The yuan hit record highs

The yuan rose to its highest level in nearly seventeen years on Monday morning, with a reference rate set at 6.5752 yuan to one dollar. Established by the central bank, this rate determines the point at which the currency can fluctuate plus or minus 0.5%. The Chinese currency reacts to statements by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. The head of government reiterated yesterday the need to conduct an assessment "gradual" renminbi, another name for the Chinese currency, while considering a stronger yuan would help fight inflation. The increase in consumer prices has become the bane of the party, which fears it nourishes social unrest.

The party is reluctant to let its currency for fear of flying penalize its many exporting plants business card templates.The yuan has appreciated 3.8% since its drop of the greenback by the Chinese authorities announced last June to meet the developed countries who accuse the weakness of the yuan to dig the global trade imbalances. But that assessment is considered too low, particularly for the United States, leader of the international protest.

The Chinese premier also revised its growth forecasts downward by announcing a new target of gross domestic product growth of 7% after 2015, instead of the 7.5% target over the next four years.

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"Joust Sino-American on the yuan

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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The food began to fail in Tunis

Given the prevailing tension, Tunisians organized. Many of them have formed vigilante committees to defend their neighborhoods against looters, after the multiplication of ransacking and attacks in the provinces and the capital. The powerful union, the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), invited its structures and members to join or manage these vigilante committees. Structures that have proliferated in the province, according to various sources.

A lack of food in particular began to be felt in the capital. Many citizens have asked the army to organize at least reopen bakeries and grocery stores. "I spent the day with a large family and we had a meal", said Saturday a northern part of the city."I spent the day twiddling my thumbs, unable to meet the demands of customers," added Ben Salah Zekhri who runs a small shop near the suburb of Rades, south of the capital.

Journalists from the AFP for their part said Saturday he saw long lines formed at the few open bakeries in several districts of the northern suburbs, while a large hotel in Tunis has indicated start to feel a lack of supply . "The kitchen has not been delivered last week, we live on reservations and we started making our bread," said an official of that institution.

Restrictions on movement and the looting of many deposits have disrupted the distribution channels for basic necessities.The authorities, who want reassuring, however, admitted "a certain lack" of fuel in gas stations and said work to fix it.

Abuses

If Tunis and its surroundings have awoken in the quiet Sunday with a safety lighter and more discreet police presence in the center of the capital, the night has instead been marked by the proliferation of alerts on vehicle movements suspects traveling at high speed and whose occupants were shooting at houses guaranteed payday loans. Army helicopters flew all night, all lights on, this vast area. "An ambulance has been seen in La Marsa and another Mégrine (north and south of the capital).They fire on houses, "and had told AFP frightened citizens, asserting that the vehicles were carrying hooded people.

The former security chief of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has also been arrested at the request of the Tunisian justice system, which accuses him of recent abuses committed against the people, said Sunday an official source. "General Ali Seriate was placed in custody after the presentation of the charges against him," the source said.

The situation seems to improve Sunday in the country, according to official sources quoted by TAP, which revealed that the curfew had been reduced to one hour in all of Tunisia. "Because of improved security, it was decided to ease the curfew is now set for 6:00 p.m. to 5:00," said the source.The curfew was running so far from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00. In practice, however, security forces applied to the 5:00 p.m. to 7:00. Other measures of the state of emergency are being maintained: ban rally on the highway for more than three persons, permission given to police to fire on people taking the flight controls.

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Unedic provides an improvement in employment in 2011

"Elements of framing material" for the renegotiation of the Agreement UI to start in January. Unedic has updated its forecast for 2011 Wednesday. It provides 74,000 jobs created, 93,000 unemployed registered in category A to less employment center and a 99,000 drop in job seekers compensated. A "significant improvement" compared to projections from September. Result, the cumulative deficit at the end of 2011 is revised downwards, based two billion in three months – to $ 11 billion – thanks to a significant improvement in projected revenue contribution.

"The system UI is very responsive to job creation," justified Bonnand Gaby, President of the CFDT Unedic."We can not continue to EUR 15 billion of accumulated deficit reached during the last crisis, welcomed Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, vice president of MEDEF regime.

Unedic has also prepared a "preliminary assessment" after 18 months of exercise of unemployment insurance agreement, which expires March 31. The agreement, which was signed in early 2009 by the CFDT trade union side, there were three major changes from the previous. First, an opening of a right to compensation as early as four months of contributions (cons six previously) and secondly, the creation of a single chain of prorata on the basis of "one day paid, compensated one day," and thirdly , extending up to 28 months of the maximum contribution for a claim for compensation (for those under 50 years) cheap pay day loans.Nearly half a million unemployed have ultimately benefited from greater rights than they would with the old agreement, 51,000 have lost. The winners are the unemployed who have contributed less than 6 months (mostly young and insecure) and who were not previously compensated. The introduction of a single chain has generated gains for 76% of recipients.

"In less spending"

This improvement has a cost: 1.2 billion! "The bill could be 50% higher if the beneficiaries had used all their rights," said Gaby Bonnand. "Many unemployed found a job before arriving at the end of the compensation period, which translates into lower spending," said Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux. Therefore little risk that the general framework of the present Convention comes into question during the upcoming negotiation.

Wall Street awaited the green

Shortly before the opening, the index futures Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.28% respectively at 1231.30 points, 0.19% to 2204.00 points. The Dow Jones was expected to share up 0.19% at 11,319 points. Indexed as many perspectives that seem so bullish hope for an opening in the green of the U.S. equity markets on Friday after a disappointing week, without including sufficient numbers of highlights on the macroeconomic front.

The NYSE had indeed skeptical closed again Thursday night, despite the encouraging decrease in the number of newly unemployed. The market had taken a break, the Dow Jones falling by 0.02%, while the Nasdaq advanced himself a small, 0.29%.This reluctance may be explained by the concern of investors against the compromise struck between the Obama administration and the Republicans on tax cuts. The Democrats of the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the agreement, shortly after President Obama had warned lawmakers against a rejection of the compromise tax, ensuring that a failure would have negative consequences on wages of Americans and economic activity. "The market assumes that it is acquired, but when it comes to Washington, there is always a question mark," said Mace Blicksilver in this regard, a strategist at Marblehead Asset Management.

Foreign trade and the consumer confidence index …

But Wall Street could this afternoon, trying to settle with this attitude undecided, taking advantage of some macroeconomic news.This Friday, the agenda macroeconomic meager this week will, in fact, again provided the U.S. with, first, the trade figures in October, from 2:30 p.m. Paris time. At the same time will be known the import price for the month of November. It was not until 3:55 p.m. to be unveiled as the index of consumer confidence determined by the University of Michigan in December. A figure that will certainly specifically followed, on both sides of the Atlantic, this time decisive for consumption, the holiday season. The figures of budget execution will be finally published in November around 20:00.

The dollar was slightly down this Friday against THE EURO, while currency traders digested the announcement by China of a further rise in bank reserve requirements to prevent an overheating of its economy.Around 11:30 Paris time, the euro bought 1.3259 dollars against 1.3239 dollars Thursday at 23:00.

On the corporate side, no major publication in the viewfinder.

Lack of investment threatens the future of the TGV

The future of the TGV, the train of the French favorite, is it endangered? The leaders of Réseau Ferré de France (RFF), the company owns the rail infrastructure network, have sounded an alert indicating that that regularly launches with Guillaume Pepy, SNCF president when he explains that the economic model of the TGV yet to be invented.

In 2010, RFF will receive 1.5 billion euros in tolls transport operators, SNCF, for the use of its high-speed network. But the company made its accounts: the commercial success of the TGV cache an imbalance between costs and revenues.To RFF, the expenditures used to maintain and renovate facilities on high speed lines represent 50% of the costs while the tolls paid to RFF represent about 30% of TGV tickets.

RFF believes that in order to sustainably manage the high-speed network, he must spend one to two billion euros per year. And tolls should instead reach 40% of the price of train ticket. "The toll is not a tax," exclaimed Hubert du Mesnil, president of RFF. Compensation is an asset. It is sold and the best possible. "

At the station, this prospect is viewed with some skepticism. "At 30% of tolls, we have already reached the limits of the system, said Barbara Dalibard, executive director of SNCF Voyages, which emphasizes that at present the 12% rate of return of the TGV does not acquire new trains.However, a significant increase in the tolls paid to RFF necessarily result in higher ticket prices, "says the director of business travel, which mentioned in passing in France, costs are the highest toll of Europe while the TGV ticket prices are cheaper.

RFF said that the passage of 30 to 40% of tolls could be smoothed through 2025. Meanwhile, negotiations on the increases in toll rates for 2012 are on the table any new authority to regulate rail operations (ARAF). The latter should give its opinion in January.

The war of currencies explained on an air of rap

The war of currencies is not a Chinese puzzle only for G20 countries. It probably is more to public opinion, which does not always understand why the Chinese and Americans are in conflict. The company Next Media Animation has perhaps found a solution. Specializing in video lagged news, this company of over 3600 employees created by the "serial entrepreneur" Lai Chee Ying (Jimmy Lai or English) and based in Hong Kong, just to make a video where one see President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, compete on an air of rap.

"Without Bretton Woods, you'd be in the same situation that Argentina"

In the video, Obama tells Jintao that he must stop manipulating its currency. An undervalued yuan raises the price of American products. For his part, recalls Jintao's successor George W.Bush that he is "responsible for the recession." "Do not ask us to make concessions no fax payday loans. You're in no position to consider myself a fisherman. Without Bretton Woods, you'd be in the same situation as Argentina, "he quips at Obama, we see drink the cup because of the waves of U.S. deficits.

As a chorus, two singers trying to bring them to reason: China and U.S. need each other. The first purchases of treasury bills of the second, which buys its products. And indeed it works: Hu Jintao and Barack Obama end up joining the two singers on the track.Not sure that the two presidents will begin the dance steps at the time to meet in Washington next January …

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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.

LVMH officer pocketed $ 18 million in one day

A nice jackpot. On 26 October, the number two of LVMH, Antonio Belloni, received a capital gain of nearly 18 million by raising a portion of stock options granted by his employer, reports Le Parisien on Sunday. The deputy CEO of luxury goods group has asserted its right to purchase shares of LVMH at a rate determined in advance and a lot cheaper than the market price.

An operation that took place in two phases and this, the day LVMH said it had raised its stake to 17.1% stake in the luxury house Hermes. As part of the exercise of stock options, Antonio Belloni, LVMH has bought 200,000 shares at a price of 37 euros and 50,000 additional shares at a price of 61.77 euros each, according to documents submitted by the world leader in luxury the AMF (AMF). Total amount of the transaction: 10.48 million.

The equivalent of 1400 years of minimum wage

A few hours later, the deputy CEO of LVMH sold its 250,000 shares in the market … during the day. Is 112.35 euros per share, recall the documents transmitted to the AMF. This assignment has reported 28.08 million euros. The head of LVMH has made a capital gain of EUR 18 million in one day. A sum which represents the equivalent of 1400 years of SMIC, said Le Parisien.

"Antonio Belloni has fully complied with the rules," said a spokesman for the group of luxury log cash till payday. Rules that he knows very well indeed, since the number two of LVMH has already made, other than that of October, three exercise of stock options followed the sale of shares this year.Of transactions each time for several million euros.

The code of conduct of the AMF

Stock options were just to the spotlight this week. The AMF published Tuesday a guide recommendations to company executives. Leaders are "insiders almost permanent" because they have inside information that could affect the share prices of their companies, said the stock market watchdog, who promised to work on the issue at Case EADS.

Figaro in an interview late last year, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, chairman of the MFA, had assured that there was a discussion to be conducted on stock options. "In some situations, stock options are perhaps simply inadequate and a source of conflict of interest," he said.Today, leaders of listed companies so their code of conduct to prevent insider trading. A code that is not binding.

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Pelisson: "I leave Accor head high"

Listing your eviction from the presidency of Accor, following a Board of Directors held on Tuesday evening, surprised. What happened?

It has been five years since I head Accor. I quickfire transformation and today the group is riding superbly on the wave of recovery. But a leader needs to be supported by its major shareholders and its board of directors. Differences emerged. After a moment, as a couple, you wonder if it is worthwhile to continue together or if not better to hand. I am a free man. Today I return to my freedom. It is healthy to change drivers when everything goes well.

Long time, you spoke against the division of Accor, Colony and desired by Eurazeo, before you accept this idea.What are you talking about policy differences?

In 2005 and 2006, I said that a split was not desirable because the business services group (Ticket Restaurant), now grouped in Edenred was too small. In 2009, after fifteen acquisitions, we have doubled the size of the company and I proposed the split board. The strategic differences relate to an accumulation of small things, such as disagreements on priorities for development, external growth strategy, marketing strategy, information technology … But a leader needs to have a free mind to move forward, feel its board lined up behind him.

In 2005 I made the bet to be working with Colony. I was the man for the job for five years. I learned to work with the obligations and duties. But in five years, we change.I could have fought to continue but I had a mixed support from the board. I felt it was perhaps better that I move on by mutual agreement with the board. In my heart, I did not necessarily want to go too fast, I could stay a year or two longer.

What mood are you?

I am very sad because very attached to this group and its teams. My grandfather gave to my uncle's first capital to create the company. But after five years as head of Accor, where I spent twelve years before I left the band head high. I am proud of what I did. In 2009, the crisis has been a difficult time to live. That said, I leave behind me a group with a substantial property portfolio, which will be debt free in two years and had all the indicators are in green.I go without a power vacuum because I had the opportunity in 2009 to provide the Board Denis Hennequin, who succeeds me.

On leaving, do you have any regrets?

The development model we have chosen, with an acceleration of the franchise disposals and wall is good. I wanted to keep Sofitel, we have kept and successfully repositioned. It remains a challenge for the group: Motel 6 in the U.S., where the market is very difficult.

Today, what are your plans?

I have some entrepreneurial projects. I will see my family more often and take a step back. I give myself time. I've changed jobs several times in my career. I believe in my lucky star.

One thing is for sure, I want to continue to sell products which I am proud.The more I advance in life, I attach more importance to shareholders and the teams with whom I work.

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