My Business News

The chairman of EDF, Henri Proglio, will leave before the end of the Chair of the Board of Directors of Veolia he held along with a transitional, Veolia announced in a statement.

The combination of the two functions by Henri Proglio had caused considerable controversy since the announcement of his appointment as head of EDF in November, which had already led to give to receive a double salary.

In another statement, the group specializes in environmental services has also indicated that the Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault (GIMD) had crossed the threshold increases the threshold of 5% stake in Veolia.

The Portugal he is the real weak link in the Euroland.The rating agency Fitch said on Wednesday it lowered by one notch the rating of the long-term debt of Portugal, to "AA-" cons "AA", expressing his concerns about deficits and solvency the country.

"Even if Portugal was not unduly affected by the global crisis, prospects of economic recovery are lower than for the other 15 members of the eurozone, which will weigh on public finances in the medium term," said Douglas Renwick, a senior from Fitch.

This reduction reflects the cons-budget performance of Portugal in 2009 with a deficit of 9.3% of GDP, against 6.5% expected by Fitch in September.

Faced with heavy deficits, Portugal must return in the coming days in Brussels on program stability and growth to return by 2013 in the nails of European stability pact, with a deficit below 3% GDP.

This program, which will be discussed Thursday at the parliament, is based on a drastic reduction of expenditure, with a wage freeze for public service over four years and a cap on welfare. It also provides a tax increase on higher incomes, the elimination of tax benefits, the revival of privatization and the postponement of public investment. He received a favorable initial reception of both the European institutions as the IMF.

The Lisbon Stock Exchange and the euro under pressure

The degradation of the note of Portugal caused a slight drop on European stock markets and a decline of more than 2% in the Lisbon Stock Exchange.The euro fell to 1.3345 dollars at the time of the announcement of Fitch, a new lowest level since early May 2009.

But Portugal rating by Fitch (AA-) is nevertheless one of a transmitter of high quality.

The other rating agencies, the note of Portugal was established by Moody's "Aa2" and Standard & Poor's to 'A +' rating assigned to issuers strong but likely to be affected by the economic environment.

In February, Moody's emphasized the need to differentiate the risks to the debt ratings of Spain and Portugal and those of Greece, whose deficits have become the primary concern of the euro area.

Industrial orders in the eurozone have disappointed expectations in January, down 2% from December, the month during which they had gained 0.8%, said Wednesday the European statistics office Eurostat. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast on average a rise of 1.9%. The monthly declines the highest were recorded in Greece (-11%) and France (-10.8%).

By type of production, the fall was particularly marked in capital goods (-6.8%), followed by consumer non-durables (-2.1%). Orders for durable goods have instead increased by 0.6% and intermediate goods by 4.7%.

Compared to January 2009, industrial orders in the eurozone rose by 7%, well below the 14.1% expected by analysts.For the entire European Union, emerged orders down 0.2% in January on a month and up 6.3% over one year.

"You wait for results, you will." Thus Nicolas Sarkozy concluded his speech on Wednesday morning, taking stock of the crushing defeat in regional elections. Speaking clearly to the electorate the right, the head of state has taken note of the result: "My duty is to hear this message."

In this intervention after the Council of Ministers, the Head of State acknowledged that for many voters, the reforms undertaken since 2007 "have not changed their daily lives." "I understand your impatience, I must respond," he said, before assuring that he would "continue the reforms."

Economically, he recalled the choice of competitiveness and the priority given to employment.Reduction of labor costs and investment, rejection of any tax increase, his words are in the liberal orthodoxy.

Nicolas Sarkozy also addressed the issue of pensions, major issue during the second half of his mandate. "I know your feelings on the subject. I will not go into force (…) But I swear before six months, and necessary measures have just been adopted.

The campaigns have largely failed in the majority 14 and March 21, the President has reassured farmers, hit by a crisis of their income."I am ready to go to a crisis in Europe rather than accept the dismantling of our common agricultural policy (CAP)," he announced, a martial air.

He also confirmed his intention to make any ecological tax a "tax on the borders of Europe" for not giving any advantage to companies' polluting countries.

Read also this thread: Why is the government fell on the carbon tax
And: "A carbon tax in Europe is not feasible"

Nicolas Sarkozy has presented his first clothes cop France to his mea culpa on safety. "We have failed to curb violence in stadiums, transport and schools," he admitted.

For parents who do not take their responsibilities to the truancy of their children, he promised that the punishment of suspension of family allowance "will be effective.Similarly, students disrupting the lives of schools will be placed in "special schools".

Finally, he confirmed that the government would soon introduce a bill banning the wearing of the full veil in French territory.

The unemployment rate in metropolitan France, after a further rise this year, expected to ease slightly next year to 9.6% of the workforce in late 2011, the level reached in late 2009, according to estimates released Tuesday, March 23 by Pole employment. The unemployment rate had fallen below 8% before the crisis occurred after three and a half years of falling unemployment in France.

Statisticians Pole employment in a note entitled "Economic Outlook for 2011", believe that the situation does not augur a return to rapid growth, which would be limited to 1.6% this year and 1 4% in 2011, after the recession peak in 2009 (-2.2%). Especially in industry, a revival of activity is "very shy" while "the restart of net job creation will be improving signficative in the industry," they said."The first half of 2010 was likely to remain sluggish in the industry," the already faltering recovery in services "and" downsizing are not completed even if the bleeding will be less during coming months, "they write.

The paper emphasizes, however, that the number of temporary workers rebounded in the second half and "reversal of this trend suggesting a slight improvement in the labor market (…)". "In terms of net job creation, there is a slight reverse in the summer of 2010," said AFP Bernard Ernst, the director of statistical work center, which provides a concentration of job losses in the first semester.

The rise in unemployment in 2010 would thus continue but "slow" and the unemployment rate would reach 9.8% at the end of this year.The number of registered job center in categories A, B, C then brushed 4 million in city (3,984,000). The categories called A, B and C include job seekers in reduced activity. Even if they occupy a little work, sometimes combined with a portion of unemployment compensation, those in categories A, B and C are required to perform positive acts of job search to stay enrolled.

Should expect 2011 to start declining unemployment rate to 9.6% by year-end bottom-back of net job creation (+74,000 in 2011 after -57,000 in 2010), the memo said. There would still 3.927 million job seekers registered in categories A, B, C at the end of 2011. On Thursday, the social partners managers of unemployment insurance (Unedic) examine the implications of these forecasts to finance the scheme, which had to borrow to fill a deficit.Friday, INSEE publishes its forecasts for 2010.

As expected, Wall Street opened lower on Wednesday after the decommissioning of the note by Fitch Portugal.

Before this announcement, it was expected that Wall Street's earnings improved from yesterday, which enabled him to finish a high of 18 months.

The concerns surrounding the budgetary position of certain countries in the euro area, Greece, Portugal and Spain in particular, have weighed on the stock market lately, and not only the European markets.

The further rise in durable goods orders in February, below the consensus, however, was not enough to reverse the downward direction of the coast.

The rating agency Fitch on Wednesday downgraded credit rating long term of Portugal "AA" to "AA-", with a negative outlook, citing the cons-country performance on the budget plan last year.

"I think it's the beginning of a long process of decommissioning a number of major countries until they put their public finances in order," said Rick Meckler (LibertyView Capital Management).

The Dow Jones lost 0.26% to 10,860.33 and the Standard & Poor's 0.35% to 1170.06. The Nasdaq Composite, which was passed on Tuesday the 2400 points mark for the first time since August 2008, 0.35% to loose 2406.80 points.

In terms of values, Adobe Systems jumped 5.34%. Designer Photoshop announced Tuesday the results better than expected first quarter.