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 French energy group GDF Suez is interested in acquiring sites for storing gas sold by Exxon Mobil and Shell and recovered approximately one billion euros, Le Figaro reported Saturday.

Citing a source close to GDF Suez, the daily wrote that the French group is competing in this issue with the infrastructure management subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank, Axa and Prudential.

GDF Suez declined to comment, saying it fails to confirm or invalidate this information.

Shell and Exxon have sold their joint ventures German gas storage BEB Erdgas and Erdoel last June.

While GDF Suez already has 600 million cubic feet of storage in Germany, the company chaired by Gerard Mestrallet will see its capacity increased to approximately 1.5 billion cubic meters if she can buy the two sites Uelsen Harsefeld and north-west of the country, "said Le Figaro.

Germany is the third market of the French group in terms of gas supply.

The source quoted by the newspaper also reported that GDF Suez continued interest in the Polish energy market and remained in contention for the redemption of Enea, the third power in Poland.

Enel has announced plans to launch the initial public offering (IPO) of its affiliate company specialized in renewable energies over the last two weeks of October.

The Italian group of community service, the actor in the sector the most indebted in Europe, hopes to raise between three and four billion euros in bringing to market a minority stake in Enel Green Power, which could be the largest such operation in Europe this year.

"The IPO will take place in the second half of October," said a spokesman for Enel Friday.

The banks involved in the operation on Friday met Chief Financial Officer of Enel, Luigi Ferraris, to discuss the case, said the spokesman, adding that the company continued with its parallel search for a buyer for participation .

This dual approach (dual track) means that in theory, Enel could abandon at the last minute to rate its subsidiary if the sale of OTC was a realistic alternative to public offerings.

"At the meeting with the banks this morning, the focus has been on the IPO, but this does not mean that the company abandoned its dual-track approach," said the spokesman.

Sources have told Reuters that the international coordinators of the IPO were Mediobanca, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Intesa Sanpaolo.

The leaders of the transaction are JP Morgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, BBVA and Unicredit.

Wheat prices on the Chicago market gained nearly 8% in plenary on Thursday, near their highest level in two years, following the announcement by Russia to stop its exports of cereals.

The current drought in Russia, one of the worst in the history of the country, devastated crops in several regions, which causes several days a soaring wheat prices on international markets.

Investors are afraid that pressure on this market over the coming months in the absence of a major world exporters.

FAO, United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture, on Wednesday reduced about 4%, or 25 million tonnes, its forecast for world wheat crop for 2010.

If it considers that the offer is sufficient for now, she warned that "if the drought in the Russian Federation continues, this could pose problems for winter crops in this country, with potentially serious implications for deliveries World wheat in 2011 and 2012.

The benchmark price of wheat in Chicago jumped 82% since June 9

On Thursday, panic buying of investment funds and traders on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) also focused on corn and soybeans, which gained 2.6% and 0.8%.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday the suspension of exports of cereals and processed agricultural products between August 15 and December 31, a decision that applies to contracts already signed.

He has confirmed information previously reported by Russian news agency Interfax, which had triggered the wave of purchases.

"The announcement of Putin panicked everyone (…).Nobody knows how far we could go, "said Paul Haugen, Vice-president of Newedge USA.

At midday in the U.S., the futures contract on wheat for September delivery gained 60 cents, its highest increase allowed to 785.75 cents, the highest level these last 23 months by the maturity nearest market.

DISTORTIONS

"I would not be surprised if it took 60 or 70 cents extra, even more during the next session," said Joe Bedore, the brokerage firm FC Stone in Chicago.

Kazakhstan, another major wheat producer in the Black Sea basin, said anticipating a fall of 35% of its harvest and study by the end of a request from Moscow to reduce its own exports.

International trading giant Cargill said he expected that such trade barriers distort the global wheat market.

In the European market Euronext, the benchmark November contract on wheat milling peaked Thursday at 236 euros before ending the session at 223.25, up 6.8% on the day.It was up nearly 60% since late June

Wheat has not yet regained its record levels of 2008, when prices in Chicago had exceeded 13.30 dollars a bushel, boosted by fears of a global food crisis.

Some analysts also believe that the current increase is overstated, noting the high level of global supply after two consecutive years of record crops.

The absence of Russian wheat in the coming months could also benefit other major exporters, U.S. or Europe.

"A Case of Russian exports would distribute maps of the international wheat market," said one European trader."This would open up enormous opportunities for new sales in Western Europe and the United States."

But the rise in food prices may be exaggerated, says a French professional, for whom the market is driven by purely financial factors.

"When the market (Chicago) won a dollar in four days, not for fundamental reasons," said he. "The decline, if it occurs, will be equally severe."

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.

Ingenico posted a net income multiplied by more than two in the first half thanks to the increase in transactions in Europe and raised its sales target.

The specialist in payment terminals is now 805-815000000 euros in turnover for 2010 while the group was counting on sales until now included in the top of the range from 790 to 805,000,000.

Its net profit was for the first half of 2010 to 11,200,000 euros, an increase of 133% compared to last year, returning to levels comparable to early 2008, while its net sales reached 395 million, up 10% over the first six months of 2009 on a comparable basis.

"The return to positive momentum in the second quarter we can see our goal of increasing revenue and our target operating margin adjusted for 2010, said Thursday in a statement Philip Lazarus, CEO of 'Ingenico.

The adjusted operating margin target of between 12.5% to 13% is thus maintained for 2010, same as the EBITDA margin between 16% and 17%.

The group had also exceeded its expectations for adjusted operating margin, which stood at 9.3% against a target level "comparable" to 8.6% in first half 2009 pro forma.

The Group's organic growth was driven by its performance in China, Germany and France.Ingenico has continued its acquisition strategy by taking control of both companies in the areas of services related to payments, Transfer To to Singapore and First Data Iberica in Spain.

On the historic market of payment terminals, the main competitors remain Ingenico Hypercom and VeriFone Americans.

At the close Thursday, as the group finished down slightly from 0.1% to 19.40 euros, bringing its market capitalization to nearly $ 950 million.

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.

Wall Street opened up after the publication of a series of better than forecast, reassuring investors who feared a slowdown in U.S. economic recovery.

A few minutes after the start of trading, the DJIA gained 0.22% to 10,252.59 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 index 0.44% to 1087.88 points and the Nasdaq Composite 0.35% to 2230.22 points.

The title Apple earned $ 262 4% after reporting a result well above expectations, boosted by higher sales of its Mac computers.

Prices are also supported by banking stocks Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have both published results better than expected, reassuring investors concerned about the health of the U.S. banking sector.

Both titles and took respectively 7.06% and 4.36% in early trade.

Laurent-Perrier announces increase of 17.3% of its turnover in the first quarter of fiscal 2010-2011, the group enjoying champagne strong exports to the United Kingdom, the United States, the Germany and Asia.

The turnover in Q1 (April 1-June 30) reached 36.8 million euros against 31.4 million a year earlier.

The export sales have reached 69.5% of sales of the brand, a gain of 6.7 points compared to first quarter of last year.

"If it confirms the recovery in demand, growth in volumes in the first quarter should not be extrapolated over the whole year," the company said in a statement, adding nevertheless that the price / mix should gradually recover in coming quarters.

The group generates a significant portion of its revenues in the third quarter (October-December), corresponding to the festive season to season.

The results of the first half ended September 30, 2010 will be published on 1 December 2010.

The stock has increased by 24.4% since the beginning of the year, after declining 8.5% in 2009. It has a market capitalization of 400 million euros.

The Spanish bank Banesto publishes an interim result down 6.8% due to the recognition of a higher amount of provisions for bad debts, which impacted the margins of the establishment.

The Spanish bank has registered a net profit of 381.7 million euros, while analysts polled by Reuters had expected 376 million euros.

Banesto, majority owned by Spanish bank Santander and the first to publish its interim results, said it recorded $ 85 million of exceptional provisions.

The ratio of Banesto related bad loans to total loans stood at 3.48% against 3.12% at end-March, while analysts at Citi said they expect that this ratio reaches a peak during the year 2011.

The net interest income, or about what a bank earns on loans decreased costs related to its deposit, rose 0.5% to 863.6 million euros against 855 million expected by analysts.

Around 7:15 GMT, gaining 0.8%, while the Stoxx index comprising the major European banking stocks was virtually unchanged at the same moment (-0.05%).