Posts Tagged ‘help’

November 6, 2011 - 10:56 am Comments Off

The government of George Papandreou won the confidence of the Greek Parliament in the night from Friday to Saturday with only three votes in advance (153 votes out of 300). A reprieve for the Prime Minister called for the formation of a coalition cabinet, in a speech before the crucial vote for the ratification of the Europe Agreement Debt of Greece and the future of the country. According to Papandreou, the early elections – that the Conservative opposition was calling for – was a disastrous decision, likely to endanger the payment of the sixth tranche of aid from the European rescue plan.

On borrowed time since the disputed proposal to hold a referendum on the agreement, laboriously adopted at the European summit at dawn on October 27, Papandreou has started to prepare for his release, saying in his speech he was ready to leave office ."My position is the last thing I care about. Even matter if I am not re-elected. (…) I never conceived of politics as a profession, "he said.

The head of government has indeed lost the little credibility he had left with the political elite and the Greek people. Even within his party, PASOK (Socialist), leadership is increasingly contested. The barons of the government are the finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, Minister of Education, Anna Diamantopoulou, the Health Minister, Andreas Loverdos, lambasted the escape of his responsibilities as representing the call to the people, as unexpected as moved. The abandonment of the idea, which had angered the countries in the euro area was confirmed Friday in Athens.

UN alarmed by high agricultural prices

October 12, 2011 - 8:24 am Comments Off

In Rome

The volatility of prices of basic foodstuffs is likely to persist and even worsen for ten years, increasing the vulnerability of the poorest farmers in the world. It is the fear of the three UN agencies responsible for combating world hunger: FAO (Food and Agriculture), WFP (World Food Programme) and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development).

In their annual report on "Food Insecurity in the World", the three Rome-based agencies denounce the vagaries of international market prices. "The small countries dependent on imports, particularly in Africa, are particularly affected," they note. Thirty-two countries now need to receive external assistance due to crop failures, conflict or natural disasters.

The Nikkei rose after central bank action

September 16, 2011 - 6:44 pm Comments Off

Asian stock markets will end the week on a positive note. In the wake of Wall Street closed higher on Thursday, the markets have also welcomed the decision by central bankers from the richer countries to mobilize to prevent the drying up of banks' liquidity in dollars. Thus, the European Central Bank (ECB), with the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan has reopened its facilities dollar loans to European institutions in three months, at their request. The Nikkei gained 1.93% to 8836.10 as well.

The IMF, like the ECB through its president Jean-Claude Trichet welcomed the unity of central bankers to the crisis: he stressed that it was more necessary than ever for world leaders to unite to prevent a recession that should spare "person."This will reassure investors, who until now did not cease to spread their fears about a bankruptcy in Greece, coupled with sluggish growth prospects on both sides of the Atlantic.

However, brokers in Asia fear that this improvement is short-lived. "The coordinated central bank takes the market today," noted Toshiyuki Kanayama, broker at Monex, Japan, quoted by Dow Jones Newswires. But this does not solve the problem of the euro area should have a temporary effect. "

Bank stocks and exporters in progress

At the Tokyo Stock Exchange, banking stocks and exporters popped up then. Toyota wins and 1.75% to 2737 yen, Honda 2.27% to 2447 yen.The same goes for banks, Sumitomo rising by 3.39% to 2166 yen, as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (4.24% to 244 yen).

Other places are also Asian financirèes in the green. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 2.14% to 19,591.93 points, the Kospi Index in Seoul was up 3.56% to 1837.22 points, the S & P / ASX 200 index in Sydney rose by 1.81% to 4145.20 points, the BSE Sensex index in Mumbai was up 0.96% to 17,039.30 points and the FTSE Singapore Straits Times Index rose 1.35% to 2803.25 points.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro kept most of the gains made the previous day. The European currency was worth 1.3848 dollars and 106.31 yen Friday morning in Tokyo, down slightly compared to 1.3882 dollar and 106.40 yen the night before in New York.Similarly, the oil price displayed in a small increase in morning trading in Asia, a barrel of "light sweet crude" earned 5 cents to 89.45 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea 14 cents to 112 , $ 44. "This liquidity will likely prevent the recession to hit the euro area, supporting crude oil prices," said Victoire Shum, an analyst at Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

The Fed gives more air to Wall Street

September 8, 2011 - 3:12 am Comments Off

The U.S. stock markets are given a little air on Wednesday. After the U.S. central bank acknowledged that the economy continues to grow, the Dow Jones gained 2.26% to 11,390.98 points, the Nasdaq climbed 2.85% to 2544.29 points and the S & P 500 is 2, 73% to 1197.09 points.

United States: 300 billion dollars for the job?

Thursday, U.S. President, Barack Obama must speak to announce a new stimulus package. Bloomberg and CNN, Bush is expected to announce Thursday the release of 300 billion dollars (about 213 billion euros) for employment.

The euro was up 0.34% to 1.4055 dollars in late morning. The European currency is notably supported by the decision of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to set a floor price of 1.20 francs per euro.

Oil prices have, for them, increased sharply, supported by the prolonged interruption of production in the Gulf of Mexico, the sudden force of scholarship and a report from the Fed positive for U.S. growth. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, a barrel of "light sweet crude" (WTI) for October delivery rose 3.32 dollars compared to the previous day, to clinch at 89.34 dollars.

Yahoo: Markets welcome the departure of Carol Bartz

The exchange operator NYSE Euronext (4.03% to 26.10 dollars) recorded in August increased volumes of transactions on the cash market and derivatives, both the U.S. and Europe, a trend that reflecting strong market activity this summer. In the U.S., sales rose 38.9% to 3.2 billion shares daily volume.At one month, the volume increased by 60%.

Yahoo! (6.51% to 13.75 dollars) on Tuesday announced after the close of Wall Street the departure of its CEO, Carol Bartz, thanked months to three years after being chosen to revive a society in decline. The group is now looking for a new boss to find the way of immediate croissance.Dans, Timothy Morse, Chief Financial Officer since July 2009, temporarily taking the reins of the web portal cash advance loans.

All Nippon Airways (7.84% to 6.60 dollars) expects to receive the last of the 55 aircraft ordered 787 Dreamliners from Boeing by 2018, said the president of the largest airline.ANA, which will be the first customer for Boeing to fly the aircraft, will receive the first copy of 787 on Sept. 25 and anticipates delivery of 20 additional Dreamliners by March 2013.

Bank of America (3% to 7.20 dollars), experiencing significant challenges, announced Tuesday a reorganization of its management team with the appointment of two new operational directors, David Darnell and Tom Montag, from the ranks of the bank.

Note also a major shareholder of the Canadian Research in Motion (RIM) (0.03% to 30.98 dollars), the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, listed on Wall Street, on Tuesday called the "transformations" in the major group or its sale to tone the decline in value of its title.

The oil company Chevron (2.79% to 98.28 dollars) announced the discovery of oil during a drill in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Louisiana (southern U.S.).

Altera (1.46% to 35.37 dollars) announced that it expected a sales growth of 2% -3% in the third quarter, against an increase of 2% to 6% previously due to lower demand.

For his part, Darden Restaurants (-4.24% to 44.22 dollars) expects sales growth of 6.5% to 7.5% over the year and an EPS growth of 12%.In addition, the company wants to make stock repurchases for 400 to 500 million dollars this year against 300-400 million previously announced.

The American expert group purchases online Groupon, who announced in June its intention to go public, "reassess the timing" of this operation and has canceled a tour dedicated to the promotion of its future trading, reports the Wall Street Tuesday Journal.

France Televisions spends 20% of its budget for audiovisual

September 1, 2011 - 9:32 am Comments Off

Create a "collective imagination". It is the mission of public broadcasting as Remy Pflimlin, CEO of France Televisions. If he wants to "broaden the public of France Televisions" is less to redress hearings, which have been somewhat volatile, that to build "a public service that addresses all the French," he said Yesterday at the conference back from France Televisions. We must "constantly innovate and ensure that France Television is a reflection of society," says Rémy Pflimlin.

The group announced 30 new leaders of its branches, "to go to an increasingly diverse France." Diversity will also be found in the contents with 100 new programs on the channels of the group. In this wave of new, Rémy Pflimlin is willing to assume some failures."It's the price we pay for innovation," says he.

Result: the cost of channel grid is up this year. It reached 810 million euros on France 2, 820 million euros for France 3 (half of which is now devoted to regional programs), 45 million to France 4, France 5 to 145 million, 28 million for France and 180 O million for the nine channels overseas first. And the contract of objectives and means signed this summer with the state provides for increases of 3% per year over five years cheap credit report. Remy Pflimlin has identified two strategic areas: information and creation.

Back to movie nights

For information, France Televisions has the largest supply of the European audiovisual with more than 50 hours a day. JT and the hearing on 20-h de France is close to that of TF1. The group discusses the election campaign including the program "Words and deeds."On the creation side, the group now spends 20% of its budget to financing of entertainment, or 420 million euros. A significant increase compared to 365 million spent by the team of Patrick de Carolis. The group has signed an agreement that should lead to the development of new French drama. But the results will be on air in a year or two. France 2 will broadcast "contemporary dramas and thrillers," and France 3, of historical fiction. The cinema is back with such a "great movie night" on France 3 on Thursday with Frederic Taddei.

ALSO READ:

"France Televisions is the sort of programs

"Wave of departures to France Televisions

Euro area: new fears of bank liquidity

August 19, 2011 - 12:16 am Comments Off

Markets as nervous, there are words that come to wave the red flag when a decision. In reporting on Thursday that the U.S. financial regulator was concerned about the liquidity of European banks, the Wall Street Journal triggered a new access of hysteria on bank stocks.

If French banks, Societe Generale, in particular, were stigmatized last week, the storm did not make a market area yesterday. The Barclays dipped by 11.5%. Fellow HSBC lost nearly 6%, slightly less than Deutsche Bank or the Italian UniCredit. In Paris, Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas were down about 7%, while Societe Generale unscrewing of 12.3%. The Franco-Belgian Dexia, meanwhile, lost about 14% of its stock value.Following the opening of Wall Street, U.S. banks have followed the same slide.

The Wall Street Journal, the New York Fed, the financial regulator of Wall Street, puts the pressure on the U.S. subsidiaries of European banks strengthen their liquidity cushion. History of securing their record if their parent would have problems. Most European banks overseas do not have their networks providing local funding. As a result, access to resources in dollars can be complicated for these players. An unidentified European bank and borrowed $ 500 million Wednesday to the European Central Bank.

The quest for the dollar

During the 2008-2009 crisis, European banks had largely entered the office of the ECB for greenbacks for force feed their trading activities or loans in the United States payday loans.We are still far from levels at the time. In May 2010, the Fed and the ECB have replaced the pipes essential to enable them to exchange their currencies.

Since the beginning of the crisis of sovereign debt in Europe, the major concern is that it degenerates into a crisis of liquidity. That is the risk aversion is exacerbated to the point that banks no longer find funds to finance themselves, as was the case in 2008 after the fall of Lehman. On this side, the signals are not very positive. For many small Spanish banks or European banks, the ECB has become the only means of financing.

In recent months, U.S. money market funds began to withdraw from European banks. Last week, the fear that Chinese institutions are following suit had revived the panic over bank stocks.

The problem is that markets are not the only doubt.Regulators also are concerned, not just the United States. London, Paris or Milan engage in the same fight. Remembering how Lehman has siphoned off three days before its bankruptcy all the cash from subsidiaries in Europe to repatriate to the United States, each jurisdiction dearly defended its interests. "We are witnessing an escalation of the regulators," recalls one banker.

ALSO READ:

"The Paris Bourse tumbles 5.48%

"SPECIAL – Depression, fear of debt

The Paris Bourse is stepping up its gains

August 13, 2011 - 2:20 pm Comments Off

European stock exchanges succeed they continue their rebound started the day before? Nothing is less certain on Friday morning, when the index in Paris fell into the red immediately after opening up 0.17%. Ten minutes after the opening, the Paris index yields 1.59% to 3040.59 points. This movement of yoyo ends around noon, while the Paris index posting a gain of 2.64% to 3170 points. For the week, the CAC is still lost 3.6%.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt and London markets opened in the red. But as in Paris, they found the colors in the late morning. Frankfurt gained 1.63%, 0.95% London, Madrid and Milan 2.30% 1.63%. For its part, the Swiss progressed from 3.61%.

Thursday, ACC closed up 2.59% to 3089.66 points, after falling in mid-session. The day before, he had plunged more than 5%.The same volatility dominates in Frankfurt the Dax closed Thursday up 3.28% and in London where the FTSE-100 index gained 3.11%.

Investors should prove once again nervous at the end of a week marked by extreme market volatility, which saw the CAC 40 push the psychological threshold of 3000 points during trading Thursday before returning to the colors. Investors were reassured by the announcement of a meeting between Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on August 16 to issue joint proposals on the governance of the euro area. In addition, U.S. markets were supported by two good indicators of the jobless and real estate. Wall Street has ended sharply higher: the Dow Jones has gained 4% and the Nasdaq 4.69%.

Despite the ban on short selling in the securities of eleven banks and insurance companies to counter the extreme volatility of the stock market values. Still, banking stocks are still abused in the image of BNP Paribas, which issued a statement Thursday night to reaffirm the strength of its capital, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole fast cash loans.

No growth in the second quarter

On the macroeconomic front, INSEE reported this morning from zero growth in the second quarter in France (0.0%), against an increase of 0.9% in the first quarter. Inflation also slowed: the consumer prices fell by 0.4% in July, resulting in an increase of 1.9% over the year (against 2.1% from June 2010 to June 2011 ).

Oil is, meanwhile, resumed its decline in trade in Asia, having recovered Thursday in the United States.In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" lost 47 cents to 85.25 dollars and that of Brent North Sea fell by 57 cents to 107.45 dollars.

Other values ​​to follow, Carrefour pulls out of the game: the title ahead of 3.32% to 18.53 euros. U.S. giant Wal-Mart have mandated UBS to investigate the acquisition of the Brazilian subsidiary of French retailer, according to Reuters citing a source familiar with the matter.

Goldman Sachs lowered its recommendation on Lafarge (-0.62% to 28,835 euros) and withdrew the title from its list of recommended values ​​in priority to the purchase.The intermediary has instead built his list to Saint-Gobain (0.55% to 32.975 euros) and Vinci (-0.30% to 34.36 euros).

Europacorp (0.63% to 3.22 euros), the production company of Luc Besson, Thursday reaffirmed its goal of a return to balance for the current year, despite a sharp decline its turnover in the first quarter.

Derichebourg (-1.05% to 3.489 euros) Thursday confirmed its target of improving its annual net income, after recording a sharp increase in sales over the first nine months of the year.

ALSO READ:

"Short sales suspended

"French banks in the spiral of fear

"What rating of France deserves it for his debt?

Lacourt-Stravius: the same coin but not the same income

July 27, 2011 - 4:00 am Comments Off

Two world champions, yet two totally separate financial realities. This is the observation made on Tuesday after Camille Lacourt Stravius ​​and Jeremy have jointly won the gold medal in 100 meter backstroke in Shanghai (China).

The first saw its revenues increased more than sixteen in less than a year with new advertising contracts. 42,000 euros per year in August 2010, Camille Lacourt thus rose to 700,000 euros, much of which end of advertising contracts. Jeremy Stravius, it has at present still no agent and a single sponsor, Tyr, obtained through the French Federation of Swimming.

Thanks to a physique, Camille Lacourt has attracted luxury brands like Clarins and beauty, and earns 200,000 euros a year for six years, and Chanel, which pays 70,000 euros a year to wear its watches. But not only.These three gold medals taken down on three different disciplines at the European Championships in 2010 convinced the sponsors to leverage the rising value of swimming. This choice is paying now. "We have no logic, because the muse is the star product, it says Clarins. Such a partnership is a new and unusual practice for us. It's Camille Lacourt who came to us. President Christian Courtin had a crush on the athlete who shared our family values. It has in fact explained that her grandmother was attached to our products low fee payday loans. It has become our first ambassador. What we do not regret today. "

Banking on new talent to one year of the Olympics 2012

A speech that could also take Tyre, the last date of the associate sponsor of the club swimmers Marseille.Last June, the U.S. supplier has signed with him a three-year contract for a minimum of 80,000 euros per year. This amount could go up to 150,000 euros.

The gap is large with Jeremy Stravius ​​which according to our information, does not own advertising contract. But in the basin of Shanghai, the swimmer's club has yet matched the Amiens time Camille Lacourt, which is considered as one of the specialists in the discipline. Jeremy Stravius ​​therefore affect the same amount as for this fellow gold medal.

Amiens and the swimmer is reassuring: the current situation is reminiscent of Camille Lacourt a year ago, before it exploded and sports media to the general public.As long as Jeremy Stravius ​​this week confirmed its performance on other distances, it is not inconceivable that a brand can be associated with his image, in just one year of London Olympics in 2012.

ALSO READ:

"Lacourt, double joy

"Lacourt Stravius ​​and back to back

"Les Bleus take time at the World Swimming

Lafarge eases the financial pressure

July 15, 2011 - 7:48 am Comments Off

July 14 was not been idle at Lafarge. French cement giant has indeed completed the assignment, long overdue, a branch of his cast. The transaction involves assets located in Europe and South America. Last year they had recorded 895 million euros in turnover of 115 million EBITDA. The buyer is a Belgian company, Etex, which will thus increase its turnover by almost 50%.

Financially, the French group recorded a sound operation. It will touch 850 million and retain a 20% stake in the new entity will combine the activities casts of both groups. Lafarge will be able to sell this stake to Etex within five years.

Amount of the sales in past

This sale is not a surprise.Despite its position as number three in the plaster, Lafarge no longer considered as a strategic sector for many years. Last year, the industry weighed only 8.8% of total turnover of the group. The assignment does not, however, the entire cast of the activity, but a little less than two-thirds. Bruno Lafont, CEO of Lafarge, would not say the fate of the balance of this activity, located mainly in North America and Asia. A sale seems logical.

Earlier this year, the leaders of Lafarge had announced a goal of reducing the debt of 2 billion euros, 750 million through asset sales. With the only transaction announced yesterday, so they exceed the amount of planned disposals. Last May, Lafarge had already sold its cement and concrete in the southeast United States for 535 million euros.It is true that the financial situation of cement remains tense. In late December, he posted nearly 14 billion euros of net debt. The rating agency Standard & Poor's had also downgraded its rating on Lafarge mid-March.

With operations carried out since the beginning of the year, the group now appears to have the wherewithal to bring the agency to reconsider its position. Investors also seem to be confident, since the title Lafarge had opened up during the meeting of July 14, in a declining market.

The exorbitant cost of cyber attacks

July 3, 2011 - 1:32 am Comments Off

The numbers are staggering. In Germany, the financial damage caused by cyber crime amounted to 61.5 million euros in 2010, according to figures released Thursday by the criminal police and the Federation of high tech Bitkom. This is equivalent to an increase of 66% over the previous year. As the United States, the FBI estimated the cost of crime to some digital $ 560 million in 2009. A world-wide, according to McAfee, cyber crime would have generated some 1000 billion in 2008, about 1.64% of world GDP for that year. Remains that, without minimizing the scale of the scourge, these figures are perplexing.

Many experts give little credence to these studies because most of them emanate from computer security specialists. For the record, other than McAfee is the world number two antivirus software.In addition, "less than 10% of companies report having experienced cyber attacks," said Jean-Paul Pinte, senior lecturer in strategic intelligence at the Catholic University of Lille. According to the specialist risk management and cyber terrorists of enterprises affected societies fear the bad publicity due to media coverage of cyber attacks.

Jean-Paul Pinte, "we know nothing of the legacy and financial losses suffered indirectly." He added: "If an attack is to relieve a company of sensitive information, loss of data will generate multiple costs, such as loss of competitiveness, or the upgrading of security."

"Hard to get a comprehensive view"

Director of the National Security Information Systems (Anssi), Patrick Pailloux abounds in this direction."When a site is the victim of an attack, he takes as an example, it is first blocked, causing a shortfall. Then we must add additional costs to set up a hotline strengthened. "And on the practices of industrial espionage initiated via the Internet," How can we measure in terms of losses that a competitor could steal ?, "asks the director of Anssi. Clearly, "it is difficult to get a comprehensive view of the problem," says he.

Despite these criticisms, these figures are held up to each event on Cybercrime. However dated, the estimated one trillion dollars of McAfee is authoritative. Last May, it appeared even in the "reminder" of the fourth Parliamentary Forum on Information Society in Geneva, on the initiative, among others, the United Nations.Trompe-l'oeil, the text quoted a source stamped Europol, the pharmacy police intergovernmental European Union, which actually refers to the numbers … the software publisher.

If governments do not hesitate to chopping these impressive figures, it is often necessary to legitimize, but costly reinforcement of their agencies against digital piracy. Or clear, make the pill easier to swallow from taxpayers. In January, the UK has estimated that cyber attacks cost him a whopping 27 billion pounds per year (32.2 billion euros) in a government study.An amount (by far) greater than the harm claimed by the United States … A few days before making public figure, London has announced the release of 650 million pounds over four years to "strengthen its cyber security " guaranteed high risk personal loans

International cooperation in the war-horse

Without waving the national figures, France is no exception, as evidenced by the announcement of piracy Bercy in March. Patrick Pailloux it was for the state to "lead by example" to encourage companies to report piracy they wipe. The Director of Anssi said that 150 computers were then infiltrated by hackers to steal documents for the French presidency of the G20. "We were able to counter the threat," he goes on, noting that thirty experts have been mobilized for two months to "clean up" more than 130,000 positions in the Department.A communication that is timely, since Anssi plans to double its workforce (360 employees) by 2013.

Such methods may be distasteful, but experts and politicians agree: there is no time to waste on the face of digital crime. "For a long time in France, we thought that hacking and computer intrusions were not really dangerous, says Jean-Paul Pinte. But now we know that it's become a real business, and that the threat can come from anywhere: a simple USB key, hard drives or even photocopiers, which, connected to the Internet can become the target of hackers ".

Therefore, international cooperation, which requires significant resources, is "a priority," insists Patrick Pailloux. And for good reason: "90% of attacks are international," says the director of Anssi.In the columns of The Tribune, Laurent Wauquiez, Minister for European Affairs, recently recalled that a hacker "can be installed in Latvia, while in France to intervene through a Canadian site." He even considers urgent that Europe adopts "a kind of cyber-FBI-backed Europol" to stem the digital crime. And one last statistic to shoot, ensuring that "a user of thirty lost money in Europe over the last year" due to a hacker.

Businesses, prey selection

Having surveyed 45 U.S. companies in 2010, the Ponemon Institute found that on average, the financial damage caused by hackers and data theft was $ 3.8 million.Like that of McAfee, this figure is to be taken lightly, as though Ponemon shows his independence, his study was commissioned by ArcSight, a specialist in digital security. However, it appears that large groups are increasingly being targeted by hackers. Since the beginning of the year, the list of companies or institutions that have suffered cyberattacks has continued to grow. Sony has suffered more than ten attacks since mid-April, leading to theft of confidential data of more than 1 million customer accounts. Recently, Sega has had the same misfortune: the editor of the series of Sonic hedgehog found in mid-June have been stolen names, email addresses, birth dates and passwords of almost 1.3 million customers on its servers.Google or Citigroup also suffered cyber attacks.

ALSO READ:

"The New Face of Cybercrime

"Europe declares war on cybercrime

"When Internet users are fighting against cybercrime

"A French arrested for hacking Twitter

"Exchange: cyber attacks concern to governments