuse of authority in this matter and have provided "clear conscience".

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Pending the arrival of his eagerly awaited first smartphone with the Windows operating system Phone at the end of the year, and production "mass" in 2012, we have to wait markets and customers. That Stephen Elop, president of Nokia strived to do during the CommunicAsia exhibition in Singapore. "Our main strategy in the field of smartphones is to focus on the Windows phone," he said, for its next billion mobile.

For Nokia, it is urgent. Last month, the group issued a warning on its sales and results, giving even to make predictions, as the period is difficult.Its sales continue to decline, it would hold more than 13.1% of the smartphone market in the first quarter against 25% a year earlier.

But maintaining a strong presence of the Symbian operating system in its range and choice of Microsoft at the expense of Android leave many doubts cast. While the number of applications available on a smartphone is a paramount requirement, the Finn is not in the race. It strives for the time to catch up in smartphones, highlighting the N9 in Singapore, expected to outdo the iPhone and Android to its competitors. To do so, Nokia boasts jumble "three home pages," his "handy user interface," "better voice quality," connectivity … The N9 (under platform Meego) is also equipped with a NFC connection, which enables contactless payments.With this feature, shows that Nokia is still able to board the train for a new technology, not to watch the competition from without it.

With the launch of three new models (N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 will be sold in July) Nokia has pushed the highlight of its commitment to Symbian OS. These terminals will be equipped with the new update system Symbian Anna. Novelty of this new version, it will be downloadable for those who have already bought one of these phones. And over the next twelve months, Nokia will market up to ten new smartphones based on Symbian. From there to imagine that the Finnish and protects against possible setbacks of its U.S. partner, there is only one step.It also reaffirms its loyalty and its customers, accustomed to its operating system, and that it might lose by abandoning it completely. Hence the idea to favor a smooth transition.

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A sign that the recovery in employment is accelerating. Job creation has increased sharply in the first quarter of 2011 at a rate two to three times greater than the last quarter of 2010. Depending on whether one considers the figures calculated by INSEE, employment center or ACOSS, all three made public on Thursday morning are 58,000 to 103,000 payroll jobs have been created by companies in the first quarter. A pace of growth varies from 0.4% to 0.6%, while it did not exceed 0.3% per quarter during 2010.

All sectors have benefited from this improvement. Even the industry, which had suffered a haemorrhage during the crisis, saw its numbers stabilize in the first quarter. According to ACOSS, they grew even 0.3%. "The industry created jobs for the first time in 10 years," notes the organization.However, it is the tertiary sector that benefits most from the economic recovery, with an increase in the number of employees by more than 0.5%. The hotel and catering, IT and legal activities and counseling are among the fastest growing sectors.

Strong job growth excluding temporary

More good news: the interim this quarter has contributed little to the strong growth in employment. Sign that sustainable jobs, CDD or CDI, taking over from short missions, the temporary employment in the first quarter rose at a rate four times less intense than last year, with only 7,000 new temporary jobs created. In 2010, the interim was to him alone almost all new jobs (118,000 jobs to 120,000). This quarter, employment center accounts for 57,000 new jobs created, excluding temporary."These volumes were not achieved since the end of 2007," says Bernard Ernst, director of studies and statistics from employment center.

If the increase in employment in the first quarter of 2011 was the strongest since the beginning of the crisis, record job losses recorded in 2008 and 2009 are so far not yet fully recovered. 227,000 jobs are still missing according to the call center jobs to find the pre-crisis levels. A threshold that employment should be taken, according to the agency, at the end of 2012. Because with growth than most economists anticipated lower in the months ahead, job creation should not continue at a vigorous pace that quarter. "A slower growth of GDP in coming quarters will clearly impact on employment.The next figures should be worse, "states Bernard Ernst. For all of 2011, the agency expects 148,000 new jobs.

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"PORTRAIT – Sylvie, 44, and the blues Acting

Luxury brands can not remain indifferent to the model of the fast fashion H & M or Zara. With logistics unstoppable, they can send in a few weeks in their shops products inspired by the catwalks of big names. Meanwhile, the actors remain frozen in luxury with their two seasonal collections per year. Hugo Boss has completely reorganized its production to respond to this accelerating cycles. The German group has reduced from 50 to 38 weeks the time between product design and delivery.

"Prior to the summer of 2012 for example, should have initiated the creation in January 2011, regardless of what would have worked or not during the summer of 2011, said Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, president of Hugo Boss. Before, we delivered the stores early in the season and were left to fend for themselves.Now we can better respond to sales, competition, consumer habits. "The group has already spent two to four collections a year. And spends about a third of its offering trendy products, delivered each month in the shops.

Less sale items

This revolution was made possible through a very thorough work upstream. Hugo Boss has reduced from 1300 to 300 the number of suppliers, factories with which it works worldwide. He also sorting through their collection bloated to halve the number of items offered each season. Finally, it has refined its inventory management and controls to reduce the risk of being left with unsold quantities of arms.

Result: The rate of products sold at high prices (before discounts and sales)-a key indicator of success in the fashion-jumped by at least 10%.And, therefore, the company's profits were buoyed. The gross margin rose from 50 to 59% of sales in three years and operating profitability, once 15% of sales, reached 20%.

This will delight the shareholder, the British fund Permira, which bought Hugo Boss and its parent, the Italian Valentino Fashion Group, a high price in 2007. "Permira we had set a goal of profitability by 20% in 2015, we have already achieved in 2010, welcomes Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, formerly of Dior and Cartier arrived in 2008. I think we can go beyond. "

The Exchange appreciates: the price has doubled in a year, bringing the enterprise value to 4 billion euros. After a difficult 2009, sales and profits rebounded last year. The group plans a 12% increase in turnover and 15% of the profit this year.It intends to increase its sales of 1.7 billion euros last year to 2.5 billion in 2015. "Hugo Boss seems well positioned to successfully accomplish its plan," says a study by the bank Nomura.

The acquisition debt was restructured in 2009. Four years after the takeover, Permira could extend his contract. "I would not be surprised if they wanted to wait to see the development of this potential before selling," said Claus-Dietrich Lahrs.

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It is a trend reversal. With 73,259 enrolled in college, the number of pharmacists in activity fell from 73 people last year. The decline is certainly symbolic, but so far, enrollment proceeded.This change is due to arrive at retirement age (63 years on average) generations of baby-boomers, a numerus clausus remained low until 2004 (2250 persons), and "evaporation" of 20.1% of pharmacy students to other sectors (cosmetics, food …), which worries the Order.

The numerus clausus was gradually recovered to 3090 students per year since 2008 but, given the length of study at least six years-and-baby-boom is not over, the College expects a stabilization of the workforce over the next few years, then a "probable regression" around 2020.

116 pharmacy closures

In detail, in 2010, the number of pharmacists working in the drug industry, from wholesale distributors, hospitals and overseas still rising slightly.It is in pharmacies (pharmacy owners or employees) and biological laboratories that troops are less numerous.

The consequences however are far less worrisome than physicians, who are free to locate wherever they want. This is not the case of pharmacies, subject to a "law of demo-geographical distribution" since Vichy. Admittedly, 116 pharmacies (approximately 22,500) were closed last year, but "mostly in urban areas, where their density remains high." With an average of one pharmacy per 2800 inhabitants, and 43 pharmacies per 1000 square kilometers, "there is no desert or pharmaceuticals in rural areas, or in sensitive areas," says the College.An argument for pharmacists who, faced with the erosion of their margins on the sale of drugs, argue that they may be assigned new missions nearby health, could mitigate the problem of medical deserts.

The College-chaired by a woman, Isabelle is also Adenot-increasing feminization of the profession last year, exactly 66.67% of pharmacists were pharmacists. The proportion rises to 76% for hospital pharmacists and 82% among pharmacists assistants (employees). Finally, increased job insecurity is also reported, with a jump of 9% last year, the number of temporary staff pharmacists in pharmacies: they are now 3700.

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The new prime minister, in power since last March, addresses the problem of unemployment, which remains the black spot in the Irish economy. Enda Kenny has presented on Wednesday a package of measures aimed at creating 100,000 jobs over four years.

The plan provides for reduced charges on low wages, a lower rate of VAT from 13.5% to 9% on some goods and services related to tourism to boost the sector and an increase in infrastructure spending for roads and schools. The government also wants to facilitate the upgrading of the unemployed through training programs.

Since 2008, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been destroyed under the impact of financial crisis, the bursting of the housing bubble, bank failures and austerity plans to repeat that the government had to place to contain soaring deficits and debt.In recent years, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed from 4% in 2007 to 14.7% today. The country is also facing an exodus of the population, especially young people, who try their luck in Canada or Australia. After the tutelage of the IMF and the EU, which granted in November a plan to help 85 billion euros in the country, the government faces a budget deficit of 32% of GDP, provides for a very narrow scope.

Rebound in exports

To finance this plan, Enda Kenny has decided to introduce a new tax – 0.6% – on pension funds, which should bring 470 million euros per year, totaling 1 free 3-in-1 credit report.9 billion euros . This has inevitably raised strong criticism in the profession. Growth side, the latest forecasts predict a return to the green this year, after three years of recession.The main institute in the situation, ESRI, reported Wednesday its forecast, anticipating a rise in GDP of 2% this year and 3% in 2012. A result that is nevertheless perspective, because this new dynamism "based entirely on exports," says ESRI report, given that domestic demand will fall further this year. Knowing that this rebound of external trade is linked to many multinationals operating in Ireland. Moreover, the GNP, which does not take into account their business will only grow 0.5% in 2011, according to ESRI.

Precisely for this reason that the Prime Minister does not intend to compromise with its European partners, who demand a higher rate, very attractive, the corporate tax (currently 12.5%) in exchange for a relaxation of the rescue plan negotiated by his predecessor, Brian Cowen."The Irish have made some overtures in that domain," says one good source, however, the French Ministry of Economy. Negotiations could therefore release in the coming weeks.

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