The Dow Jones gained 23.69 points (0.18%) to 13,228.31. The S & P 500 is 3.38 points (0.24%) to 1,403.36. The Nasdaq Composite gained 18.59 points (0.61%) to 3,069.20.

Over the whole week, the Dow shows a gain of 1.5%, the S & P 500 gained 1.8%, while the Nasdaq 2.3% advance.

The Dow and S & P and enroll their weekly gain the highest since mid-March. For the Nasdaq, is the more substantial gain since early February.

Of the 287 companies in the S & P 500 that have published their accounts, 73% of the students have exceeded the consensus, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The gains of the day, even though moderate minimal, yet allow Wall Street to make its best weekly performance since more than a month.

Growth of the U.S. economy slowed in the first quarter mainly because of declining business investment, although the strength of the automotive market has helped ease the movement.

Another statistic was published on Friday, held better than GDP. 

The U.S. consumer sentiment improved slightly in April to its highest level since February 2011, according to final data from the monthly survey Thomson Reuters -University of Michigan.

Values, Amazon.com and the online travel agency Expedia surged 15.75% respectively and 23.54%, the two companies that reported results Thursday at the higher consensus and having allowed the Nasdaq Composite to register a gain slightly higher than the Dow or S & P.

Procter & Gamble lowered its earnings forecast Friday yearly because of the fragility of developed markets, more aggressive pricing of its competitors on certain products and pressure on prices in Venezuela in particular.

The action yields 3.63%. 

Ford announced Friday a drop in quarterly profit, a result of his difficulties outside of the U.S. market, but the results exceeded the expectations of investors.

The action coward 2.27%.

Chevron released Friday net profit up 4% in the first quarter, boosted by higher oil prices and improved margins in its refining background of declining its oil and gas.

The action ended unchanged.

Merck published Friday quarterly earnings slightly above expectations, boosted by tighter control of costs, but revenue has however disappointed expectations facing generic competition.

The action eventually stationary.

According to several independent economists, the economy in Spain represent almost a fifth of gross domestic product (GDP), many Spaniards at work using black and pre ; ferring cash payments.

The government proposes to ban cash payments for amounts exceeding € 2,500 and require taxpayers to report assets held by them abroad.

Violators would face fines. 

According to Cristobal Montoro, Spanish Minister of the Treasury, these measures will enable the government to increase its revenues, though he declined to quantify the expected amount.

Madrid announced on March 30 to drastic budget cuts to achieve 27 billion euros in savings and convince markets that the country is able to reduce its deficit and avoid seeking international assistance.

The limit on cash payments will not apply to individuals who are not habitually resident in Spain or to tourist spending.

"This is to encourage tourists who bring foreign currency in Spain and want to spend in Spain," explained Cristobal Montoro. 

The tourism industry represents nearly 10% of Spanish GDP and remains one of the few sectors still able to sustain an economy as moribund.

As to measures affecting property held abroad, they will target the bank accounts, life insurance policies and actions. A fine of at least 10,000 euros will hit the undeclared goods, warned the government.

The debt crisis weighed heavily on the financing capacity of European banks, leaving them little choice but to resort massively in recent months to two injections of liquidity to three years ECB. Spanish and Italian banks will be among those who most borrowed during these operations.

"The ABE discusses possible policy measures that could accompany this process of deleveraging and restructuring to ensure it takes place in an orderly and measured, allowing banks to maintain a regular supply of credit to the real economy, "said Chairman of the EBA, Andrea Enria, in a dossier presented to finance ministers of the European Uni ; enemies last week.

European regulators want banks such as replacing their short-term financing through funding of longer maturities, to avoid having to call too often investors. 

Such a development would also help banks prepare for the scrutiny of their business models in a new series of stress tests ("stress tests") pre ; for next year.

The EBA also seek this week to ensure that banks with 31, according to its criteria, a total need of fresh capital of 115 billion euros take the necessary steps to fill the gap by the June 30

Andrea Enria estimated last week that the recapitalization plan was "on track" but that some banks were based on "overly optimistic assumptions" about how they plan to raise capital. 

SPANISH AND ITALIAN BANKS: CAUTION, FRAGILE

In the opinion of analysts, the Italian bank Monte dei Paschi, particularly should struggle to achieve by June 30, the goal of a capital ratio "hard" 9%.

The managing director of the bank, Fabrizio Viola, said last week that Montepaschi fill nearly a third of its capital requirements – which amount to € 3.3 billion – by converting hybrid securities into shares. Italian media reported Sunday also that the bank plans to cut heavily into its portfolio of sovereign debt and close 150 branches.

Some Italian banks like to see the EBA to backtrack on its requirements for emergency funds to the crisis, citing the easing of tensions on sovereign debt markets since the two operations rations refinancing three years of the ECB.

The Governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, told Saturday that ABE could relax its requirements for capital. But he said it was a medium-term and that the EBA should not take any decision on this matter at its next meeting.

Spanish banks are also in sight, many are afflicted by the bursting of the housing bubble and the deterioration of the economy.

In case some institutions could achieve their own funds by the June deadline, Andrea Enria proposed that the new emergency fund in the euro area, the mechanism Europé in stability (MES) can directly inject funds to troubled banks after its introduction in July.

At this stage, the MES is designed only to assist States. 

The EBA board will also consider progress made by banks in limiting bonuses was decided in January 2011.

The EBA report is expected after Easter.

In Paris the CAC 40 lost 1.14% to close at 3430.15 points, just below its 50-day moving average and its lowest in March 23.

The London Stock Exchange yielded 1.03% and 1.13% in Frankfurt. The benchmark index of the Madrid Stock Exchange dropped 1.96%.

Of the European indices, the Eurostoxx 50 was down 1.13% to 2,496.68 points – in its 50-day moving average – and Eurofirst 300 lost 1.02% to 1,072.48 points – just above his own.

"The markets were down with the bank, especially Spanish because of sluggish economic outlook in Spain, and durable goods orders subdued in the U.S.," said Alexandre Le Drogoff, manager special ; cialist of technical analysis in Talence Management.

He believes that the next support is at 3396 points for the CAC 40 or the "gap" opened on March 8, then from 3350 to 3360 points, its lowest points in February and March. 

As for values, Total (-1.4%) again weighed on the CAC 40, as before, following the gas leak on one of its deposits in the North Sea.

Bank stocks were cyclical and the most affected by the current sales, including Spanish banks Banco Popular, which lost 3.31% and Bankia which lost 3.61%.

Oil prices fell back, Brent losing 1.3% to 123.92 dollars a barrel, after rising more than expected U.S. inventories last week.

The action of the French biotech company closed at 4.22 euros (35.43%) in a volume of 28.4 million shares, more than 12.5 times higher than recorded daily average last three months. Its market capitalization stood at 307 million euros.

She had also made great progress there is a little over a week after announcing positive results of a study on treatment of glaucoma developed with the specialist eye health Bausch + Lomb.

Under the terms of the agreement, NicOx will invest an amount of two million pounds (about 2.4 million euros) in cash to acquire 11.8% of Altacor, which markets a product line the UK for the problems of dry eye.

The group has an option to acquire the remaining shares Altacor for $ 9 million pounds (about 10.8 million), paid , at the option of NicOx, in cash or in shares NicOx in a combination of cash and shares. 

This option is exercisable by NicOx until May 31, 2012. If predefined steps are met, additional payments of up to a total of 8.5 million pounds will be due.

ACTION HIGH RISK

The option to acquire concludes Altacor, is the first concrete realization of the strategy initiated over a year by NicOx to refocus around ophthalmology Aftern ; s failure of anti-inflammatory Naproxcinod, Malafosse says Sebastian, an analyst at Bryan Garnier.

The intermediary considers that the offer of the biotech values ​​between 13.2 and 23.4 million Altacor society, which has an annual turnover of 660,000 euros. 

Another analyst, who requested anonymity, considers "very speculative ascent of a security that has increased from 12 euros in the second half of 2006 to 22 euros at the highest early 2007 before falling between 1 and 2 since the failure of Naproxcinod ".

He also observed that in the preferred areas of Altacor, including dry eye, NicOx "mastodons" in front of him such as Novartis, Merck and Sanofi.

"NicOx announces investment potential of 26 million euros for a target with confidential sales and capitalization is around 80 million euros. Michele Garufi, CEO of NicOx is too strong or some investors revved up a rather quickly, "said he.

actions on Monday and promoted the decline of the safe havens, but the relative strength of Wall Street and rising values ​​

Oil and defensive allowed European markets to limit their losses late in the session.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed lower by 0.31% to 1,073.81 points but well above its low of the day.

In Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.74% to 3441.45. Among the other major European markets, London has sold 0.33%, Frankfurt

0.22% and 1.09% Milan.

Before German lawmakers met to discuss aid to Athens, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the effectiveness of

plan reached last week was not 100% guaranteed. The Bundestag, however, adopted the plan of aid to Greece.

Doubts about the evolution of the debt crisis have encouraged profit-taking, including penalizing banking stocks.

The Stoxx sector index was down 1.42%, Societe Generale and UniCredit loser respectively 2.95% and 2.31%.

Meanwhile, the energy sector rose by 0.3% and that of food and drinks from 0.36%.

Between 100 and 200 steelworkers have invested to 8:00 Monday in quiet premises of the factory management ArcelorMittal Florange (Moselle), said a journalist from AFP. Responding to the call of an Inter CFDT-CGT-FO-CFE/CGC, workers, mostly helmets, entered the "big offices" of the factory, shouting "Mittal, we want to work ". Arrived on the upper floors deserted by senior management and executives, they quickly made their flags and their richly colored jumpers in the great hall of the steering committee of the institution.  

"Today, Florange is ours, Florange is yours," he told a trade unionist to the cheers of his comrades. "As of right now, management is technically unemployed. We will remain in these offices as the blast furnaces of the plant will not restart," added the head of the CFDT, Edward Martin. "Today, we are masters on board," he said before a forest of microphones and cameras. "That candidates (President of the Republic, ed) who claim to love plants undertake to ensure the survival of the site," he said, promising "at least one action a week until May 6" date of the second round of the presidential election.

"The state has saved the Lejaby. Must intervene for us," said the official FO, Walter Broccoli. "If Mittal wants more Florange, let him go … But there is no way to dismantle the plant. We will not let him do it, "continued, looking very determined, trade unionist. Around 10:00, the protesters were comfortably installed in the administrative site where Moselle boiled coffee makers and where they concocted sandwiches. On sunny square, union officials chained interviews to television channels, one of which, NHK, had sent a team from Japan. By late morning, tents began to be erected on the lawns of the plant to "formalize" the occupation, said John Mangin, head of the CGT. "This will be the village of resistance where workers can come and talk, talk about their fight and defend their work tools," he added.  

This occupation is the first step of "nightmare" promised by unions to the government after management of ArcelorMitall announced last week that the two blast furnaces would restart the site does not in the second quarter. For unions, this decision would announce the "programmed death site" which employs some 5,000 people, including 3,000 permanent contracts. ArcelorMittal, which has recently decided the final closure of blast furnaces in Liege (Belgium) and Madrid, on the contrary that Lorraine ensures it is only a temporary standby necessary due to insufficient demand.

Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and the willingness of regulators to strengthen prudential regulations that require a high level of capital to risk, banks, anxious to ease further their balance sheets, have significantly tightened their credit policies. 

"Banks are not lending, it is fine to have find lenders elsewhere," said Antoine Flamarion in an interview with Reuters, adding that Tikehau has funded a clinical enterprise private, Vitalia, belonging to private equity fund Blackstone.

Since 2008, in a highly regulated, financial corporations other than banks can finance companies.

Antoine said that Flamarion Tikehau had essentially mounted operations of this type in the world of LBO (Leveraged buyout or acquisition with debt leverage) and real estate, while broadening the spectrum to finance activities in dollars that banks no longer provide. 

"This is where we think we have the best risk / return ratio, that is where we have more room."

"Since we do not have unlimited resources, for us the question is always when at work 25 to 35 million euros, is to put it on the assets re -paid workers to Euribor plus 700, 800, 1,000, 1,200 basis points, "he said.

BANK FINANCING CERTAIN drop

The three-month Euribor, which is the reference to credit operations at variable rates in the eurozone, was just over 1% (1.036%) Friday .

"For now, we have tended to concentrate on issues and topics LBO estate," said Antoine Flamarion. 

"It was an operation at the end of 2011 real estate financing (…) We refinanced bonds estate of a foreign structure that de French assets held. Fifteen million matured. We kept the existing contract obligations and we just changed the rate. It was lent to 15%, "he said

. Tikehau also participated in financing activities such as shipping or aviation in need of dollars and that French banks do not finance more

. "There was done a little differently, we did not take the debt but we have invested capital with a family that owns the tankers, "he said

.

"The banks are out a lot of business funding and therefore we see a lot of asset classes in finance," he said. 

Tikehau Capital manages € 800 million, including $ 250 million deal with the tradeable public debt (corporate bonds) on the credit market and 550 million euros for private debt e (private debt) in the form of mezzanine funds and special situation funds.

DREAMS OF THE DEBT

"In 550 million, is made of primary and secondary. The primary is Blackstone. In the secondary market, that we sometimes buy distressed debt," he adds .

Antoine Flamarion intends to develop the private debt activity can represent, for LBO France, a market of 5.0 billion euros.

"Normally players as we are of secondary we buy ready-made products, but we will increasingly be the primary."

"Potentially, this is a big market. For example, the Company generally sells its entire portfolio of loans to real estate professionals. It means that some of these professionals who used to borrow from the SocGen will go and borrow elsewhere so we think a number of professions, real estate and LBO on it require substitutions to banks, "he said

. Insurers will have to play an important role in this area ..

……. According to him, disintermediation is expected to increase in Europe. In other words, like what is happening for a long time in the U.S., companies are going to look more to the credit market as far 80% of their funding came from banks.

Antoine Flamarion cites the example of Blackstone, best known for its private equity activity but an activity that "private debt" provided by its subsidiary GSO manages, according to the website of Blackstone, near of $ 44 billion on nearly 180 billion in total managed by the group.

"Today, everyone dreams of making the debt. As private equity can no longer raise money, all private equity funds begin to make the debt," said the head of Tikehau.

Lobbyists deemed related to banks, proposed a $ 850,000 plan to attack the movement Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and the politicians who would support him, reported Saturday the U.S. television network MSNBC.In a four-page memo, the Washington firm Clark Lytle & Geduldig Cranford (CLGC) propose to the Association of American banks (ABA) to conduct a "search" Occupy on Wall Street to "build a story negative" on the move , "to place in the media," and on "those who support them," according to the memo published by MSNBC. If the Democrats support OWS, "it would mean more than a temporary embarrassment for Wall Street. This can have an impact long-term political and financial companies for the heart" of Wall Street, the memo adds.

"It may be easy to dismiss OWS as a group of protesters demonstrated disordered but rather they should be treated as competing organized, highly skilled and able to work the media.

Despite the deterioration in the sovereign rating of Spain by Moody's, the Paris Stock Exchange was up Wednesday morning, encouraged by rumors of a Franco-German agreement on the recapitalization of banks and strengthening of the support fund in Europe. At 9:37, the CAC 40 clinching 0.76% to 3164.70 points, the German Dax gained 1.02% and 0.97% took London. Investors reacted positively to news reports on the European Financial Stability (EFSF), analysts have said Aurel BGC.

Paris and Berlin would have agreed on a plan to end the debt crisis by increasing the response capacity of the EFSF to 2,000 billion euros, against 440 billion currently, according to an article posted online by the British newspaper The Guardian. According to the Financial Times Deutschland, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, for his part, mentioned the figure of 1.000 billion euros as the future financial capacity of the support fund.

"The important point to remember is that an agreement exists between France and Germany, which suggests significant progress this weekend," noted strategists Credit Mutuel-CIC. "However, do not expect miracle solutions that will enable us to turn the page of the crisis", they said.

Especially as the situation remains confused in the eyes of analysts.We do not have the essential piece of the puzzle, namely how the "size" of EFSF may "be increased" in 1000 or 2000 billion, and asks the broker Aurel BGC. The hope of a future strengthening of the EFSF relegated to second the blow firmly told to Spain by Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday night which lowered the country's credit rating by two notches.

According to Reuters, two senior officials of the European Union say that no agreement has yet been found. "It is naive to think we can do this kind of calculation and come up with a nice round figure of 2000 billion. It's not that simple, "said one of them.

As for values, the banking sector was up sharply, driven by any progress on the EFSF.BNP Paribas take the lead in the rating (4.21% to 31.19 euros), followed closely by Credit Agricole (2.28% to 5.03 euros) and Societe Generale (2.13% at 19 , 65 euros). Accor took 2.08% to 22.53 euros after posting a turnover of 1.62 billion euros in the third quarter, up 2.7%.