GDF Suez attack the state of gas prices

14th October

Three weeks after the government's announcement to freeze gas prices for individuals on or after October 1, GDF Suez took, as the company announced at the time, the competent courts in protest against the decision. The group on Thursday filed an action for the Council of State to request the cancellation of an order made by the government.

The investigation of this type of case takes on average between 12 and 18 months. But the length of the procedure does not scare GDF Suez, which the argument is simple: the law requires that the procurement costs of the company are covered by fees, and grant a small margin. Upon arrival, if the formula price was applied on October 1, gas prices for individuals would have had to climb 10%.GDF Suez's estimated shortfall by the end of the year to some 290 million euros cash advance no fax.

For its part, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CRE), the industry policeman, issued an opinion unfavorable to the Government Order. Meanwhile, the regulator gave the Minister of Industry, a report on the Exploring the evolution rate of increase gas prices. One of the measures mentioned by the CRE is to increase – in the development of the formula – the share of the market price of gas now cheaper for the consumer and supply contracts in the long run.

This design technique should allow to reconcile the evolution of gas prices with the political imperative to avoid any increase, especially brutal.

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Towards a more fuel tax for farmers

10th October

The president Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to visit tomorrow, Tuesday in the Creuse to meet the farmers. The daily Les Echos, they confirm that occasion a very expected: a decrease in payroll of approximately one euro per hour at the minimum wage. This reduction would occur in 2012 and aims to improve the competitiveness of industries that use lots of labor, such as fruit and vegetables. This announcement, however, could be accompanied by a far less popular.

The boost will cost the charges because the state just over 200 million euros. Effort that the government wants to compensate for not widening the deficit. As announced in Le Figaro, the doubling of the tax on sugary drinks should help.The state estimates that from a euro cent to two cents per can, he should recover over 120 million euros. And the remainder, Bercy wishes to the agricultural sector contribution.

Movement of the plane 10%

To do this, the Ministry of Finance, armed with his plane, went through the 40 tax loopholes enjoyed by farmers. Two possibilities were considered. According to Les Echos, the reduction of capital investment (DPI) would be a first option. In its report on tax loopholes, the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) emphasized that the device "does not respond only partially to its original purpose to help finance investment." It allows however to 110,000 farmers to reduce their taxes, and farmers are very attached.The government should turn to another niche: the tax benefit for the use of heating oil as fuel. The fuel is taxed at 5.66 euros per hectolitre, against 42.84 euros for diesel, and that niche cost one billion euros per year. So the government is considering a movement of the plane by 10%.

The construction further penalized

To justify this possible movement of the plane, the General Inspectorate of Finance argued that this advantage is at odds with environmental goals, even if it contributes to competitiveness. She also points out that the niche overlap with the tax rebate on energy products, another niche that costs 150 million to the state.

The decision could, however upsetting beyond the agricultural sector. More than the farmers, are in fact the public works professionals who take advantage of this niche.They pick up about 550 million of tax benefits, against only 450 million (300 euros per vehicle) for farmers.

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"GAME NEWS –

The youth market grandparents is to invent

2nd October

"If your forget you Papi, did you not understand!" This is the slogan that the Feast of grandfathers proudly looks for Sunday, October 2. This annual event occurred in 2008 reflects the growing weight What grandparents grandmothers are celebrated in France on the first Sunday in March since 1987 not only in the family hierarchy but also in the population. In fact, 50% of those age 55 have at least one small child personal loans for bad credit. "Women are becoming grandmothers at 54 years on average, while men are becoming grandparents at age 56," says Sophie Schmitt, founder and CEO of Seniosphere, a consulting firm in strategy and marketing on the target of baby Boomers and seniors.

Poster of the 2011 edition of the Festival of grandfathers. DR.

Asian stock markets still in the red

23rd September

Second straight session of significant decline in Asian stock markets. After diving the day before amid concerns about global growth, the main regional indices appear again in sharp decline: the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong Stock Exchange falling 1.68% to 17,610.70 points, The CSI 300 Index of Shanghai from 1.17% to 2654.35 points, the Kospi index in Seoul 4.04% to 1727.72 points, the S & P / ASX 200 index in Sydney from 0.51% to 3944.50 points, the BSE Sensex 30 Index of Bombay from 0.88% to 16,217.80 points and the FTSE Singapore Straits Times Index 1.27% to 2686.11 points. Only the Nikkei in Tokyo Stock Exchange closed for the holiday, escape the downward spiral.

As in the previous session, and in the wake of Wall Street with the Dow Jones tumbled 3% Tuesday, investors are still concerned about the specter of a global recession.And, after the ads for the less pessimistic the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), which held that the U.S. economic recovery was "slow" and threatened by "high risk". She decided to restart the machine, sell by the end of June 2012 for $ 400 billion of treasury bills and to purchase for the same amount with a longer maturity. But the fact that it favors measures to monetary easing, a depressed market, which sees it as a sign of impotence.

The G20 is mobilized

In addition, doubts about the economic situation in China also weigh in the balance. Manufacturing activity in the country has deteriorated in September, reaching its lowest level in two months, according to preliminary PMI bank HSBC said on Thursday.PMI Purchasing Managers calculated by HSBC in September reached 49.4 against 49.9 in August, knowing that a figure below 50 means contraction.

However, in an attempt to break the deadlock, the first twenty economies in the world rally: they have promised to respond "strong and coordinated international" to the crisis. Central banks are particularly committed to providing "the necessary liquidity" to financial institutions.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro appears in small increase compared to the U.S. dollar: it rose on Friday morning from 0.42% to 1.351 dollar. Oil prices also went up in Asia as investors sensing bargains after the significant losses suffered by the crude in recent days.Within the scope of a tumble of more than $ 5 Thursday, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in November clinching 53 cents in early electronic trading at 81.04 dollars, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery gained 71 cents to 106.20 dollars. "Oil rises due to bargain hunting and redemptions of coverage after several sessions of decline," said Ker Chung Yang, analyst at commodity Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Global growth worries Wall Street

22nd September

A new session promises to be eventful Thursday on Wall Street. In early trade, the Dow posted a loss of 2.70% at 10,869 points, the Nasdaq lost 2.72% to 2468 points and the S & P drops 2.71% to 1135 points.

Like European and Asian stock markets, Wall Street is not immune to the anxiety surrounding the health of the global economy. This pessimism has been going on yesterday and pessimistic of the U.S. central bank. The Fed has held that the U.S. economic recovery was "slow" and threatened by "high risk". The central bank, in this context, announced an operation to extend the maturity of the assets it holds up to 400 billion dollars by June 2012."You can interpret this decision as the Fed's will not to launch three quantitative easing (monetary easing to boost the U.S. economy, ed) immediately, says Arnaud Poutiers, executive vice president of IG Markets.

The general concern about global growth has been reinforced by concerns about the economic situation in China. Manufacturing activity in the country has deteriorated in September, reaching its lowest level in two months, according to preliminary PMI bank HSBC said on Thursday. PMI Purchasing Managers calculated by HSBC in September reached 49.4 against 49.9 in August, knowing that a figure below 50 means contraction.

In France, the growth of private sector activity in September fell to its lowest level since the beginning of the recovery in 2009, while in Germany, the composite PMI, which includes industry and services, has emerged to 50.8, its lowest level since July 2009 against 51.3 in August.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also said Thursday in Washington that the slow economic growth was a challenge "greater" than the debt and that the governments around the world should give priority to support growth .

On the issue of European debt disturbing fact, little progress.Greece has just announced yesterday it will launch new austerity measures to get the funding it needs Troika in October to avoid bankruptcy.

Bad news on employment front

The announcement of a rise in weekly jobless across the Atlantic is not reassuring. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 423,000 people registered as unemployed during the week of September 10 to 17. The consensus of analysts expected 420,000 new applications for unemployment benefits.

Other important indicators, such as managers' index index advanced sprix estate, are in the program.

In this context, oil prices plunged more than 5% Thursday to open in New York, returning to their lowest levels in a month.On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for November delivery traded at 81.28 dollars, down 4.64 dollars (5.4%) compared to the previous day. On the currency markets, the euro continued to sink against the dollar: the euro back below the $ 1.35 dollar to 1.3462 (-0.82%).

Values ​​to follow

On the corporate side, Bank of America (-5.02% to 6.06 dollars), Wells Fargo (-2.02% to 23.23 dollars) and Citigroup (-4.47% to 24.38 dollars) should still suffer from the deterioration of their rating by Moody's. The agency that the state may fly to their rescue.

Fedex (-10.15% to 65.14 dollars) has reported an EPS according to the consensus of $ 1.46 in the first quarter, a turnover of 10.52 billion dollars.

United Technologies (-7.16% to 69.51 dollars) will buy the equipment manufacturer Goodrich Aviation (10.06% to 120.50 dollars) to $ 16.5 billion (12.2 billion euros) cash, a transaction that would be the largest acquisition of U.S. industrial giant in 10 years.

The CAC 40 opens to the balance, the outlook on the Fed

21st September

After finishing the day in the green yesterday, gaining 1.50% to 2984 points, the CAC 40 tackles the session close to balance, falling symbolically 0.04%% to 2982.86 points on Wednesday, pending an important decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed). After a two-day meeting, the institution is expected to announce measures to support the U.S. economy. The wait seems high, especially since the day before, the International Monetary Fund has raised the specter of a recession in the world by launching "a strong call to action" at the announcement of its lower growth forecasts for the global economy. This should amount to 4% for both 2011 and for 2012, 0.5 points less than the 4.5% announced in April.However, "given the weakness in economic indicators, it is almost certain that the Fed will do something but it is difficult to know exactly what," noted economists from Capital Economics.

Investors should in all cases be cautious on the Old Continent, especially after the deterioration of the Italian sovereign debt on Tuesday, which must be added the absence of a clear response from the area in the euro area on the Greek crisis. The conference held the day before between the Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and the heads of mission of the "troika" of the creditors of the country has still not been completed. Only "good progress has been made," the European Commission ruled in a statement. Yet it must release the next tranche of aid and vital in Athens 8 billion euros.The Greek authorities are pressed by their foreign creditors to accelerate the reduction of budgetary expenditures, while the other side, protesters denounced the daily ravages of austerity.

Brazil could help the euro area

In addition, the Greek daily Kathimerini Athens unveiled Tuesday would consider holding a referendum on the continuation of Greece in the euro area to strengthen its legitimacy in its management of the debt crisis. A bill prior to the referendum would be discussed in the coming days, the newspaper said, quoting unspecified sources.Athens, however, denied such a referendum.

While the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) had indicated last week the possibility of supporting the euro area by increasing their holdings of bonds, the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, confirmed this position at Barack Obama on Wednesday at a meeting in New York.

On the macroeconomic front, the United States, home resales for the month of August are expected in 16 hours as the weekly inventory of crude oil at 16.30.

In Britain, the public finance figures for August are expected.

In Italy, the current account balance for the month of July will be published.

In Japan, foreign trade figures for August will also be unveiled.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro remained stable against the dollar Wednesday after Greece has reported "satisfactory progress" with the troika of creditors, but the markets remained nervous awaiting the announcements of the Fed . Around 8 am, the European currency was worth 1.3703 dollars against 1.3702 dollars the night before.

As for oil, it was down Wednesday morning in a market desperate to face the crisis of debt in the euro area, pending a decision by the Fed to promote economic recovery of the largest consumer of crude in the world.In early electronic trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for October delivery gave up 53 cents to 86.38 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery lost 37 cents to 110.17 dollars.

Values ​​to follow

• Banking

After the degradation of Italian sovereign debt, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas, which are exposed, will still be observed.

Attention will also Dexia, which would have allowed for 25 billion euros in loans toxic entities in 5500, according to Liberation.The additional cost of these credits was estimated at 3.9 billion euros at the end of 2009.

• Bouygues

The group filed with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) the prospectus of the takeover of shares of € 1.25 billion announced on August 31, at 30 euros per share.

• Saffron

The aerospace equipment mandated banks Mediobanca and UBS to bid for the Italian manufacturer of aircraft engines Avio, reports the newspaper front page.

• Canal +

The Competition Authority decided Wednesday to withdraw the decision to authorize the merger of satellite packages CanalSat and TPS, completed in 2007, finding that Canal Plus had "failed to comply with a number of commitments" made to avoid misuse its dominant position.Groupe Canal Plus also sees a fine of 30 million euros.

• JCDecaux

According to Les Echos, the group won an exclusive contract advertising on two subway lines in Chongqing in China for a period of 15 years, but did not disclose financial details.

• Le Noble Age

The company announced in a press up all its results in the 1st half (34% to 3.68 million euros for the net) and confirmed the increase in its forecast of EBITDAR margin ( Operating income before depreciation, amortization and rent) at cruising speed greater than 27% by year end.

China would come to the rescue of Italy

13th September

The salvation of the euro area could come from China. Forced to borrow at prohibitive rates Monday morning, Rome had in fact asked Beijing to make significant repurchases of its sovereign debt, reports the Financial Times. A member of the Italian government confirmed on Monday the existence of discussions with the Middle Kingdom on potential investments in Beijing in the third largest economy in the euro area. The latter emphasizes, however, that the purchase of debt as of the Italian state was not central to the negotiations which took place several weeks ago, the agency Bloomberg.

The Financial Times for its part indicated that Lou Jiwei, the chairman of China Investment Corp (CIC), accompanied by a delegation, arrived in Rome last week to meet with Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, and officials the Cassa despositi e Prestiti.

In any case, the information had an immediate impact on equity markets and bonds. The news triggered a rapid rise of U.S. indexes, which ended the session up when they were, like all European markets, a sharp decline shortly before the information.L all the indices of world is indeed suspended at the least information related to the status of sovereign debt in the euro area. In fact, the fear of contagion shook the Greek market.

In addition, the bond market has also relaxed.Good news for countries forced to place their debt securities, especially Italy. Interest rates have soared Monday in an issuance of public debt in Italy. Rome has indeed placed a total of 11.5 billion euros of shares, including 7.5 billion of bonds a year at a rate of 4.153% against 2.959% in the previous similar exercise conducted on August 10.

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The man who hears the water under his feet

14th August

The pendulum swings between her fingers. "As soon as the balance is broken, it means that there is radiation." So potentially the water flowing underground. Small round glasses and goatee-like of the eccentric Professor Calculus of Hergé, Hervé Laurent is no less serious. His profession: divining, or "geobiologist." A broader term to refer to a specialist in environmental influence on living organisms. In 2007, after receiving specific training in Vannes and have trained for three years, the former surveyor of 49 years decides to create his own company, Art of the place, to practice his passion. Since then, he walks every week in its adoption of Normandy, but also in Seine-Maritime, near Paris or in Normandy, in search of blue gold.

To do this, Hervé Laurent uses the methods of dowsing.This technique, which is controversial in the scientific sphere, based on the faculty of feeling "all that shines, like electromagnetic waves", including water. Once on the ground, sticks and other clocks are involved, "they function as amplifiers of radiation," said he. But according to him, "a trained diviner may very well do without it, once it knows how to put his body in condition to capture any breach of magnetic fields." Although it states "take them out to professional confidence to the customer …" In addition, Hervé Laurent also uses the "scintillation counter, an electronic device can also detect water" and that confirms a first trial.

"A failure rate of 10%"

Like the rods, the pendulum is used to find water. Photo: PM

Obama promises an agreement on the debt by August 2

12th July

Barack Obama sought Monday to change the tone of the negotiations on reducing the budget deficit. "I am ready to face criticism from Democrats for an agreement that allows to raise the debt ceiling," said Monday the president of the United States, before resuming discussions with congressional leaders have fallen into the impasse. "We will reach agreement before August 2," promised the president at a press conference.

Placing himself as an arbiter between the two factions partisan, Barack Obama said: "The Republicans are going to have to compromise, as the Democrats." He hoped that the negotiations continue "all day", "until a solution is found."

Their challenge is twofold. The first is to adopt a compromise that reduces the medium to long-term U.S. budget deficits.But the compromise also depends on the adoption by August 2 of a law that raises the ceiling for the debt of the United States. Otherwise, the U.S. Treasury would no longer issue the bonds needed to honor the debts of Uncle Sam was general such a defect of the United States would have catastrophic consequences for the entire global economy.

Avoiding tax increases

During the weekend negotiations have stalled or even declined. Democrats accuse Republicans of blocking any agreement by refusing the principle of tax increases. For their part, Republicans reject the approach proposed by Barack Obama on an ambitious four trillion dollars in savings over ten years.They are rather a compromise of around 2 trillion, thinking to keep their campaign promise to block any tax increase.

To complicate matters, the elected Democrats have their doubts about the path traced by the White House. Barack Obama asks them, in fact, painful concessions in the form of savings in programs popular pension and health care. Yet the Democrats do not want to pay the price in the November 2012 legislative concessions that make a great historical compromise personal serving the cause of Barack Obama but not his party.In addition, the recent rise in unemployment leads them to reconsider their promise to reduce government spending made a few weeks ago as part of negotiations led by the then vice president, Joe Biden.

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Wall Street overcame disappointment Indicators

27th May

U.S. stock markets close an increased very slightly on Thursday. The Dow Jones is 0.07% to 12,402.76 points, the S & P 500 gained 0.40% to 1325.69 points and the Nasdaq rose 0.78% to 2782.92 points.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro rebounded against the dollar on Thursday, helped by speculation about a coming increase in Chinese investment in the European sovereign debt.By late evening in Paris, the European single currency was worth 1.4135 dollars against 1.4083 dollars late Wednesday.

On the macroeconomic front, the U.S. GDP grew 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the second official estimate of the growth of winter, which confirms the original figure while analysts thought it would be revised upwards (consensus expected 2% growth).

New jobless claims in the United States are divided on the rise during the third week of May, 424,000 according to figures released Thursday by the Department of Labor (cons 414,000 the previous week), while analysts expected a decline, to 400,000.

Freescale Semiconductor revises downward its ambitions

The side of values, the scoring title Freescale Semiconductor will begin Thursday.The group says it still hopes to sell 6.5 million additional shares by June 1, in addition to the 43.5 million already invested. Freescale has set a price of $ 18 per share when it had advanced a range from 22 to 24 dollars in early May.

Microsoft: 1.98% to 24.67 dollars

The investment fund Greenlight Capital, a shareholder of Microsoft, wants to remove the CEO of computer giant, saying that Steve Ballmer is a man of the past best payday advance.

Computer Science: -13.02% to 38.35 dollars

For his part Computer Sciences announced yesterday evening after the close of Wall Street have registered for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010/2011 earnings per share of $ 1.09 against $ 1.16 and $ 1.66 expected year past. Turnover was 4.2 billion, stable over one year.Over the full year, EPS fell 10.4% while turnover remained stable at 16 billion dollars.

Liberty Global: 1.51% to 44.92 dollars

Also after the close of U.S. markets, Liberty Global has received an indicative offer from Foxtel to buy back its subsidiary Austar United Communications owned 54.2% at a price of 1.52 Australian dollars per share, valuing the share of Liberty Global to nearly one billion Australian dollars.

NetApp: 6.92% to 55.31 dollars

NetApp reported for the fourth quarter earnings per share of $ 0.59 against $ 0.53 expected and $ 0.5 last year, while turnover reached 1.4 billion dollars against 1.2 billion last year.For the quarter, NetApp expects earnings per share of 0.52 to $ 0.57 and revenues of about $ 1.5 billion.

Google: -0.30% to 518.13 dollars

Also of note, Google has unveiled a contactless payment solution developed by MasterCard and Citigroup. The owners of Android phones will eventually make their phones instead of their credit card at the checkout.