Archive for April, 2010
The U.S. stock markets have recently experienced six consecutive weeks of gains, taking a breather. The Dow Jones opened down 0.07% and the Nasdaq 100 0.11%.
On Monday, the Dow Jones gleaned 0.08% to increase the threshold highly symbolic 11 000 points for the first time since September 2008.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro continues to strengthen against the dollar, after surging the day before with the announcement of details of the rescue plan for Greece. In early afternoon, the European currency was worth 1.3614 dollars against 1.3585 dollars in morning.
Wave of publications this week
On the macroeconomic front, the U.S. trade deficit widened in February to 39.70 billion dollars.The next week will be marked by several important indicators such as the index of consumer prices, retail sales for the month of March, industrial production, housing starts and the first estimate of the confidence index, Reuters Michigan. The markets will also follow the hearing of Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday and will monitor closely developments in the case of the Greek debt.
The week will also be crucial for the U.S. markets with the opening ball of the quarterly results. As usual, the aluminum giant Alcoa, which gave the start of the season publications, Monday after the market closes. The U.S. producer of aluminum remained in the red in the first quarter, however, divided more than double its loss a year.Alcoa recorded a net loss after minority interests of 201 million over the first three months of the year, against a deficit of $ 497 million a year earlier.
Today, the computer chip manufacturer Intel to follow. The next week will be hosted by quarterly results from Google, General Electric still banks JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Always on the side of values, yesterday, the U.S. oil group ConocoPhillips has announced the sale of its Chinese Sinopec stake in Canadian oil sands project Syncrude for $ 4.65 billion (3.42 billion euros) . This is one of the largest investments ever made by China in North America.
The manufacturer of PDAs and mobile phones Palm, would seek a buyer.Bloomberg said the investment bank Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners were commissioned to find a buyer to the manufacturer of smartphones in serious financial trouble. Action Palm and jumped over 17% Monday to the New York Stock Exchange.
Sodexo pushed back to the wall by an elected California. Loretta S?nchez, Democratic member of the House of Representatives, announced on their website have filed an application with the agency responsible for auditing the public accounts in the United States, the Government Accountability Office (GAO). She claimed a GAO investigation into a contract signed between Sodexo, French catering group, and the Marine Corps. This contract of $ 881 million, for a period of eight years, is nearing completion and Sodexo expects to see it renewed for an even larger amount of 4.1 billion.
But Sanchez Loretta has put a spoke in the wheels of the French group. Indeed, the elected Sodexo suspected "of waste and potential health problems" in the power supply on military bases.Loretta Sanchez also refers to a reversal of the restaurant group in the middle of his contract, making the service "less effective than originally promised."
Alarming health reports
In 2001, when Marine Corps decided to reorganize the delivery of food to its bases nationwide to save $ 20 million per year, Sodexo was first in line. The group appealed and won the gold contract through its food production unit based in Tennessee. A center to centralize the production of fresh meals. These are then frozen and shipped to bases across the country. But in July 2007, Sodexo stops the production unit.
This shift comes a month after a recall by the USDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3,000 chickens potentially contaminated with listeria.In fact the meat had been sent to bases at Camp Pendleton in San Diego.
In addition, public reports of recurring health problems in the production center of Sodexo. Among these reports, 70 are published by USDA and refers to "non-conformities" over a period from December 2005 to September 2009.
Loretta Sanchez, also a member of the Armed Services Committee, therefore demanding a thorough investigation before renewing the contract for a higher amount. "I asked the GAO to investigate. This is part of broader efforts to target waste in government, "she says.
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Next Monday, the faithful love of cinema to UGC will learn about PeopleForCinema, the start-up created six months ago by Simon and Serge Hayat Istolainen on MyMajorCompany model, the Internet music label.
The giant cinemas and website, which offers users to leverage the distribution of films before their release, have entered into a partnership that should give new impetus to PeopleForCinema.
From Monday, subscribers to the loyalty program and the 250,000 cardholders unlimited branded UGC will be able to invest in a few films chosen by the exhibitor in the catalog PeopleForCinema. "There are many similarities between us and them, says about his partner Jean-Marie Dura, CEO of UGC in network load.One the other as we seek to support the film and provide access to movies very different. "UGC, which publishes a free magazine distributed in its 371 rooms in France, has more than one million unique visitors month on its website.
Through this agreement, the UGC will provide start-up its roster of clients, and in return will enter the PeopleForCinema network of cinemas in the dance community and participatory payday loan lenders.
"The Whistler" Catalogue
Specifically, users who go from Monday on the website of UGC discover a film catalog PeopleForCinema on which they can invest money. In a few months, when the film will be shown, users who have invested will have their release – pulled in admissions hall – whether the film knows only limited success.However, if it contains a triumph, they will receive a share of profits. UGC, in turn, affect a small share of revenues, calculated by the number of Internet users from its own network. This partnership is timely for the participatory website, which has not yet found its success. The Whistler – first catalog – has recorded only 330 000 entries, 440 000 and Brothers, which does not affect profits. Its founders have now on the next film by Bertrand Blier, The Sound of ice, including Jean Dujardin, Albert Dupontel share the bill.
At the close Tuesday night, the CAC 40 gained 0.49% to 4053, 94 points, while that Wall Street investors were taking a break, despite the confirmation of the retention by the Fed to lower rates , between 0% and 0.25%, and has been d?bembre 2008.
On Wednesday morning, Asian stock markets are moving in the positive. This early morning, the Bank of Japan also announced that it retained its interest rates to 0.1%. The World Bank, East Asian development is driving the global economic recovery, but these countries need reform to enjoy sustained growth. The institution expects an increase of 8.7% of GDP in the area in 2010.
Rich economic news
Side Europe, INSEE and ISAE Ifo and its equivalents, will unveil their outlook for the second quarter of the year.At 11 hours, the GDP of the eurozone in the fourth quarter of 2009 (third estimate). At the same time, will be published the second estimate of the composite PMI services for the month of March, and prices for industrial production.
In the U.S., weekly stocks of crude oil will be reviewed by financial operators. Oil is quite stable in anticipation of these figures, but quickly approached $ 87 in recent days. Investors anticipate a rise in global demand. The Qatari Minister of Energy Abdullah al-Attiyah said Tuesday that it was not necessary to bring OPEC to discuss soaring prices at the highest in a year and a half low rate payday loans.
At 19:30, the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, will speak on "Economic Challenges past, present and future.A speech certainly scrutinized closely in the wake of its decision on rates. Any change of address would be taken seriously.
Finally, at 21 hours, the figures on consumer credit in the U.S. in February.
Using concrete for Renault and Daimler
The Franco-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan and Daimler, the German manufacturer Mercedes and Smart have announced equity cross-holdings of 3.1%, and a broad industrial partnership. The Renault shares surged 3.86% to 36.87 euros at the close yesterday.
Carrefour prepares to leave Portugal, reports Le Figaro. The retailer will start selling the 524 hard discount stores it operates in this country under the banner Minipre?o.Their turnover has reached 915 million euros in 2009.
Rentabiliweb Specialist monetization of online and offline audiences, today announced it won a bidding group France Televisions in order to monetize the sites hearings France Televisions Interactive.
Deinove today launches his bid for the purchase of shares. Offer clot April 20 and the first titles will be on the Paris stock exchange – Alternext – from April 21. The "greentech" hopes to raise from 12 to 15 million euros in the financial markets to fund its research.
Maurel and Prom will publish its annual results after-hours trade.
If confirmed, this would be the heaviest fine ever imposed by the U.S. National Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA) to a manufacturer. This requires the Japanese Toyota fined 16.375 million dollars (12.191 million euros). A record amount justified, she said, by the slow reaction of the manufacturer's faults found and deliberately concealed its vehicles.
The U.S. government accuses him of hiding Toyota for "at least four months' issues of accelerators is jamming in the down position, and this" contempt of risk "led to drivers. According to the Minister of Transport Ray LaHood, the leaders of Toyota "did not take steps to protect millions of drivers and their families."
Toyota has two weeks to pay the fine or contest it.If he refuses to pay and can not agree with NHTSA, the matter will be referred to a court.
Procedural defects
The NHTSA had opened an investigation last February 16 to see if Toyota had been slow to reveal these problems, finds a first time Toyota has not notified within five days after discovery of problems, as the law The imposed.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT), the 70,000 pages of documents presented by Toyota have revealed that the manufacturer "knew his problems pedals are jamming on their own since at least September 29.It was at that date that Toyota "has launched repair procedures with its distributors from 31 European countries and Canada to address issues accelerator stuck, sudden increase and tachometer sudden acceleration of the vehicle, "says the report.
But the documents show that "Toyota knew that consumers in the United States suffered the same problems as those in Europe and Canada.Yet, September 29, the band announced the recall of 3.8 million vehicles in the U.S. claiming only the possibility that the accelerator pedal gets stuck in the floor mat and ignoring the problems of blocking pedals 'themselves in position.
It was not until January 21 that the manufacturer recalls 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S., reported first involuntary acceleration unconnected mats but the pedals are blocking themselves . In the end, Toyota has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the U.S. on 9 million recalled in the world.Either the largest recall ever recorded by an automaker.
Organizational Change
In a statement, Toyota has defended: "We have already taken a significant number of measures to improve our communication with regulators and clients on security issues and strengthened our commitment to quality." This includes "the appointment of a new director of quality in North America and a greater role dedicated to regional leaders in the decision making process related to quality," says the manufacturer.
But the DOT has not said its last word. He announced as still investigating to determine if the manufacturer had "committed other offenses meriting further sanctions."
Reminders continue
Meanwhile, Toyota continues its recall campaign.The Japanese announced Tuesday its intention to recall 12,984 vehicles sold in South Korea because of mats may impede the accelerator pedal.
The three models involved are the Lexus ES350, Camry and Camry Hybrid. Motorists concerned will receive free repairs from April 19.
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Workers at the plant Sodimatex Crepy-en-Valois, since Thursday threatening to blow up their factory to demand better severance pay, resumed negotiations with management on Friday, according to their lawyer."The goal is to obtain guarantees on fair negotiations and feasibility of proposals," said Ms. Caroline Substelny journalists, who advises employees.
After half a day of negotiations, the employees had left the roundtable organized at the municipality office, shortly before 20 hours before returning to the factory for a general meeting faxless pay day loans.
Both sides attempt to reach an agreement to improve the starting conditions of the 92 employees, including site closure is scheduled for a year.
The employees demanded such a premium extra-legal dismissal of 21,000 euros, similar to what had affected their colleagues from another plant Sodimatex closed in 2006.
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Apr
2
After four years of investment and international expansion (United Kingdom, Germany and Spain), Quotatis enhances its growth. This company specializes in linking over the Internet between applicants estimate (individuals and corporations) and local providers on the housing sector in particular, has bought devistravo.com, also involved in the linkage but she, in building. And this, to strengthen its network of providers. "According to a BVA survey, 96% of respondents say they want to see at least three suppliers to make the right choice," says Didier Heen, CEO Quotatis.
This operation is part of the policy of targeted acquisitions of Quotatis."Our goal is to unite the whole of market, industry and institutional investors, either through partnerships or through acquisitions, new engine around monetization, the pay-per-lead *". We are positioned between the pay-per-click "on Google and Yellow Pages directory," says Didier Heen.
The group is "pander business more than a hundred brands such as The Figaro.fr, Orange, TF1.fr, L'Express, Capital, France, and Spain … Yellow Pages. "We are already detected by QDQ applications, the Spanish subsidiary of Yellow Pages. Rather than a competitor, I see the Yellow Pages as a partner, "said Didier Heen. A potential partner in France? "Why not! Yellow Pages is a challenger in Spain.The challengers are probably more innovative than the leaders, "says Didier Heen.
The buyback will enable Devistravo Quotatis to have 1,200 additional service providers who will have access to 600,000 projects Quotatis deals on average each year in France, and 1 million if one adds Germany, England and Spain.
Further internationalization
In 2010, Quotatis hopes to ride the wave "positive" in 2009. "We found no effect on our business crisis payday advance. Despite the uncertain economic environment, individuals have not stopped renovating their homes. And continue to do so in 2010, "said Didier Heen. This focus on housing and energy, Quotatis has seen its turnover increase from EUR 530,000 in 2004 to more than 12 million euros in 2009.This represents an average annual growth of 87%.
The group also wants to specialize in other sectors and expand into new countries. "I can not tell you more. This will impact the discussions we are now with other companies, explained the Director General of Quotatis.
Another perspective for 2010 to integrate its service to stop a major actor. "This strategy is motivated by the fact that today customers want to go to a single operator able to offer a bouquet of services (website, visibility, marketing, direct marketing, …). A company like the Post has fully understood their new product marketing box e-commerce.
Quotatis long term plans to enter the stock market. "The Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Banexi not destined to remain forever our shareholders.Now everything depends on our size, environment and economic project that we present. For now, we do not need Exchange to live, "says Didier Heen. He added: "But we could also consider being acquired by a financial actor or an industrialist."
* If the pay-per-click "advertising is a reward for the advertiser based on the number of clicks on advertising, pay-per-lead" is a model where the affiliate is paid based on the number forms completed by the visitors it refers to the affiliators. In both cases, the advertising and affiliators are charged only if the respective advertiser (Google, for example) and the affiliate does not "deliver".