The new French president-elect, Francois Hollande, will soon have to hire tough negotiations with its European partners, led by Germany, if he wants to achieve its goal of "renegotiate" the pact of fiscal discipline to include a "growth component" . The handover will take place with Nicolas Sarkozy later than May 15

Without waiting, Mr. Holland should have an exchange on Sunday evening with Chancellor Angela Merkel, as his special advisor Jean-Marc Ayrault. "This is the key to the recovery of Europe, the reorientation of Europe in the direction of growth, in the sense of competitiveness, protection," said Socialist deputy mayor of Nantes, which the name is tipped to Matignon.

Berlin was on his side said on Sunday ready to do so. "We will put to work quickly to add to the treaty a fiscal growth pact for more competitiveness," said the foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, the German press.

The team intends to Francois Hollande music in the coming days promise emblematic of the newly elected through "consultations" with capitals. Objective: To complete the "memorandum" on "Growth Pact" for transmission to partners by the end of the month.

Upon taking office, Francois Hollande will meet Merkel to prepare the informal meeting of EU leaders scheduled for late May or early June, then the top 28 and June 29, devoted to the growth. For Angela Merkel, it is not a question of getting the treaty on the trade budget, signed in early March by 25 EU countries and already ratified by some of them.

This is all the ambiguity of Francois Hollande, who in turn promised to "renegotiate" or "complete" by the treaty of the measures intended to boost growth. The question is which of these terms the focus will be.

"In reality, the rules of fiscal discipline we generally agree," says the AFP near future head of state. "We ratify the treaty and to include it in a balanced package with a real growth component," he adds.

Discussions are possible?

In another near Berlin knows what to expect: in the absence of direct contact with the chancellor, "the German Embassy in Paris did the work to understand our positions." Francois Hollande is confident of having done move the lines: one after the other, European leaders are now in growth a priority, even if their income may differ from his. "The general impression is that, despite disagreements, it is possible to discuss" with the Germans, told AFP Karine Berger, team member of the former socialist candidate who recently visited with economic and financial circles across the Rhine. For her, "the points made by Francois Hollande are very pragmatic, it is to launch projects for growth."

Four areas to boost growth

In fact, the four pillars of its "Memorandum" seem to have been held in a spirit of compromise. This is to finance investments in infrastructure, new energy and industry, by several means: European loans ad hoc financing capacity of the reinforced European Investment Bank, of structural funds and European tax on unused financial transactions.

These proposals, pending in Brussels, "could benefit from a new impetus with the election of Holland," said a European diplomat. "The most complex is the legal form to be taken by these projects," said does one in the entourage of President-elect. Difficult for him to settle for a declaration of intent or a non-binding protocol. "The uncertainty will be lifted as soon as possible, including to reassure the markets," glides Does the same source.

Other controversial issues may resurface later. Francois Hollande has not completely dismissed the idea of ​​giving a greater role to the European Central Bank or to pool debts through Eurobonds, two projects which Berlin refuses to hear.

Read also: The unspoken debate on growth in Europe

The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 0.08%, or 10.75 points, to 13,268.57. The S & P-500, wider, lost 3.51 points, or 0.25%, to 1402.31. The Nasdaq Composite, however, advanced on his side of 9.41 points (0.31%) to 3,059.85.

The day before, the Dow had reached in a meeting again four years earlier. And the S & P 500 is up about 11% since the beginning of the year.

Job creation in the private sector last month in the U.S. proved well below expectations, according to the results of the monthly ADP. It was created 119,000 jobs in April as the market expected 177,000 additional jobs.

"If fewer people are involved in the ongoing recovery, it is a sign of underlying weakness which must be addressed. So far, the response of autoritésa been a credit facilitation, maybe he should look no further, "said Jack Ablin, Investment Officer at Harris Private Bank

. This indicator was published in the wake of European statistics bleak ..

……. industrial activity in the euro area contracted again in April while the slowdown in the peripheral countries appears to spread to France and Germany, according to final data from the survey with Markit purchasing managers

….. …. The unemployment rate in the euro zone was 10.9% in March, its highest level in 15 years, mainly because of increases in Italy and Spain. 

In addition to this weak economic table laughing, industrial orders recorded in March in the U.S. its largest decline in three years mainly because of lower demand for e Facilities in the transport sector.

"What the market needs is a sign that the economy does not deteriorate. Although growth is low but it is still there, "said Ralph Edwards (ITG)

The Nasdaq Composite was particularly supported by the good performance of the title Intel, which rose 0.79% to 29.18 dollars, many investors whereas the action of the world's leading semiconductor remains undervalued e

. sector home builders surged 2.60%, brokers citing the growing political support for measures sug rant to cancel the principal of mortgages

. The recovery in the housing market is considered essential to the sustainability of growth United States

.

This natural disaster had disrupted for months the production chain, in the automotive sector and elsewhere.

Data released Tuesday by the Japan Automobile Dealers, however, show that sales of April 2012, which reached 208,977 units, still 5.9% lower than those of April 2010.

Toyota sales including the Lexus brand, rose 185%, while Nissan was 51.6% and 61.5% of Honda.

The Conservative government of Mariano Rajoy provides a slight increase in gross domestic product next year and a 1.4% growth in 2014.

The Standard & Poor's downgraded Thursday by two steps the sovereign rating of Spain to bring it back to BBB +, only two notches above speculative grade ("junk") in highlighting the risk of recession on public finances deteriorate further.

Friday, the government said it expected to reduce the public deficit to 1.1% of GDP by 2015 from 2013 by renewing with a primary surplus (excluding debt service). 

To achieve this, he said, he will increase taxes on consumption next year to raise eight billion euros.

The debt / GDP will peak at 82.3% next year and to decline 81.5% in 2014.

AstraZeneca offers Ardea $ 32 per share, representing a premium of 54% over the closing price Friday of society, and values ​​acquired at a billion dollars after deduction of cash held by Ardea.

Both groups said they expect the transaction to close in the second or third quarter, adding that shareholders representing approximately 30% of Ardea had agreed to vote for the operation. 

The action Astrazeneca yielded 0.87% at the London Stock Exchange at 7:35 GMT, but doing better than the market (-1.16%).

The group is facing generic competition on several of its key drugs, including anti-psychotic Seroquel, and just to renew its range. Earlier this month, he concluded an agreement on joint development and commercialization of five treatments of the portfolio of the U.S. biotech Amgen.

The biotechnology sector is currently characterized by a wave of mergers and acquisitions and consolidation attempts.

GlaxoSmithKline announced last week it had offered to buy Human Genome Sciences for approximately $ 2.6 billion (2 billion), an offer rejected by American society. Roche has attempted unsuccessfully to acquire Illumina to $ 6.8 billion.

The airline needs to spend a large order by the end of 2016 to reach its goal of doubling its capacity to 150 million passengers a year.

An order before the end of 2014 is unlikely, however, said Michael O'Leary told reporters.

The CEO of Ryanair also said that if his group paid a special dividend in respect of fiscal 2013, it does not pay a second in 2014.

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 1. United States: $ 48 billion investment Next 2/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 2. China: $ 45.5 billion investment next photo 3/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 3. Germany: $ 30.6 billion investment next photo 4/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 4. Italy: 28 billion dollars of investments Next Photo 5/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 5. France: $ 5 billion investment Next Photo 6/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 6. India: 10.2 billion euros in investments Next Photo 7/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 7. UK: $ 9.4 billion investment Next Photo 8/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 8. Japan: $ 8.6 billion investment Next 9/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 9. Spain: $ 8.6 billion investment Next Photo 10/10

Previous Previous PauseSuivant 10. Brazil: $ 8 billion investment Next

The social network plans to complete the transaction in the current quarter.

Instagram was launched in January 2011 and now has thirty million users. The application allows in particular to apply filters and effects to photos taken with a smartphone.

This acquisition is unexpected since Facebook is preparing an IPO.

"This is an important step for Facebook because it's the first time we acquire a company and a product as accrued," said the Director General General of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg.

Attention statistical trapped. While the real situation of employment is being debated in the U.S., including the Fed, the Labor Department announced Friday that the unemployment rate fell 0.1 points to 8.2% in March. But this apparent good news is accompanied by a slowdown in job creation to 120,000 against 240,000 the previous month Analysts had expected at least 200,000 more jobs created last month.

Hiring was strongest in the first two months of the year, especially in January (275,000). But economists were concerned that these figures have been inflated by an unusually mild weather, making an increase in activity that would be offset by a slowdown in March.

Unemployment can evolve differently in job creation: it is determined by household surveys as they are derived from company surveys, it is sensitive to changes in the labor force (which increased less in March in January or February), and is calculated to a tenth of a percentage point, from which threshold effects.

Since summer, the trend unemployment rate is significantly to the decline, which had reached 9.1% in August yet. This trend is also clear for another measure of the labor market, unemployment and underemployment (including among other employees working part time against their will, or people who have abandoned the active search for work) , which fell to 14.5% in March against 14.9% in February. This is the lowest rate since January 2009. The number of unemployed also declined: 12.67 million in March, against 12.81 million in February.

By business segment, the slowdown in job creation is significant in the private sector (121,000 in March after 233,000 in February). In the public employment was flat in March while on a decline the previous month. Hiring in the manufacturing sector were virtually unchanged (31 000), while those in the service sector fell (90,000 against 204,000 in February).

The government increased job losses in temporary employment (7500), generally considered a leading indicator of economic activity. But he welcomed the increase of 3.6 million since February 2010 the number of jobs in the U.S. economy.

The chief executive of PSA Peugeot Citroen, Philippe Varin, said Wednesday that his group would support an EU action to reduce surplus production capacity, estimated at at least 20% by many analysts and industry executives.

In his view, European leaders have every incentive to emulate the U.S. experience in recent years.

"Policies should support the industry when it needs to be restructured," he said. "If you look at what happened in the U.S. during the crisis, there was very strong support from the U.S. government."

ACEA, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, discussed at the Geneva show ways to increase its lobbying in favor of such action.

"We can not continue forever to treat problems of the automobile at the national level," said its secretary general, Ivan Hodac, in a interview with Reuters. "We need a solution across the EU. But it is not easy. "

Such a strategy, it is modeled on the aviation consortium EADS or that it is inspired by the steel restructuring, would not fail to encounter opposition from some national governments anxious to preserve industrial employment in their territory …… The problem

… however risks worsen following the free trade agreement with South Korea came into force last July, which boosts the sales of South Korean manufacturers

. They have exported 438,767 vehicles to the EU in 2011 while he No 'have imported only 78,762, according to official statistics. Enough to feed the concerns of ACEA in view of similar agreements between the EU and India, Japan and Mercosur.

"Slippery slope"

"If we continue to open our borders without being able to access markets in other countries, we are on a slippery slope," said Ivan Hodac.

ACEA has not yet drafted proposals for a plan for the sector, he said, but argued insistently concerned with European Commissioners s in recent days.

The President of ACEA, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat, should discuss the future free trade agreements on March 20 during a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner, officials said in Geneva. 

"Marchionne has made the comparison with the steel sector. What would be useful is a relaxation in the EU-wide dismissal procedures, thereby reducing their cost "said one analyst who declined to be identified.

"This is a problem that falls within the EU because the EU introduces a lot of limits on CO2 that increase costs and because the EU is negotiating trade agreements with Asian countries. This is the EU to determine which plants should be closed and then provide the funding. "

L announcement last week of the alliance between General Motors and PSA has of course fueled the debate and the concerns of employees, who fear mass retrenchments.

"I do not see why people would agree to see better close their plant because it is Europe that the request, especially as manufacturers and the Union have a responsibility as they played on the disparities between labor costs in Western Europe, South and East, "said ; Reuters Lelasseux Xavier, CFDT representative at PSA. 

EUROPE TO THE RESCUE

"Manufacturers have used EU subsidies to create overcapacity, and now they would call Europe to the rescue for it helps to cut jobs? It would be better to fight to make fairer competition with Asian countries. "

A restructuring orchestrated by the EU would bypass the risk that restructuring aid considered as state aid, the analyst adds.

However, all ACEA members are not convinced by such a strategy.

"I claim absolutely no public support", told Bernhard Mattes, head of the German subsidiary of Ford. "Corporate restructuring should be carried out by companies."

For his part, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and Nissan, has predicted that the first restructuring measures could pave the way for a series of plant closures.

All European manufacturers are suffering from problems of overcapacity, he said. "But when someone in Europe could be a major restructuring, it will require all automakers to do likewise."