International Headlines and Stories

Against "unfair and ineffective sacrifices, Greek officials Wednesday manifested in big cities. A 24-hour strike was launched by the Union Public Service ADEDY, with more than 300,000 members. Employees of public protest against wage cuts announced by the Socialist government to reduce deficits and thus reassure the markets.

Tuesday, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou reiterated wage austerity measures provided for in the Public Service wage freeze, down 10% premium, 30% decrease in overtime, stoppage of recruitment in 2010, except in the sectors of health, education and security. Labor Minister, Andreas Loverdos, proposed back two years to 2015 the average age of retirement to raise it to 63 years.

In Athens, about 5,000 union members protesting in the rain in the streets, which must be added the separate gathering of 5,000 activists of the union Struggle Front (PAME), an offshoot of the ultra-orthodox communist party (KKE). In Salonika, is counting down nearly 3,000 officers pounding the pavement.

Moreover, tens of thousands of officials have answered the call to strike the ADEDY. Air traffic controllers joined the strike and there was no traffic Wednesday in Greece.

Meeting of Finance Ministers of the euro area

These events occur when the finance ministers of the eurozone plan to meet as Wednesday by teleconference to discuss the situation in Greece, several diplomatic sources.In view of this meeting, Nicolas Sarkozy held talks by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU President Herman Van Rompoy.

According to Le Monde, President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet and the chairman of the Eurogroup forum of finance ministers from the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, will join the discussions.

This meeting will be held on the eve of a summit of EU leaders on the issue in Brussels saving account payday loan . At this stage, there is "not agree" on a plan of aid to Greece. The signs, however, a support mechanism for this country is growing. A senior parliamentary Conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Michael Meister, has indicated that preparations were underway in the German Government for an assistance plan.It could take the form of housing provision of bilateral loans to certain countries of the euro area in favor of Greece, to help cope with higher prices for its cost of borrowing on the markets since the beginning of the crisis. The option of an advance payment of EU subsidies to Greece is also considered.

Papandreou lunch with Nicolas Sarkozy

Prime Minister George Papandreou, who visited on Wednesday in Paris where he had lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy has reaffirmed his determination.He promised Wednesday to "take all necessary measures" to reduce the deficit and ensured that "each of the measures of the austerity program will be applied.

The Prime Minister had called in an attempt to limit the impact of the strike, officials to "lead by example" to help end the crisis.

Furthermore, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday held a joint press conference after the informal EU summit in Brussels, including the situation in Greece, said Wednesday the spokesman for the French government, Luc Chatel. "Under the EU summit, the president will have the opportunity to hold a joint press conference with Merkel on various subjects.I guess the question (of the situation in Greece) will be addressed, "said Luc Chatel in reporting to the press the work of the council of ministers.

"The French government is involved as its European partners on the situation of the euro and the situation in Greece in particular," he said, adding that the Economy Minister Christine Lagarde had "routine contacts with counterparts "on this issue.

Wall Street should open in a tone slightly negative on Friday. However, publication of results in the fourth quarter of giant Intel on Thursday night after-hours trading was better than expected. But the JP Morgan Chase established the doubt. The day before the U.S. markets have closed up slightly, despite the disappointing statistics across the Atlantic. The sectors of health and technology have supported the trend.

Earlier Friday morning, Asian stock markets closed broadly in the green. Tokyo The Nikkei ended the session up 0.68% at 10,982.10 points. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong, however, ended down 0.3% to 21,654.16 points as investors still worried about a possible tightening of Chinese monetary policy.

The Dow Jones, S & P 500 and Nasdaq retrograde by 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.16%.Shortly before they were further back but the index of industrial activity in the New York area has accelerated sharply in January, according to the Empire State index released Monday, to 15.9 points, much higher than the waiting analysts.

The President's speech yesterday, Obama did not surprise the markets. As announced by the spokesperson of the White House, a proposed tax of fifty largest banks will be presented to Congress in the coming weeks. According to the Financial Times, the U.S. Treasury would press other countries to also adopt a tax on banks.

New wave of statistical significance

Even today, the news on the economic front should shake the markets.The consumer prices in the United States rose by 0.1% in December, bringing inflation over the whole of 2009 to 2.7%, according to figures released Friday by the Labor Department. In the short term, the inflation risk sembre low.

Industrial production in the United States rose in December by 0.6%, as expected by analysts, according to official figures published Friday, but this increase was primarily allowed by having an unusually cold boosted the energy sector.

Intel and JP Morgan Chase surprised

Intel (-1.27% to 21.21 U.S. dollars) Thursday confirmed the resumption of its activities, with net income nearly tenfold in the fourth quarter of 2009, which allowed him to limit to 17% decline in annual net profit, to 4.369 billion dollars. This exceeds the expectations formulated earlier by analysts.Conversely, Microsoft (0.71% to 31.18 dollars), IBM (+0.28% to 132.68 dollars) and Cisco (+0.16% to 24.99 dollars).

Boosted by a return to growth in the fourth quarter, PC sales grew by 5.2% in 2009, according to a study by analyst firm Gartner published yesterday. Acer dethroned Dell (-2.38% to 14.35 U.S. dollars) in second place worldwide.

This Friday, JP Morgan Chase (-1.70% to 43.93 dollars) has announced having doubled its net profit in 2009 to 11.7 billion dollars. Per share, net income reached 74 cents per share in the fourth quarter, against 62 held by analysts. In the fourth quarter alone, the bank has increased by more than four net profit to 3.3 billion dollars. The bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, welcomed the news that the bank in late 2009 enjoyed a "very strong capital ratios Tier 1 of 11.1%.But the cost of risk (failure to pay on credit) remains "high". The bank especially in its accounts last quarter to 7.3 billion dollars in reserves to cover these risks.Morgan Stanley lost 2.60% to 30.39 dollars, Goldman Sachs 1.25% to 166.42 dollars, and Bank of America 1.96% to 16.49 dollars.

Citigroup (-1.71% to 3.46 dollars) would be decided by the Financial Times, to cap the bonus at $ 100,000.

Market research firm NPD has revealed sales of video game consoles in the United States for year-end 2009 total, the three major manufacturers have passed 40 million consoles in 2009, including 20 million for the Wii Nintendo, 10 million for the Xbox 360 and 10 million for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) by Sony, thanks to an aggressive policy of lower prices.

In addition, Verizon Communications (-1.19% to 30.85 dollars) will host a conference on its wireless subsidiary, which is partly owned by Vodafone (-1.78% to 22.10 dollars).

Oil retreats, dollar strengthens

Side materials, oil slipped below the 79 dollars a barrel and connects its fifth session lower after the report of the International Atomic Energy: global consumption of oil should rebound by 1.7% in 2010 fully supported by demand from emerging countries and Asia, after falling 1.5% in 2009.

The dollar is strengthening against the euro, which is penalized by the situation in Greece after the publication of inflation. One euro is worth 1.4395 dollars.

He had said in November he confirmed Monday. The British confectioner Cadbury rejects bid officially launched by the giant U.S. Food Kraft Foods. In a paper stock, the confectioner highlights the objectives of long-term growth above expectations to show the low supply of Kraft.

Cadbury expects organic growth of 5 to 7% per year instead of 4 to 6%. The profit margin would rise between 16 and 18% by 2013 instead of a margin of about 15% in 2011. He waits finally growth of dividend per share "double digit" from 2010. All of which explains why Cadbury's assets are worth more than 10 billion pounds (about 11 billion euros) proposed by Kraft Foods.

"Kraft Cadbury tries to buy at a discount, to provide some growth in its business model attractive to non-conglomerate low growth, irritated Roger Carr, the chairman of candy in the document.

Hershey, Nestle and Ferrero instantly

The rejection of the offer Kfrat opens an avenue to other agri-food specialists. According to CEO Todd Stitzer British group, "third parties" have actually indicated their interest but he refuses to name them yet.

The U.S. chocolate maker Hershey is in a strong position. Last month, Todd Stitzer had clearly said he would prefer a merger with the latter rather than Kraft because Hershey is already a partner of Cadbury in the United States. The Italian group Ferrero and Swiss giant Nestle are also in the race.

Around 12:15, the CAC 40 gained 0.05% to 3816.48 points. Operators are focused on companies that have released their quarterly results, like EDF, GDF, Rexel or Euro Disney.

On the macroeconomic front, the United States publish entries to unemployment benefits weekly at 14.30 and oil stocks weekly 17 hours.

The current account deficit narrowed in September to -3.7 billion euro in France, thanks to an improvement in the situation of trade in goods, says the Bank of France.

Within the Cac 40, the car jumped and financials slip

PSA Peugeot Citroen (5.34%) recorded the largest increase in the Cac 40. The automaker revised "markedly higher" earnings guidance for 2009.It now expects operating profit to breakeven in the second half and free cash flow positive for the year.

Rival Renault take this advertisement and allows itself 3.43%.

However, financials are misguided. The insurer Axa yields 1.49%. Topping the list of the most marked declines in the Cac 40, the title insurer is followed by banking stocks Credit Agricole (-0.98%) and BNP Paribas (-0.76%). Societe Generale fell by 0.69%. Out Cac 40, Natixis escaped this trend and advance of 2.06%.

EDF (-0.47%) achieved a turnover up 2.9% to 13.4 billion euros in Q3. The group said its production of electricity would be set back significantly over the year.

GDF Suez (-0.07%) post an operating profit down 2.7% to 10.1 billion euros in Q3.

Vietnam Airlines and EADS (+4.02%) signed an agreement in principle for the delivery of 4 Airbus A380, said Marwan Lahoud, vice president of European Aeronautic.

Eurofins Scientific achieves the highest increase in the DTH

Eurofins Scientific jumped to 11.96%, and grants itself as the largest increase in the SRD. The net group result increased by 31% to 5.9 million over the 3rd quarter, against 4.5 million euros in the third quarter of 2008.

Air France gained 2.23% after submitting the tender medium-mail that it will implement in April 2010 in order to meet the low costs airlines.

Atari (-10.16%) was sanctioned after lowering its profit target for the second half, to become an operating profit "to balance or slightly negative."The former Infogrames presented for the first half revenues up 25.7% to 68.5 million euros and a net loss of 23.2 million Euros.

The turnover of Rexel (0.95%) decrease of 19.4% on a comparable basis to 2.793 billion euros in Q3.

The net loss after minority interests of Euro Disney (-12.2%) for 2008-2009 increased to 55.5 million euros against a loss of 2.8 million in 2007-2008. Turnover 2008-2009 spring to 1.23 billion euros, against 1.32 billion in 2007-2008.

According to the Echos, the bidders for the transmission and distribution subsidiary of Areva (0.79%) each offer about 4 billion euros. Toshiba has offered 4.2 billion euros, General Electric and Alstom tandem-Schneider Electric, 4 billion.

In the third quarter, Pharmagest Inter @ ctive (+8.28%) achieved a turnover of 18.88 million euros, an increase of 12.7% over the same period last year.