News & Financial Advice

Wall Street opened sharply higher Friday in reaction to the publication of monthly U.S. employment considered reassuring.

A few minutes after the start of trading, the Dow Jones gained 1.18% to 10,441.65 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 index 1.31% to 1104.36 points and the Nasdaq Composite 2234.05 1.55% points.

The Dow 30 stocks were in green.

The U.S. economy still has destroyed jobs in August for the third consecutive month, but significantly less than expected, and the private sector has created more jobs than expected.

The markets will also monitor closely the figure of the ISM index of activity in the services sector at 14:00 GMT.

Home Depot, the world of DIY and interior design, gained 2.44%, boosting its progression before, which had already ranked at the top of the largest increases in the Dow.

On the Nasdaq, as Take-Two Interactive jumped to 15.71% after the publication of quarterly results better than expected and the recovery of group forecasts.

Heineken, the world's third largest brewer, said Wednesday a larger increase than expected half-year net income, reducing costs offset declining sales of beer in Europe and North America.

The Dutch group, whose main brands are Heineken and Amstel, saw sales volumes fall 2.3% on a comparable basis in the first six months of the year, but lower costs, the prices of raw materials and financial burdens, and the contribution of its joint ventures have enabled him to increase its net profit by 17% to 621 million euros.

Twelve analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast an average result of 595 million.

In the exchanges of Amsterdam, Heineken action reduced its gains at midday, after gaining more than 2% in the morning and signed one of the most Shakers in the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index.

Some analysts suggest the group's exposure to the austerity measures in Europe to explain the slowdown.

Despite his good half, Heineken said to be cautious about the prospects of the beer market in Europe and the United States due to continued weakness in consumer spending in general and announced fiscal austerity plans.

Its sales volumes should continue to grow in parallel in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

LITTLE IMPACT OF THE INCREASE OF GRAIN

The results presented Wednesday included two months on the contribution of the activities of FEMSA Mexican beer, bought by Heineken in order to increase its presence in emerging markets.

Last year, Heineken has done a little more than half its sales in Western Europe. On Wednesday, he assured that the integration of FEMSA is proceeding satisfactorily and that it should generate synergies in the second half.

"Cost savings are slightly higher than expected, the contribution of FEMSA, too," said Trevor Stirling, an analyst at Bernstein Research.

"I do not see why the second half would be worse than the first.This should not be as bad in Eastern Europe and this should improve the United States (…) The fundamental dynamic is healthy. "

The group said growth forecasts of at least 10% of its net earnings over the whole year, indicating that volume trends in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as price increases , continue to have an impact on profitability.

The CEO of Heineken, Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, described the first half of "robust" and added that the recent rise in grain prices, driven by drought in Russia, would have little impact on the consolidated because purchases are concluded a year in advance and are largely covered before harvest.

"For the part that we have to cover, we must wait until the market calms down," he said during a teleconference.

The European Commission announced that it authorized the repurchase of the French specialist of the PPE Sperian by the American conglomerate Honeywell, as the operation does not affect competition.

The transaction represents 1.4 billion dollars (1.06 billion euros), a sum which includes the takeover of Honeywell debt of 300 million euros Sperian.

The European Commission has estimated that all Honeywell-Sperian will face a significant number of competitors.

The American group, who beat the investment fund Cinven for redemption Sperian has developed on the segment of protective equipment in recent years. He acquired Norcross Safety Production including $ 1.2 billion in 2008.

Luxottica, the world leader in eyewear, has announced a 30% increase in net income and an increase of 13.8% of its turnover in the second quarter and said it was confident for the second half.

The Milanese group, which owns brands including Ray Ban and Oakley, said in a statement that its wholesale division has achieved the best performance in its history, its operating margin reaching 24.1% against 22.5% a a year ago.

"These results provide an excellent base to look with confidence towards the second half of the year," said in a statement the CEO Andrea Guerra.

Luxottica has made the quarter April-June net profit of 150.1 million euros, exceeding the consensus estimate of analysts Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S, which gave 145.3 million.

He said that sales were particularly strong in emerging markets and the U.S., its largest market.

In a presentation accompanying the results, Luxottica said track to achieve its annual targets. In April, he had said it expects growth of about 5% of its annual turnover.

Ericsson, the world leader in mobile network equipment, reported second-quarter results below analysts' expectations, the Swedish group, suggesting a difficult market including the continued reluctance of operators to invest.

The telecom equipment market begins to show signs of life but the level of customer spending is still very far from what it was before the crisis.

Ericsson, which has made tens of billions of crowns in savings to cope with falling demand, said that reducing costs would continue to be his priority as business conditions remain difficult.

In the second quarter, operating profit excluding joint ventures and excluding restructuring charges, stood at 5.3 billion kronor (564 million euros) against 6.1 billion a year ago and an average forecast of analysts of 5 8000000000.

Revenues fell 8% to 48 billion crowns, while analysts had forecast on 50500000000.

On Thursday, Nokia Siemens Network (NSN), one of his main rivals, posted a decline of 5% of its turnover in the period.

Like NSN, Ericsson said its sales had been affected by supply shortages of certain components.

"We believe (the break) weighed negatively to height of three to four billion kronor on sales for the quarter," the company said in a statement.

Ericsson's gross margin, 39%, came out at a level well above expectations, the group has benefited from the effect of cost reductions and a "mix" positive activities.

The Italian group Fiat said on Friday it would invest 700 million euros to produce the Panda Pomigliano, near Naples, while the range of small cars was previously produced in Poland.

The decision to relocate production in Italy of the best-selling small car in Europe was a time appear uncertain because only 62% of factory workers in Naples had voted in favor.

Fiat has finally decided to pursue his project after meeting with various unions have accepted this decision with the exception of Fiom, who said he would act in court for infringement of the rights of employees under the new conditions.

The government of Silvio Berlusconi welcomed the announcement of Fiat.

Fiat's investment in Naples – the group plans to invest about 8 billion euros worldwide by 2011 – is expected to boost employment in Italy and contribute to economic growth.

Action Fiat was up 1.4% to 8.84 euros in late afternoon.

European stock markets were down in mid-day, posting the seventh decline in eight sessions after the publication of indicators Chinese fuel fears about the state of the global economy.

For this first session running at a disastrous quarter for equity markets, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 1.19% to 10:45 GMT at 981.69, after touching a low of three weeks.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading industrial stocks in the euro zone, meanwhile shrank by 1.1% to 2544.97 to go below the key level of 38% retracement of the rise between the lowest March 2009 and peak in January compared to the historic low of March 2009, raising fears that its decline is far from complete.

The next level of support is the lowest in 2010 at 2448.10, touched in May

On Wall Street, the S & P 500 fell on Wednesday under the 1040 he managed to maintain since February, falling firmly in a downtrend, which could lead to a sharp fall in the months ahead.

Indicators have shown that the growth of China's manufacturing sector slowed in June in response to efforts by Beijing to curb the expansion of housing and contain the increase in funding.

"The Asian growth has been the engine of the global economy, so if China loses its speed, it will not go well," said Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital Markets.

"With very dull statistics from the U.S., there is growing nervousness over a new recession."

SLOWDOWN IN CHINA AND INDIA

The Chinese official PMI stood at 52.1 in June against 53.9 in MayThis is the lowest figure since February and is well below the expected figure of 53.1 on average by ten analysts polled by Reuters.

A similar survey conducted by HSBC for its shows a sharper decline to 50.4 last month against 52.7 in May

In India too, the growth of manufacturing activity slowed in June due to a deceleration in the rate of increase in production and new orders slightly lower than in May.

PMI Purchasing Managers HSBC, drawn on a survey of 500 companies fell to 57.3 in June against 59.0 in May, the level that had constituted a high of more than two years.

Very sensitive to changes in the Chinese economy, mining stocks are affected. Xstrata lost 2.67%, BHP was down 1.62% and Rio Tinto fell back to 0.88%.

The banking situation is more delicate approach to the recovery of around 500 billion euros at the European Central Bank.Credit Agricole fell 2.33%, 2.23% and BBVA Banco Popolare 0.66%.

Barclays accused it for an even more marked decline after announcing that business conditions in the segment of the investment bank had deteriorated over the last two months.

Adding to the gloom, the French manufacturing PMI came to show that growth in the French manufacturing industry slowed in June for the second consecutive month in France and the sector has continued to destroy jobs, according to PMI survey published Thursday by the Institute Markit Economics.

The German situation is rather less alarming because the industry has finally emerged while a stable flash estimate predicted a slowdown.

Wall Street fell nearly 1.5% on Thursday because of concerns about the state of the economy after the lukewarm assessment of the Federal Reserve on the pace of recovery in the United States.

The Dow Jones 30 industrials surrendered 1.41% or 145.64 points at 10,152.80. The S & P 500 is broader, lost 18.35 points, or 1.68%, to 1073.69.The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 36.81 points (-1.63%) to 2217.42.

The U.S. stock market has also suffered from the approach end of the legislative process of the radical overhaul of financial regulation, which should translate into lower profits for banks.

It is likely that the Democrats will retain bargaining provisions to severely restrict the activities of the banks own account, and some of their investments, not changing the text at the margin.

JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have respectively lost 2.21% to 38.03 dollars and 2.66% to 15.02 dollars while the S & P financials grouping yielded 2.07%.

The good statistics of the day – orders of durable goods fell less sharply than expected enrollment and weekly unemployment fell more than expected – were enough to overshadow the comments of the Federal Reserve recognizes the fragility of economic recovery U.S..

"There has been little good news this week and reformed the financial system has further obscured the situation," said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz Associates.

In terms of values, as Dell has lost 6.44% at 12.93 dollars, the investors had not been very convinced by the growth strategy announced in the day by the manufacturer of micro-computers.

The Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Krugman attacked in an interview published Monday in Germany's unofficial candidate to head the European Central Bank, saying that naming Axel Weber present a "substantial risk (…)" for the euro. Asked by the newspaper Handelsblatt in an appointment of the current president of the Bundesbank to take over from Jean-Claude Trichet, Mr. Krugman replied: "The risk for the euro area would be considerable."

Economist criticizes Dr. Weber, one of the favorites to head the ECB, interested only in the fight against inflation even if it means endangering growth. "The risk of contagion (problems) from Greece to Spain and Portugal to Italy would be much greater with a president so conservative for the ECB," he saidKrugman, recognizing not personally know the owner of the Bundesbank.

Weber is concerned about inflation even when there is not, "he joked, adding:" If you are looking for someone who wants a 0% inflation even when the unemployment rate is 13 %, Weber is your man. " "The ECB must become much more flexible and aggressive. His conservative politics is primarily due to the sensitivity of Germany", he also analyzed.

Unlike the American Fed, the ECB has a clear mandate to preserve price stability, and not to support growth. Mr. Krugman also criticizes implicitly the direction of German economic policy, now focused on fiscal restraint. "This is not the time to be worried about the deficit", said the Nobel Prize, in line with recent remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama.