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450 million dollars. After including Russia, China and Korea, Air Liquide is investing this year in Saudi Arabia. The world leader in industrial gases, in fact, announced Monday it will invest 450 million dollars (350 million euros) to provide a new refinery hydrogen of Saudi Aramco. This "industrial investment by far the highest in history" in the words of Chief Operating Officer of Air Liquide, Pierre Dufour."It confirms our strategy of expansion in the Middle East, where the contract is in force, will make us by far the largest player in industrial gases in this area," said the manager of Air Liquide, cited in a statement.

400,000 barrels of oil processed per day

Saudi Air Liquide will invest in two units of hydrogen production with a total capacity of 300,000 Nm3 (normal cubic meter, unit of gas under normal temperature and pressure, ie) per hour, according to a statement. These units should enter service in 2014 and will feed the refinery that the oil company Saudi Aramco plans to build in the city of Yanbu on the west coast of Saudi Arabia payday loan. Once operational, the refinery will process 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day."Hydrogen is used to treat the heavy oil and to remove sulfur from fuels to generate consistent with regulations," said the manager of Air Liquide.

A billion dollars invested in five years

In the first half of 2010, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 2% of turnover of 5.7 billion euros of business "and Gas Services (nearly 90% of revenues from Air Liquide) . Besides Saudi Arabia, Air Liquide is present in Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Syria and the UAE. It plans to invest one billion dollars in the next five years, after having already invested about 500 million over the period 2002-2009.

Created in 2008, Air Liquide Arabia is 55% owned by Air Liquide.The remaining shares belong to Saudi companies Industrialization and Energy Services Company (TAQA) and Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company.

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After life insurance, employee savings. Less than two weeks after deciding to reduce by three billion tax advantages enjoyed by the sector of life insurance, the government is considering, according to the Journal du Dimanche, doubling from 4% to 6% tax profit sharing and participation. Long defended by the government and especially by Nicolas Sarkozy, who wanted to increase access to participation, these two employee savings could therefore be the cost of plane on social niches.

This information comes after the Court of Auditors on Wednesday urged the government to show "more effective" in reducing social niches.While the Social Security deficit in 2010 should reach approximately 27 billion euros for the plan, the Court of Auditors advance ways to save the state 15 billion euros, including employee savings .

Considered a social niche, tax-sharing and participation had already been doubled in 2010 from 2% to 4%.

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Markets want to finish the week in green. This Friday, the Dow Jones gained 0.22% to 10,438 points in early trade. The Nasdaq climbed more painfully than 0.02% to 2236 points while the S & P takes 0.08% to 1105 points.

Despite doubts about the slowdown, fueled since the beginning of the week by the Fed, investors are motivated by the idea of linking a third consecutive session of gains. On Thursday the NYSE has taken a small step forward, encouraged by the publication of weekly unemployment figures, better than expected.

They now expect wholesale inventories for July. But especially the speech that Barack Obama should say tonight at 5:00 p.m. (French time).After announcing plans massive boost, Bush would again speak on the economy and seek to mobilize its troops for the November elections.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar regained color in the morning against the euro and against the yen after the announcement of the filing of a Japanese bank. The euro was at 1.2685 dollars against 1.2697 on Thursday night. The dollar also regained strength against the yen at 83.88 yen 83.85 yen against the previous day.

Electronics supervision

On the side of values, maker of semiconductors, National Semiconductor, released after the stock market, strong results, benefiting from strong demand for chips for mobile phones and terminals industrial applications. However, projections of group sales are lower than consensus expectations no fax cash advance.In its fiscal quarter ended August 29, National Semiconductor has earned a turnover of 412 million, up 31%. The operating margin was 70.9% (against 61.1% last year), a record for the company. The titles are punished: -5.47% to $ 12.20.

For his part, the U.S. manufacturer of electronic components Texas Instruments (-0.80% to 23.65 dollars) tightened its forecast for the third quarter, with turnover expected between 3.62 and 3.78 billion dollars, which would increase over one year. The previous range was advanced in July a quarterly revenue expected between 3.55 and 3.85 billion dollars.Earnings per share are now expected between 66 and 72 cents, against a previous range of 64-74 cents.

Always on the side of values, the BP (+0.16% to 38.08 dollars) traded on Wall Street, announced in the morning one week postponement of the publication of its results for the third quarter, a delay that The company justified by the complexity of accounting for costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also note, the giant Internet Google (-0.27% to 477.48 U.S. dollars) has announced the opening of a research and development in Paris, which should employ fifty engineers invest between 5 and 10 million dollars in the creation of a cultural center.

When Hewlett-Packard (HP) Framed Mark Hurd. Shaken this summer by a sulfurous sexual harassment case, Mark Hurd has been forced to resign last August, its CEO. A month later (yesterday, Monday), it is announced as the new co-president and member of the board of directors of Oracle, the third leading publisher of software.

HP immediately filed a complaint with the California court: the recruitment of Mark Hurd by a large competitor would be "at risk" of confidential information. The agreement concluded by Mark Hurd at his departure from HP does not provide non-compete clause, but it includes a confidentiality agreement with a duration of two years.

"In his new positions, Hurd will be in a situation where it can meet its commitments to Oracle without being forced to use and disclose to other trade secrets and confidential information from HP," justified his ex- employer. Already, he has "endangered the trade secrets and confidential information from HP's most important, pousuit the complaint, which states that Hurd has touched" millions of dollars in cash, shares and stock options in exchange for agreements "between the two parties.

Mark Hurd has earned, according to estimates, about 100 million dollars (79 million euros) during the three years at the helm of Hewlett-Packard and the amount of the agreement reached at his sudden departure is August 6 estimated at 34.6 million.

HP and Oracle partnership challenged

As for Oracle, a transaction is denounced "vindictive".The boss Larry Ellison, exasperated, deplores action which neglects the highest point the relationship between the two partner companies who have customers in common. For him, HP makes it "impossible to continue the cooperation between HP and Oracle in the technology market.

Oracle is both an important partner of HP and one of its major competitors, including the market for computer servers after its acquisition by Sun Microsystems for $ 5.6 billion, a transaction close in the beginning of this year.

Mark Hurd, an acclaimed master

When Mark Hurd was fired by HP, the action fell 8% to 42.49 dollars in electronic trading session out, shaken by the surprise resignation. The announcement was especially elevated to a scandal that HP had already been pushed to resign as the Mark Hurd was replaced in January 2007.Patricia Dunn had indeed been found to have used private investigators in 2005, who used false identities to obtain phone records of conversations between board members and journalists …

Conversely, when Oracle announced its appointment on Monday, the share closed up almost 6%, while analysts revealed their enthusiasm for the company include Mark Hurd.

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Railing against the bank stock values! The optimism generated by the publication of stress tests, although much criticized, July 23 last, has fizzled. On Tuesday, the four banking stocks in the CAC 40 posted the largest declines, causing the decline of main index of the Paris stock exchange. Thus, half sitting, Dexia lost 2.35% to 3.29 euros, Societe Generale was down 2.21% to 43.34 euros, Credit Agricole coward 2.15% 10.71 euros and BNP Paribas abandons 1 69% to 52.99 euros.

Public debt dumped

Doubts about the credibility of these stress tests is increasing. On Tuesday, while the Basel Committee should meet to finalize the criteria for bank capital adequacy, the Wall Street Journal estimates that the amount of government debt securities held by certain financial institutions have been underestimated.The American newspaper cites the Barclays and the French Credit Agricole.

According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), French banks held on 31 March, 35 billion euros of debts of the Spanish State and 20 billion euros of debts of the Greek state. According to stress tests, Credit Agricole, Natixis, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, held only 6.6 billion euros (Spain) and 11.6 billion (Greece).

"This will destroy the growth"

After going up the slope after the publication of "stress tests", so worried about banking stocks to new investors. It must be said that it is enough. Guests on BFM Radio Tuesday morning, the President of the Board of BNP Paribas, Michel Pebereau, did not pull any punches."The" wise men "Basel III asks us to do in less than two years, what we have done since the existence of BNP Paribas," he says. In other words, raising 150 billion euros to double the capital of French banks. "These measures are unreasonable, he says. They will drain the interbank market (the market where banks lend to each other, Ed) and destroy the growth that is already not high. The regulator is in the direction he had just avoided.

While Germany had declared Friday that it would not oppose the tightening of international credit rules, the German banking federation announced Monday that the ten largest German banks, whether the measures were Basel III maintained, would raise 105 billion euros.

The Basel Committee, responsible for this case, should require financial institutions to show a Tier 1 capital ratio (capital tier one "is the core capital base of financial institutions, Ed) of at least 6 %, said the federation. But a mattress extra 4% would be required, 2% to preserve capital and 2% for "counter-cyclical capital (capital raised by banks to cope with sluggish growth, Ed).

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Last April, the cloud of smoke from the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, which shook the air traffic worldwide has cost about 200 million euros for French airlines. Besides the lack of profits for the cancellation of thousands of flights, they have incurred costs for test flights to measure the impact of ash on engines or empty flights to repatriate French stranded abroad.

These costs are estimated at 51 million euros. So says a letter sent by the National Federation of the commercial aviation (fname) – which includes trade unions of air transport – the Department of Ecology.This letter was sent "in early August," said Jean-Pierre Le Goff, the managing director of the fname, who came on Saturday to confirm the information Parisien / Today in France payday advance.

French companies demanding repayment of 51 million euros. Such government action "is important to recognize the exceptional mobilization of air carriers and their contributions, and is also economically important for companies still in the midst of the crisis," said the official.

For now, no reply to that letter, the next team of Jean-Louis Borloo. As Secretary of State for Transport, it was confirmed that the case "is under investigation.FNAM said, she expected to return "next week".

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A lost decade for stocks in Paris. In the past ten years, the CAC 40 has gone through five years of crisis. The toll was heavy: while September 4, 2000, the benchmark index of the Paris stock touched its record high, rating it at 6944.77 points at the meeting, boosted by a phenomenal Internet bubble, he moves painfully about the 3600 points TODAY 'hui.

If the current situation is rather gloomy, the atmosphere, in the late 1990s, was euphoric to say the least. The tech bubble that began in 1995 with the IPO of Netscape – sensational – escalated beyond reason with the explosive growth of telecommunications (France Telecom was by far the largest accumulation of ACC 40) and the phenomenon of start-ups. The world has welcomed the Internet as a revolution that would change the world, characterized by prosperity, easy money and speculation.The shares were outbid unconnected with the reality of companies' accounts.

When the time has come to the realization, the descent into hell has begun. On March 13, 2000 in New York, the Nasdaq index of technology stocks at the time (eBay, Yahoo, AOL …) suddenly picks up and puts an end to five years of consecutive increase. The European market will suffer a few months later and will suffer the same mass layoffs.

The firms play the game of real recovery? Their profits are excellent on both sides of the Atlantic in the second quarter. At the same time, growth remains too low to reduce unemployment and the specter of a double dip recession. Economists blame the companies responsible for this widening gap between profits and growth.

"The companies have not shared enough of their profits with their employees, and this could dampen the recovery," says Aneta Markowska, economist at Societe Generale CIB. In the U.S., the share of corporate revenues redistributed to employees has dropped from 59.8% in the second quarter, its lowest level since the Second World War.

Recruitment at half

Paradoxically, "the companies that have entered the crisis with little debt and thus did not need to rebalance their balance sheets, accumulate cash and threaten the recovery," says Aneta Markowska. Their cash is now nearly 6% of their assets, against less than 4.5% before the crisis. A level not seen since the 50s, according to figures from Societe Generale CIB. The most obvious translation of this strategy, they block the hiring.

Natixis, the head of economic research, Patrick Artus, made the same observation. In a classical revival, the increase in profits resulting from investment, thus creating jobs, which in turn produce growth. But this time it's different.'Distortion of revenue sharing to the detriment of employees led to the weakening of wage and salary income, thus accentuating the weakness of domestic demand, "says Patrick Artus in a note. In the U.S., it will need more time to households in debt up to his neck to clean up their finances before eating again.

Uncertainty

If companies are ants and jealously guard their cash flow, because a great uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook. Because of fears of fallout in recession, "they do not know what will be their future profits and (in the U.S., Ed) they have difficulty in measuring what the impact of tax measures on the viability of their projects investment ", according to Societe Generale economist IPC.

Growth at half-profits on the rise, "he will have to get used to the difference," said Patrick Artus, who believes this is a trend. First, large groups are investing in emerging markets with high potential, which boosts their results. Then the credit market freeze that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers has scalded. They now want to finance their own investments and not to depend on external funding.