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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.

Commitments at risk of Kweku Adoboli have increased to 10 billion dollars (7.2 billion euros) according to the Sunday Times. Arrested on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the trader in London the Swiss bank UBS has been detained by a judge Friday. May request bail at a subsequent hearing Thursday.

UBS said Thursday an estimated loss of 1.5 billion euros due to fraudulent transactions of its employees. Since then, the bank did not provide details on the mechanisms in question. The extent of fraud appears, however, reach gigantic proportions: it would be spread over three years since October 2008, without apparently the slightest alarm it caused internally. UBS warned regulators Swiss and British have launched a joint investigation.The bank has set up a parallel internal investigation unit called "Project Bronze" and instructed one of his best traders in derivatives, Jason Barron, to unwind positions Kweku Adoboli. While the fraud would have been discovered in the day Wednesday, all commitments have been liquidated Adoboli Friday.

Supposedly low-risk operations

The trader, who was promoted to his post in 2008 from the back office services, was a member of a small team of five people at Delta One desk. Their mission: to invest large sums to the equity of the bank's alleged market changes, via financial instruments called ETF (exchange traded funds). Generally, low profits emerged from these supposedly low-risk operations at very high volumes.Adoboli of the fault could have come from a lack of coverage of his Paris, which would have resulted in a spiral of losses since the collapse of financial markets this summer.

New to fear layoffs

The extent of the scandal poses serious threats to the future of UBS. While the bank has launched a 3500 plan job cuts, new job cuts are feared. The approximately 6000 employees of the investment bank in London feared an outright shutdown of their business, which should show a loss on the year while UBS as a whole should remain the beneficiary. Despite calls for resignations in Switzerland, head of UBS, Gruebele Oswald replied that he did not intend. "If you ask me whether I feel guilty, I say no," he told the newspaper Der Sonntag.

Concerned about its reputation with its clients it manages fortunes, UBS wrote them a letter Saturday to try to reassure them. "We fully understand that this incident may worry, says the bank. We are very disappointed and we also assure you that UBS is taking the matter very seriously and makes every effort to resolve it quickly. Your assets are safe with us. "

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No less than 7000 pages posted! This is the amount represented by the reports of its nineteen nuclear power plants (58 reactors in operation over the EPR under construction at Flamanville) EDF is currently on schedule to transmit to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) . The "policeman" of the atom is committed, through the voice of its Director General Jean-Christophe Niel to publish in full on its website.

The delivery of copies by EDF and other operators of nuclear facilities is only the first step in the process of "revaluation additional security" required by François Fillon after the accident at the plant in Fukushima, and conducted in parallel with the European approach called "stress tests". Experts from the ASN and IRSN (Institute of Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection) now have three months to publish their report.Extra work for which the ASN has even mobilized to reinforce the "three or four young retirees". Even before the peer review of these reports by experts from other nuclear countries in Europe, between January and April 2012, some foreign experts will participate in the analysis of the copy of EDF.

Alongside the work on paper, the ASN program completed in October of 38 inspections in power, focused on protection against earthquakes, floods, power loss, loss of cooling and crisis management.

During December, the ASN requested EDF as it deems necessary measures – as it has already been done to strengthen the concrete slab of the Central Fessenheim. From January to April, reports of national safety authorities will be considered by their European peers.In the nuclear environment and the hexagonal Quai d'Orsay, is expected to undergo strong pressure from Germany to close the central border Fessenheim, Cattenom and Chooz.

When a patron of the CAC 40 announced that his family moved to Hong Kong, it creates inevitably stir. Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chief executive of Schneider Electric, a lot of time already happening in Asia, where the group generates 26% of its turnover and that, above all, it takes half its growth. Given the strategic importance of the area, the leader has planned to go there more often. Hence the decision to move his family from his base camp.

"It will not change the management of the group," insists there be at Schneider. The headquarters of Schneider remains in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine) and its supervisory board will continue to meet in France under the presidency of Henri Lachmann. Nevertheless.The choice of a home owner in the CAC 40 – the first of its kind – has symbolic value: it illustrates the inexorable redeployment of large groups to emerging countries, foremost among them China and India.

Even before talk of investment, one of the main resources of a company lies in its teams. It is no coincidence that Jean-Pascal Tricoire decided in parallel, as he announced internally in late July, to "relocate" in Hong Kong two members of its executive committee: Karen Ferguson, executive director human resources, and Philippe Delorme, Executive Director Strategy and Innovation, based in Europe so far.A total of fourteen members who form the "comex" champion of smart grids and energy, five are based in Europe, five in the United States and four in Asia online payday loan lenders.

The war for talent

It is no coincidence either that the officers dispatched to the new "hub" of Hongkong drive the human resources and strategy. All international companies, General Electric, Siemens, engaged a war without thank you to Asia to recruit the best talent. "We send our best in Asia", recognizes also the CEO of another international group.

The battle rages also to identify and attract good prey. The stakes are high for Schneider, which continues at a run a targeted acquisition strategy.Between May and June, French disbursed within ten days some 2 billion euros to add in his tool kit a Spanish company (Telvent), an Indian (Luminous) and Chinese (Harvest Power Technologies).

While the economic recovery is delayed in Europe and the United States, the dynamic Asian economies stirs envy. The adjustment to which Schneider has just completed, led by the very Sinophile Jean-Pascal Tricoire, could give ideas to Air Liquide, Saint-Gobain and Lafarge other.

We are far, however, the violent change of course given by the British HSBC. The banking giant, headquartered in London but the birthplace in China, was the first to relocate in early 2010, its branch in Hong Kong.He just drive the point home with a strategic plan that includes 30,000 job cuts by 2013, partially offset by 15,000 recruits in emerging markets.

The shower is severe. In the portfolios of French investors, very few mutual funds have been spared by the crisis of the summer. But there are still some miracle, such as those invested exclusively in bonds. With lower interest rates on German and French titles, they have recorded gains that offset their potential losses on bonds of peripheral states.

Some balanced funds, designed to protect stock market turmoil of the capital of their subscribers, also grown out of summer crash, as they kept their promises. Carmignac Patrimoine, the most famous of them, for example, ends in August slightly higher.He won more than 1% over the last three months, and displays from the beginning of a loss of 1.38%.

Funds that keep their promises

Before the summer, the management company, worried about economic growth, would be prudent, played the German government bonds and U.S. gold mining, focused on the stock exchange on defensive stocks and fled from the European financial. Paris paying as much this summer. "Earlier this year, already, we were very cautious and this has penalized our performance. But our concerns proved justified, "said Didier Saint-Georges, a member of the Investment Committee.

This fund is not the only one who done well in the gameOthers are also this month in the green, like Invesco Balanced Risk Allocation, which earns more than 1%.

Good surprises are, however, to investors, far fewer on the side of mutual funds dedicated only to "actions". Even the most reputable funds have simply succeeded in limiting the decline to less than 20% in August, the image of Agressor of Finance of the Exchequer (16% on a month -12.90% since the beginning of the year), Ulysses de Tocqueville Finance (18% of one month, -17% since the beginning of the year), or Work at Mandarin Mandarine Gestion (-14% last month ), according to Morningstar.

The banks'

Scores honorable, because the mutual funds shares plunge less bright, they, by 25%. And very few funds have done better, except for example Neuflize Opportunities France, which lost "only" 12% in August.Managers had preferred Neuflize Private Assets before the summer increase liquidity, cover part of the equity portfolio and stood, too, away from financial stocks.

"Since the beginning of the year, banks have lost a third of their stock value. The differences in performance between the mutual funds 'share' in Europe are essentially determined by the position given in the securities portfolios, "said Bernard Aybran, director of the multi at Invesco. The funds dedicated to small and mid caps were also often more resistant, precisely because they have few banks in their investment universe.

Subscribers who have agreed to diversify their portfolios outside of Europe have suffered a little less. "Emerging markets have not declined over the summer that the European stock markets," notes Bernard Aybran.U.S. stocks end up well also. At one month, the CAC 40 fell nearly 12% and U.S. S & P 500 half!

If underwriters are well aware of the risks they take by investing in equities, they are however less sensitive to those they face in buying bonds. However, they lost an average of 6.5% in one month on high-yield bond mutual funds, which invest in corporate bonds of lower quality. Popular earlier this year, praised for their efficiency, these securities have also plunged on the stock market during the crisis.

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Caution on the Cac 40. In the wake of the Asian stock markets and the day after a sharp drop on Wall Street, investors do not risk the last trading day of the week. At midday, the benchmark index in Paris was changing still in the red (-0.77%) ironing below 3100 points to 3094.99 points. The CAC 40 accentuated its losses after the publication of the second estimate of U.S. GDP in the second quarter with a loss of 2.60% to 3037.81 points to 15 hours.

Second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product grew by 1% annual rate over the previous three months, said the Commerce Department, revising and down 0.3 points his first growth estimate published in late spring July.Analysts had forecast a less pronounced rate revision, to 1.1%, according to their median forecast.

In a move similar to the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 lost 1.37% to 5064.08 points while the Dax-30 from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, after opening steady widening losses (-2.96 %) to 5419.09 points.

Meanwhile the Fed

Markets are now waiting with some anxiety the president's speech to the U.S. central bank, Ben Bernanke, the outlook for the U.S. economy. On Thursday, weekly jobless claims rose. Causing a sharp decline in U.S. stock markets.

In this uncertain environment expected on ads across the Atlantic, the euro resumed slightly against the dollar Friday in a market without much volume. To 11 hours in Paris, the European currency was worth 1.4440 dollars against 1.4378 dollars on Thursday night.

In the euro area, the lack of major macroeconomic news does not help to give a clear trend to markets. This morning, the companies manufacturing have revised their forecasts down slightly investment for this year and expect a 14% increase (against 15% previously).

The bank's head Cac 40, Peugeot sinks

Essilor International: -0.11% to 53.07 euros

Essilor International in the first semester a turnover of 2.06 billion euros, up 6.9%, the band announced via a press release issued in the edition of Les Echos to appear Friday.

Financials

The ban on short selling financial stocks on Thursday was extended to France, like Italy, Spain and Belgium, and the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) said it would review its position by late September cash advance payday loan.

This decision only briefly managed to reassure investors. If this decision technique to limit selling pressure on the sector, it does not address the fears that persist on European banks and their exposure to countries in need.After posting the largest gains of the Paris stock in early trading, financial stocks are once again very attacked: Societe Generale lost 0.91% to 21.75 euros, BNP Paribas declined more moderately from 0.60% to 34.15 euros, Credit Agricole down 1.31% to 6.42 euros while Natixis closed the show the worst performance (-3.38% to 2.74 euros).

In an interview with Le Figaro, the executive director of Credit Agricole said the group has "significant cash reserves" and "not difficult to obtain financing."

Conversely, other cyclical stocks, car manufacturers, will gradually take after opening the largest declines in the Paris stock exchange. Peugeot, which bought between 12 and 22 August last, about 2% of its capital amounting to 92,010,000 euros, reduced its losses (-1.54% to 19.18 euros), after having dropped to 2.05%.The title, however, fell more than 35% over the last month. A little stronger, Renault drops 0.57% to 26.05 euros.

Total: -0.72% to 32.50 euros

Total expected to present a reorganization in the fall of scale of its operations downstream, with a planned merger of its refining and petrochemicals, according to Les Echos, citing union sources.

As for oil, prices were mixed Friday morning during electronic trading in Asia, in a sluggish market, before the highly anticipated speech of the head of the U.S. central bank (Fed). In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October gave 10 cents to 85.20 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery took 19 cents to 110.81 dollars.

Note that APRR and Bel Cheese (1.95%, to 165 euros) will publish their interim results after market close.

The Paris Bourse remained hesitant on Tuesday. The CAC 40, which had closed up yesterday, was down 0.25% to 3230.90 points. The Paris index was pressed into the red at the opening, losing 0.73% after the release of German GDP is very disappointing. Deutsche Börse also accused the coup, the Dax closed down 0.45%, limiting losses after falling 2.40% to 5877.91 points. In London, the FTSE-100 index of the core values ​​ends up slightly from 0.13% to 5357.63 points after losing 1.13% during the session. The other European financial centers have also reduced their losses late in the day: the Madrid Stock Exchange lost 0.4% and finally to Milan 0.8%.

The markets were reassured by the announcement of the Fitch rating of the United States. The rating agency remains in effect its "AAA" together with a stable outlook.But caution prevails before the summit between Sarkozy and Merkel spent on the economic governance of the euro area. Combined these on global markets, all eyes will be on the Elysee Palace in Paris to take place a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to improve governance in the euro area . The two leaders will meet from 16 hours and hold a press conference around 18:30.

Investors already know that he must not expect miracles, especially not that the two largest economies in the euro zone agreed to set up Euro-bonds, which would be financially harmful to Berlin."Do not expect anything dramatic" at the end of the meeting Monday said a spokesman for Angela Merkel, that "people expect once again a spectacular blow." It should only be to continue discussions on the governance of the euro area, following decisions taken by Heads of State and Government of the European end of July.

Operators still expect progress on this issue. "If nothing is announced, it will mean that there is a deep rift between Paris and Berlin markets can get excited again," warned Yves Marc, sales of shares in Global Equities.

Meanwhile, Asian markets set the tone with very mixed sessions, followed by Wall Street that opened in the red. Oil down with a barrel of "light sweet crude" that is losing 45 cents to 87.43 dollars and that of Brent crude, which gives 42 cents to 109.49 dollars.Sign of nervousness room, gold is up, quoting around 1775.50 dollars against 1744 dollars the day before closing in New York.

German growth slows

The Franco-German summit is further expected that the disappointing figures were published today in the euro area. Germany has announced a particularly sharp slowdown in growth in the second quarter. German gross domestic product (GDP) grew by only 0.1% in the second quarter compared to the first, where he still displayed an increase of 1.3%.

In addition to the sharp slowdown in the German economy, the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), Spanish and Dutch have in fact suffered a similar fate over the same period, rising by only 0.2%, respectively, and 0.1%, amid debt crisis.

Economic growth also slowed in the second quarter in the euro area, 0.2% from 0.8% in the first quarter, according to data released Tuesday by the EU statistics office Eurostat. However, the euro area recorded a trade surplus of 900 million euros in June, after a surplus of 200 million in May.

United States, markets were also disappointed by the figures for housing starts, down 1.5% in July. The number of building permits has meanwhile Contracted 3.2%. However, industrial production increased more than expected in July, 0.9%, according to the Federal Reserve, with the automotive sector and the heat wave that has boosted the use of air conditioners and therefore electricity consumption .Finally, import prices have rebounded from their side, while export declined.

Values ​​to follow

On the corporate side, the news is much thinner. Bank stocks are again suivies.Sous pressure before meeting Sarkozy, Merkel, they recovered late in the session: BNP Paribas lost 0.07% to 37.5 euros, Natixis (-1.64% to 3.063 euros) and AXA (-0.18% to 11.22 euros). Societe Generale gained 1.92% to end 25.275 euros and Credit Agricole advance of 0.68% to 6.781 euros.

GDF Suez (-2.20% to 20.44 euros) is added to the list of preferred values ​​of UBS.

EADS (-0.95% to 21.80 euros): Russian Transaero airline will buy 12 Airbus A320. Qantas has in turn announced the purchase of 110 Airbus A320s and the deferral of delivery of six Airbus A380 jumbo jets.

RATP flourishes in the UK. Having got hold of the famous red double-decker bus in London United, RATP Dev, a subsidiary dedicated to the public transport out of Ile-de-France, announced Tuesday the acquisition of Metrolink, the tram network Manchester. The tram network is one of the largest in the country with 40 km of lines and 21 million passengers each year. The transaction, whose amount was not disclosed, was completed yesterday.

In the UK, the French public transportation is gaining weight. Now it has RATP 3000 people and generates revenues of 220 million euros. As part of the merger between Transdev RATP, which held 25.6% – and Veolia, the RATP has sold its stake and recovered assets housed in its international subsidiary RATP Dev payday loans for bad credit. These represented an overall turnover of 337 million euros in 2010.Worldwide, Dev RATP operates in twelve countries including South Africa, where the French group, and, since the beginning of August, the operation of the railway line between Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Pierre Mongin, the CEO of the RATP, decided to work extra hard on the international with the next three years the turnover of RATP Dev 587 million to one billion euros.

The company, as the Parisians do not imagine as this abroad, also relies on its expertise in operating the automated metro (line 14 in Paris), to score points outside France.

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The uncertainty in Washington. After long weeks of negotiations, Republicans and Democrats seem finally to have reached an agreement to raise the ceiling of U.S. debt, according to U.S. television, ABC News, citing unnamed sources in Congress. But the White House quickly denied. "There is no agreement, said Obama adviser David Plouffe, on NBC. The clock is ticking. We need to find a solution. Today's (Sunday, ed) is obviously crucial "but" significant challenges remain to be resolved, "he said.

The text is still under negotiation, under the leadership of the White House. After a long back against the long struggle between Republicans and Democrats, Barack Obama Saturday decided to get involved again in the negotiations. Return ardently desired by the Republicans.The head of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Harry Reid said he was "cautiously optimistic" about reaching an agreement, saying that some issues remained to be finalized. For its part, the Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell assured on CNN: "We are very close to agreement" .3000 billion over ten years

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate rejected a Democratic proposal to raise the debt ceiling, which had already been rejected by the House of Representatives. In a procedural vote of 50 votes against 49, elected officials have pushed the text elaborated by the head of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Harry Reid.

The Senate will have to decide again on the new text. Only a few details have filtered through the compromise now being negotiated. According to Mitch McConnell, it calls for reducing spending 3 trillion dollars over ten years.The Republicans have also agreed a mechanism to ensure that the debt cap could be raised beyond the U.S. presidential election in November 2012, claiming instead that they reopen early next year, or election campaign.

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Rupert Murdoch warned that things will change. "Given the current problems by News International, we are taking serious steps to deal with the past and ensure that these problems do not happen again," wrote tycoon in an email to all employees on Wednesday. This shipment came a day after his hearing before a parliamentary committee in London, about the wiretapping ordered by the newspaper News of the World, which led to the resignations chain, including the head of Scotland Yard.

"Those who have betrayed our trust, will assume responsibility before the law," he said, adding that the group will emerge stronger from this crisis, but it would take time.

Trying to manage the crisis, the News Corp. has decided to publish an advertising campaign in the British press last weekend to apologize. According to the statement of James Murdoch, son of the founder of News Corp, which was published in The Guardian last Friday, the group plans to communicate widely to explain the actions the group will undertake in the future to manage the crisis. "Our company has made mistakes. She was indicted, but it will make developed to respond to unfair attacks, "he said.

The case made waves in Australia

The wiretapping scandal that broke out in Britain, is now cause problems for the media empire of Rupert Murdoch abroad.The Australian prime minister Julia Gillar said Wednesday in an interview in New South Wales that News Corp. will be forced to answer "hard questions" of Australians in relation to this matter. "I think there are many people who would ask questions related to the practices of News Ltd in our country," she said.The Australian arm of News Corp. News Ltd. controls 70% of the press in the country and trying to acquire other media in the country.

Despite the reassuring statements of Rupert Murdoch, News Corp activities pourraitent be permanently sealed by the case, which led Standard & Poor's yesterday to place the note in the group under surveillance before a next possible degradation.

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