News & Financial Advice

The month is September is historically the less buoyant year for Wall Street.And this year, economic indicators expected during the first days of the month will put the nerves of investors challenged at risk to initiate a new downtrend.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost nearly 13% since April, gradually accumulating as disappointing economic indicators which have fueled fears of "double dip" relapse into recession after the 2008 crisis -2009.

But the benchmark index of the place New York has so far found strong support around the threshold of 1,040 points, while penetration of the support triggering a wave of purchases.

The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured the markets at least temporarily, saying Friday that the Fed was ready to act if the economic situation deteriorates. But indicators coming days may revive concern.

"The indicators tend to be consistently to be below expectations," said Nick Kalivas, equity analyst for MF Global."I think that these indicators will trigger new sales next week."

Monthly statistics of the labor market expected Friday should show that 99,000 jobs have been destroyed in August, partly due to the end of temporary contracts linked to the decennial census, while job creation in the private sector should not exceed 42,000.

Until then, the ISM index of purchasing managers in industry and services will probably reflected a further slowdown in business growth.

The S & P 500 tested the threshold of 1040 points on two occasions during the past week but each time he finished the day up.This media has systematically encouraged buyers to return to the market over the past 10 months the index has not marked down so only once and briefly, in July.

DOMINATES THE SHORT TERM

The S & P 500, primary references many managers and analysts, finished Friday at 1064.59 points. If he drove the support of 1,040, it could fall in the range of 1010-1020 points.On the upside, he ran into resistance from its 14-day average at 1076.65, which limits its potential for recovery.

In the options market, this situation encourages the purchase of "put" on the S & P 500, which entitles the holders to sell futures on the index at a price fixed in advance.

"The overall feeling of investors in the options market has become very skeptical, purchases could go beyond the call buyers," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical analyst for Schaeffer's Investment.

The ratio "was able to call" used to measure changes in the general sentiment of the market, stood at 0.61 on Thursday, against 0.59 in average over the last 21 meetings.

Beyond the technical factors, investors will also monitor the statements of managers of major companies such as General Electric and Boeing at the conference "Global Industrials Unplugged" organized by Morgan Stanley.

On Friday, the semiconductor giant Intel cut its revenue forecast for the current quarter. Investors have largely ignored this warning, the Intel action ending the day up, but new estimates of this type could undermine the morale of the market.

Faced with such a combination of risk factors, many investors may take their time before returning to the market.Especially since September is historically the worst month for the three major indexes on Wall Street.

The wait will be promoted in the coming days by the prospect of a weekend of three days with the celebration of Labor Day Monday, September 6.

For Scott Marcouiller, head of technical strategy at Wells Fargo Advisors, a "rally" seems unlikely in the current context.

The growth of the U.S. economy in the second quarter was much weaker estimated initially at 1.6% annualized 2.4% originally announced cons, particularly penalized by the higher increase in imports for 26 years, published revised statistics show Friday.

Economists polled by Reuters on average expected a downward revision even more pronounced at 1.4%, mainly due to higher imports and slower recovery in business inventories. (See)

Export growth was revised to 9.1% for the second quarter, while the previous estimate reported an increase of 10.3%.Imports have them, increased by 32.4%, against 28.8% in the first estimate.

Following this publication, futures on U.S. indexes have increased their gains, while European markets are back in positive territory.

Arkema plans to double its EBITDA this year after a second quarter marked by record sales amid robust demand in Asia and recovery in North America.

The chemist has done on the previous quarter sales of 1.6 billion euros, up 38%.At constant perimeter, sales rose 27%.

It's his best performance since its IPO in May 2006.

"The level of first half performance allows us to review our annual target of strong EBITDA to rise, which should exceed 600 million euros (…) approximately double the EBITDA reached in 2009," said the CEO of Arkema, Thierry Le Henaff, in a statement.

In the second quarter, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) came out to 241 million euros, more than tripling the profit for the period of 2009 and similar growth of 76% over the first three months year.

Arkema has posted a net profit group share of 119 million euros in the quarter, while it had a loss of 114 million a year earlier.

The Arkema share closed Monday at 34.985 euros, giving a market capitalization of around two billion euros. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has taken more than 30% after more than doubled in value over the whole of 2009.

EADS announced that it is more of its objectives in 2010, reinforced by the recent trade performance of Airbus, its flagship division.

The European aerospace and defense, however, reported first-half results down, therefore including exceptional negative currency effects.

During the period January to June, the adjusted operating profit – before interest, taxes, goodwill and exceptional items – EADS fell 54% to 406 million euros.Net income decreased 51% to 185 million while turnover was up 1% to 20.3 billion euros.

The evolution of exchange rate weighed on operating profit adjusted to 550 million euros.

In the second quarter alone, adjusted operating income down 51% to 323 million euros, net profit plunged 61% to 82 million and revenues fell 3% to 11.35 billion.

For this period, 14 analysts polled by Inquiry Financial Europe AB anticipated adjusted operating profit of 285 million euros and a net profit of 146 million and a turnover of 11.25 billion.

Given the high level of orders placed at Farnborough Air Show in July, Airbus now believes it could end the year with over 400 gross orders when he was 300-400 commands at beginning of year.

Deliveries should be on their side on some 500 aircraft (498 in 2009) and the manufacturer plans to increase the production rate of its single-aisle aircraft from 34 units per month at present to 40 units per month from the first quarter of 2012.

Penalized by a more difficult environment, the helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter for its part should register a level slightly lower than shipments in 2009.

EADS now expects to post revenues of more than 44 billion euros in 2010 on the basis of one euro to 1.35 dollar but maintains its objective of operating income adjusted to about one billion euros.

When presenting its first quarter results, the company said it expected to reach a turnover "broadly stable" – he had totaled 42.82 billion euros in 2009 – on the basis of a euro to $ 1.40.

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 industrial conglomerate 3M reported a 43.2% jump in net profit in the second quarter, above expectations, due to strong demand from emerging markets.

The U.S. company, which manufactures both the Post-It notes, Scotch tape as films used in flat screen displays a profit of $ 1.12 billion or $ 1.54 per share for the period April to June, One result cons of 783 million or $ 1.12 per share in the second Quarter 2009.

Analysts on average forecast EPS of $ 1.48 according to the consensus established by Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

Turnover rose 17.7% to 6.73 billion dollars according to the forecast given by the company in late June

For 2010, 3M now expects earnings per share excluding items between $ 5.80 and 5.65 and a growth of between 13% and 15% excluding acquisitions against a previous range of 10% to 12%.

The Minnesota company said however that the decline of the euro against the dollar could weigh on its results in the second half.

The European Commission has condemned the French Bolloré to pay a fine of 21 million euros for price fixing in the market for carbonless paper.

The Commission fined Bolloré fined 22.68 million euros in December 2001 but the company had appealed to the European Court of Justice annulled the decision in September 2009 for procedural issues.

"The Commission has re-adopted the decision by correcting the procedural error that led to the cancellation of the 2001 decision," the EU executive said in a statement.

It has reduced the original amount of the fine to reflect the cooperation of Bolloré.

Officially, the subject is not on the table. For its pension reform, Nicolas Sarkozy ruled out the possibility of reaching the level of pensions – and thus to contribute to today's retirees. However, the idea is more in tune with the times. The economist Patrick Artus and militates in favor of a form of redistribution from older to younger. As the founding Terra Nova, near the PS, it is about to publish a report on the mind-blowing subject. One of its main proposals: align the tax on retirement assets that, while it is now lower.

An idea supported by a growing number of experts. This is the case of Bruno Palier, a researcher at Cevipof and pension specialist: "The rate of the CSG paid by retirees is 6.6% against 7.5% for assets. Align the two already bring in three billion euros per year.The advantage of such a reform, according to the economist: it would spare the poorest pensioners, exempt from income tax, who do not pay either the CSG. "It is quite unfair to say they will tighten the rules only for those who will in the future, while the system is very generous to pensioners today," notes Francois Legendre, an economist at the center of Employment Studies and author of numerous works on pensions.

It must indeed distinguish reforms necessitated by the longer life expectancy than those imposed by the arrival at the age of retirement for many generations of post-war. "Baby boomers French have not taken the necessary measures to ensure the funding of their pensions. It is not normal that this weighs on active today.From this point of view, a transient increase in the CSG of retirees is defensible, "said Antoine Bozio co-signer, Thomas Piketty, of a proposed radical overhaul of the French pension system. According to this expert, the question does not arise if the baby boomers French had at the time they were active themselves, fed a pension reserve fund, as were the Swedes do, and even American …

See also: What you should know about pension reform

Japanese stocks ended down Tuesday on profit-taking, the euphoria at the European level stabilization dissipating rapidly.

The Nikkei lost 1.14% or 119.60 points to 10,411.10 points and the broader TOPIX, yielded 1.33% or 12.54 points to 932.10 points.

Mizuho Financial has finished in fall of 4.68% to 163 yen on expectations of capital increase.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group lost 3.63% to 2,815 yen, its affiliate that specializes in consumer credit Promise tumbled 17.38% to 713 yen after providing it might be lost.

Toyota Motor ended down 0.7% to 3495 yen, before the publication of its results just after the closing.

The food group Ajinomoto forsaken 3.65% to 818 yen.The company said its operating profit to 57 billion yen this year, down 11% from the previous year and below the consensus of 66.4 billion yen Thomson Reuters I / B / IO