International Business News

European shares ended Friday declined, while Wall Street turned down, in a context that is marked by fears about the crisis in the eurozone.

In Paris the CAC 40 finished down 0.13% (3.99 points) to 3,008.00 points. The Paris index lost 3.89% on the week and 4.8% since the beginning of the year.

The UK FTSE dropped 1.33% and 0.60% the German Dax, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index ended down by 1.18% to 969.81 points, at lowest since December.

Going against the trend, some banks have rebounded, including Santander (2.97%) and BNP Paribas (2.94%), supported by the rumor of a reintroduction of the ban on sales to die covered on banking stocks.

Fitch downgraded the ratings on Thursday night in Greece, citing the growing risk of leaving the country monetary union, while Moody's has downgraded 16 Spanish banks, citing the ability reduced by the Spanish state to help them. 

On Wall Street, the entrance of Facebook on the Nasdaq has temporarily obscured the uncertainties created by the political situation in Greece. But the market turned downward, and the action of the first global social network, which debuted at 42.05 dollars, quickly erased its gains to return around its IPO price of $ 38.

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CNP Assurances announced Friday that the market decline of savings in Europe had continued to weigh on its sales in the first quarter and said the change of government in France maintained the uncertainty the life insurance industry.

The turnover of the insurer fell 12.9% during the first three months of the year, to 7.028 billion euros.

The action CNP Assurances signed Friday in early trading shrinkage greater than that of the sector to 9:50, the title lost 2.27% to 9.7330 euros, while the European index limited its losses to 1.35%.

"There is a wait due to the structure of taxation and savings in general," he said during a conference call the Director Financial Group, Antoine Lissowski. 

He explained that it was difficult to assess the impact that doubling the ceiling of the Livret planned by President-elect Francois Hollande on appetite of French for life insurance.

It is currently suffering from competition from banks, seeking to attract customers and their deposits with savings accounts attractive.

The persistence of low interest rates also makes traditional life insurance products unattractive in terms of yield.

Despite a set back, CNP Assurances has managed to generate a first quarter net profit up 1.8% to 275 million euros through improved financial markets. 

The group took advantage of the upturn to continue its program of disposals of risky assets, particularly in Italy and Spain.

"The improved market conditions in the first quarter allowed us to record an increase in our earnings while actively pursuing our strategy of selling risky assets," said the director gen ; eral, Gilles Benoist, in a statement.

Antoine Lissowski said his group no longer had to date of Greek sovereign debt and had reduced its exposure to equity markets.

The CFO did not want to comment on the planned replacement of Gilles Benoist.

NOC has postponed its annual meeting from 7 to 29 June, after the parliamentary elections. 

At that time a new boss of the Caisse des Depots (CDC), the majority shareholder of NOC, should have been appointed.

Director General of the CDC until early March, Augustin de Romanet applied for membership to the estate of Gilles Benoist as Director General of NPC.

The British telecoms operator BT said on Thursday a 12% increase in its annual dividend, its cost savings and solid demand in broadband that led to its beneficial ; fice and its cash flow despite an overall decline in sales.

BT, which has relied in recent years of spending cuts and efficiencies to power its cash, has also pledged that his dividend increased by 10 to 15% per year over the next three years.

"In what remains a difficult environment, we recorded another year of earnings growth and free cash flow," said CEO Ian Livingston. 

BT, which competes with Virgin Media and TalkTalk, shows a steady improvement in its performance since the profit warnings issued in 2008 and 2009, and because of the strict control its costs.

The full year, earnings from main businesses grew 3% to 6.1 billion pounds despite a 4% drop in sales , to 19 billion pounds (23.65 billion euros).

The cash flow appears considerably higher than projected at 2.5 billion pounds.

BT results were supported by an agreement in March to fill the deficit of 4.1 billion pounds pension fund's staff decided more quickly than before. The announcement was relieved investors by opening the door to a potential increase in dividends.

"It is not possible to renegotiate the pact budget", said on Monday a spokesman for German Chancellor. This ensures that Francois Hollande will be welcomed "with open arms." German Chancellor Angela Merkel (the Bundestag by December 2, 2011).

Germany has raised its conditions Monday to President-elect Francois Hollande, ruling out any renegotiation of the European fiscal pact and all initiatives "growth deficit".

"It is not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact", which has already been "signed by 25 of the 27 member states of the European Union", which aims to strengthen discipline in public finance management, said the spokesman of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Steffen Seibert, during a press conference.

He was asked about the willingness of Mr. Holland to add a component to the pact on growth. In this regard, Mr. Seibert also reiterated the conditions of Berlin: Germany does not want "a growth deficit, but growth through structural reforms."

Clearly, there is no question for the Merkel government in Europe to promote recovery policies, but to promote the path chosen by Germany and the labor market reforms implemented by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder .

French President elect had scored on his victory speech by his willingness to "give to the European dimension of growth, employment, prosperity, the future" and explain in Berlin and other partners that "the austerity could no longer be inevitable. "

A little later, Angela Merkel said that Francois Hollande is welcomed "with open arms" during his first visit to Germany, taking place after the handover. "We work well together and intensively," said Merkel at a news conference in Berlin, stressing that "the Franco-German cooperation is essential for Europe and we all want Europe to succeed" .

Activity in the services industry and the euro zone shrank in March for the second consecutive month, according to the PMI company Markit. A decline in private activity that reflects the current recession in Euroland. Headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt.

The private activity has continued to contract in March in the euro area, reflecting a return to recession in the first quarter, according to a second estimate of Wednesday's PMI purchasing managers. The composite index, which summarizes the activity in the manufacturing and service sectors, rose to 49.1 points in March against 49.3 in February. This is the second consecutive month in which the activity is contracting. This figure is higher than the first estimate of the index (48.7). Above 50 points, the PMI indicates that the activity increased, while if it is below this threshold, it contracts.

"This monthly decline in activity means that the entire first quarter of 2012, economic activity declined result synonymous with a new technical recession in the euro area", said in a statement the company that publishes Markit the PMI. Apart from growth in January, the economic downturn has been ongoing since last September, continues Markit. However, large disparities remain national: Italy and Spain are firmly entrenched in a recession in March. In Germany, growth slows and displays its lowest level in three months and in France, business retreats for the first time in four months. Only Ireland is holding its own game (PMI at 52.4 points in March to a high of 11 months).  

The eurozone has taken a first step towards recession in late 2011, recording for the first time in over two years a decline in activity. It should logically register a further decline in its activity in the first quarter. The growth figures for this period will be published mid-May by the European office of statistics, Eurostat. A recession is technically two consecutive quarters of decline in activity.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena suffered a net loss of 4.69 billion euros last year and said Thursday it would pay no dividend for fiscal 2011, which is tumbling the stock exchange.

The market was expecting a loss twice as heavy, according to Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S was -2.13 billion.

The third Italian bank, which is restructuring and has also undertaken to reduce the size of its balance sheet, recorded in its accounts for 4.51 billion euros of writedowns in total.

The capital ratio "hard" was 8.5% at end-2011 excluding 1.9 billion euros of bonds guaranteed by the state written in 2009 to strengthen its capital.

At 10:45 GMT, the share was down 8.2% to 0.3314 Euro, by far the worst performance of the European banking sector index (-1.37%). 

The competitors UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo also recorded huge writedowns on their fiscal 2011.

But analysts say Montepaschi particularly vulnerable because it has to find 3.3 billion euros of capital by June to comply with new European regulatory requirements.

Siemens has offered concessions to the European Commission as part of an investigation into Areva NP joint venture specialized in nuclear reactors it had negotiated with Areva, said on Wednesday the EU executive.

The survey of Brussels is to determine whether a non-compete agreement between Areva and Siemens as part of their joint venture and still valid after the release of the German finalized in March 2011, violated Community rules.

"The Parties undertake to allow Siemens Areva NP to compete without restriction from the date on which Siemens has lost control of Areva NP joint," said the EC in a statement. 

Areva has finalized the acquisition in April 2011 for 1.62 billion euros for 34% of Siemens in Areva NP, which the German group announced the sale in early 2009.

The French group had previously obtained in late 2009 that Siemens can not complete its proposed alliance with Russia's Rosatom in nuclear power as an arbitration procedure on the price at which the German group it would sell its share in Areva NP would not be complete.

The EC says it is awaiting comments from third parties to determine whether the proposed concessions are sufficient to allay any fears competition.

If so, the EU executive continues, the concessions could become legally binding for Siemens and Areva.

The group of transportation and logistics Dentressangle Wednesday announced financial results increased in 2011 but noted that economic conditions had deteriorated in late 2011.

The company saw its turnover increase by 5.6% at constant scope and exchange, to 3.576 billion euros. The gross operating surplus (EBITDA) increased 17% to 130.4 million euros while net income rose from 57.2 million to 63.3 million.

"Dentressangle has seen since the end of 2011 signs of slowing economy and observed high volatility of demand for its customers early this year , "the group noted in a statement.

The company, which does not give forecasts for 2012, will offer its shareholders a dividend of 1.25 euro per share for fiscal 2011, against 1.10 euros a year before.

Doubts about the effectiveness of the plan of aid to Greece and rising oil prices weighed on the market

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 200 and 300 steelworkers at ArcelorMittal Florange were installed at the outlet from which the finished products of the factory. At the same time opens in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, the French headquarters of ArcelorMittal, a central works council on the future of the site. The ArcelorMittal steel plant in Moselle Florange

Between 200 and 300 steelworkers ArcelorMittal plant Florange (Moselle) Thursday blocked the release of shipments of the site to try to get the direction of restarting blast furnaces shut down since October, said a journalist of AFP. The protesters were installed at the outlet from which the finished products factory, mainly sheet metal coils for the automotive industry. Unions fear the "programmed death" of this site, which employs 5,000 employees, after the announcement of management, last week, the blast furnaces would restart not only in the second quarter. The No. 1 global steel industry maintains that it is just a temporary standby necessary due to insufficient demand.

"We decided to hit Mittal where it hurts: the wallet," the official said CFDT Edward Martin, announcing "a block of unlimited duration." "We will build a war chest, loot the fruit of our labor," he said. At the same time opened in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, the French headquarters of ArcelorMittal, a central works council on the future of Florange site. While its two blast furnaces are dormant for several months, the hot rolling mill train Florange always produces some 200,000 tonnes per month of steel for automotive technology. The site is stocked with steel slabs produced by the ArcelorMittal plant in Dunkirk.  

With this deadlock, the union hopes disrupt production in the automotive industry, has seen one of them, "just-works". ArcelorMittal Florange delivers its finished products manufacturers Peugeot, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Audi and Toyota. This action "punch" is the first conducted by the Inter CGT / CFDT / FO / CFE-CGC, after the occupation of management Monday. The Inter promised she would be "the nightmare of government," until May 6, when the second round of the presidential election. ArcelorMittal has recently decided the final closure of blast furnaces in Liege (Belgium) and Madrid, the other (two in Florange, Lorraine, one in Germany, two in Poland, two in Romania and Czech Republic) were officially launched pending before the upturn in orders.

On Tuesday, President-candidate Nicolas Sarkozy said: "We will make sure that (the Florange) reopens." FO federation of metallurgy has arrested Wednesday group management and government, demanding written commitments on the future of the plant Moselle.