Sony will reopen Wednesday its PlayStation Network in Japan

Sony will begin a new chapter Wednesday. Services PlayStation Network (PSN) for online games, and Qriocity for video, will reopen Wednesday in Japan. This is the last country in which Sony has to return to work "normal". Mid-June, the NSP has opened in South Korea and Hong Kong. The group was waiting for the approval of the "authorities" after hackers suffered since early April that forced him to interrupt his service. "We will restore the entire PSN as soon as possible, as soon as the national authorities will be comfortable with the protections we have put in place," explained the beginning of June, Le Figaro, Kaz Hirai, who became president last week Sony games division. He left his position as general manager Andrew House, Welsh origin, like Howard Stringer, the chairman of the Sony Group.

The matter is serious.More than 100 million accounts were hacked Sony, whose 77 million just for the PSN. The data on 23 million credit cards in use were recovered by "hackers" Pirates of the Internet. The group's data center in Tokyo, located in San Diego, has been more than a dozen attacks.

The origin of piracy, according to Kaz Hirai spoke with Le Figaro, at the show for video games? "I do not know who the pirates who want the Sony group as a whole. Individuals or groups of "hackers" are attacking us to tell the world that they were able to pass our security checkpoints. We have suffered denial of service from a group of hackers known as Anonymous, related to the fact that we have tried to protect the intellectual property of the PlayStation 3. But it does not seem that there is a link between the group Anonymous and piracy.It does not appear that there is an increase in fraud since the breach in the PSN. We have not been contacted by consumers who have complained of the misuse of their personal information. Or personal data were not stolen, the target of hackers did not use the information, but to tell the world that the FBI, Sony or another company were attacked. "

The investigation is ongoing. The group of pirates "Lulz Security", which has decided to disband, has posted online more than 2 million customer names from Sony. One of its alleged members was recently arrested by Scotland Yard.

Faced with these attacks, Sony has taken in May, a provision of 14 billion yen (120 million euros). This amount should be reassessed after the latest attacks? "No, says Kaz Hirai.The biggest potential risk was the breach of the PlayStation Network. Thus, the estimate is based on the attack. But we are not sure what information is taken or the potential misuse of data could be made pirated. Our service was closed and we made an offer to return to clients who have returned over the network online. That's why we made this estimate. "

The injury picture is not yet rated. But Sony is comforted by explaining that "customer loyalty is incredible." For "where we have restored the PSN service, 90% of the activity returned to normal. This is the case in the United States and in most countries where we have restored. Less than 1% of customers ask to close their account on PSN. That's why we are very grateful to them.We can not thank them enough. This incident would not have happened, "admits the president of the division games.

Berlin expects 100,000 workers East

Workers from eight countries of Eastern Europe – except Romania and Bulgaria – are free to seek work in Germany since May 1. Fearing an influx of immigrants, Germany had delayed for two years opening its labor markets to new members of the former Soviet bloc. But with the shortage of manpower caused by the economic upturn, it now welcomes their arrival as an opportunity. To defuse criticism, Berlin has announced a tightening of controls on illegal work and increased vigilance against "dumping" wages.

The federal Department of Labor expects an influx of nearly 100,000 people per year. "Most are young, educated and mobile," the ministry said. Candidates for a job in Germany should mainly come from two neighboring countries: Poland and the Czech Republic.Faced with a shortage of engineers, computer scientists, executives, doctors, caregivers and skilled workers, especially in construction, German companies consider the arrival of these immigrants as an opportunity . But they will not be enough to fill the shortage.

Fear of unions

The Federation of German Chambers of Commerce estimated that it would bring in about 400,000 immigrants a year to compensate for the lack of manpower. German MEP, Nadja Hirsch sees open borders as an opportunity. "Germany is in dire need of skilled workers," she says, while the labor force is projected to decline by 6.5 million people by 2025. "Such a decline can be offset by better education, better integration of women into the labor market or the lengthening of working life.We need foreign workers and would have opened our borders sooner, "she laments.

In 2009, Germany and Austria were the only countries in the European Union to postpone by two years of opening their labor markets to nationals from eight former communist countries that joined in 2004 (Poland, Czech Republic Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia).

But since the economic situation has changed. The unemployment rate in Germany (7.3%) declined further in April. The number of unemployed to fall permanently below 3 million in 2011. While they had hands to negotiate wage increases consequent industry by industry, unions are concerned that the influx of immigrants helps sustain job insecurity and wage dumping.

Berlin has announced tighter controls on illegal workers and wage dumping."We will strengthen controls particularly in the construction industry, cleaning of buildings, medical care and food," said German Minister Ursula von der Leyen. The finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, promises more systematic control. "The controllers of black workers are 150 additional posts this year. For 2012 and 2013, we still want to create 100 more per year, "he said.

The executive employment rebounded with the recovery

Virtuous circle. According to the Quarterly Business Tendency note published today by the Association for the use of frameworks (APEC), the upturn in the market for the employment of executives, up 10% yoy in the first quarter, will persist throughout the year. "This should result in increased recruitment of executives between 3% and 10% on the year," welcomes APEC. More than one in two firms planning to hire at least one frame in the second quarter of 2011, or 10 points higher than last year, and 17 points more than two years ago, during an economic crisis.Levels of recruitment have found their rhythm early 2008.

Graduates or experienced managers

Almost all sectors benefit from this improvement, including industry (59% of companies in this sector have recruited at least one frame during the first three months of the year, or 12 points higher than a year ago) , engineering, R & D (86%), consulting and business services (55%) and computer services (90%). Only construction and medico-social results show lower than last year at the same time, "although the outlook remains favorable to recruit" Apec shade.

If young professionals with several years of experience are always' the prime target for recruiters, "a beautiful part will also be reserved for graduates and highly experienced executives, unloved in recent years.Hiring intentions are regarding the effect on net increase over last year: nearly one in two firms who will recruit in the second quarter and has given his chance at a fresh graduate or a manager over twenty years of experience. Be, respectively, increases of 14 and 11 points in one year.

48 applications per offer

Recruitment target mostly business executives (42%). But the improvement in the industry will also lead to increased recruitment in specialized functions of production sites and technical services such as maintenance, procurement and quality.Technical studies, especially popular in engineering and R & D progress on these six points in one year to reach one in four businesses now.

Replacement of departures (for retirement, resignation …) remains the main explanation envisaged recruitment (41% of cases). But more than a third of companies also cite the development of activity as the main reason for recruitment.

Last sign of a strengthening labor market frameworks: a job entrusted to Apec has generated, on average, 48 applications during the third quarter of 2010. Ten less in a year. Employers are more likely to report difficulties in finding suitable candidates – 61% against 55% last year – even if the trend is still to longer delays in recruitment.The share of hires still being three to six months after the publication of the offer is stable at 23%. And this especially in functions where the offerings attracts fewer candidates: computer (72% recruitment difficult), and R & D studies (68%) and industrial production (67%).

International aid to Lisbon to prescribe a course of austerity

Representatives of IMF, the ECB and the European Commission began on Monday to discuss conditions of the rescue of Portugal. The appointment is crucial to Lisbon, without international assistance amounted to 80 billion euros, will be most difficult to meet June 15 a "falling debt" of $ 5 billion. The goal is to reach an agreement before the next Ecofin meeting, scheduled May 17

Faced with this troika is a resigning government which must defend the interests of Lisbon. The Socialists must secure the support of the PSD (center right), the first opposition party and poll favorite for the general election on June 5. To make matters worse, the negotiation takes place under market pressure. The risk premiums associated with the Portuguese debt increased further.

Analysts expect the measures of extreme rigor.The starting point of discussions should be the fourth austerity plan prepared by the Socialists, whose rejection in parliament led to the resignation of Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

According to the newspaper Correio da Manha, the troika would offer to reduce or eliminate welfare benefits provided to retirees at Christmas and during the holidays. A measure that would save up to 3.2 billion euros. Follow cuts in 13th and 14th month of officials, on the model of Greece. Finally, the plan should provide for privatizations and deep structural reforms, particularly in the labor market.

Mistrust and graffiti

The Portuguese were stung by the two previous interventions of the IMF in 1977 and 1983, host the troika with suspicion. The picture of a huge graffiti "IMF out", painted on a wall in Lisbon, was resumed yesterday by the press.

Local media also portray the head of the IMF mission, Poul Thomssen. The Dane is described by the daily Diario de Noticias as "the man from the cold that killed socialism." Flanked Germans Jürgen Kröger (Commission) and Rasmus Rüffer (ECB), should meet this week with representatives of unions and employers, after meeting Monday with Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos.

However, the Fund could play the "nice" policeman. Its experts plead for a loan rate lower than that currently pay Greece (5.3%) and Ireland (5.8%), and for spreading the repayment over four years instead of three, according the weekly Expresso.

The EU representatives would be less inclined to make concessions."There is a fundamental difference, noted economist and Joao Cesar das Neves, when Europe is caught in a political problem for the IMF it is simply a financial issue to create the conditions for the country is to repay its debts. "

Japan: the disaster would cost 235 billion

The Washington-based institution publishes a report on Monday, in which it assesses the costs of the earthquake and tsunami at $ 235 billion or 4% of national production of the Archipelago. An amount exceeding the $ 127 billion fund that the government will release to support the recovery and beyond the $ 100 billion disbursed during the Kobe earthquake in 1995.

The World Bank points out, however, that reconstruction efforts should contribute to the rebound of the economy in the longer term."If it is based on past experience, the real GDP growth will be negatively affected by mid-2011," said the institution, adding that growth should resume in the following quarters, "when reconstruction efforts, which could last five years, accelerating ".

The reconstruction will also be longer than in the Kobe earthquake as "the disruption of production networks, particularly in the automotive and electronics industries, could continue to pose a problem" after a year, noted the Bank guaranteed pay day loans. Large groups such as auto giants Toyota and Sony Electronics have suspended production at many sites.

But manufacturers are mobilizing to resume production as soon as possible: Nissan plans to reopen its plants this week. In a few days, it should be Sony's turn to boost his string of rechargeable batteries.Honda and Toyota, in turn, raise the level of production in their plants to compensate for shortages of spare parts, felt by the entire automotive industry.

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The economy will rebound after the earthquake

The destruction resulting from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday are still difficult to assess. Nevertheless, for many economists, which provide a parallel with the Kobe earthquake of 1995, the impact of the disaster on Japan's economic growth will in the medium term, positive rather than negative.

While the cost of the quake could amount to several tens of billions of dollars. In the short term, the destruction caused are enormous: infrastructure damaged production facilities at the stop, the areas impacted are placing great weight in the economy. If the worst-affected region, that of Tohoku, north-east coast, only 8% of Japanese GDP, that of Kanto, which houses including Tokyo, by contrast produces 40% of national wealth.

GDP contraction in first quarter

Besides stopping the oil refinery of Cosmo Oil Ichihara, east of Tokyo, the activity of the Japanese nuclear industry, which produces between 25% and 30% of national electricity production, is seriously compromised. Eleven of the fifty reactors are currently stalled, while an explosion in one of two plants in Fukushima, northern-eastern countries, has caused extensive damage and the evacuation of all population within a radius of 20 km.

"The temporary closure of production plants and oil refineries, and the interruption of power plants should have an impact on the country's production. GDP could result in decreased again slightly in the first quarter, "predicted the AFP and Wolfgang Leim, an economist at Commerzbank.

Growth boosted by reconstruction

In the medium term however, the Japanese economy could rebound strongly. Drawing a parallel with the Kobe earthquake in 1995, Takuji Okubo, senior economist at Societe Generale, said that reconstruction should generate an increase in activity, and the need for people to renew their property damaged boost consumption. The sectors of construction, steel and telecommunications sectors should benefit fully from the increased activity post earthquake.

"After the earthquake of 1995, Japan's GDP grew 1.9% in 1995 and 2.6% in 1996, while the average growth of the Japanese economy over this period was 1.5% .Consumption grew 2.2% between 1995 and 1996 against 1.1% on average between 1995 and 2004, "said Takuji Okubo.

Risk on debt

The Japanese bank Nomura, which also anticipates strong growth in the Japanese economy in the medium term, says his side as the stimulus state has played a key role in 1995 to revive the economy. "Immediately after the earthquake, the government passed an emergency budget which has contributed 0.3 points to GDP growth in the second quarter 1995 and 0.5 points in the third quarter. We anticipate a similar response from the authorities, "notes Peter Westaway, economist at Nomura.

The opposition conservative Japanese has already announced its support for extraordinary measures promised by the center-left government.A situation which should not, however, help improve the financial health of Japan, whose debt stood at 200% of GDP. The rating agency Standard and Poor's has also recently lowered the debt rating of Japan, considering that the country's budget deficit will remain high in coming years. But Moody's did its part Friday that the earthquake should not cause a subsequent breakdown of the score attributed to the Japanese debt.

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The CAC 40 is a breath of fresh air

The CAC 40, which won in the 4000 points on Monday night, amid record oil prices and gasoline, returns to form on Tuesday: the index 0.32% to 4003.19 wins points in early trade. The DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange opened, it, up from 0.69% to 7211.06 points while the Footise London gained 0.31% over the closing Monday at 5,992.30 points .

Last night, Wall Street has yet suffered during the black gold but this morning, Asian stock markets have evolved around the equilibrium. Tensions in the oil market will settle down when in fact that Nigeria, Kuwait and the UAE will increase their oil production by April to offset higher prices that now exists as Libya comes into civil war with an additional 300,000 barrels per day, according to the Financial Times.This morning, oil prices let loose ground: in the electronic exchange of the night, a barrel of light sweet crude for April delivery yielded 1.41% to 103.95 dollars. That of Brent North Sea fell from 1.16% to 113.71 dollars.

French growth of 0.8% in first quarter

Side macroeconomic figures on Tuesday to watch: Bank of France said Tuesday forecast growth of 0.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) of France in the first quarter of this year in its monthly business survey. The survey on business climate shows a continued growth of industrial activity in February, but at a slower pace than in January, the indicator remained stable 110. The business climate indicator in services has increased in parallel from one point to 102.

Moreover, the trade deficit widened from France in January, to 5.89 billion euros against 5.60 billion the previous month, seasonally adjusted data, the Customs said Tuesday.

In Germany, it will follow at noon, industrial orders in January (Destatis). No statistics are expected this afternoon from the United States.

Scor: net profit up 13%

At the Paris Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning, Michelin took the top ranking (1.99% to 58.89 euros) the Cac 40, followed by Accor (1.25%) and Axa (+1.18% ). Red side, Alcatel Lucent was down 0.15%, 0.06% of Capgemini and GDF Suez of 0.02%.

The SBF, Scor (1.78% to 21.43 euros) stands out. The reinsurer recorded in 2010 net profit up 13% to 418.0 million euros, above expectations, thanks to a surge in financial products, according to a statement released Tuesday.It is also in talks to buy the U.S. Transamerica Reinsurance, a subsidiary of its Dutch rival Aegon, reports Bloomberg.

Air France-KLM (-0.34% to 11.60 euros) reported on Tuesday morning traffic on a February increase of 4.9% capacity increase of 5.1% annual rate . This brings "a quasi-stable load factor to 77.6%," says the airline in a statement. Passenger numbers rose 5.7% to 58.1 million.

Side values, the oil services group Technip (-1.28% to 70.72 euros) has signed a contract worth around 45 million euros for the Gjoa Field Development in the Norwegian North Sea, he said Tuesday in a statement.

To be continued this evening, after-hours trading, the 2010 earnings of Havas and BioMérieux.

The title goes to the restaurant, smart card

Finished the paper, the title goes to the restaurant smart card! This small digital revolution, become the norm for millions of employees living in Latin America, will arrive in France. It should become a reality in the coming months. "Is it 2011? Clearly not. But in 2012, certainly, "says Jacques Stern, Chairman and CEO Edenred first issuer of restaurant in France, with its" Ticket Restaurant "(36% market share in 2010).

G20: Sino-American game on the yuan

Ben Bernanke, head of the U.S. central bank (Fed), and his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Xiaochuan, stole the spotlight at their colleagues in the euro zone, Japan and the UK ahead of the G20. The leaders of the five banks of issue most powerful nations were invited by the Banque de France to discuss "global imbalances and financial stability." The debate was reduced to a duel to the barbed among central bankers of the first two world powers.

Without ever naming China, Ben Bernanke believes that "the maintenance of currency undervalued by some countries contributes to a structure of global demand unbalanced and unsustainable." The Fed chief stigmatizes those countries with large trade surpluses sustainably.This helped to show "an excess of global savings, which spilled on the U.S. economy, providing a permissive factor in the subprime mortgage crisis, said the Fed chief.

Zhou Xiaochuan acknowledged that China needs to reorient its growth towards domestic demand. But he believes that such a paradigm shift "will necessitate a series of more than ten years, including time to set up a welfare system that encourages the Chinese to save less. As evidence of the shift of services to his country, he "announced the good news: only 10% of new loans now are moving on the sectors of manufacturing industry," he said.

A Sino-American game

The President of the People's Bank of China believes the most "structural measures as price mechanisms", namely the exchange rate of the yuan.He noted that Chinese manufacturers will not want to redirect more than 20% of their production to domestic demand, "They say that exports always relate more than the market."

Two conceptions of economic policy clash. The great American financier believes in market mechanisms. He urged the country's trade surplus' to allow their exchange rates to better reflect market fundamentals. " Chinese consumers, enriched by the reassessment of the yuan, and will buy more foreign products.

For Zhou Xiaochuan, "it seems inappropriate to link the savings rate exclusively to the exchange rate and it is also unrealistic to solve short term problems in the long term," as he explains in an article the Financial Stability Review published by the Bank of France in the G20 (G20 each central banker helped).

The Sino-American game has somewhat overshadowed the performance of the other participants, even if a real consensus has emerged on the need to reduce the imbalances. Otherwise he should fear "the use of protectionism to one or more countries", warns Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England. Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, also fears that "imbalances widened again."Masaaki Shirakawa, Governor of the Bank of Japan, worries about him that "the rigidity of exchange rates of major emerging economies could impact more and more important on the global economy."

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Lafarge expects to reduce its debt

Unsurprisingly, Lafarge announced on Friday a further increase in its results last year, as expected. Net income, group share, has increased 12% to 827 million over the past year. Similarly, the EBIT (ROC) is no surprise to 2.4 billion, down slightly by 1%. As for turnover, it was up 2% to 16.2 billion euros, again in line with the expectations of analysts, who were banking on 16.1 billion euros.

Above all, the French cement manufacturer wants to decrease its debt. And this indicator is particularly monitored by the markets since the acquisition of the Egyptian Orascom in 2007. In 2010, the group has already reduced its structural costs of 220 million euros, 50 million in the fourth quarter, "reducing its structural costs above target," says management.

And building materials giant expects to reduce debt this year. It expects an acceleration of net debt reduction of at least two billion euros via a "reduced cost base, the startup of new capacities and the implementation of measures to limit the effects of cost inflation low interest personal loan." At December 31, 2010, net debt stood at 13.993 billion Lafarge euros.

More broadly, the group posted a positive outlook for the current year. Lafarge "anticipates its market growth in demand for cement between 3% and 6%." And the group chaired by Bruno Lafont expects prices rose on the year with an amplitude varying from one market to another. Thus, management expects "growth in its results in 2011 in a context of rising volumes. Emerging markets remain the main driver of demand growth.For developed countries, demand should continue to recover gradually, said Lafarge.

In addition, the group will propose a dividend cut in half to one euro.

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