World Articles

From our correspondent in Beijing

It became the big hot topic on the Chinese Internet to the desktop as local leaders. The distress of Chinese SMEs in need of cash is in China proportions "hysterical", according to press reports in Hong Kong. To the point that the government has announced a package of measures to help them and calm the unrest.

The crisis of Chinese SMEs is symbolized by the incredible epidemic of bankruptcies in the city of Wenzhou, in the heart of the exporting province of Zhejiang. The Chinese press said Thursday that since the beginning of the year, more than 200 patrons had fled or hid after their coffers have dried up. Others have committed suicide. Some 20% of the 360,000 SMEs in the region have already had to close shop for lack of money.And the situation will get worse in January, when the Chinese New Year, traditionally the time when patrons enjoy a vacation to disappear without paying their employees. According to the New China News Agency, SMEs create around 80% of jobs in the country.

The State Council (Chinese government) has subsequently announced Tuesday a series of measures, financial and tax to help small and medium enterprises. The first is to facilitate access to credit. To do so, against the current of their policy, the authorities will allow the minimum reserve ratios "comparatively low" for local banks lending to SMEs, while this ratio was usually around 21% for large banks. Moreover, these small businesses can more easily borrow by issuing bonds. The other part is to exempt SMEs from a battery of taxes and charges.Banks are also prohibited from charging their services at prices "unreasonable."

"Informal Credit"

Wenzhou has become a symbol for it is the Chinese capital of the "informal credit". Private reserves by banks, which prefer to grant loans to large corporations, small businesses are strangled. They have no recourse but to turn to private security companies that have developed lending. The rates are incredibly high, ranging from 20% to over 100% … Some analysts believe that the share of informal loans may exceed 25% of total credit in the country. Credit Suisse has estimated that black market credit of 456 billion euros, with an increase of 50% per year.

Chief economist at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, Zhang Wenkui believes that the latest measures only bring temporary relief.And nothing will change until the banking sector do not be reformed, by offering different services to different types of customers. He has a vivid picture to describe the current situation: "It's like an irrigation system with water that would go to large trees and ignore all the shrubs." The problem is that in the short Beijing term can not open the floodgates too, failing to challenge its efforts to the credit crunch.

ALSO READ:

"The growth of China stalled

The Paris Bourse on Wednesday will try to stop his downward series. The CAC 40 closed yesterday on a third round of consecutive decline, the lowest of the year and still under 3000 points. This time, to consolidate their recovery, operators should rely on the good mood of the Asian markets who have chosen to embark on a bargain hunting.

Closing slightly lower on Wall Street should also reassure the markets. The New York Stock Exchange, which remained very cautious, however, has not panicked by the announcement of a good non-manufacturing ISM index. All good news about the health of the U.S. economy are highly valued in a context of fear of a recession in America. As such, investors are waiting to know the details of the Fed's Beige Book, which will be announced tonight.Tomorrow, Thursday, will also be a crucial day in Congress with the speech of President Barack Obama on employment. The CNN already believes that it will propose to spend $ 300 billion to new posts. These new expenditures should be fully offset by budget cuts.

Germany at the center of attention

Side the euro area, all eyes turned to the German Constitutional Court which shall decide on Wednesday on the legality of the financial contribution of Berlin plans to help Europe. The observers could never imagine, however, that the Court considers illegal contributions already provided by Berlin, which would cause a cataclysm in the euro area. Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to comment on the decision of the Court in a speech to the Bundestag in the morning.

The European Commission has also expressed his relief after Tuesday night's decision by the Italian Government's plan to strengthen budgetary discipline, while financial markets doubted the real will of Rome to reduce its deficit. For its part, the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, acknowledged Tuesday the difficult economic situation, highlighting the problem of Greece, and "tensions" in the markets, but said that Spain 's will not need help.

The single currency was this morning up 0.34% to 1.4055 dollar. It is particularly supported by the decision of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to set a floor price of 1.20 francs per euro.Oil side, in the early electronic trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October gained 51 cents to 86.53 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery 39 cents to 113.28 dollars .

Values ​​to follow on Wednesday

• Banking

Countries in the euro area have no plans for financial support to banks beyond and above what was planned for the financial sector rescue packages in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, have sources said Tuesday the euro area. For its part, Greece wants to extend the powers of its central bank to strengthen bank supervision, hoping to put the sector in the shelter of a worsening debt crisis, according to a bill presented Tuesday.

• Air France-KLM

The company reported passenger traffic up 7.6% in August, a load factor of 85.7% on the month and stability of cargo traffic (-0.2%) with capacity up 2.8%.

• Pernod Ricard

The group said they did not consider major strategic acquisitions before next summer at least.

• Scor

The reinsurer expects to achieve a volume of gross written premiums, equivalent to sales of 10 billion euros in 2013, against 6.7 billion in 2010, according to a statement posted Wednesday on the occasion of a day devoted investors.

• Sodexo

The group, a global leader in catering, has announced the acquisition of Puras do Brasil, Brazil's number two industry, in a statement.With this self-financed operation, Sodexo will become number one in Brazil, a rapidly growing market where Puras do Brasil realizes a turnover of half a billion euros.

• Valeo

The group announced its intention to repurchase up to 670,000 of its shares to a maximum of 22.5 million euros in connection with operations authorized by the General Assembly in June These shares will be allocated for the implementation of any plan of options to purchase shares in the allocation of shares in respect of participation or implementation of any company savings plan.

• Biomérieux

The group released a consolidated net profit up 3.7% to 75 million euros in the first half and said forecast for 2011 organic growth in sales of around 5%, against a previous target of +5% or + 6%, in a context of weak European economy and the U.S..

• Boiron

The specialist in homeopathy said the uncertainties in the economic environment for caution in its annual outlook after a deuixème trimesre marked by a 3.3% decline in sales. This decline in activity, combined with an increase in personnel costs and a continued investment in advertising, led to a fall of 92.5% of operating profit in the first half of the year.

• Transgene

The specialist therapeutic vaccines has announced a net loss dug to 17.7 million in the first half, against -14.5 million a year earlier, but said he expected a second part of a year rich in results and starting clinical trials.

The U.S. stock markets opened higher in early Tuesday: The Dow Jones gained 0.22% to 10,879.02 points and the Nasdaq 0.36% to 2354.28 points after having gleaned the previous day and 0.34% respectively 0.15%. The S & P 500 nibbles on his side 0.07% to 1124.65 points.

New home sales for the month of July in the United States are known to 16 hours. They are expected at 310,000 according to a consensus of analysts against 312,000 previously. This will be the only macroeconomic indicator on the agenda Tuesday. If others will be announced in the coming days, investor caution, but market volatility, however, should remain in force throughout the week until Friday.

That day, in fact, speak the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke.Speculation is rife, some still hoping that it will decide a third monetary easing to support the U.S. economy. Will also be unveiled for the second estimate of U.S. GDP for the second quarter.

Banks and investment funds turbulent agitated

Oil markets, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October was trading at the opening to 85.06 dollars, up 66 cents from the previous day. As for gold, it never ceases to reach new records: the precious metal has reached this morning for the first time in its history to 1900 dollars.

As for values, it will be interesting to see if the securities of the banking sector managed to recover. The meeting this Monday night has been very rough in New York, the indices have again been a roller coaster.If technology stocks have bounced back, supported by investors looking for bargains, banks have suffered greatly, however. These are the titles of the financial sector that weighed most heavily on the Dow. Bank of America has yielded 7.9% on rumors of capital increases.

News is expanded on the side of investment funds. The fund Cerberus and its partner Chatham Lodging Trust and have informed the United States real estate company Innkeepers Trust (Marriott franchise) they did not buy the walls of 64 of its hotels in the United States. The transaction, amounting to $ 1.1 billion, was announced in May.

The investment fund Jana Partners in New York and the pension fund Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, shareholders of the publisher McGraw-Hill, for their part, indicated recommend a separation of the group.The two investors, who had announced in early August have acquired a total of 5.2% of the capital, advocated in a paper presented to the authority of the U.S. equity markets (SEC) that the group split its divisions Education, Information and Media and stock index Standard & Poor's.

Finally, on the front of mergers over the world stock markets, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved on Tuesday the merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse, which should give birth to the first exchange operator world.

To attract customers, Fnac recycles old-fashioned recipes car dealerships. In recent days, the distributor of cultural products offers customers to resume high-tech products which they no longer use. Based on an Argus home, teaches against exchange vouchers valid in its 80 French stores.

This is a test, revealed by the challenges.fr site on which the subsidiary of PPR declined to give details. The service "Fnac Reprise" offers to purchase TVs, shelves, computers, phones, camcorders, music players and game consoles … But not books, CDs and DVDs, it is however possible to afford with the right of purchase.

The "cultural agitator," the owner would like to sell in order to afford sportswear brands, is trying by all means to correct its turnover, eroding month after month.His last idea could be successful, provided, however, offer an acquisition price attractive enough …

The CAC 40 is headed for a fifth straight session of steep decline. At the close, the index fell further by 1.07% to 3672.77 points. A decline – the fifth in a row – but much more moderate than what was found during the session. The CAC is in fact fallen to a record low since the beginning of the year while the issue of U.S. debt continues to plague investors, while European issues remain a concern.

But about 17 hours, Barack spoke and pressed to agree to raise the debt ceiling of the United States. A speech that reassured Wall Street, and thus the European markets, which is still bleak.Especially since the U.S. side, a series of bad economic data has dampened investors (growth, activity in Michigan, and moral Americans).

Finally, the week, the CAC 40 index lost 4.25%.

In London, the FTSE-100 index of the main values ​​lost 0.99% on Friday at 5815.19 points. The DAX index in Frankfurt ended her down 0.44% at 7158.77 points against 7190.06 points on Thursday.

The financial sector at half-mast

Adding to the nervousness of the markets, the rating agency Moody's is considering lowering the rating of Spain. As a result, the financial sector shows further losses on the stock market: Crédit Agricole loose 2.36% to 8.61 euros, Societe Generale drops 2.44% to 34.73 euros, Axa was down 2.56% to 13.11 euros, and BNP Paribas was down 2% to 45.46 euros.

Another sign of investor confidence that spreads, bond yields fragile countries in the euro area increased further, imposing astronomical cost of funds. Spain has seen its rates to ten years to rebound above the 6%. And on the foreign exchange market, the euro was immediately dropped below $ 1.43 in the morning before to recover. Around 17:30, the European currency was worth 1.4392 dollars against 1.4324 dollars on Thursday night (0.45%).

Household consumption is rising again

On the macroeconomic front, the cost of French household consumption of manufactured goods in June rose 1.2% in May after falling 0.3%.The producer prices in the industry have generally stabilized in June on the French market (-0.1%) following a significant drop in May (-0.5%).

Veolia Environnement, the largest decline Cac 40

The markets also react to the new burst of business publications.

Veolia Environnement: -9.50% to 15.80 euros

Veolia Environnement has warned that 2011 would not achieve its objective of growth in net profit due to provisions and write-downs that will pass in its half-year to 800 million euros no faxing 1 hour payday loans.

Michelin: -34.18% to 58.66 euros

Michelin has raised its annual target volumes after a first half marked by an increase in profits and sales. The automotive supplier is now an increase in volumes "of about 8%" against at least 6.5% previously.The net half of the group grew from 33% to 667 million euros and sales of 21% to 10.1 billion.

Saint-Gobain: + 2.15% to 40.40 euros

The group confirmed its operational growth goals for 2011, after a surge in net profit in the first half (53.3% to 768 million euros) due to higher volumes and selling prices.Management has indicated to always be an IPO Verallia, its subsidiary in bottles and glass jars, after the postponement of this operation in June.

Total: -1.52% to 37.78 euros

Oil giant Total said on Friday net profit down 12% in the second quarter to 2.7 billion euros, due to weak refining margins in Europe and the cessation of production in Libya.

EDF: -2% to 26.46 euros

EDF issued a net half-year up 54% to 2.6 billion euros, thanks to its increased nuclear generation in France, and announced target for the period 2011-2015 an average annual growth of 5 10% of its net income.

PPR: – 0.65% to 129 euros

Net income for the PPR increased from 16.1% to 450 million euros in the first half, above analysts' expectations, driven by sales of luxury goods (22.6%) while the distribution, which he wants to separate, were down 2%.

EADS: -0.41% to 24.2 euros

Europe's EADS confirmed its outlook for full year 2011, despite the decline of 41% of its net profit in the first half, to 109 million euros, hit by accounting for revaluations related to changes in interest rates exchange.

CGG Veritas: -3.17% to 23.54 euros

CGG Veritas, which suffered last year the moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion of a well operated by BP <BP.L>, posted a second quarter loss of $ 38 million (27 million), including $ 17 million of non recurring refinancing costs, against a profit of $ 8 million.

Schneider Electric: -1.51% to 101.15 euros

Schneider Electric now expects an operating margin for 2011 of 15% in the low end of its initial expectations, said CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire, in an interview with Les Echos on Friday.

The Cac 40 could string together a fourth consecutive session bullish. When a new day begins crucial for Greece, the Paris Bourse continued its prudent mini-rally started Monday – the last three meetings, the Cac 40 gained almost 4%. The index featuring Paris, ironed the day above 3900 points, opened on Thursday, up 0.33% to 3937.26 points. It has long hovered around 3930 points this morning, and won and 0.19% to 3931.70 points in mid-session.

At the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 gained 0.68% to 5895.84 points and the Stock Exchange Frankfurt, the DAX 30 in advance from 0.07% to 7299.52 points.

Yesterday, the Greek Parliament adopted the first two parts of the austerity plan intended to avoid the financial ruin of Greece. This had the effect of propelling the Cac 40 in excess of 3900 points.This afternoon, members of Greek determine in detail the cost-saving measures and privatization to engage in Greece for the next four years. But on Thursday, the progression of CAC 40 may be more limited than ever, after the IMF expressed concern about a failure of the United States.

On the macroeconomic front, several indicators punctuate the trading session:

– After declining 1.4% in April, consumer spending fell again in May by 0.8%.

– The public debt increased by 54.9 billion euros in the first quarter from the end of last year, to $ 1.6461 trillion, or "approximately" 84.5% of GDP (GDP).

For the euro area, a first estimate of inflation in June was announced at 11 am: it has displayed steady at 2.7%.For June, analysts polled by Reuters on average expected a slight acceleration to 2.8%.

Finally, the United States, two statistics will be released today: requests for weekly unemployment benefits (1430) and industrial activity in the Chicago area in June (15.45).

On the corporate side, as since the beginning of the week, bank stocks react positively to approval by the Greek Parliament's austerity plan. BNP Paribas takes 1.21% to 52.63 euros, gaining Natixis 1.82% to 3.41 euros, Societe Generale advance of 1 no faxing pay day loans.03% to 40.23 euros and Credit Agricole rose 0.44% to 10, 21 euros.Yesterday, they gained 1% to 2%.

Carrefour: -1.26% to 27.75 euros; Casino: + 0.03% to 64.62 euros

In the struggle that pitted him against Carrefour in Brazil, Casino raised its stake in the Brazilian distributor Grupo Pao de Acucar by 37% to 43.1%.

In addition, the Colombian subsidiary of Casino, Exito, will conduct a capital increase of $ 1.4 billion to buy the Uruguayan subsidiary of Casino for $ 746 million.

LVMH yielded 0.49% to 121.90 euros shortly after noon.The European Commission approved Thursday the French luxury group LVMH, headed by businessman Bernard Arnault, to take control of the Italian jeweler Bulgari-watch, considering that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in Europe.

Pernod Ricard: -0.29% to 67.96 euros

The world number two wine and spirits sells its shares in Georgian society Georgian Wine and Spirits, an operation that involves small amounts according to a spokesman for the world's second largest wine and spirits.

EADS: -0.33% to 22.9 euros

The airline American Airlines is negotiating with the European aerospace group Airbus and Boeing to purchase at least 250 aircraft, an order worth approximately $ 15 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Axa: + 1.05% to 15.42 euros

The insurer will invest 500 million euros in its partnership with the Chinese bank ICBC over the next 5 years.

Gecina: + 0.02% to 95.54 euros

The land was made yesterday two new asset sales, with the amount of its trade-offs to 559 million euros at end June

EuropaCorp: + 2.85% to 3.97 euros

The company production and distribution film Luc Besson has suffered a net loss of 30.2% million for the year ending March 2010 to 2011.

Groupe Partouche (0.75% to 2.67 euros) recorded in the first half of its 2010/2011 financial year lagged net income down more than 30%.

Beneteau (2.27% to 14.87 euros) will publish its revenue for the third quarter after the close of trading.

That night, the Greek Parliament gave its confidence to the new government Papandreou for the implementation of an austerity program. This news was widely expected by the Paris market, which rose 2.04% Tuesday night at closing. If the ad is positive, this explains the slight decline in anticipation of the index in Paris on Wednesday, which fell by 0.50% in mid-session at 3857.71 points. It is thus unlikely that the Cac 40, which has recovered to 3877.07 points last night, without addressing today at 3900 points mark.

For despite the vote tonight, Greece remains in a serious situation. The country needs to pass before June 30, the austerity plan that provides savings of 28.4 billion and 50 billion privatization until 2015.Persistent concerns explaining the lack of investor optimism since the beginning of June.

At the macroeconomic level, the announcement of an increase in the INSEE industrial morale in June, was not enough to give a positive trend. Industrial orders in the euro area rebounded 0.7% in April from the previous month, said Wednesday the EU statistics office Eurostat.en March, they had recorded their first decline in six months, 1.5 %. Eurostat has slightly revised its initial estimate, which gave an even stronger decline of 1.8%. On the macroeconomic front, investors should exercise great caution before the press conference of the U.S. central bank in the evening.The economic outlook in the United States could be scaled down and the Fed is expected to confirm the end of the support measures.

As for currencies, the vote of confidence of the Greek Parliament supports a slight decline in the European currency. The euro fell slightly against the dollar on Wednesday, suffering from profit taking after the sharp rise the previous day. Around 11:00 in Paris, the single European currency was worth 1.4401 dollars against 1.4408 late Tuesday.

In terms of oil, the news does not really have an impact on price developments, mixed Wednesday. Relieved by the vote of confidence, the market is wait until the end of the meeting of the American Fed. In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for August delivery lost 46 cents to 93.71 dollars.That of Brent North Sea crude for August delivery gained 31 cents to 111.26 dollars.

Carrefour degraded

Carrefour (-1.52%, 26.89 euros) Moody's said Tuesday it had downgraded the outlook from stable to negative. Yesterday, at a general meeting stormy, the splitting of Dia was approved while the shareholders voted in favor of renewing the businessman Bernard Arnault on the board.The current Group Chief Executive, Lars Olofsson, will take over the chairmanship of the board of directors in place of Amaury de Seze.

EADS (+0.11% at 21.78 euros): Louis Welsh, CEO of EADS, the parent company of Airbus, said Wednesday that the European aircraft manufacturer plans to save the day at the Paris Air Show orders for its A380, the largest airliner in service in the world.

Total (-0.76% to 38.58 euros) assigned to a consortium of most of its petroleum distribution assets in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, for about 450 million.

Societe Generale (-0.87% to 39.82 euros). Shareholders representing 68% of the shares of the group opted for the 2010 dividend payment for new shares.The number of new shares issued for payment of the dividend is 23,901,432 shares, representing 3.2% of current capital of SocGen.

The title was up Altran Technologies (3.01% to 5.51 euros) on the Paris market on Wednesday midday, taking advantage of the positive outlook of analysts following a meeting with the new CEO of technology consulting .

The Tanner (suspended) Qatar Luxury Group has launched a simplified tender offer for the remaining capital of leather goods at the same price of 6.51 euros per share. He already holds 54.73% stake in the Tanner, whose listing is suspended.

Areva (-1.71% to 25.61 euros) The Supervisory Board endorsed the group's arrival Tuesday in place of Luc Oursel Anne Lauvergeon. This should also not give up his severance pay.

As announced in Le Figaro, the agreement on supplementary pensions signed last spring is unfavorable to executives who have raised several children, so much so that the CFE-CGC, the union executive has decided to attack the text justice.

The agreement signed in March after lengthy negotiations in effect alters the rules of pension bonus if families "many." From 1 January next year, the increase will be only 10% whatever the number of children cared for by the frame from three. The rule still in force today is much more favorable since the pensions of executives can be increased by 8% to 24% depending on the number of children.

Cap

Adjusted parallel, the amount of increase is now capped at 1,000 euros per year. Emmanuel Grimaud consulting firm optimization retirement Maxims, asked on Europe 1 this morning, made the calculation of the shortfall.For an executive who has had four children and affects 2700 euros monthly pension, the bonus is 2000 euros per year today. With the new rules, it does affect more than 800 euro mark, that is to say 1200 euros less each year. If we relate this loss to the number of years spent in retirement, 25 years on average, the loss of purchasing power reached 27,000 euros says the expert.

Emmanuel Grimaud said that once, future retired executives must make it their calculations, especially if born before July 1951.In some cases it may be more interesting for them to liquidate their retirement before the end of the year rather than waiting for the entry into force of the new text, and this even if they have not paid all quarters necessary for the full rate.

ALSO READ:

"Supplementary pension: the agreement will be sued

"New rule in order for supplementary pensions

"Agirc-Arrco: employers promised an ambitious

"Occupational pensions: flexibility on reversions

"The supplementary pensions secured until late June

SERVICE

"Evaluate your retirement cplussur.com

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has the alarm on the third world economy. Consequence of the earthquake on March 11, its economists expecting a decline of 0.7% of GDP for the whole of 2011. The Fund is particularly concerned for the country's debt, which will reach 219% of GDP at end 2011, and finds that the debt reduction must remain the priority of the government.

The latter, which has just passed a supplementary budget of 33 billion euros to finance the first necessities, wants to pass through Parliament a law authorizing it to issue bonds and launch a second budget by August.

But the Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, in power for a year, is increasingly challenged, including in his own camp. Opponents blocked the law and want to relinquish power as soon as possible. They propose to form a "grand coalition", a sort of unity government."Given the limited scope exists to reduce expenditure, fiscal consolidation should be based on a comprehensive tax reform, built around a progressive rise in consumption tax," the IMF analysis.

A solution that Naoto Kan has long dream. Set at 5% today, this fee could rise to 10% in 2015-2016, calculates the government. Yet it must be at least 15% for only "half way done," the IMF tranche.

On Wall Street, futures contracts on the index set are on the downside, the Dow Jones future lost 0.25% and the S & P 500 future bending of 0.33%. The opening of the session should be marked by a decline after the wrong numbers of job creation in the private sector in the U.S. in May, published yesterday by the firm ADP. These statistics had already weighed on the Dow Jones yesterday, which had thus ended down 0.34% to 12,248.55 points.

Among the statistics to follow this Friday, the unemployment rate in the United States in May is forecast at 8.9%, a slight drop of 0.10 point compared to the previous month. Moreover, employment in agriculture in May should show a marked decline from its April level.Economists expect about 125,000 to 150,000 jobs reported last month, against 244,000 in April.

The Fed does not intend to undertake new measures to boost the economy, according to Richard Fisher, one of its members. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal this morning, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve believes that "the Fed has done its job" and that if necessary additional stimulus measures, "they must come from elsewhere" .

The U.S. Treasury will sell the 6% that still holds in Chrysler to Fiat. The Italian will thus hold a majority stake in U.S. manufacturer. And the state will pocket U.S. $ 560 million.

Short-term domestic concerns will not prevent operators to remain vigilant regarding the conditions for aid to Greece as part of a new plan, unveiled in principle this afternoon personal business card.

Wal-Mart, Walgreen's and VeriFone to follow

As for values ​​to be followed, one eye will be kept open on Wal-Mart, which holds its annual investor day.

The good results published yesterday by VeriFone Systems should provide a nice progression of the title. The figures exceeded the consensus.

Walgreen announced today, before opening on Wall Street, the level of its sales in May: they rose 7% to 6.08 billion, up 5.6% on a comparable basis.Remember that the title had been boosted on Wednesday by a recommendation by UBS improved, which initiated coverage on the purchase of the title, with a price target of $ 51.

Chevron announced late yesterday that four people died in the explosion of one of its refineries in Pembroke. A fifth victim was hospitalized in serious condition.

relaxation on raw materials

As for raw materials, the pressure falls. In this sector, investors await OPEC meeting next Wednesday, which could lead to a decision by the organization to increase its oil production. Despite the many demands and frequent recently, OPEC had refused to put the issue of increased production in its agenda, and has been for four years.The markets will also tend ear to New York, where the French agriculture minister, Bruno Le Maire, must comment on speculation in commodities, at 18 pm (Paris time).

ALSO READ:

"American debt: the bad blood between Obama and Congress

"OPEC could decide to increase production