Posts Tagged ‘currency’

Wall Street ended up 0.57% with Greece

February 13, 2012 - 5:40 pm Comments Off

Wall Street closed higher Monday, after the vote of austerity measures by the Greek Parliament, investors wanting to believe that this new step will move towards a resolution of debt crisis in Greece.

Wall Street has won over 20% since its lowest recorded closing early October, driven by optimism, that of seeing the debt crisis in Europe finally resolved.

"Whether the agreement was approved really reduces the tension on the euro area but it was expected and, in the short term, we went down the upside potential," said Yu -Dee Chang (ACE Investments). "I'm careful because there could be a short-term correction."

The Dow Jones gained 72.81 points (0.57%) to 12,874.04 points. The S & P 500 is 9.13 points (0.68%) to 1,351.77 points. The Nasdaq Composite gained 27.51 points (0.95%) to 2,931.39 points.

Analysts feel that the level of 1355 for the S & P is likely, if achieved, result in a reversal downward after its peak reached seven months last week.

Financials in particular stood out. The KBW index of bank gained 0.83% and 0.95% in financials. Bank of America acquired 2.23% but Citigroup, up much of the session, ended on a modest decline of 0.12%.

The high techs, Apple has for the first time exceeded $ 500 during the session and finished up 1.86% to 502.60 dollars.

Apple has stepped up its offensive against Monday Samsung Electronics in the patent war between them, by attacking the Nexus range of smartphones equipped with the latest version of Android, the system Google's operating.

Google takes him 1.04% to 612.20 dollars. The European Commission authorized Monday the search engine to buy the mobile handset manufacturer Motorola Mobility, while that it would monitor the use made of patents acquired.

Monsanto, the American giant of pesticides, was sentenced Monday for the first time in France, for the poisoning of a Charentais farmer. But the action is gaining 0.76% to 77.93 dollars.

General Mills has agreed to buy the food company for two Brazilian Yoki billion reais (880 million), an operation that marks his return to the first Latin American market, e crivait Monday the daily O Estado de S. Paulo. The action is gaining 0.64% to 39.34 dollars.

Otherwise, Obama pleaded Monday for important stimulus for growth and for raising taxes on high incomes, at the presentation of its draft budget for 2013.

Facebook launches IPO process

February 2, 2012 - 10:54 pm Comments Off

Facebook has made Wednesday a first step towards what will undoubtedly be the IPO the most anticipated of the year, an operation likely to Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the first global networking site, the sixth my largest personal fortune in the world.

The company, founded in February 2004 in a dormitory at Harvard by Mark Zuckerberg, was subject to Exchange Commission a draft on the market that would remove five billion dollars (3.8 billion).

The operation, which promises to be the largest operation of its kind developed for a company in Silicon Valley, is expected by mid-year. It could enhance Facebook to about $ 100 billion.

In documents submitted to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), said Facebook as 845 million active users.

The group adds that in 2011 registered a turnover of 3.71 billion, from 85% of advertising revenue, and net income of one billion, an 65% increase compared to 2010.

Facebook has selected Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan as leaders of the operation. The other "book makers" are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Allen & Co.

In documents filed with the SEC, it is stated that the base salary of Mark Zuckerberg is $ 500,000, which sum will be reduced to one dollar from 1 January 2013, the bonus of the founder Facebook of being stood at 220,500 dollars in the first half of 2011.

Zuckerberg FACEBOOK COMPARE TO THE PRESS AND TV

"We often talk of inventions such as print and television. Today, our society has reached a turning point, "Zuckerberg wrote in a letter accompanying the documents.

" There is a huge need and huge opportunity to ensure that everyone is connected, to give everyone a voice and contribute to the transformation of society. The extent of technology and infrastructure to be built is unprecedented, "said he.

Total

securities held by Mark Zuckerberg Facebook -1.11 billion-worth some $ 33 billion, based on the value per share of 29.76 dollars per share assigned by the company to its shares on 31 De ; December 2011.

Besides Mark Zuckerberg, who owns 56.9% of the voting rights of the company, the capital before introduction Facebook Stock Exchange is essentially divided between Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and Technologies DigitalSky and contractors Reid Hoffman, Mark Pincus and Sean Parker.

Group said it employed 3,200 full-time employees at the end of 2011, representing a total increase of 50% compared to 2010. 

Facebook says that its sales would "suffer a negative impact" of the increased use of its services on mobile devices, unless the group starts to run ads on these applications.

Some think that Facebook could raise more than five billion dollars projected in documents sent to the SEC, which further widen the gap between the IPO of the community site and that of Other Internet-related companies that made their debut stock in recent years.

The online game developer Zynga, which contributed 12% of the turnover of Facebook in 2011, has raised a billion dollars at the end of last year. 

At its IPO in May 2011, the professional social network dedicated to LinkedIn, has raised $ 350 million via a placing of shares in the stock market valued at $ 8.9 billion.

In 2004, the Internet giant Google had sold nearly two billion dollars of shares in its IPO.

The French reluctant to invest in debt

November 29, 2011 - 10:55 pm Comments Off

According to a survey, less than a third of French say they are willing to buy the French public debt. The survey refers to the success of the "day Treasury Bills" in Italy where the people were invited to invest in government debt. It goes from 8.86 to 9 euros gross time to reach 1,365 euros for 35 hours, or about 1,073 euros net per month.

Less than a third of French say they probably or definitely willing to buy the French public debt if they were given the opportunity, according to a Harris poll for the site information and the agency Jolpress Image & Strategy to be published Tuesday in the Tribune . Only 6% of French people would buy "certainly" the debt of the country at rates comparable to those charged by banks, and 24% would buy "probably" of such bonds, said the survey.

November 17, 2011 - 8:55 am Comments Off

Between 2005 and 2010, they have jumped nearly 22%, while inflation rose only 8.05%, according to the National Union of ownership. It is Paris that has seen the largest increase. A jump of 72%. Paris won the prize for the largest increase in property tax with a jump of 71.97 between 2005 and 2010.

The National Union of property (UNPI) denounced Wednesday again a sharp increase in property taxes that it believes strongly amputates the purchasing power of the landlords. "Landlords have a lower purchasing power of 10% in 5 years because of the different measures that strike, including sharp increases in property taxes," said Jean Perrin, president of the UNPI, presenting the fifth edition of the Observatory of property taxes.

According UNPI, property taxes rose nearly three times more than inflation between 2005 and 2010.Total contributions from property tax on buildings increased by an average of 21.94% while inflation increased by only 8.05% between January 2005 and January 2010, according to UNPI. "To this we must add a small increase in rents, an increase of the tax and regulatory obligations as expensive diagnostics and new safety standards for elevators," says Perrin.

The amount of property tax is calculated on the basis of the rental value of the property on which the shares are perceived regional, departmental and municipal levels and, where available, for the shares of municipalities and city.

November 15, 2011 - 8:25 pm Comments Off

The Greek economy contracted by 5.2% annually in the third quarter, according to preliminary estimates by the national statistics agency Elstat and released Tuesday by the European agency Eurostat.

The pace of contraction in gross domestic product (GDP), however, shows a slowdown since the third quarter decline comes after a decline of 7.4% in the second and 8.3% in the first (revised).

Despite this slight improvement, Greece appears to undergo some pout its fourth year of recession in 2011 and there is no indication that things will work out in 2012.

The fall in GDP was largely the result of a drastic reduction in wages and pensions, loss of significant numbers of jobs and an increase of taxation, the measures imposed by international rescue plan for to save the country from bankruptcy.

Greece and its creditors to expect on a 2011 contraction of 5.5% of GDP.

This is an estimate adjusted data when figures released Tuesday are not adjusted.

"A significant improvement is unlikely in the fourth quarter in light of the deteriorating conditions at work with its major trading partners, a feeling depressed household and new austerity measures which took effect in September," said Plato Monokroussos, economist at EFG Eurobank.

Wall Street opens up with the right quarter of Caterpillar

October 24, 2011 - 9:40 am Comments Off

Wall Street opened slightly higher on Monday, the strong results announced by Caterpillar has somewhat overshadowed the skepticism of investors about the ability of the euro zone to resolve its debt crisis.

After the summit on Sunday, investors are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the next European meeting on Wednesday, including the question of the level of depreciation applied to debt securities held by the Greek private sector.

"We assume that the agreements will be announced in the coming days," said Peter Boockvar, market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co.

In early trade, the Dow Jones gained 0.29% to 11,843.15 points.The Standard & Poor's, wider, taking 0.33% to 1242.34 points while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.45% to 2649.43.

The beautiful performance as Caterpillar, up about 5% at the opening, supports the trend.

The world's largest earth-moving machinery and equipment for the mining industry reported Monday a record turnover and a 44% jump in profit in the third quarter, well above analysts' expectations.

Google loses the title, however, 0.45%. The group spoke with at least two private equity investment opportunity to help finance a transaction to buy the core business of its competitor Yahoo (1.97%), reports the Wall Street Journal, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Brussels proposes to invest in European networks

October 19, 2011 - 7:55 am Comments Off

A budget of 50 billion euros to be invested by 2020 in transport networks, energy and communications to Europe to interconnect national networks and boost growth, according to a plan released Wednesday by the Commission European.

The plan, dubbed "connecting Europe" should not only help create the missing links between the networks of twenty-seven but also promote a greener economy, strengthen the internal market and reduce energy dependence of the EU.

The modernization of transport infrastructure in Europe should concentrate 31.7 billion euros, against 9.1 billion for energy projects and 9.2 billion pan-European networks for broadband communications.

These investments will cover the most important projects but the Commission consider that no less than 500 billion euros would be needed to build a European transport network worthy of the name by 2020.

To facilitate the financing of these projects, the Commission adopted an initiative to resort to bonds, to attract private funding and risk sharing investments.

The President of the European Commission said at a press conference that the European initiative was necessary to encourage states to take the plunge.

"This investment will stimulate growth and job creation, and simultaneously make the work simpler and transportation for millions of citizens and businesses in Europe," he said.

The government deficit fell by 20 billion over one year

October 7, 2011 - 5:55 am Comments Off

The fiscal deficit of the French government reached 102.8 billion euros at the end of August. The government's goal is to reduce it to 95.5 billion at the end of the year. View of the Ministry of Economy and Finance at Bercy.

The deficit of state budget declined by about twenty billion euros in late August from the previous year to 102.8 billion, thanks to lower expenses and to a lesser extent, higher revenue, announced Friday the Budget Ministry. For the full year 2011, the government deficit is expected at 95.5 billion, but Bercy ensures that the figures for August are "in line with the target."

Tax revenues expected by the end of the year should help to bring the budget in the nails.Compliance with this objective is needed for France to maintain its commitment to reduce the public deficit (state, local and Social Security) 7.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year to 5.7% this years. In late August 2010, the state budget recorded a deficit of 122.1 billion.

Expenses (general budget and levies on revenues) fell back sharply, to 243 billion at end August 2011, against 270.1 billion a year earlier, thanks to the almost total extinction of the extra cost associated transient, last year, to reform of business tax. Last year was also marked by the expenditure of "future investment" financed by the "great debt", said the ministry.However, the actual burden of debt interest late August rose by 4.5 billion from the same date a year earlier.

The reform of the ISF has weighed on think

For their part, the general budget revenue (net of rebates and refunds) amounted to 172 billion in late August against 169.5 billion a year earlier. The net tax revenues were up 4.1 billion a year to the next. The proceeds from the corporate income tax, greatly affected during the crisis, continues to rebound and increase by one third. VAT and income tax also report more than last year, but in a much smaller mesure.En contrast, "other taxes" retreat, but the ministry says this is due to "report to September exceptionally this year, the due date of the solidarity tax on wealth, due to the implementation of the recent reform of the taxation of wealth. "

Finally, the "special accounts", which include advances and financial transactions, recorded a deterioration of 10.3 billion euros from the end of August 2011, due in disbursements in January, March and July of loans Greece. But "any significant event" has changed this in August, says Bercy.

U.S. Crude prices finished down almost 1.5%

September 14, 2011 - 3:55 pm Comments Off

The price of crude oil ended down nearly 1.5% Wednesday, partly because of higher-than-expected stocks of gasoline and distillates in the United States and despite a fall in oil reserves.

On the Nymex, the contract on October U.S. crude (WTI) ended on a loss of $ 1.30, or -1.44% to 88.91 dollars a barrel.Meanwhile, Brent advanced 0.41%, or $ 0.46, to 112.35 dollars.

In volatile trading, the Brent has received some investor optimism about the crisis in the euro zone after the European Commission said it will shortly introduce proposals for Eurobonds.

Crude inventories fell 6.7 million barrels to 346.38 million, according to the U.S. Agency for Energy Information (EIA). Economists on average had expected a decline of 3.1 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories rose by 1.94 million barrels and reserves of distillates, which include heating oil, rose 1.71 million barrels while the experts had expected 500,000 barrels and 700,000 respectively barrels

Asmussen, a practical replacement for Stark to the ECB

September 13, 2011 - 4:45 am Comments Off

Jörg Asmussen should be more pragmatic than Jürgen Stark, the man he will replace in the European Central Bank, and his appointment could mark the end of a long line of German central bankers have only one obsession: the fight against inflation.

Even those familiar with Jörg Asmussen describe him as an enigma when it comes to monetary policy.His colleagues also highlight both its competence and its ability to remain calm when under pressure.

Barely 44, he crossed the ranks of the German Ministry of Finance, at breakneck speed from a position of youth advisor in 1996 as vice finance minister 12 years later.

Over the last three years, he was one of the key players of the answers Berlin has made both the global financial crisis as the debt crisis in the euro area.

Intimate knowledge of Jörg Asmussen of the economy and international finance, but also the banking sector or issues of regulation and bailouts, led Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to keep him as number two after the election of 2009, despite its membership in the SPD party in opposition for two years.

He has since assumed the role of the German sherpa meetings of the G20 and represented the first European economy at large international financial summit.It has also been acting as head of the Department of Finance when Wolfgang Schäuble was hospitalized several weeks ago about a year.

That said, these various functions, Jörg Asmussen was mostly a behind the scenes negotiator, someone responsible for resolving problems in sight the official position of Germany.

During this period he has very few expressed his own opinions.

Rather a 'FALCON'

"How he will think and act is still a mystery.Personally, I think we can store more in the category of hawks than in doves, but I imagine it will take a mediator, "said Manfred Neumann, a professor emeritus who has known Jörg Asmussen as economics student in Bonn.

Jürgen Stark, Jörg Asmussen replaced on the Executive Board of the ECB, was an advocate of hard line in terms of monetary policy, embodying the German Orthodox tradition in this area.

Exceeded by the buyback program sovereign bonds led by the ECB, Jürgen Stark resigned Friday, two and a half before the end of his term, a decision that caused shock waves in the markets.

This departure was reached seven months after the equally unexpected, Axel Weber for the same reasons. Both resignations have shown how the proponents of orthodoxy for inflation were now isolated within the ECB.

Because of his membership in the SPD, some conservatives fear that German Jörg Asmussen making too many concessions to the 'doves' in Southern Europe.

"He certainly has the qualities and profile for the position.But I wonder if he will play the same role Otmar Issing (former chief economist of the ECB), Stark and Weber in the defense of the stability of monetary policy, "Klaus-Peter questioned Willsch, a elected to the CDU.

Others believe that, as president of the Bundesbank and member of the Governing Council of the ECB Jens Weidmann, Jörg Asmussen, a native of the city of Flensburg, close to the Danish border, to flow into the mold of tradition German once it arrives in Frankfurt.

Jens Weidmann and Jörg Asmussen, who both had Axel Weber as an economics professor at Bonn, has for three years worked hand in hand in the answers given by Berlin to the financial crisis.