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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The NYSE takes colors

U.S. stock markets opened on a positive note Wednesday, after avoirfini down slightly Tuesday as investors reacted with concern to economic indicators on consumption and inflation in the United States.

Today, the indices leave up: the Dow Jones allows itself to 0.27% 12,260 points, the broader index Standard & Poor's 500 up 0.43% to 1334 points and the Nasdaq 100 advance of 0.47 % at 3817 points.

In the U.S., retail sales rose 0.3% in January, the lowest increase in seven months. Another indicator is bad news, import prices have increased more than expected (+1.5%) in January, because of the strength of oil prices. Inflation stood at 5.3% annual rate (against 4.4% in December).These figures have reinforced concerns that appear in recent weeks on the market caused by soaring prices of many commodities.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro gained ground against dollar on Wednesday bending under the weight of disappointing U.S. figures published yesterday. About 11:00 am in Paris, the euro bought 1.3545 dollars against 1.3488 dollars late Tuesday.

On the macroeconomic front, the news is particularly busy on Wednesday.Included were published before the opening gong, industrial production in the United States has declined (-0.1%) unexpectedly in January, driven by a decline in energy production, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. central bank (Fed) increased the number of housing starts rose more than expected in January, reaching their highest level in four months in seasonally adjusted data 596 000 (+14.6%), against 520,000 the previous month according to the Commerce Department, and the producer prices have increased (+0.8%) more than expected in January, according to figures released Wednesday by the Labor Department in Washington.

The weekly inventory of crude oil will fall to 16.30 and the minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the U.S. central bank to 20.30.

Sanofi wins Genzyme

The side of values, Sanofi-Aventis has finally agreed to pay $ 20.1 billion (14.8 billion euros) to acquire Genzyme (1.55% to 75.45 dollars), plus an amount an additional price tied to the success of drugs in American society of biotechnology. After more than seven months of negotiations, the French pharmaceutical group will pay $ 74 in cash per share Genzyme, 1.2 billion more than its original offer. The agreement, unanimously approved by boards of directors of both companies has been concluded with the introduction of a certificate of conditional value (CCV), particularly related to the performance of Lemtrada, Genzyme's experimental treatment in multiple sclerosis sclerosis no faxing payday loan.The value of CVC could reach a maximum of $ 14 if sales of Lemtrada totaled $ 2.8 billion by 2020, had said Wednesday the two companies in a joint statement.

The number two U.S. computer, Dell (6.76% and 14.85 dollars), after-hours trading on Tuesday a net profit almost doubled in 2010 thanks to higher sales and margins, and said that it expected continued strong momentum in sales this year. Over the whole of last year, net income jumped 84% to $ 2.6 billion.Revenues reached $ 61.5 billion, up 16%.

For his part, Analog Devices (-0.66% to 40.73 dollars) recorded in the first quarter of 2010/2011 a profit of 222.1 million dollars or 0.66 dollars per share, against $ 0.65 expected for a turnover of 729 million, in line with analysts' forecasts.For the current quarter, the company aims adjusted EPS in the range 0.65 to $ 0.69.

Also after the close, Air Products (4.37% to 94.16 dollars) announced it would abandon its takeover offer for Airgas following the decision by a Delaware court to maintain the anti-takeover of "Airgas.

Nelson Peltz submitted an offer to buy the company Family Dollar Stores (24.88% to 54.90 dollars) to 7.6 billion, or about 55 to 60 dollars per share.

Moody's raised its outlook for NYSE Euronext (-2.07% to 37.33 dollars), following the merger with Deutsche Börse. The rating agency adopts outlook "positive" cons "stable" before. If the merger is approved, the agency expects a surge in the first note of the future operator of the planet.

United Airlines decided to ground its fleet of Boeing 757, for an unannounced inspection.The U.S. company must perform safety checks on some of the onboard computers. They had to be changed by order of the Board in 2004 and must be re-inspected.

Note also, Madoff, who is serving a sentence of 150 years in prison told the New York Times that a number of banks and investment funds were "necessarily aware" of his fraud. Arrested in late 2008, Dr. Madoff was convicted in June 2009 for organizing a massive Ponzi scheme in which its around 16,000 victims have lost a total of several tens of billions of dollars they had entrusted him. Irving Picard, the attorney appointed to represent the victims of Mr.Madoff, filed a complaint on December 2 against the U.S. bank JPMorgan (1.58% to 47.56 dollars), accusing him of being "fully complicit" of fraud by the former rising star on Wall Street choosing "knowingly", like other financial institutions "look away".

Rush to 4G Barcelona show

• The next challenges for mobile • What does the 4G? • Asia becomes the biggest market for mobile • Paying transport, entertainment or shops with his laptop • The operator want to compete with Apple's AppStore

The high mass of the mobile phone in Barcelona will open its doors next Monday. A major event, which will squeeze as every year, all major operators and terminal manufacturers worldwide. Formerly located in Cannes, where he weighed more economically than the Cannes Film Festival, Mobile World Congress (MWC) was delighted by the capital of Catalonia, where it generates 1.2 billion euros in economic benefits. But Paris is competing to host the 2013 and 2017.

Because the mobile has become a major issue and an industry leading.While the number of subscribers to mobile Internet in the world will cross the billion mark in 2011, the exchange of data on mobile is a tremendous engine of growth business card.

The sector represents nearly 1,000 operators worldwide, but also more than 200 companies ranging from device manufacturers to infrastructure builders, to ISVs, application developers and content publishers.

In total, more than 5 billion people worldwide use mobile phones. The mobile should represent a total turnover of 1138 billion this year against 1.102 trillion last year, for services, network equipment and mobile phones, according to research firm Stategy Analytics.

The trend this year will be the wave of mobile phones and tablets also called fourth-generation LTE (Long Term Evolution).This advanced mobile Internet will succeed the current 3G. All manufacturers, Nokia and Samsung via Alcatel-Lucent and Chinese Huawei, will announce new terminals for 4G and new contracts to build mobile network three times faster than 3G.

Beneteau placed on motor boats

Having made the cape during the crisis, the Bénéteau Group, which has returned to profits in 2010, slashes full sail. By 2015, the company wants to double Vendée its turnover to 1.5 billion euros, while at the same time operating income is expected to quadruple to 180 million. To achieve this goal, the company will invest 500 Vendee million (fully funded) over the period, 250 million more than current rates.

If the activity is housing a turnover of 370 million in five years, against 205 million in the past year, these are the boats and especially the motor units that will achieve the objective. Strategic shift, the No. 1 worldwide sailing craft will focus on motor boats. Three new plants will ensure that production in Italy, South America and the United States."Over the past year, we identified new opportunities for both geographic and technical Cathelinais said Bruno, CEO of the Bénéteau group, our main rivals weakened by the crisis that we have invested less no teletrek payday advance. However, our financial structure is sound and we accelerated our investments. "

New ranges

Beneteau has expanded its range of 29 sailboats and powerboats in 2009 and another 20 units in 2010. "We accelerated our development plan," says Bruno Cathelinais during 2010-2011, the boat business to grow by 20% and 12% of housing activity. "This pace should be much higher than the market.

Total marks with Beneteau, Jeanneau, Lagoon, Prestige, the group will offer more than one hundred models, 20 to 60 feet. In addition, a new range of motor boats over 60 feet will be produced in Italy.Internationally, Beneteau will also be redeployed to Asia and South America. Emerging markets will also derive growth: without India they will represent in 2015 a market of around 3 billion euros to a total world market of 15 billion against 6.6 billion today. A boon for Beneteau.

Genzyme and Sanofi negotiated an agreement to 20.7 billion

A bid of more than $ 20 billion would be in the "pipe" in the beginning of 2011. In his battle with Sanofi-Aventis, which launched the first attack is to afford Genzyme several months ago, the nugget atoujours U.S. claimed that the French giant put on the table more than $ 69 per share offered on several occasions. A price that Genzyme valued at 18.5 billion.

According to sources from the Wall Street Journal, the two groups are negotiating an agreement that determines Genzyme $ 20.7 billion, a price per share to $ 80. That amount includes a certificate of guaranteed value (CVG) often used by buyers and sellers when they fail to agree on a purchase price.This tool is at the heart of negotiations since last November.

An award based on performance of Campath

This is for Genzyme to force Sanofi-Aventis to pay more if the U.S. actually achieved sales targets pre-determined. Indeed, for Genzyme, French underestimates the benefits it could derive from one of his blockbusters. Genzyme has always considered the takeover of Sanofi undervalued because it did not take sufficient account of the performance potential of Campath, used to treat leukemia, but is currently being tested against the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Genzyme maintains that its experimental drug Campath against multiple sclerosis could achieve a turnover of 3.5 billion, while Sanofi's offer is underpinned by an expectation of a maximum turnover of $ 700 million for Campath.

The transaction is expected soon

Sources quoted by the daily stressed that nothing had been concluded and the transaction could not occur, but the differences between the two parties began to resolve.

"Eighty dollars, with a CVG, it's pretty attractive," said Michael Yee, an analyst specializing in biotechnology at RBC Capital Markets. If these figures are confirmed, he added, "This greatly increases the likelihood that the transaction is done saving account payday loan." Especially as Genzyme, which was said to be open to other proposals, was previously faced with the absence of competing candidates.

For its part, Chris Viehbacher, head of Sanofi said it would consider raising its bid, if he showed he had a valid reason to do so.But he still refused to pay $ 89 per share ($ 22.7 billion) as Genzyme had asked him in late October.

Genzyme has not yet opened its books to Sanofi but this could be the next step if the discussions on the CVG and the price rose, the sources cited by the American newspaper.

Neither nor Genzyme Sanofi-Aventis were immediately available to respond to this information. Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange, Genzyme shares were up about 4% off-trade, just after the publication of the article on the website of The Wall Street Journal.They swap now over 71 dollars, already more than the $ 69 offered by Sanofi-Aventis, whose shares traded on Wall Street, they have stumbled late last night, before re-entering.

The bosses meet Tuesday

CEOs of the two groups, Henri Termeer for Genzyme, and Chris Viehbacher should cross twice in January.

Both must occur during the annual conference on health organized by JPMorgan in San Francisco on January 11. Two weeks later, each planned to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, which runs from January 26 to 30 in Switzerland. Between these two dates, the offer to 69 dollars per share will expire on 21 January. Until now, the two managers met only once, last September 20 to discuss the offer.

No official meeting is, however, currently scheduled.

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Orange is preparing a related response KINECTS

Wednesday night, Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft boss made his show at CES in Las Vegas, starring in the new recreational features of the Xbox game console and Kinetc, the accessory that everyone becomes a joystick . Soon the phrase "Xbox, show me a movie" will have access to a selection of films. The user can not only play, but zapping the finger and voice.

Similar functionality is in the cards at Orange Valley, a subsidiary of Orange, with Keenu. "The Orange Box will include a 3D camera that will play as the controller, but also to control his TV with a hand gesture," says William Oulés, development manager at Orange Valley.The new features allowed by the camera "3D are numerous and are the technical prowess, according to William Oulés, since the boxes were much less powerful processor than Microsoft's console.

However, by Orange Keenu allow both to change the channel with a simple hand movement, than playing as the controller Same day payday loans. Facial recognition, achieved through 3D also allows management of user profiles, see parental controls. Keenu will also be connected to the Internet, with its application bundle. For example, Géonews, which will display a 3D globe and to "manipulate" to choose the area of the world which we seek information. Also on the photo storage sites such as Picassa, simply drag the photos, with his hand. The 3D camera movement cue, moving images, photos, glue, can make connections.Finally, Keenu conference also offers a vision improved with the 3D capture. Again, face recognition lets you create personalized calendars s'afficent by the person appearing before the camera. A function can also blur the background, useful for teens who do not rank their room!

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Kitchens Vogica in receivership

Vogica is finished! The Commercial Court of Evry on Monday delivered the liquidation of this specialist kitchens and bathrooms tailor. The company, which employed 713 people, was declared insolvent in late September and was placed in receivership plastic business card. Financial difficulties for years, she found herself faced with a puzzle and logistics industry this year: she could no longer meet customer orders, following its decision to outsource production in an external partner, Nevelt.

Vogica stranded thousands of orders for which were paid between 5 and 6 million euros of payments by consumers, who are unlikely to see them, except those who have ordered these last two months glossy business card .Several competitors, furniture groups and investment funds have looked at this matter without filing an offer. Manuest, a subsidiary of Vogica who works for Castorama and Brico Depot, is not affected by the liquidation.

It is good to be a shareholder in Asian societies

For twelve years OCG Consulting conducted the survey, such a situation had never arrived. * The ten companies that have created the most value for their shareholders in the world between 2005 and 2009 are all Asian. Not a single Western society on the charts. In the Top 10, seven of which are Chinese both are based in Hong Kong.

TSR = Total Shareholder Return: returns for actionnairesMarket value = market capitalization in billions of dollars.

Sharp rise in occupational diseases in 2009

The business risk insurance professionals has released its report for the year 2009. The number of accidents has decreased by 7.5% over the previous year, with 651,000 accidents reported. The frequency of accidents fell to 36 accidents per thousand employees, is historically the lowest level. The daily Les Echos who interviewed Stephane Seiller the director of this branch of the health insurance crisis is largely responsible for this decline in the number of accidents. Unemployment and decreased activity in sectors such as construction and metallurgy – 20% of salaried workforce today against 36% in 1950 – explains in particular the improvement. Stéphane Seiller also highlights the increasing prevention efforts.

Bond 9% of occupational diseases

The report is rather more pessimistic about the illness.Despite rising unemployment, they jumped 9% -13.5% a year over the last decade – to reach 50,000 new cases. Almost all of this increase is explained by taking better account of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as tendonitis and herniated discs … which account for 80% of disease. Better recognition by the French system, but also the consequence of the transformation of labor. The tasks become more routine and stress are the main contributors to the increase in these disorders. The handling of chemicals also cause the progression of certain cancers.Social Security today conducting actions to better detect them.

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