A jacket, an electric heater and a good soup. In this period of extreme cold, households equip themselves, and the delight of some traders.

Heating and soup go hand

"The heaters are selling very well right now," said a spokesperson for the brand Boulanger, who expects to sell three times more this week than last week. Thursday, electricity consumption was close to its peak absolute, the French setting up their electric heaters.

Sales of these soups should be greater than 16% this week that they would have been usual with temperatures (5-6 degrees on average), the company provides Metnext, a subsidiary of Météo France. The expected impact is 8.5% for stocks, 8% for soluble coffee, 8% for the chocolate powder and 4.5% for the chocolate tablet. "These products will also benefit from the winter next week," he told AFP Cedric Flecher, consultant Metnext.

The ingredients used to concoct homemade soups, such as leeks, carrots, onions or potatoes, will also benefit, he said, but in supermarkets where they do not freeze, as the open-air markets, where they can be damaged on the shelves. "These conditions lead to changes in diet," added Thierry Desouches, spokesman for U. System "We are back to product a little more invigorating, hot drinks, soups, meat, cooked, products that take the body."

However, consumers may be less tempted to go to the shops to keep warm at home, drawing on their stocks of canned or frozen.

The boots are hot

"There should be a trend to fewer trips to the supermarket. But when it's cold like this, people need calories, with products such as starches, pasta, potatoes. And still fresh such as yogurt, "says Flecher.

"So the races are going to be, but people will focus their shopping in one location, often in large shopping centers rather than in small stores downtown," he said. Textile side, the cold should benefit winter items that had previously suffered a very mild winter. "On this end of period balances, in a extremely cold weather, we expect a very positive impact that will sell for the series easily," says Arrow.

For example, the site selling shoes Sarenza recorded this week "historical peaks" of sales of fur boots and après-ski. "Until now, with mild temperatures, you could dress like in October. But from -5 to -8 degrees, if you have a coat a little short, go buy one soon," noted M . Desouches. "It also benefits the accessories like gloves and hats." "It is rather positive, it can sell the jackets we have not sold the previous week," said Jean-Marc Genis, president of the Federation of brands of clothing (FEH, chains).

"There is no rush," said Bertrand Morvan, president of the National Federation of the clothing (FNH, independent), but the cold "can sell stocks that might have been difficult to sell. " In contrast, the new summer collections "are struggling to leave."

The world's largest earth-moving machinery and equipment for the mining industry said to expect that its sales climbed 10% to 20% next year.

For all of 2011, the group based in Peoria (Illinois) now expects sales and earnings at the top of its previous forecast ranges with solid demand.

"Even if there is a strong dose of political and economic uncertainties in the world, we do not feel much in our business at this stage," says CEO Doug Oberhelman said in a statement.

"We believe that continued economic recovery, albeit slow, is the most likely scenario as we move forward."

In the third quarter, the company posted a net profit of $ 1.14 billion, or $ 1.71 per share, against 792 million, or $ 1.22 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S on average expected $ 1.54 per share.

The turnover stood at 15.72 billion dollars between July and September, up 41%, the group called a record, as the market anticipated 15.03 billion dollars.

After these announcements, the action Caterpillar opened up 5% to 91.82 dollars on Wall Street, the strongest gain in the Dow Jones advances 0.33% at the same time.

For all of 2011, Caterpillar said he expected sales to about $ 58 billion, including its recent acquisition of Bucyrus, whereas previously anticipated sales of between 56 and 58 billion.

Earnings per share are now expected to 6.75 dollars for the year, on top of an initial forecast range from 6.25 to 6.75 dollars.

Caterpillar said that 2011 would be a record year for the group if it achieves its performance targets and sales. The U.S. group said to have created 4,800 jobs during the quarter, including 2,000 in the United States.

Meeting in Brussels, ministers primarily responsible for preparing the ground for the Heads of State and Government in defining an acceptable range of options increased participation of the private sector to the new Greek plan on a "maximization" of fire capability fund to support the euro (EFSF) and the recapitalization of European banks.

"This afternoon, we will discuss the leverage for the rescue fund, but without committing ourselves to details," said the chairman of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker.

"We will try to present to the Heads of State and Government of a policy statement (…) We will try by next Wednesday to have as much detail as possible," he added.

The heart of negotiations on the EFSF, that Paris would be granted a banking license, allowing it to access funding from the European Central Bank to increase its capacity for action by a factor of up to five.

But Berlin refuses, however, this possibility would be to accept that the institution of Frankfurt finance the countries of the euro area, one of the dogmas explicitly excluded by the European treaties.

The other members of the euro area are also divided, Belgium and Spain having voted for a reconciliation BCE-EFSF while Slovakia and Austria have indicated that this solution was not studied.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

According to several sources, Paris and Berlin are unable either to agree on the amount of the participation of banks in new bailout of Greece.

The German authorities, in particular Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, insist that the envelope of 50 billion euros negotiated on July 21 is significantly revised upwards, if necessary by forcing banks to make an extra effort.

According to government sources German, Greek debt should be reduced to around 120% of its gross domestic product (GDP) against 162% today.

But again, the members of the euro area are widely divided on the different options on the table, the level of the discount to be applied to Greek bonds as well as voluntary and non-bank participation.

The count-down is initiated, however, for not only the peaks of Sunday and Wednesday but above the summit of Heads of State and Government of the G20 in Cannes in early November.

Present in Brussels, the executive director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said the institution would seek to assist the Europeans to resolve the crisis.

"The IMF will do all it can to help Europe, particularly in the Eurogroup, to find solutions," she said.

Thursday night, U.S. President Barack Obama held talks on the economic situation in Europe with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The EBIT of the company thus stood at 330 million euros for the three months to September against 244 million a year ago.Turnover increased 20% over the period.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have until Nov. 8 to communicate officially to the European Commission their responses to concerns in Brussels about their merger, said last week a source close to the matter.

For now, officials of the two stock exchange operators are still reading and analyzing the "statement of objections" sent to them by the Commission on October 5, it says. This release contains the objections of the EC to the merger in terms of competition.

The agreement to acquire the operator of stock exchanges of New York and Paris by the operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was concluded in February.The merger will create the world's largest exchange operator.

Earlier in the day, another source said that European regulators should organize on October 27 an oral examination of the merger.

According to a survey conducted in June 2011 for the Circle Health and Europ Assistance, 29% of French say they have postponed or abandoned medical care because of financial difficulties during the past year. This is one of the highest rates in Europe: in Germany, they are only 15%, UK 6%, Spain 5%. Only Poland is less (36%). In the U.S., they are 25%.

Worse, the number of people have waived medical care in France has more than doubled in two years. In 2009 the ratio was only 11%.In three quarters of cases, these waivers or deferrals are for dental or optical care, routine care 12%, 6% of drug purchases and 5% of heavy operations.

In addition, 51% of French respondents believe that equality in access to care is not guaranteed, 53% fear a lack of public money in the future and anticipate a 50% increase in the price of medical procedures. To cover the increase in health spending, 33% of French people favor the increase in contributions and 26% are willing to pay more deductible per medical procedure.

According to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper and television channel Sky News, up to 3,000 employees, all British, could lose their jobs.

The Sunday Telegraph said that the announcement could take place next week.

BAE has 33% of the joint venture Eurofighter, as EADS and Finmeccanica.Some 550 fighters have been ordered by the four countries involved in the project: UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.

A BAE spokesman described the articles of speculation.

"As a company, we have not officially announced.We expect when this will happen, to inform staff first, "she said.

In a statement, the group said to be in the process of "review (its) operations in various sectors of activity" to help secure future contracts.

The first UK manufacturing group attributes his difficulties to a lack of command of combat aircraft in the world.

The main union in the country, Unite, said he would seek clarification as soon as possible from BAE to determine which sites would be affected by job cuts and to call for a voluntary redundancy plan .

The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 2.49%, or 283.82 points at 11,124.84. The S & P-500, wider, lost 35.33 points, or 2.94%, to 1166.76.The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 52.05 points (-2.01%) to 2538.19.

As expected, the Fed announced it would buy Treasury bonds maturing long to bring down interest rates in the long term, but especially the phrase "significant downside risks weighing on the economic outlook" that caught the attention of market participants.

"This comment on the prospects – and I do not, moreover, why it is a surprise – was an attachment point for market participants," said Stephen Massoc, managing director at Wedbush Morgan.

The Fed will buy, by the end of June 2012, 400 billion of Treasury bonds with maturities ranging from six to 30 years.During this period, it will give an equivalent amount of bonds maturing in three years and under.

This action, to put pressure on interest rates in the long run is similar to that conducted in the 60's and so called "Operation Twist".

Stressing that economic growth would remain weak, the Federal Reserve that kept interest rates at between 0% and 0.25%, confirmed that these rates remain exceptionally low until mid-2013.

The index values ​​involving transportation, considered a measure of economic health, has plunged 5.27%.

The fund bank also sensitive to economic conditions, was also affected by the decision of Moody's downgrade of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup on the ground that the Federal government may be reluctant to rush to the aid of large banking institutions difficulty.

The title of Bank of America fell 7.5% to 6.38 dollars, that of Wells Fargo 3.9% to 23.71 dollars and action Citigroup lost 5.2% to 25.52 dollars, the index KBW banking shares fell 5.5%.

The technology sector was one of the few in the green, the action Hewlett-Packard gaining 6.6% to 23.96 dollars after a source said the board planned to replace the CEO Leo Apotheker after less than a year of service.

Oracle has gained 4.2% to 29.54 dollars after reporting quarterly forecasts Tuesday night than expected.

In a report released Wednesday, the new Budget Control Committee of Greece, composed of independent analysts, said that "a significant increase in the debt, leaving a large deficit and a deep recession have pushed to the extreme dynamics debt which is now out of control. "

"These developments seem to largely offset the positive impact" of the latest bailout of the European Union amounting to 159 billion euros agreed last month, the commission said in its report published excerpts of which are by the agency semi-state Athens News Agency.Alarmist conclusions that place the Greek government in an awkward position vis-à-vis its creditors EU and IMF. They are involved because the week that Athens is negotiating hard with the Troika of its creditors for payment of the sixth tranche of the loan.

Impatient partners to the very slow implementation of structural reforms and socially unpopular, especially in the labor market, which they consider necessary for the country inflates its coffers while finding growth. More generally, they are alarmed to see that the Greek government deficits are amplified rather than backward.

The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, has done everything to discredit the report by comparing it to a gaffe."It is clear that the Office", whose mission is to inform the relevant parliamentary committees, "has neither the knowledge nor the experience nor the responsibility" required, he said

Still, the government is forced to a large gap more and more complicated, because the measures requested by the Troika feed the recession worsens. Evangelos Venizelos has acknowledged last week that gross domestic product expected to have fallen more than 4.5% in 2011 against 3.5% originally planned.

And the public deficit – the source of all evils in the country – already stands at 14.69 billion euros in the first half of 2011, a target of 16.68 billion for the whole year.

In an attempt to fill part of the hole, including the authorities decided to increase from 10 points on Thursday of VAT on catering, from 13 to 23%, as unpopular in a country for tourism. A host of other measures are also on track, but no results are yet ringing and stumbling measurable in macroeconomic terms.

During the summer, some new problems were added, after the extraordinary EU summit on 21 July, which decided last minute a new plan to help the country involving states with hundreds of private banks.

Among the main, is the reluctance of some countries such as Finland, fueled by the rise of nationalism, hand to hand to the portfolio in Greece, if it did not "guarantee" of repayment.

The leaders of the euro area have given a rescue plan of 109 billion euros in July in Greece to avoid bankruptcy in the country. The private sector has also advanced 50 billion euros.

Ben Bernanke said the Fed would meet two days in September, instead of originally planned to study, among other things, the possibility of providing the economy with a new monetary stimulus.

Around 9:30, the CAC 40 index was progressing 1.36% to 3129.71 points, but still showed a decline of nearly 15% since the beginning of the month.

"Bernanke has tried reassuring.He said with confidence that the economy is resumed and that the Fed would do everything possible to encourage growth, "says Saxo Bank in a newsletter.

The bank also believes that prudence displayed by the Federal Reserve shows that she thinks "seriously" in a way to stimulate the economy. "What is rather positive," says Saxo Bank.

Other major European markets, Frankfurt and Milan s'adjugent respectively 1.25% and 0.98%, while the London is closed on Monday.The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index gained 1.16%.

"A third wave of 'quantitative easing' does not seem justified because, unlike last year, there is no risk of deflation in the short term interest rates are already very low," observing their side strategies Natixis.

As for values, banks in the euro area is progressing despite the 0.69% tax Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stressing the need to restructure European banks.

Renewed investor confidence, however, is unfavorable to the less risky assets such as German government bonds (Bunds) to 10 years, whose performance is trading around 2.18% against 2.15% against almost Friday night at closing.

The euro rose 0.26% against the greenback at 1.4529 dollar.

A barrel of U.S. light crude advance of 0.53% to 85.82 dollars while Brent fell by 0.11% to 111.24 dollars.

The French bank said in a statement it had a net profit of 339 million euros in the second quarter of 2011, down 10.6%, after a charge of 653 million euros related to the crisis in Greece .

She said July 28 that the impact of the Greek crisis would cost a maximum of 850 million euros in its accounts of the quarter.

According to the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters, analysts on average expected a net profit of 193 million euros.

Over the period, net banking income rose 1.1% while the provisions for risk of loss on the credit increases by 14.8%.

Faced with the concerns of investors about the liquidity needs of banks, Credit Agricole said to have a reserve of over 120 billion euros of liquidity available in late July.

"Addiction to cash is limited to USD 36 billion, unrelated liquid reserves available," said the bank.

Net income for the Crédit Agricole group as a whole for its spring to 881 million euros for the second quarter.For comparison, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale respectively reported a net profit of 2.12 billion euros and 747 million euros.and

Given the deterioration of the crisis in Greece, Crédit Agricole was forced to abandon its goal of returning profits to its Greek subsidiary Emporiki in 2012, without setting a new schedule.

However, the bank maintains its financial targets for 2014, ie a net profit of six to seven billion euros in 2014 and revenue over 25 billion.

Like its French competitors, the Crédit Agricole fell sharply from late June to the Paris Stock Exchange, because of investor concerns about the debt crisis in the eurozone and fears of the refinancing of banks.

She has lost 40% of its value since late June. It closed Wednesday at 6.212 euros.