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The agency Fitch upgraded the credit rating Friday from Iceland to BBB-BB + cons, welcoming the country's progress in restoring macroeconomic stability after the financial plunge of 2008.

Note Reykjavik thus leaves the speculative grade and is endowed by Fitch with a stable outlook.

"The restoration of long-term sovereign rating of Iceland investment grade reflects progress in restoring macroeconomic stability, implementing the re ; structural forms and restore the solvency of the country after the financial and monetary crisis of 2008, "Fitch wrote in a statement. 

In late 2008, the three main Icelandic banks collapsed under the weight of their debts accumulated during a decade of aggressive expansion abroad. Their fall has plunged the Icelandic economy, which had to call using the International Monetary Fund.

Relatively untouched by the debt crisis of the euro area, it is not, Iceland is expected to grow by 2% to 2.5% in 2012-2013, Fitch believes.

The rating agency stresses, however, that private debt remains high, that of households above 200% of salary available and the business up to 210% of GDP.

Iceland is rated BBB-by Standard & Poor's and Baa3 by Moody's. His outlook is stable from S & P, but negative by Moody's.

The European Central Bank will keep interest rates in March and may well leave them unchanged for the rest of the year, according to the latest survey by Reuters Aupre ; s economists after the last monetary policy decision of the ECB.

During the press conference that followed the decision of the central bank in the euro area to keep its key rate to 1%, its chairman Mario Draghi gave no indication of a possible reduction in the cost of money at the next meeting of the Central Bank in early March.

As a result, economists who anticipated an easing credit costs next month, reviewed the consensus that prevailed around this prediction. 

On Thursday the 57 economists surveyed, only 14 felt that the ECB will lower its refinancing rate it next month. Last week, they were 41 to 71 to estimate that the central bank would decrease rates before the end of the quarter.

Mario Draghi said that the economic situation in the euro area had recently stabilized, while stressing that there were still risks.

"It is difficult to assess the thinking of the ECB," said Greg Fuzesi, economist at JPMorgan.

"Many other central banks have already lowered their rates again today. After all, the 'signs of stabilization' are not the same as a prolonged period of increased growth likely to generate inflationary pressures, "he argued …. The

….. Reuters survey shows that the probability of lower interest rates by the end of year is very low in the eyes of economists

.

One third of these assets was deposited in banks in the UK, 10% in Switzerland. In total, the Greeks withdrew their banks 65 billion euros since the beginning of the debt crisis. The facade of the National Bank of Greece after a demonstration.

A total of 65 billion was withdrawn from banks in Greece since the beginning of the debt crisis in 2009, of which 16 billion was legally transferred to banks abroad, said Friday the Greek Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos, before Parliament, in response to questions from MPs in terms of debt restructuring and the new Greek EU aid, still under negotiation with creditors.

According to the minister, "32% of the 16 billion euros have been deposited in banks in the UK, and less than 10% in banks in Switzerland". According to figures from the Bank of Greece, deposits at end December 2009, banks in Greece, amounted to 237.3 billion euros, and in June 2011, they amounted to 188.1 billion euros. With a shortage of liquidity in the country, Evangelos Venizelos defended the new plan of European aid to Greece, which is to strengthen the capital of banks with 40 billion euros, and "ensure the economic recovery".

The recapitalization of Greek banks must intervene in the erasure under 50% of the nominal value of bonds held by private creditors to ease the debt burden of countries, which must pass 160% of GDP currently at 120% in 2020. The minister stressed the "importance" of the finalization of the agreement on debt relief and the payment of the new international loans to countries € 130 billion, agreed in October in Brussels by the euro area, to that the country avoids default in payment by March 20, when Greece must pay 14.5 billion euros of bonds due.

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.

Groupama will raise 1.8 billion euros through asset sales, including a 44% stake in the group of real estate Silic and Eurocourtage GAN insurance broker, said on Monday in a source familiar with the matter.

The French mutual insurer wants to raise 800 million euros by the end of the year by selling its share in silica, which is now the subject of preliminary discussions with several companies of real estate and insurance, said the source.

Groupama is also looking to sell its subsidiary GAN Eurocourtage, which he expects at least one billion euros, she said.

He came in first, but he can not win without the votes of the champion of de-globalization … It is not in the field of economics that François Hollande will look for the voters of Arnaud Montebourg. But where, then? François Hollande at a rally in Rennes on 27 september 2011.

Article published previously in The Express. Fr

With 17% in the first round, Arnaud Montebourg is a huge problem with François Hollande. Topped, but with only 39% of the vote, it has very little reserve of votes for the second round. Manuel Valls support does not weigh enough to allow him to cross 50%. Worse, it might even seem like a poisoned chalice left facing a party Francois Hollande is imperative that court to win his match against an Martine Aubry to Montebourg that voters are supposed to go more naturally.The countdown has started to find the magic formula that allows to do the splits. In Dutch, and long, it's called the art of synthesis.

"We know that 25% of PS is in favor of an interventionist left, says a close friend of François Hollande. There was simply a transfer of voice Segolene Royal to Arnaud Montebourg and it does not change the economic position of Holland". On the prohibition of dismissals stock, the golden rule or the how to deal with banks, differences between the two candidates, at least in discourse, are indeed very important. And François Hollande, no question of becoming, overnight, a defender of the de-globalization. It's not the economy that will dredge the voters Arnaud Montebourg, but on morality in politics, where Guerin gives him an advantage over Martine Aubry, or Europe.

Some, however, want to believe that the economic positions are not all as far as it seems. As says economist Elie Cohen, a member of the Council of Economic Analysis and writes notes to François Hollande, "when you scratch behind the concept of de-globalization, which defends Montebourg is the need of the reindustrialise countries and to fight against relocation. He often cites the case of South Korea. This can be an interesting ". In the second debate of the primary, Holland had also argued, like the others, for state support to industry. But not financial support, rather the definition of an enabling legislative framework. Without giving details. This is also where the problem lies with François Hollande, who has favored a few guiding ideas without necessarily deepening."On many issues, he will be forced to be more precise, it says in his entourage. François did not shoot down all his cards at once, but he has no choice."

It will include further justified on the contract generation, a cornerstone of its commitment to youth, which was strongly criticized by Martine Aubry. Exemption from the companies that hire young people without being separated from their seniors, the mayor of Lille does not. She prefers the 300,000 jobs of the future, a move that raises the youth employment in 1997 and has scope to include the project within the PS. François Hollande, who do not believe, there is resignation, but wants the book to young people. Guardian of the PS project, Martine Aubry will not fail to criticize the liberties taken by the Netherlands over a series of proposals which it has acceded and which, he recently recalled, "the hire".

A meeting of the Board of Directors of Dexia to be held Sunday at 13:00 GMT in Brussels to discuss the plan for dismantling the Franco-Belgian bank, announced a spokesman for the group.

"A meeting of the Board will be held at 3:00 p.m. local time," said the spokesman.

First bank victim of the crisis of sovereign debt in the euro area, Dexia was forced to seek government assistance. French Prime Minister François Fillon has to go to Brussels to decide the day with his Belgian counterpart Yves Leterme modality of decommissioning.

Wall Street opened up Monday, as expected, supported by the strong performance of stock exchanges in Europe and Asia, and some relief after Hurricane Irene, which was less damage than feared in New York this weekend end.

A few minutes after the opening, the Dow Jones took 1.47% to 11,450.89 points, the S & P 500 gained 1.69% to 1,196.67 and the Nasdaq composite was progressing 1.72% to 2522.40 .

However, volumes are expected to remain low, public transport in and around New York is highly disturbed.The cyclone did less damage than feared initially, despite twenty deaths along the East Coast of the United States.

Consumer spending of U.S. households rose 0.8% in July, more than expected (consensus + O, 5%), according to statistics released Monday by the Commerce Department.

"These figures do not seem to have much impact. I guess having crossed Irene without major negative event was enough to give a helping hand. This information could help a little," said Brian Lazorishak, manager Portfolio at Chase Investment Counsel.

After the hurricane, the values ​​related to insurance will be closely monitored on Monday.Travelers Cos Inc 3.5% took at the opening.

Finally, investors expect the numbers of the promises of home sales in July, due at 14:00 GMT. Analysts polled by Reuters expecting an average decline of 1.3% of the promises of sales, against a 2.4% increase the previous month.

General Electric said Friday its profit increased by 21.6% in the second quarter thanks to strong demand abroad for its heavy equipment such as jet engines or electric turbines.

The first U.S. industrial conglomerate reported a net profit of 3.69 billion dollars (2.56 billion euros), or 35 cents a share, against $ 3.03 billion, or 28 cents per share.

The turnover, however, fell 4% to 35.6 billion dollars against 34.70 billion expected by analysts.

"This is another good solid quarter. Orders are up 24%, bringing its order book to 189 billion.The fundamentals remain very strong, "said Perry Adams, Huntington Private Financial Group.

The title went up 1.5% in pre-market trading after the publication of these results.

India's Bajaj said Friday that its proposed ultra low cost cars for Renault-Nissan was still valid, denying a news report that talks between the two parties would have ended.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Bajaj Auto had suspended the development of this project on the grounds that such a model would not be commercially viable.

Specialist Motorcycle, Bajaj has no intention of entering the car market with low margins, told the newspaper a board member of the group, Rajiv Bajaj.Instead, Bajaj will present a utility cheap in January, says the WSJ.

"We would like to clarify that the project Bajaj-Renault-Nissan is still very much alive," he said in a statement sent to Reuters by e-mail S Ravi Kumar, senior vice president in charge of development of Bajaj.

"The new platform with four wheels, which applications can be both the utility and passenger transport, will be presented to Renault-Nissan in January 2012," he added.

A spokesman for Renault-Nissan for its part has refused to comment on the status of discussions.

"The Renault-Nissan Alliance is still negotiating in good faith and in private.We do not comment on the status of discussions or the recent statements of Bajaj, "she told Reuters in a statement e-mailed.

Renault-Nissan is not involved in the development of ultra low cost project that could compete with Tata Motors Nano, the cheapest car in the world. So far, the alliance has always said to wait and see the platform that Bajaj will offer before considering a possible joint development with the Indian group in this segment.

Another partnership with an Indian group, Mahindra & Mahindra, has already resulted in failure.Renault was established in 2005 a joint venture to market the Logan, spearhead of the low cost of Renault Dacia, but the group withdrew from the diamond joint venture in April 2010 due to poor sales.

After this failure, Renault has opted for a different strategy this time focused on the alliance with Nissan. He said in this context in May commercial launch in India its Fluence sedan, manufactured locally in Chennai (Madras). Will follow in October the Koleos crossover, and by 2012 three other models, including 4×4 and Duster Dacoia of a compact sedan.