Archive for the 'resources' Category
After considering the price of flour in supermarkets and those of certain financial products, the European Commission is vigilant in fine watchmaking. The competition regulator on Friday launched an investigation into the agreements and dominant positions among manufacturers of luxury watches, trying to see if they have agreed to refuse to supply spare parts to independent repairers.
"The Commission informed the parties concerned and the competition authorities of the Member States of the opening of the proceedings in this case," said the European Commission in a statement.
The investigation follows a complaint filed in 2004 by the European Confederation of Associations of watch repairers (CEAHR) for alleged violation of competition rules of the European Union.Multi-brand repairers had indeed used to make many of the repairs of luxury watches payday loan online. But from 2002, according to CEAHR, manufacturers of luxury watches began to refuse to supply spare parts to multi-brand repairers who were not part of their repair networks. The CEAHR therefore seeks the condemnation of the practice, saying it could force independent repairers to put the key under the door.
The European competition regulator rejected its complaint in 2008 for lack of Community interest. Then the decision was overturned by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in December 2010. This does not prevent the European Commission to be cautious about this.She stresses that the opening of an investigation does not mean it already has evidence about the existence of an offense. And yet, no manufacturer of luxury watches is specifically under investigation.
Cyprus is on the brink both economically and politically. Many speculate that the country, which joined the euro in 2008 to become the fourth of the area to apply for financial support.
The situation worsened with the explosion on July 11 last of a shipment of arms on a naval base. The tragedy left 13 dead and destroyed the main power plant on the island that produced 60% of its electricity. Since the disaster, Cyprus is facing a government crisis. Daily demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Demetris Christofias. To calm discontent, the latter requested the July 28 resignation of the government to conduct a reshuffle.
In addition, the economy ends up weaker than ever. The rating agency Moody's has revised its forecast for GDP growth of 1.5% this year and 2.5% in 2012 down after the explosion.It provides stability in 2011 and a 1% growth in 2012. In addition to the cost of rebuilding the plant and import of electricity in the interval – valued at over one billion euros – daily cuts disrupt an economy already weakened by the crisis. As a result, Standard & Poor's and Moody's both lowered the rating last week in Cyprus due to budgetary concerns of the country.
The banks are the Achilles heel of the Cypriots. Bank of Cyprus, the largest financial institution on the island, called earlier this week the government in Nicosia to take prompt action to prevent the country does need a financial rescue plan. "Unless we act, we risk the ability of the state to refinance and the consequences will be immediate and serious," the bank said in a statement.
The deficit is widening
Especially since the official debt of Cyprus – which is about 61% of GDP – may actually be higher according to some experts. End of 2010, the agency Stock Watch estimates that the debt was around Cyprus 105% of GDP, if we include the debt of social security funds. Enough to feed all the speculation? The spokesman of the Commissioner of Financial Services, Chantal Hughes said Tuesday he was "no question of an assistance plan" because the country is "determined to do what is necessary in terms of fiscal consolidation" . However, the deficit in the first half widened sharply, reaching 3.5% of GDP against 1.9% a year earlier.
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Competition without doping and full of uncertainty is the best guarantee of a successful Tour. In France Televisions, one welcomes the improvement of the hearings provided by the Tour de France 2011. The latter was successful, according to Médiamétrie, peaking at 8.5 million viewers and posted an average over the entire round of 5.2 million daily viewers. The mountain stages as Pinerolo-Serre Chevalier even totaled an audience share of 55.4%.
Daniel Bilalian, head of France Televisions sports, these good results are due primarily to the fact that "the Tour was a real race with many uncertainties, suspense and surprises.As in previous years, the doping scandals have caused the alienation of the event, the 2011 has shown, not supermen, but real riders in the choice of strategies winners or losers, often arriving exhausted. "D ' Moreover, as noted in the athletic director of France Televisions, "sporting events that are stable or growing in audience are characterized by their rarity, such as Six Nations, the Olympics or the Tour de France. It is not just a sporting event but a historical monument as well as July 14. "
"The arrival of new international actors"
This would explain que15 including 20% of viewers of the Tour are not fans of "Little Queen." To hang, France Televisions has also developed programs around the retransmission of the competition."The austere retransmissions within the meaning of the word belong to channels. In France Televisions, we focus instead on the sporting spectacle, "insists Daniel Bilalian. And it noted that "if no channel can claim an immediate return to a sports broadcast, however, its market share in a day later, a commercial value that advertising can be negotiated. The sport has allowed France to claim 2 throughout the year an audience share of 16% and not 15%. "For this reason in particular that France Television has extended by two years until 2015 included a distribution contract with Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the copyright holder of the Tour de France, but the Paris-Roubaix, the Paris Marathon, or the Dakar.If no amount has been disclosed, market experts say that "France Televisions, which remained faithful to the Tour in the worst moments of its history and has guaranteed its sponsors visibility of its branches, would have known that a reasonable increase of prices of the competition. "
In 2015, all contracts of the Tour de France, however, must be renegotiated. Daniel Bilalian cause for concern that fears "the arrival of new international actors such as al-Jazeera, which invests to meet all requirements and policies that have no marketing budget limit."
The reputation of Europcar in the wake of Voeckler
Ten days in yellow by Thomas Voeckler, Europcar team leader, allowed the car rental company to significantly improve its reputation.The group chose this sport for its popularity intact despite the image linked to doping.
Number one European location, the group has engaged in cycling in 2010 to try to improve its reputation with its competitors (Avis, Hertz, Sixt) most frequently cited in surveys of customers. Building 15 million for three years in cycling, the group has apparently achieved its objectives through thousands of citations during the Tour de France.
This bet – won – was nevertheless very bold: Europcar had bet 75% of its budget and marketing communication, 2011.
Still no solution. The elected representatives of the U.S. Congress again tried Sunday to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, but without success. Democrats and Republicans had themselves set a target to announce progress on a plan for deficit reduction before the opening of Asian financial markets on Monday morning. The disappointment of investors is large, the Asian financial centers such as the Paris Bourse.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought Monday to reassure Asian markets: "I am confident that Congress will do what is needed and will come to an agreement on the debt ceiling, and work with President Obama on measures to improve our long-term fiscal outlook, "she said in the text sent in advance of a speech in Hong Kong.
Members of both parties decided to work separately on separate projects. The chairman of the House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, now plans to announce a plan at 14 am local time (20 hours in Paris).
"Nobody wants a failure"
John Boehner told his troops last night that no breakthrough had yet been obtained to repel the specter of a failure of the United States after August 2. According to two officials, he would have repeated in a conference call that "no one wants a failure." But he also warned his party's elected they may need to make "sacrifices" to avoid it.
Twice since Friday night, the talks between the two sides have failed to unlock the status quo on the action to start to reduce the U.S. debt.Friday night, the country experienced a further escalation in the standoff between Democrats and Republicans, they refused to pander to Barack Obama. The Democrats call indeed now $ 400 billion of additional tax increases. A change of position is unacceptable, according to John Boehner, while the two sides had previously agreed to a ceiling of one trillion dollars in additional tax revenue bad credit payday advance. Saturday evening, the President was therefore convened in emergency to four White House officials Republicans and Democrats in Congress for a new emergency meeting. But no more successful in negotiations, after 50 minutes of discussion.
Democratic side, the president believes that the 1.6 trillion cuts represent an offer "extraordinarily fair".Republican side, these efforts remain insufficient to John Boehner, who wishes to bring to 3 trillion budget savings over ten years.
Critical deadlines
Given the failure of talks between the president and elected representatives of both chambers, the compromise could eventually go through further discussion within Congress. If a common ground on removing the ceiling on debt seems likely, no party could only be satisfied with this short term solution, and discussions on the reduction of public spending should be more difficult. One observation that seems to share Timothy Geithner.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary said yesterday that there would probably have two stages for an agreement, first raising the debt ceiling and an agreement on spending cuts and a second stage of higher taxes and reforms.Whatever the timing adopted, it was also described as "unthinkable" that the United States do not meet their debt obligations. And as Barack Obama, who does not want the thorny issue of debt re-emerged during the election year ahead, Timothy Geithner wants to avert the threat of a default for at least 18 months, but at nine days the deadline of August 2, the time is now critical.
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French hopes of a major Airbus order from American Airlines had started to be felt on June 30. An article in the Wall Street Journal announced an order in effect prior upcoming 250 aircraft from European aircraft manufacturer with the third largest global airline industry .*
These hopes were not disappointed. The official announcement has fallen American Airlines places order for 460 Airbus A320 aircraft with 260 and 200 Boeing 737. This is a record contract in the history of aviation from AMR. Even better, some 365 options on Airbus against Boeing's 100 for those raised. This is a turnaround in favor of Airbus fleet since the American company did not count any European aircraft since 2009."Airbus Boeing enters a pure client, there is a 'mix' Neo A320 and A320, which responds to the risk of cannibalization between the two devices," said Yan Derocles, an analyst at Oddo Securities.
The options are for delivery in 2025, while orders already confirmed will be made within two to eleven. So far, Airbus continues its momentum in the Paris Air Show. Indeed, in June, two historical controls had already been reached: the Malaysian company Air Asia going contract for 200 copies of the Neo-A320 for a total of $ 18 savings account payday advance.2 billion, while Indian IndiGo in seeking 150.
The A320 shares to glean Neo 737
Strategically, American Airlines hires a phase of renewal of its fleet and intends to reduce its fuel consumption.In fact, the company looks to new generation aircraft, whose engines are designed to consume a minimum of oil. Airbus, the A320 Neo meets this requirement and just walking on the toes of the Boeing 737 Next Generation, delivered since late 2010. Neo The A320 should be available by 2015. American Airlines will be the first U.S. company to deploy this aircraft.
However, the amount of the order was not disclosed, while the company saw the amount of its net loss increase during the second half of 2011, reaching $ 286 million more than estimated by analysts. In addition, the suspense continues as to the entire command must pass Air France KLM during the summer. She will choose only European aircraft? Stay tuned.
* Number of passengers / km, according to IATA.
The U.S. stock markets move sharply lower on Monday. The Dow Jones lost 0.84% to 12,551.25 points, the Nasdaq 1.02% to 2830.66 loose points and the S & P 500 drops 1.08% to 1329.34 points. On Friday, the New York Stock Exchange ended down, undermined by employment figures disappointing compared with analysts' expectations.
Hiring remained stalled for the second straight month the U.S. in June, with only 18,000 net new jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2% of the workforce.
Alcoa opens the ball in quarterly results
The trend, however, should be fragile before the beginning of the season half-year results. As usual it is Alcoa (-2.32% to $ 16) which will open the show of quarterly, as soon after the close of Wall Street Monday.JPMorgan Chase will be the first major U.S. banks to issue, with results expected Thursday, the same day as Google, which will set the tone for the technology. Investors will know very quickly if the U.S. financial sector has suffered from the decline in trading activities. These results also give a taste of the figures will be announced later by European banks.
According to Thomson Reuters data, the results of listed companies on the S & P 500 should show an average increase of 7.3% compared to second quarter 2010. But this increase could be higher if a majority of companies beat the consensus.
The euro dropped to $ 1.40
On the foreign exchange market, the euro was digging its losses against the greenback on Monday.Mid-afternoon in Paris, the single European currency was worth 1.4050 dollars against 1.4258 dollars on Friday night, falling to levels seen for two weeks.
On the macroeconomic front, the United States, negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling is again blocked, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, who announced that he would not find a comprehensive agreement with the White House.
In the process, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner gave assurances that the U.S. would not default on their financial commitments, while Barack Obama announced he would hold a press conference Monday at the White House.
Always on the side of values, Sanofi (2.49% to 80.35 dollars) today announced positive results in a phase III study for Lemtrada, a drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis developed by Genzyme's new subsidiary. Sanofi put his hand in April on U.S. biotech Genzyme for more than 20 billion. In addition, Sanofi said on Monday the sale of its Canadian dermatology Dermik to Valeant for $ 425 million (300 million) in cash, in order to focus on priority activities in the United States and Canada.
In the same area, the Swiss company Lonza, specializing in life sciences, announced Monday the acquisition of the U.S. Arch Chemicals (11.24% to 46.91 dollars), a company active in biocides.The cash offer to 47.20 dollars per share values the company at $ 1.4 billion, which represents a premium of 36.7% over the share price on the last thirty days.
In addition, the U.S. aerospace equipment Precision Castparts Corporation (0.79% to 164.07 dollars) will strengthen the sector by buying aero Primus International Society for $ 900 million in cash.
Also note, the Financial Times, the fund Blackstone (-3.12% to 16.48 dollars) sold its shares in the Chinese Dili Group, while the group would not be able to freely adjust its prices .
The U.S. stock markets, should the open down on Wednesday. Future of Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, in fact retreating from 0.24% to 1333.50 points and 0.14%% to 2368.75 points. Tuesday, Wall Street ended the session in a disorganized manner. The Dow Jones lost 0.1% to 12,569.87 points while the Nasdaq 100 has been 0.35% to 2825.77 points. For its part, the broader index S & P 500 yielded 0.13% at 1337.88 points, in a low volume of trade.
Lowering the debt rating of Portugal four notches by Moody's is expected to weigh on investor sentiment on Wall Street.The rating agency has no confidence in the program "ambitious" in the words of the new government which includes to reduce the country's deficit from 9.1% to 5.9% this year, and 3% of 2013, and believes it is likely that Portugal needs a new aid in addition to 78 billion decided last May.
Also on the front of the public finance crisis in Europe, major international banks and insurers have an appointment in Paris today to discuss again the terms of their expected participation in the next plan of aid to Greece.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro fell sharply against the dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by renewed worries about the economic health of the most fragile countries in the euro area.Around 11:00 in Paris, the single European currency was worth 1.4359 dollars against 1.4418 dollars late Tuesday.
Warren Buffett eye on the activities of consumer credit from Citigroup
On the macroeconomic front, investors will be watching in the U guaranteed pay day loans.S., the ISM index of activity in the service in June in 16 hours and the weekly inventory of crude oil after half an hour.The main highlight of the week, however, is expected Friday with the employment figures.
The side of values, the U.S. investor Warren Buffett, through his holding company Berkshire Hathaway, is in line to take over the activities of consumer credit offered for sale by the bank Citigroup, the Wall Street Journal said on its website.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the micro-blogging site Twitter is finalizing a new round of finance which would raise hundreds of millions of dollars and the recovery to $ 7 billion.In December, Twitter announced that it has raised funds "important" from a group of investors who, according to a news site dedicated, focused its total value to about $ 3.7 billion.
Also note, investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley announced Wednesday it had placed with private investors 9.16% of Spanish giant Amadeus travel bookings, to 569.9 million euros.
In addition, DST Systems has announced the acquisition of IntelliSource Healthcare Solutions, a solutions provider operating in the field of health insurance. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
For its part, Pfizer has reported positive results for the phase III study conducted in Japan on Lyrica (pregabalin) for the treatment of fibromyalgia.
From our correspondent in London
British Prime Minister David Cameron faces his first big Thursday-day strike in the public sector as opposed to pension reform. Approximately 600,000 employees of which a majority of teachers and members of the Border Police should follow suit, causing the closure of thousands of schools in the country and major disruptions at airports.
Trade unions in the public protest against the passage of the retirement age for all staff to 66 by 2020 (it was already 65 years for men and 60 for women) and against the increase in taxes for pensions.
"This will be the biggest social movement since the general strike" of 1926, promised Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, the largest union of public service.The country will certainly not be stopped during the great miners' strike of 1926 since the work stoppage will last only twenty-four hours and will not be extended. However, the subject of pensions involves all teachers.So much so that for the first time in 127 years of existence, the union moderate the association of professors and teachers in higher education (ATL), which has many contributors in private schools in the UK, called on its members to participate in a work stoppage at the national level.
800,000 new employees in Blair
During the session of questions to Prime Minister on Wednesday in the House of Commons, David Cameron said "there was no justification to strike as negotiations are still ongoing with the unions guaranteed fast personal loans." But the discussions last minute held Monday at Whitehall with the union representatives were far from successful.The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is absolutely not ready to make concessions on a reform he described as essential to provide the balance of the pension system, weighed down by the recruitment of 800,000 new staff under Tony Blair . The Ministry of Finance has estimated 10 billion pounds (11 billion) the cost to taxpayers of a postponement of the pension reform.
The austerity is, indeed, the slogan of the coalition led by the Conservatives with the Liberal Democrats since last year. The goal that David Cameron has established with the support of the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is to eliminate substantially all of the public deficit by 2015, making 81 billion pounds of budget savings over the period.The drastic reduction of public spending is accompanied by a wage freeze for two years and the removal of more than 300,000 jobs in the public service. The main public service union, Unison, has not joined the social movement Thursday, for procedural reasons but promised a seamless mobilization of its 1.2 million members in July and next fall if the government made no concession.
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Lunch with Warren Buffett this year will cost 2.63 million dollars to the winner of the traditional auction held once per year to a charity. Only two bidders this time participated in the sale held on the eBay website, but the low number of candidates did not prevent the sums involved to reach a record level. The winner has indeed paid 111 euros extra to beat the 2010. The latter, who wishes to remain anonymous, then share the meal with one of the richest men in the world between June 27 and July 11 next, in the famous New York restaurant Smith & Wollensky. It may be accompanied by seven friends of his choice.
Fortune ranked third worldwide after the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim Helu and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, aged 80, is head of investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc.The idea to donate the money raised at auction for a lunch came to the investor in 2000 when his wife, Susan, now deceased, presented him with the Glide Foundation and its founder, the Rev. Cecil Williams. As in previous years, funds raised for this twelfth luncheon will be donated to benefit the charity, which helps disadvantaged residents of San Francisco. Through these annual lunches, Buffett has managed to raise over $ 9 million.
50% of fortune to charity
Spurred by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, several American millionaires have pledged to donate over 50% of their fortune to charity easy payday loans.This initiative, called "Giving Pledge" ("Pledge") was launched in June 2010 and already has 69 signatories, including director George Lucas, CNN founder Ted Turner, or the co-founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg. "We see tremendous progress in just one year", says Warren Buffett in a statement. "I am delighted that so many people who have done well in America publicly commit and participate in philanthropy."
But despite the enthusiasm of the creators of the association "Giving pledge," they are struggling to find recruits abroad. Hoping to make a successful campaign in the Middle Kingdom, which houses a quarter of large fortunes in Asia, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett went to Beijing in September 2010 for a charity dinner party, after which a very small number of guests would have answered the call.The list of philanthropists also contains no French name, despite the presence of four large fortunes (Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Liliane Bettencourt (L'Oréal), Francois Pinault (PPR) and Serge Dassault (Dassault Aviation) in the Top 100 Forbes.
The reform bill just passed by the Council of Ministers, the debate continues on the creation of the famous tax on high salaries and bonuses. And the question that arises now is that the threshold will be taken.
Always opposed the creation of a new tax bracket, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic, in effect, gave the green light to Pierre Mehaignerie, Chairman of the Committee on Social Affairs, to think about it the establishment of an "outstanding contribution". Francois Baroin, the budget minister, was then referred to a $ 2 million to 3 million euros as the threshold for application of this new tax. But according to Les Echos this morning, a government source said that this threshold could be lowered.Also according to the business daily, Pierre Mehaignerie advance, meanwhile, the leveraging of income above 1 million euros.
The tax, originally scheduled to be exceptional, should also become permanent. It would be introduced through an amendment to the Finance Act amendment that members must consider from 6 June.
Debate in the fall
Chairman of the Committee on Social Affairs did not give further, creating a new tax bracket. It even has the approach of presidential elections in 2012 to convince the executive.
The battle is announced on this subject for the time referred to in fall. "This debate should be raised but it has its place in more finance law that at the collective (that is to say, the supplementary budget law) on the reform of the ISF, which is well balanced" , said the MP.
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