Beyond its organic levers, the former branch of the Accor group prepaid service, which issues such as meal vouchers, announced during a day dedicated to investors and financial analysts that it will carry out targeted acquisitions.

Edenred also wants to accelerate the transition to digital solutions "paving the way for new growth opportunities," we read in a statement.

The action Edenred closed Monday at 18.4 euros, showing a market capitalization of 4.2 billion euros.

The French surveyed by INSEE in November have also never been more pessimistic about their future standard of living and are more likely to anticipate an increase in unemployment, which has already reached a peak of 11.

The composite indicator of consumer confidence stood at 79 on Friday in November and pushed a lowest since February 2009.

Net income for the Swiss reinsurer has more than doubled in the third quarter to $ 1.35 billion (988 million) against 618 million in the comparable period in the previous year.

Swiss Re said the performance by "a moderate level of natural and unique effects positive."

Premium income rose to 5.74 billion against 5.05 billion a year earlier.

The combined ratio, a key indicator of operating profitability in the sector, however, has deteriorated to 80.8% against 76.4% last year.The combined ratio was expected at 89.7%.

The world's second largest reinsurance confirmed its medium-term objectives, for an ROE of 700 basis points above the average over five years and an average annual growth of 10% of earnings per share.

"Our financial targets in 2011-2015 reported in February 2011 is our top priority and we are fully dedicated," said CEO Stefan Lippe in a statement.

The group also expects a modest turnaround in the market but general damages, liability and accidents.

The government does not expand the new tax on soda beverages containing sweeteners such as the National Assembly proposes to finance the lower cost of agricultural labor, said Thursday the budget minister Valérie Pécresse. Asked by Canal + on the position of the State in this new provision added by the Finance Committee of the Assembly on Wednesday, the spokesman of the government remained unclear. "It is the wishes of the parliament, we will discuss. But it will be to finance the lower cost of agricultural labor," she was merely responding.The aim is to "enable our farmers to sell their products to the same price as Germany and Spain," said Valérie Pécresse.

For about half the tax, revised help reduce the cost of ongoing work in the agricultural sector, which suffers from a lack of competitiveness against many of its competitors such as Germany, Spain or Italy. The rest will include health insurance. Initially, this tax on soft drinks would bring 120 million euros and should not apply to beverages with artificial sweeteners.

The new tax on soft drinks has doubled and extended to beverages containing sweeteners Wednesday in the Committee on Finance of the Assembly, it should yield more than double, or 250 million euros.The surplus revenue to the state expected from the doubling must be used to finance a reduction in the cost of agricultural labor, said a UMP Amendment / New Centre approved in committee in the review of the draft budget 2012.

6.22 euros per hectolitre

Initially, the tax on soft drinks would bring 120 million euros and should not apply to beverages with artificial sweeteners. But "these drinks, which are not basic necessities, benefit from the reduced VAT rate. They must be able to handle the additional load generated by this new contribution," said Michel Diefenbacher (UMP) in a sub-amendment.

Currently, the wine is subject to VAT of 19.6%, while water and soft drinks are taxed at 5.5%.The rate of contribution of soft drinks will be increased to 6.22 euros per hectolitre will be increased from the beginning of 2013, to January 1 of each year, at a rate equal to inflation (excluding tobacco) of the preliminary last year. Sought by the AFP, the National Association of Food Industries (Ania) was not immediately available for comment Wednesday night the decision to expand the tax soda products with sweeteners. The Government will reduce in 2012 to 210 million payroll taxes on permanent farms in order to "improve competitiveness", Nicolas Sarkozy announced Tuesday.

In addition € 130 million from the tax on soft drinks, the exemption of social contributions of farmers on permanent employment will be funded by 80 million euros from a reduction of a tax on heating oil for professional use.The domestic consumption tax (TIC) of heating oil used as diesel fuel for professional use will be increased from 5.66 to 7.20 euros per hectolitre, as a New Centre-UMP amendment also passed Wednesday. Finally, the cost of a farm worker is expected to fall to one euro per hour, as repeatedly promised the Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Le Maire.

The announcement of the creation of the tax, 24 August, as part of the austerity plan Fillon, had angered the industry, outraged that the government justify this contribution in the fight against obesity. The French subsidiary Coca-Cola had even threatened to suspend an investment of 17 million euros in one of its plants, in the Bouches-du-Rhone, before turning back to the outcry from politicians.

The Bank of France reiterated Monday its forecast of growth of 0.1% of the French economy in the third quarter, based on the results of its latest monthly business survey.

In September, "industrial activity has remained stable, the contraction in the automotive and manufacturing equipment was offset by the increase observed in the food industry and some sectors of production of consumer goods" said she.

The Bank of France said that the forecasts of business leaders expect a continuation of the stability of industrial activity in the coming months. Services could, in turn, suffer from a slowdown in activity.

Thursday, INSEE had indicated anticipate GDP growth of 0.3% for the third quarter, a more optimistic prediction than the Bank of France.But the institute expects a stagnation in activity over the last three months of the year highlighting the sharp deterioration in the economic climate in the euro area during the summer.

The indicator of business climate in France has lost eight points between July and September to $ 97 in its long-term average of 100.

INSEE also announced Monday that industrial production rose by 0.5% in August while economists polled by Reuters on average expected a contraction of 1%.

"It's always good to take.PMI surveys suggest already predict a decline in output, which shows that this sector should not escape the impact of slower global growth and lower domestic demand against a background of escalating crisis debt in the euro area ", says Joost Beaumont, economist at ABN Amro.

Markit PMI surveys among purchasing managers have shown last week a contraction of manufacturing and for services, the lowest growth for two years.

The only support activity at year end could then once again to come from household consumption, unless the sovereign debt crisis incentive for consumers to save more.

According to Insee, the saving rate of French households has reached 17% in the second quarter, its highest level since the third quarter of 2009.

The BoE's decision on Thursday to bring its program of asset purchases to 275 billion pounds underlines the fragility of the British economy, against a backdrop of fiscal restraint and spending power of consumers due to half-mast 'high inflation and weak wage growth.

The Governor of the BoE Mervyn King, in a letter to finance minister George Osborne, says that the global economic recovery has slowed and the debt crisis in the euro area has caused severe strains in financial markets.

"These tensions within the global economy threaten the British recovery," warns Mervyn King.

If the price increase is expected over 5% annual rate in the coming months, the recent deterioration in economic outlook bodes well for a return in the medium-term objective of the BoE, which is 2% in annual basis.

The Bank of England held rates unchanged at record low of 0.5%.This rate has not changed since March 2009.

The bold decision of the BoE to launch a new phase of quantitative easing contrasts with the more conservative ads of the European Central Bank.

The ECB also held its key rates unchanged Thursday while taking further steps to promote the supply of interbank liquidity and to intervene to the tune of 40 billion euros for the primary and secondary markets for bonds in the euro area .

OUTLOOK further deteriorated

Economists polled by Reuters had given a probability of 40% to restart its program of asset purchases by the BoE expected but mostly that it covers only 50 billion of extra pounds.

The sterling fell to 1.5280 dollars after the announcement, the lowest since July 2010, against 1.5466 before.

"The fact that the Monetary Policy Committee has decided to act now on the quantitative easing and he did it for 75 billion pounds rather than 50 points out that these members consider that the already difficult prospects of the economy further deteriorated due to headwinds both domestically and internationally, "said Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight.

"We believe that quantitative easing will be emphasized in the first quarter of 2012," he added.

The UK economy is virtually at standstill for a year while the government is facing a budget deficit that reached almost 10% of GDP.

The BoE had frozen to 200 billion pounds the amount of its asset purchases since February 2010 in favor of an economic recovery after a deep recession.

Restrictive means adopted by the BoE in view of inflationary pressures has markedly changed over the summer with the fear of a relapse into recession and difficulties for banks caused by the sharp correction in financial markets crisis the euro area and the signs of a global slowdown.

"We would not be surprised to see the total amount of asset purchases to 500 billion pounds, the new stage of quantitative easing, starting with the 75 billion announced today, adding an additional 300 billion in the first phase," said James Knightley, ING Financial Markets.

"It is fundamental that there is a policy coordination between countries to weather the current international situation," said Brazilian President Rousseff after meeting officials of the European Council and Commission in Brussels.

"The absence of effective regulation of the financial system is causing the problem," she said.

The economy dominated an annual summit that normally relations in trade and investment.The inability of the EU to find an effective parry to his debt problems upset Brasilia, Washington and Beijing, while market confidence is affected by fears of a global recession.

The leaders of both parties were critical financial regulation more effective in preventing future crises and to prevent national economic problems will spread to other countries or regions.

"We need to overhaul the global financial architecture in order to avoid financial crises in the future," said Herman Van Rompuy later, European Council President, representatives of business circles in Europe and Brazil.

GROWTH, advocates Rousseff

The EU leaders, who will meet this month before the G20 summit scheduled for November in Cannes (France), will have a more united front against economic hardship, said Van Rompuy.

"A strong and coordinated action is necessary to prevent the global economy falls into recession. The EU and Brazil will cooperate closely to prevent this from happening at the G20 summit in Cannes, he added.We must cooperate more on trade and exchange rates. "

Dilma Rousseff, whose country has itself gone through a debt crisis in the 1980s before re-emerge as a major economic power, said that "holders of tax adjustments recession" made when Brazil had problems of debt, had aggravated his stagnation.

"We can end the crisis by stimulating economic growth," she said on the occasion of his first visit to the EU as president.

The EU is the largest trading partner of Brazil, and European investments in this country represent more than all of those of the Union in China, India and Russia.

Brazil wants greater involvement of the EU's leading industries such as telecommunications, oil extraction and refining. For its part, the EU hopes to benefit from a Brazilian economy that recorded last year a growth rate of 7.5%, its fastest in 24 years.

However, discussions on a free trade agreement between the EU and the South American bloc Mercosur, dominated by Brazil and Argentina, are deadlocked.

On the Nymex, the November contract on U.S. crude (WTI) ended on a loss of 3.24 dollars, or 3.84% to 81.21 dollars a barrel.Meanwhile, Brent yielded 3.00%, or 3.21 dollars to 103.93 dollars.

Tuesday, oil was increased after five sessions of decline due to hopes of resolving the debt crisis, hopes were dashed on Wednesday.

"The macroeconomic events, especially from Europe and the debt crisis, will likely continue to be the catalyst to oil prices in the foreseeable future," said Chris Jarvis, senior analyst at Caprock Risk Management.

U.S. inventories of crude oil rose more than expected last week, said Wednesday the U.S. Agency for Energy Information (EIA).

Crude oil inventories rose 1.92 million barrels to 340.96 million, while economists on average expected a rise of 800,000 barrels

Rumors that Moody's had placed the sovereign rating on negative watch Italian Aa2 June 17, could reduce an imminent, also weighed on French banks.

The CAC 40, which had jumped ahead of 3.27% on Thursday and spent most of the session in the green, was down 0.48% to 3031.08 points after three sessions of up to row. Since the beginning of the week, it took 1.9%.Elsewhere in Europe, Frankfurt and London took 1.18% 0.58% while the pan-European Eurofirst 300 index gained 061%.

Rumors that Germany would have postponed discussions on the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSF) also weighed on bank stocks.

Among the French banks, BNP Paribas lost 7.56% to 28.195 euros and Credit Agricole, which leaves the EuroStoxx 50 Monday, 10.97% to 4.917 euros.Natixis, which is outside the CAC 40 Monday, gave up 4.41% to 2.387 euros.

The week was marked by renewed optimism about the willingness of political and monetary authorities to engage in concerted action to contain the crisis of the euro.

The announcement Thursday afternoon by the major central banks of their intention to cooperate to ensure dollar liquidity of European banks had largely confirmed the return to cautious optimism.

"Everybody was worried, thinking that the politicians were not on red alert, and this week we learned that they were.This was the real positive surprise, "said Franz Wenzel, head of investment strategy at Axa Investment Management.

"The market does not expect necessarily a revolution that would change the scenario for the future, but is reassured to see that central banks are there to do what is necessary," he said.

However, this does not solve the central problem of the euro area, the crisis of sovereign debt, noted speakers, who do not expect a resolution of the Greek question at the meeting of finance ministers the Eurogroup in Wroclaw, Poland.

The market remains divided between those who believe in the rescue of Greece and those who think it will not be able to meet the requirements for better management of public finances, said a Paris-based dealer action.

Patrice Pérois, sales trader at Kepler Capital Markets, said that the meeting was disrupted by purely technical factors, with the expiration of futures and options on stock indices and the restructuring and re-weighting of the three indices: Euro Stoxx 50, Stoxx 600 and CAC 40.

The performance of the German government bond (Bund) is relaxed to 10 years of seven basis points to 1.86% while the euro weakened against the greenback and traded around the 1.3780 dollar against 1.38% on Thursday.