The Madrid region, the second of Spain by the gross domestic product (GDP), said he finished 2011 with a deficit representing 2.2% of GDP and not 1.13% as first announced. The budget deficit of Valencia, the fourth autonomous community, stood at 4.5% instead of 3.78%.

The deficit of Castile and Leon has also been slightly above expectations.

The new figures, which were published in the areas of budget plans for 2012 are likely to weigh on the overall figure of Spain's public deficit for 2011, while the country is struggling to restore confidence in its banks and to convince investors that it meets its objectives.

The government of Mariano Rajoy promised to bring its public deficit to 5.3% of GDP in 2012, after missing its target last year, mainly due to higher spending es than expected regions. Last year the government deficit totaled 8.5% of GDP, but it should be 6%.

Thursday, the government approved the plan of the autonomous communities to reduce their spending by 13 billion euros and increase revenues of five billion.

Of the 17 Spanish regions, only one of Asturias in the northwest of the country, had its budget rejected.

The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 1.24%, or 156.06 points to 12,442.49 points. The S & P-500, wider, lost 19.94 points, or 1.51%, to 1304.86. The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 60.35 points (-2.1%) to 2,813.69 points.

The index of leading indicators, which prefigures the evolution of economic activity in the United States, fell in April for the first time in seven months, while the conditions index of manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve declined against all odds to reach its lowest since September.

In addition, weekly jobless claims remained stable last week, while a slight fall was expected, given that feeds a concern about the strength of the recovery of the U.S. economy.

The crisis in the euro area also continues to weigh on investor sentiment. 

Financing costs in Spain rose sharply at an auction took place in the morning. The journéea also saw confirmation that the country fell into recession and a newspaper article citing massive withdrawals of deposits from Bankia , the fourth Spanish bank recently nationalized.

In Greece, banks also suffer from massive withdrawals made by citizens and the rating agency Fitch downgraded the evening of the country's sovereign rating to CCC from B-, citing the increasing risk of the country out of the euro area.

Witness the excitement of investors, the CBOE volatility index has surged almost 10% and hit its highest level since early January. 

HOPE TO REBOUND

The S & P 500 fell more than 7% since the beginning of the month, and if volatility is expected to remain at the rendezvous, the duration of the decline observed in equity markets leads some analysts to predict a rebound in the short term.

"We're getting closer when people go back on the market and we do not think it will be much lower than where we are now," said Brad Sorensen for Charles Schwab. "The U.S. is still growing and seem to cope rather well with the rest of the world."

Providing respite on investors, gross domestic product of Japan third world economy grew by 1% from January to March compared with the previous quarter, ie gèrement more than expected. First announced in contraction of 0.2%, the economy has also finally stagnated between October and December.

But on Wall Street, the Nasdaq has suffered from the fall of technology stocks including giant Apple side (-2.9%) but Expedia (-4.4%).

Wal-Mart Stores has however gained 4.2%. The number one global retailer released a better than expected under its fiscal first quarter thanks to strong sales of its U.S. subsidiary.

Sears Holdings took 3% while the group said Thursday an adjusted loss of 31 cents per share in first quarter 2012, well below the loss of 67 cents expected by analysts.

The European Group of aerospace and defense, however, said he was confident for 2012 despite a concern increasingly keen on the economic situation in Spain, one of its shareholders.

The action has one of the few increases in the CAC 40, with a gain of 1.22% to 29.385 to 10:50, as against a decline of 0.4% of the index in Paris at the same time, under driven by quarterly earnings well above expectations thanks to the performance of Airbus. 

EADS announced a charge of € 158 million to cover repair costs of 71 A380s delivered in late March, in addition to an initial estimate of the cost already announced 105 million.

"There's probably some relief due to the fact that they have solved the problem quickly. This removes the uncertainty," said Sandy Morris, analyst at Jefferies. "The 'bulls' will have something to put in their mouths, but this is only the quarter and the road is still long."

These cracks, discovered for the first time in early January on Singapore Airlines A380 and Qantas Airways, are a new damage to a program that has accumulated delays in its development.

"We will apply the repair of each delivery as we have not built the permanent solution (…), which should probably still look after this year and next," said EADS CFO Hans Peter Ring during a conference call. 

CONCERNS ON SPAIN

EADS, which will renew his leadership after the general meeting on May 31, judge now "more ambitious" goal of delivery of 30 A380s in 2012 due to many of delayed deliveries, without compromising the objective of balancing the program by early 2015.

By virtue of maintaining a balance between Paris and Berlin in EADS, the German Tom Enders will succeed to the presidency Louis Welsh executive of EADS, while the Translation ais Bregier takes the helm of Airbus, which is the current number two.

Hans Peter Ring said EADS adapted management of its cash and its coverage because of the crisis in the euro area, now with "real problems" in Spain, one of its shareholder countries. 

"This is one of our big puzzle today because we have seen a sharp deterioration of our partners, that is to say banks, for two years and became much more difficult to cope with such a context, "he said.

EADS has reached a first quarter EBIT of 343 million euros, up 79% and a turnover of 11.404 billion, up 16%, and net income of 133 million in instead of a loss of 12 million a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Inquiry Financial Europe on average expected a first quarter revenue of 10.636 billion and an EBIT of 331 million. 

The group confirmed for 2012 include an EBIT before nonrecurring items above 2.5 billion euros – against 480 million for the first quarter alone – and a greater than 6% of its turnover.

EADS 'order intake almost doubled last year to 12 billion euros through the A320neo, the improved version of the Airbus Single Aisle.

The aircraft manufacturer has reaffirmed aim for about 570 deliveries this year, indicating that the number of gross orders should be higher deliveries. In January, the aircraft manufacturer said it expects 600-650 aircraft gross orders in 2012, after a record 1,608 in 2011.

Boeing's rival garnered 112 gross orders during the period from January to April – a total of 95 net after cancellations – and has delivered 183 units in January-April, including five A380s.

In early trade, the Dow dropped 0.72% to 12,728.27 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, yielding 0.86% at 1341.80 points while the Nasdaq composite lost 0.81% to 2910.32 points.

The "radical left" Greek refused to participate in new negotiations to try to form a coalition, which reinforces the scenario of a new legislative elections in June, that would extend political instability.

Moreover, the Chinese authorities' decision to lower this weekend reserve requirement ratio of banks is once again came illustrate the uncertainties on the growth of the second world economy.

Faced with the withdrawal movement of investors in risky assets, the S & P 500 could return to test an important technical support to 1,340 points, which, if broken, could bring down the index even lower. 

Values, JP Morgan fell 2.3% to 36.11 dollars. The bank announced changes in management after the loss of at least $ 2 billion related to a hedging strategy risky.

In contrast, Yahoo progressed from 1.84% to 15.47 dollars. The group will have to find a new CEO for the third time in three years Sunday after the resignation of Scott Thompson, pushed initially after the controversy surrounding by a fake university degree in computer science listed on his resume.

Avon Products jumped 4.06% to 21.01 dollars. The cosmetics group said Sunday he informed Coty

he would study the takeover offer of 10.65 billion dollars (8.27 billion euros) launched by the latter, adding that he should respond within a week.

"A strong safety net for employment and living standards of citizens will stop the decline in state revenues and consequently an increase in deficits (budget)", has estimated the new Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus during his first press conference in Nicosia. 

Panicos Demetriades ruled in favor of adding the European fiscal pact "a framework of measures to stimulate growth", making its contribution to the debate that has accelerated ; within the European Union since the election of French President Francois Hollande and before the EU summit of 23 May

In Tallinn, where he participated in a conference, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary But he reiterated his opposition to the financing of measures to support growth by more dice ; public spending. 

"We can not solve the crisis by adding debt to debt, which is already affecting our growth forecasts", argued Olli Rehn, who called Tuesday in Brussels "false debate" the opposition between consolidation and growth.

"AUSTERITY NOT ENOUGH"

"In the current economic situation, low growth and high debt, we have no choice: we must do one or the other," he explained.

"We need to continue fiscal consolidation because we suffer from a very high level of public debt, which increased on average by 60% to 90% in Europe," he insisted Saturday during his presentation.

Panicos Demetriades has said his side that fiscal austerity was not a quick fix. 

"Preserving the fiscal pact adopted by EU leaders is an important step towards restoring fiscal balance, but a recession exacerbated by austerity rity feeds a vicious circle between declining production and a heightened lack of budgetary resources, "said the member of the Governing Council of the ECB.

"We now understand, in Cyprus and in the rest of the euro area, that austerity is not enough alone to clean up the finances of a country, especially when all other countries of the EU apply the same policy, "he concluded. 

Panicos Demetriades had held before his appointment as governor of the ECB should reassess its monetary policy too focused, he says, on controlling inflation, the model the German Bundesbank.

The Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronics said Thursday anticipating an operating profit of 180 billion yen for the fiscal year ending in March 2013. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S side of their anticipated an operating profit of 173 billion.

The group plans an annual net profit of 30 billion yen.

On the year just ended, Sony posted an operating loss of 67.3 billion yen, less than the consensus which gave a loss of 95 billion yen.

The inventor of the Walkman and the PlayStation suffers loss of its television division and fierce competition from Samsung and Apple, including the telephony market mobile. 

Under the aegis of its new CEO Kazuo Hirai, the group announced a broad reorganization plan with thousands of job cuts, hoping to cut costs and revive with benefits.

While considering partnerships to gain competitive advantage in televisions, Kazuo Hirai will build on the cameras, smartphones and video games to revive the group.

Sony's action ended Thursday down 1.22% to 1,213 yen. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has lost 12% in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while the Nikkei index of blue chips gained almost 7%.

The trade deficit of France, which had widened substantially in February because of the cold wave had boosted energy imports fell in March to 5.721 billion euros, the Customs said Wednesday. "Trade interrupt their progress in March. The decline is more pronounced for imports after major energy purchases in February (cold snap), so that the trade deficit reduced by more than 500 million euros," explained Customs in a statement.

Exports totaled 36.491 billion euros and imports at 42.212 billion. "The exports of manufacturing industries are marking time, after their sharp increase earlier this year," commented Customs. Monthly data are seasonally adjusted and the number of working days. The deficit of 12 months completed end of March stood at 68.597 billion euros, a figure to compare the record reached 70.671 billion in calendar 2011, whichever is again revised by Customs.

Francois Hollande since Sunday is the new head of state, elected with 51.62% of the vote against the incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy.

S & P, which lowered a notch in January the French credit rating from AAA, the highest possible, to AA + coupled with a negative outlook, estimates there are at least three chance that the note against the subject of a further reduction this year or in 2013. 

"We will analyze the decisions of the French president and his new government, taking into account the results of parliamentary elections in June," said the rating agency said in a statement.

"The election of the candidate of the Socialist Party, Francois Hollande, President of the French Republic, has no implications for the AAA rating of France, currently in perspective negative ", for its part announced Fitch.

"However, his election victory marks an important change at the head of France and Europe. The new president faces the same challenges as its predecessor: the strengthening of fiscal credibility, improving the growth potential in the medium term France and the handling of the crisis in the euro area, "the text

. Fitch announced earlier this year not consider amending the note from France in 2012 but nothing prevents him to return to this position

. No one was immediately immediately reached Monday night at Moody's for a comment on France

. Francois Hollande has placed top priority European renegotiation of the treaty signed on budgetary discipline by March 25 of the 27 countries of the European Union in order to incorporate a component on growth. 

Meanwhile, the president plans a return to balanced budgets in 2017.

For its part, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, eager to pursue deficit reduction, on Monday reiterated its refusal to renegotiate the pact and posted its fiscal distrust vis-à-vis possible measures to support growth.

The rating agencies are concerned about several times of slippage in public finances in the euro area countries, while stressing that too restrictive budgetary measures were likely to weaken growth , itself considered essential to reducing deficits and debt. 

Francois Hollande announced that he would travel to Berlin very soon after taking office scheduled May 15

The group, which now generates 60% of its sales in emerging economies, achieved the first three months of the year sales up 5% to € 3.35 billion, slightly above the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters estimates from eight analysts who gave $ 3.3 billion.

Ebitda rose to its share of 8% to 516 million euros while operating profit rose 28% to 267 million. 

However, net income, group share, shows a loss of 44 million euros, against -29,000,000 a year earlier, reflecting restructuring charges corresponding in particular to the 500 job cuts engaged around the world as part of the reorganization of the group. Excluding these charges, Lafarge has emerged over the period with net income of 18 million euros.

"The group continues to anticipate an increased demand for cement, and maintains its estimate of market growth between 1% and 4% in 2012 compared to 2011," the group said in a statement .

"Emerging markets remain the main driver of demand growth (…) The prices should be up on the year 2012, and cost inflation more moderate e in 2011. "

CONTINUATION OF ASSET TRANSFERS

In the first quarter, net debt of Lafarge fell 13% year on year to 12.4 billion euros. One quarter to another, it is clear, however, up 3%, a trend linked "to normal seasonal variations in working capital (working capital needs)," said Lafarge.

The group's debt, inherited largely from the acquisition of Orascom in 2008, is still expected to decline "significantly" this year, without elaborating.

As part of its debt, Lafarge intends to limit to 800 million euros investment and reduce by at least 400 million euros in 2012 its costs. The group also maintained its target of over one billion euros of asset sales over the year, of which 71 million were made during the quarter.

Both activities are the subject of rumors of transfers, the plaster in North America, last active group in a trade which it is almost released last year, and cement in South Africa . The group must also achieve significant asset sales in Britain required by the Competition Authority to give its green light to the proposed joint venture between Lafarge and Anglo American.

"It is not impossible that these divestitures can be made in 2012," said the CEO of Lafarge, Bruno Lafont, during a teleconference.

The stock closed Thursday at 29.97 euros. Since the beginning of the year, the title took about 10%, after -42% in 2011.

Excluding the currency effect (+1.0%) and perimeter effect (+1.8%), the growth of world number one in production, processing and distribution of building materials spring over the period to 0.9%.

The consensus reached by the editor of Reuters from estimates of seven analysts gave a turnover of 9.9 billion euros.

"In an uncertain economic environment, and despite a high comparison base, the group achieved positive organic growth in this first quarter," said St. -Gobain in a statement. 

"In particular, we continued to increase our selling prices (+2.4%), to compensate, overall on the year, rising raw material costs and the energy. "

The group maintained for the full year its goal of a moderate growth and good resistance to its operating income and profitability.

In February, the CEO, Pierre-Andre de Chalendar, had clarified that growth in 2012 would be less than 5% in 2011, then qualified performance of "sustained", without further pre ; decision. 

In the first quarter, the rebound in residential construction in the U.S. market, where the group has enjoyed double-digit organic growth, offsetting the slowdown registered in Europe because of a inclement weather in February and the crisis in the South, as well as slowing growth in Asia, to 0.6%.

"In Asia and in emerging countries, growth should remain moderate in the second quarter, before returning more strongly in the second half of the year," said Saint-Gobain.

All business units recorded a slight growth in the quarter, with the exception of innovative materials, affected by the glass, whose sales were down 5 , 6%. This decrease is attributable to a decline in solar markets and European car likely to remain challenging, and a slowdown in construction in Western Europe.

The Saint-Gobain shares closed down slightly from 0.39% to 31.87 euros, giving a market capitalization of around 17 billion euros. Since the beginning of the year, the title took about 8%, having dropped nearly 23% in 2011.