World Articles

It all starts in late July in the French newspaper Le Monde. In a lively pen, "Philae" tells, in twelve parts, how a role play between two traders who are bored leads to rumors of a plot against Angela Merkel and the euro, all on the eve of elections French law of May 2012 ….

In this series of summer, we follow the wanderings of a young journalist from the Wall Street Journal sent to Frankfurt, headquarters of the European Central Bank and the financial hub of Germany. The names of the characters in the story are well known: Bruno Le Maire, portrays in Germanophile finance minister, Mario Draghi, Governor of the BCE, to the old speculator George Soros. On the agenda of the masters of the economy, threats to Societe Generale, next target of a takeover bid, and the Italian bank UniCredit.Their exposure to Greek debt fueling concerns.

Although it is amazed by the accuracy of the descriptions and the likelihood of situations, the informed reader understands that this is a fiction. In August 2011, Bruno Le Maire is not finance minister, but of Agriculture, and Italy's Mario Draghi has not made the head of the ECB, which is still headed by Jean-Claude Trichet.

On a rumor of a fall fiction real

It seems, however, whether this summer series that has inspired the fictional journalists Mail on Sunday, the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail for a story published Sunday catastrophic. In this paper, Simon Watkins and Dan Atkins have Societe Generale "at the brink of bankruptcy after terrible losses from its exposure to the Greek debt" and UniCredit "could collapse so similar" to the French bank.

The journalists added that "David Cameron has interrupted his vacation last night [Saturday, ed] to discuss the situation with Nicolas Sarkozy", a fact that has not been confirmed but exists also in the series of daily French.

Listed on online sites such as CNN mentioned on many forums, Twitter by many users, copied on blogs, the article from Monday, August 8 heat the rumor machine. Many elements accrediting effect the veracity of the article in the Mail on Sunday: Societe Generale is very exposed to the Greek crisis. August 3, his boss Frédéric Oudéa announced quarterly earnings down after a depreciation of 395 million euros for the shares of Greek states.

Wednesday morning the rumor that the company would be general in a situation so serious that the French government should intervene to save her is growing the market payday advance. The surprise announcement of a meeting at the Elysee Palace on the financial situation in the morning is a bombshell, and credibility to the words of the Mail on Sunday. The lack of communication officers of the Societe Generale does not help.

Meanwhile, as the stock market collapsed and with it the other financial stocks. At the heart of a black session, rumors succeed: France could lose its triple AAA, the government must save the banking system …

Only the evening that the management of Societe Generale denounces rumors and application to the financial markets opened an investigation into the launch of these sounds.But the damage is done: the bank saw its stock melted from 14.7% in one trading session.

A series of unexplained errors

Several questions remain: how an article in the Sunday edition of a tabloid, usually specializing in photographic study of cellulite British starlets, he could be taken seriously and set fire to the stock market ? How is it also possible that the two journalists of the text may have been confused, which to be inspired by what has been a fiction?

The text of Philae is, indeed, confusing realism. Hidden under the pseudonym, a journalist from the Tribune, Brussels correspondent of the daily economic, and whose employment by the evening paper did cringe at the writing of the World.A French bank would also indignant at the tone of the newspaper that gave off the soap truth, so much so that the newspaper added from 1 August 1 line warning: "Le Monde reminds its readers that situations, facts and figures reported in this fiction is imaginary and should not be taken as an expression of reality. "

There are no quotes in the article by Watkins and Atkins, which are directly drawn from the World Series, but the charges against SocGen and UniCredit, and the words of the intervention of Nicolas Sarkozy to be found in both documents. The Daily Mail has deleted Article guilty of its online site and apologized, acknowledging that the paper was based on "false information". Thursday noon, the Cac 40 fell below the symbolic threshold of 3,000 points, while Societe Generale fell by 7.26%.

American financier Guy Wyser-Pratte does not disarm in the folder Lagardère. Almost eighteen months after the general meeting of 27 April 2010 during which the two resolutions he had proposed were rejected at 76% and 78%, Guy Wyser-Pratte against attack. Wednesday, August 3, he sent a letter to the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), in which he contested the vote count at the meeting of shareholders of the group.

The American activist took some time to gather evidence to support its contention. Today, it provides the AMF documents showing that the ten funds managed by AllianceBernstein (a subsidiary of AXA Group), a leading shareholder group Lagardere with 10% of the shares, would have voted for he had presented two resolutions.

For investigation

A resolution was to appoint him to the Supervisory Board of Lagardère.Resolution B was to amend the prerogatives of-stock by requesting that the general partners do not vote more consistently before the sponsors. Guy Wyser-Pratte also produces documents from two firms specializing in proxy voting investors (ISS and Broadridge). They would have gathered the voices of various U.S. institutional investors in favor of two resolutions A and B. Finally, he instructed the firm McKenzie to a total of U.S. investors vote in favor.

"In total, we can demonstrate that counting only the votes of shareholders represented by American myself, AllianceBernstein, Broadbridge and ISS, my application to the supervisory board received 44% of the vote of the quorum present at the meeting. In addition, it is likely that other European shareholders have also voted in my favor.I therefore request the AMF to conduct an investigation to understand the origin of the discrepancy between the results of the AG and the counting done by us, "said Guy Wyser-Pratte. In 2010, the AMF had already audited BNP Paribas, which had been in charge of counting votes at the annual meeting of shareholders.

Returning to the issue today, Guy Wyser-Pratte hopes remobilize American and European shareholders for the next general meeting of 2012.

In March 2010, Guy Wyser-Pratte had burst into the capital of Lagardère by buying up 0.53% of the shares. He then publicly criticized the governance of the group protesting against the existence of a partnership limited by shares and had criticized the lack of strategy of management.The tone was mounted and Philippe Camus, a member of the sponsorship of the Lagardère group, the AMF had seized a few days before the general meeting, marveling at the distortion between saber rattling by Guy Wyser-Pratte and the reality of the impact of the two draft resolutions.

Strategy of focusing

Arnaud Lagardère had benefited from the rostrum of the General Assembly to address the critical Guy Wyser-Pratte. Some time after the general meeting, it had sold substantially all of its shares, pocketing a nice way to gain. Today, he is left only about 100,000 titles.

The tension had fallen, but after this episode heated, the Lagardère Group has implemented a strategy of refocusing on its core businesses – publishing, distribution, media and sport – and the country where he holds a position leadership.Suddenly, the group undertook to sell all of its minority, especially in Canal + France, the Amaury group and the group Marie-Claire. For now, these sales have stalled. However, Lagardère Active has led to the charge of selling most of its international press center to the American group Hearst, to 654 million euros. This represents a hundred titles in a dozen countries.

Wall Street hesitates. As in Europe, investors do not seem entirely convinced by the agreement reached in the night between Democrats and Republicans on the debt. At the close, the Dow drops 0.09% to 12,132 points, the Nasdaq lost 0.43% to 2745 points and the S & P loose 0.41% to 1287 points.

It is in extremis, on the night of Sunday, which is reached an agreement on raising the ceiling of U.S. debt, after a speech critical of President Barack Obama. Two days before the deadline set by the U.S. Treasury, the stakes were high: without this increase, at least 2.1 trillion dollars, the United States, on the edge of default, could sow the wind panic on financial markets.

Barack Obama has managed to generate compelling reconciliation of Democrats and Republicans on this agreement, investors now hope to see a bill passed in the coming days. But that will depend on the Congress which has yet to give the green light, no later than Tuesday night. Similarly, no one knows how to react, however, the rating agencies. Despite the compromise finally reached on the debt, the loss by the United States, their AAA rating is not excluded and would have severe repercussions on the economy and markets.

After selling more than 4% last week, which will remain the worst of the year, the Dow had yet started the day up 1.10% at 12,277 points.Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 progressed to their respective share of 0.86% to 1303 points and 2785 points to 1.05%.

The manufacturing sector to the death

At the macroeconomic agenda, a bad surprise helped to fill the atmosphere: the growth in manufacturing in the United States slowed in July against all expectations, according to the purchasing managers' index released Monday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), which fell to its lowest level in two years. The index of manufacturing activity of this organization stood at 50.9 last month, its lowest level since July 2009, against 55.3 in June. The market economists polled by Reuters on average expected 54.9.

Construction spending in the U.S. have also increased by 0.2% in June, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce published Monday.These expenditures reached 772.3 billion dollars, while analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a rate unchanged Same day payday loans.

This week, analysts said Aurel BGC, "investors will focus on indicators confirming whether a rebound in growth. In view of the latest indicators movement is far from certain. Auto sales (Tuesday) and retail sales side on Wall Street for the month of July will be eagerly awaited. This weekend, the employment figures will be released by the BLS.They will be very affected by the lay-off of 20,000 staff in the State of Minnesota. "

73% of companies did better than expected

The European steelmaker ArcelorMittal and U.S. mining company Peabody Energy (-1.48% to 56.62 dollars) on Monday made a hostile bid on the Australian Macarthur about 4.7 billion Australian (about 3, 6 billion euros), after the failure of talks to reach an amicable agreement. The board of Australian mining group declined Monday to support the joint bid from ArcelorMittal and Peabody to 15.50 dollars per share.

The title of the American manufacturer Ford (1.23% to 12.36 dollars) could take 25% as the group reduced its debt, is launching new models and trying to expand in China and India where he remained late over its competitors, said Monday the magazine Barron's.

Shares of online retail Amazon.com (-0.54% to 221.32 dollars), which is just below its record high, could earn 10% to 25% if the investment result rapid growth of its retail operations, cloud-computing and Kindle reading light, said Monday the magazine Barron's.

The railway company of the UAE, Etihad Rail, said Monday it has ordered seven locomotives Electro-Motive Diesel, a subsidiary of U.S. manufacturer of construction equipment Caterpillar (1.95% to 100.72 dollars).

On the corporate side, after Merck (-2.05% to 33.43 dollars) and Chevron (1.32% to 105.39 dollars), which published its quarterly results Friday, the ball of publications in the U.S. coming to an end.Nearly 65% ​​of companies have indeed published their findings in the U.S. and 73% reported earnings above expectations.

Among the publications planned the first week of August, include those closely watched CBS, Cephalon, and Pfizer (Tuesday). Will be followed by Comcast, Time Warner and Mastercard (Wednesday). Then, Kraft Foods (Thursday), Procter & Gamble and Viacom (Friday).

The higher the debt crisis is intensifying and European gold is getting stronger. The metal price has risen late Thursday at a new record of 1594.45 dollars approaching the threshold of 1600 dollars per ounce, still supported by concerns about the debt crisis in the euro zone and the renewed nervousness around indebtedness of the United States. The metal is "overbought in a configuration that is generally followed by a phase correction with profit taking," said Alexandre Taurand, market analyst at XTB France.

Since early July, the Yellow Gold has gained nearly 60 dollars and grew by more than 2% in five days. A craze that is also explained by its role as a refuge for investors wishing to protect themselves against currency volatility, turbulence government bonds and inflation pressures persist.Since the beginning of the month, the disturbing news in the euro area accumulates. Standard & Poor's warned that a draft agreement between Greece and private creditors would be equivalent to a default under its criteria. On Tuesday, the working group to find a solution to save the country from bankruptcy said he did not exclude a more "partial failure" Greek. Moody's lowered the rating of Portugal and the eyes are now to Italy and Spain where the rates of bonds soaring.

Investors are not convinced by the ads of European finance ministers that provide control to prevent contagion. The latter said they were willing to increase the size of the Fund for financial help payday advance. They are also considering a "lengthening of maturities of loans" made to give more time to countries in difficulty to repay their debt. But nothing works.Tuesday again, plummeting stock markets in Europe reflected a continuing concern.

All eyes turned to Italy

"Unlike money, which is currently trading on the area of ​​35.50 dollars an ounce and is a turning point towards lower, gold is playing its role as a refuge and is one of few underlying advantage of the situation, "says Alexandre Taurand.

In his view, two scenarios are emerging now for the precious metal, "If the price settles above the area of ​​1547.11 dollars, then maybe we would pause in the middle before a new upward impulse to try re-cross the area of ​​1557 dollars per ounce. In the event that the price of gold were to fall below the 1545 dollars, then we would have a target level of support for 1541 dollars, "said he.But can not decide yet, "there are a lot of uncertainty. Investors are focused on the Italian austerity plan (on which Parliament must decide by by the summer break, ed.) They also monitor the situation in the United States with the vote on the debt ceiling to be held by 2 August. "

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The tension escalates between Carrefour and Casino in Brazil. While the first confirmed on Tuesday had "received a proposal from major strategic partnership in Brazil," he sharply replied Casino "power to oppose this project."

Gama Brazilian society had proposed to merge the Carrefour group's Brazilian assets with those of the French retailer CBD group Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA). They thus constitute an equally owned company. CBD had previously merged with Gama.

But the case is the most sensitive.Right in the legal showdown with Carrefour, Casino contests this possible merger with CBD, "it is the largest shareholder, which it provides the co-control with Abilio Diniz and which it acquired in 2005 from Abilio Diniz and his family the right to become the sole controlling shareholder in 2012, "says the company in a statement issued in the wake and that sounds like a declaration of war.

The group Etienne, who now owns 37% of GPA, is indeed bound by a shareholders' agreement with the businessman Abilio Diniz, who owns shares in the holding company of GPA. Their agreement provides that neither party can negotiate a development project with a third party without the consent of the other. In late May, took the Casino Chamber of Commerce to arbitrate the case.

Referring to "a material financial transactions and prepared for a long time illegally by Abilio Diniz and Carrefour" and "illegal and secret negotiations," Casino accuse both parties have "ignore [d] deliberately both the law and ethics elementary. "

"Casino will consider in the coming days how to best defend the corporate interests of CBD and its shareholders that seems compromised by this project very complex and financial," says Casino, recalling that "it has the power s to oppose this project in terms of existing agreements and that no negotiations on the future of CBD can not be conducted without his consent and without prior discussion of this project to the Board of Wilkes, holding control of CBD. "

Clear benefits for Carrefour

Brazil is a strategic market for the two French groups, "the third world market in terms of food expenditure" the statement said Carrefour there realizes 12 low fee pay day loans.3% of sales. If the proposal is accepted Gama, the new joint venture would represent "the main actor in the distribution in Brazil," said Carrefour.Its turnover pro-forma is estimated at over 30 billion euros for 2011.

Gama has in turn shown to benefit from a capital investment of 2 billion and funding of 500 million euros.

"The benefits of the transaction are clear to Carrefour," noted analysts at Natixis, "the benefit to his credit in Brazil, which leaves just one major accounting scandal, the expertise of CBD; gain size of a key market , realize significant synergies with CBD and strengthen its long-term shareholders. "

Gama: up 6% stake in Carrefour

After OPERATON, Gama become a shareholder of the French distributor. The Brazilian could acquire additional shares Carrefour market of up to 6% stake in Carrefour.It would be represented by two members to the board of the French group, whose vice president, and three from 2013.

"Gama sign a shareholders' agreement and act in concert with Blue Capital LLC, Colony Blue Investor LLC, and Groupe Arnault SAS, which now jointly hold 14.1% of the capital and 20.2% of the voting rights of Carrefour , "the statement said. Together they would hold up to 30% of share capital and voting rights of Carrefour.

The board of Carrefour will meet in the coming days to discuss the proposal of Gama. Following this announcement, the Carrefour share jumped by more than 3% to 27.250 euros, while the title unscrews Casino: it yields about 5% to 62.63 euros.The CAC 40 in advance for its share of 1.08%.

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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.

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Traffic may be disrupted on Wednesday in major cities and on highways. And the number of taxis in service in town and in stations and airports should be low. Three federations of the profession have in fact called on Wednesday for a national day of action, with operations in snails across the country.

In the Paris area, the rallies were to begin from 6 hours on the A1 at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, Orly, on the A4 to Marne la Vallee and the ramp to the A15 Franconville before converging to the Field March to 10 hours.

In Toulouse, a procession of 180 taxi drivers from the west of the town and 170 from the south-east of the city went from 6:30 in the direction of downtown. Some parts of the device were paralyzed before 8 o'clock. Access to the airport were also disrupted no fax payday advance.According to the protesters, this mobilization is expected to last up to 11 hours.

Taxis want to attract the attention of government on the increased costs they incur. Their fuel bill became heavier "than 30% over one year" because of soaring raw materials. In this context, taxi drivers lament the lack of compensation for the refund of excise tax on petroleum products. VAT refund from the TIPP was abolished in 2008. They must also bear other expenses, caused by the new regulation that requires them to be equipped with a light signal in the colors more identifiable by users. Taxis also protesting against the competition of passenger cars with driver, they consider unfair.

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Let say, and especially nothing to show. The Economy Minister, Christine Lagarde, is gradually converge to European support for his name to be the candidate of the Old Continent to the IMF management. Germany has not said anything officially, but if Nicolas Sarkozy presents his economy minister, Berlin's support says it in Germany.

The French may also receive other support weight this afternoon: the head of state held talks with British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and it could send a positive signal by this evening.

The strategy of the Elysee has evolved over the last few hours. Paris does not want to appear as the maneuver on this issue, as the image of France has been tarnished by the DSK case. We simply observe and thus encourage sub hand movements favor Christine Lagarde.

Especially, the executive is awaiting the outcome of the preliminary inquiry about the case Tapie conducted by the Court of Justice of the Republic, which is expected to fall by 4 to 6 weeks. This fits perfectly well with the international agenda: the G8 meeting next week in Deauville, under French presidency could send a first signal for a European candidate, the EU summit on June 23 and 24 could be an opportunity for Europe to appoint their candidate. Christine Lagarde has five more weeks to wait before knowing his fate: Washington or the Court of Justice of the Republic?

The Paris Bourse has hoisted the green flag on Wednesday, spurred by bargain hunting and foresight of a debt rescheduling Greek. At the close, the CAC 40 advances 0.92% at 3978 points. On Tuesday, the Paris stock exchange had closed sharply down by 1.21%. Only on the last four sessions, the Cac 40 lost nearly 3%.

Other major European stock markets followed the same trend: the Footsie-100 from the London Stock Exchange gained 1.07% to 5923.49 points and the DAX 30 Frankfurt Stock Exchange rose 0.65% to 7303.53 points .

Europe envisages a 'soft' restructuring of Greece

The option of a debt rescheduling Greek owned gaining ground in Europe. If Greece is making efforts, "we will see if it is possible to have a smooth restructuring of the Greek debt, said Tuesday the leader of the finance ministers of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker.For Jurgen Stark, a member of the Board of Directors of the European Central Bank, a Greek debt restructuring would be a "recipe for disaster." Greece should "accelerate structural reforms" in particular to reduce the public sector, said his side on Wednesday the head of the IMF mission in Greece, Poul Thomsen.

In an interview with figaro.fr last September, the director of the Institute of High Finance, Philippe Dessertine, had said that if Greek debt rescheduling, "banks could again face a liquidity crisis . Therefore, they could no longer fund the financial markets.New tensions are therefore likely to appear on bank stocks. "

For now, investors seeking to reassure banks and bounce: Natixis gaining 0.93% to 3.80 euros, BNP Paribas takes 1.08% to 53.40 euros and Societe Generale advance of 0.41% to 41.92 euros.

On the macroeconomic front, the number of start-ups in April fell 18.3% to 42,984 compared to March, according to figures from INSEE.

United States, markets await the release of Fed minutes to 20 hours.

Oil bounces

On the foreign exchange market, the euro has stabilized at 1.4256 dollars at the close of trading in Europe, against 1.4234 dollars late Tuesday.

For their part, oil prices rose. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of light sweet crude for June delivery traded at 98.05 dollars, up $ 1.14 compared to the previous day.U.S. inventories of crude oil fell against all odds last week, said Wednesday the U.S. Agency for Energy Information (EIA). Crude inventories were down 15,000 barrels to 370.31 million. Economists on average had expected an increase of one million barrels. Gasoline inventories rose much less than expected, rising by 119,000 barrels to 205.94 million, against an estimate of an increase of 800,000.Total is 1.05% to 40.76 euros.

Telecoms weakened by the crisis of sovereign debt

Thales: +0.36% to 29.34 euros

On the occasion of the general meeting of the group, Lee CEO of Thales, Luc Vigneron, showed caution Wednesday to its shareholders as to the outcome of the discussions of asset exchanges in the defense with Saffron, who recently taken over a year after being interrupted for lack of agreement on their terms.

France Telecom: + 0.64% to 15.63 euros

France Telecom expects further consolidation operations or cooperation in selected markets in telecoms, driven by growing investment needs, "said Director of the French group's mobile activities.

In addition, Moody's has estimated that Telecom are very sensitive to macroeconomic conditions and notes some operators in European countries hit by the debt crisis (Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland) could be affected. Bouygues advance of 0.37% to 32.56 euros, Vivendi (SFR) is gaining 0.44% to 19.19 euros and Iliad (Free) is 1.54% to 86.97 euros

Unibail-Rodamco: 1.92% to 151.05 euros, the biggest increase CAC 40

Unibail-Rodamco has announced that the Chamber of Commerce of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal had ruled on the purchase price of 660,562 Rodamco Europe NV shares still held by minority shareholders. It has priced shares in Rodamco Europe 87.66 euros per share.Unibail-Rodamco will own 100% of Rodamco Europe following the decision.

Areva: + 3.27% to 30.16 euros

Areva and the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) announced the successful takeover offer simplified investment certificates (IC) cons of Areva shares. This will help convert the entire ordinary share capital. The listing of CI will be suspended from May 24

Peugeot: -0.22% to 29.75 euros

PSA Peugeot-Citroen on Wednesday the foundation stone laying of its third factory in China, according to La Tribune. Like the other two located in Wuhan, central China, the new plant should be able to start in 2013.Initially the plant will produce 150,000 vehicles and 300,000 from 2015.

Technip: 1.28% to 70.30 euros

Technip won a contract from BASF under the Partnership and engineering services for projects of chemistry and petrochemistry.

Atari: + 5.63% to 3 euros

Atari has announced its decision to sell Cryptic Studios, the development studio acquired videogames there is barely two and half years.

The Tanner: + 23.61% to 6.44 euros

Qatar Luxury Group has repurchased nearly 53% of the leather goods Tanner to 6.51 euros per share and will file a tender offer to purchase the rest at the same price in the days to come, said Tuesday the two entities.

After market, Soitec was to publish its annual results.

For the second consecutive year, neither the first nor May 8 to do the bridge in 2011! Labor Day and the commemoration of the armistice of 1945 had fallen on Saturdays last year and this time it's a Sunday.

The timing, thus depriving the French of long weekends or days off, he is at least good for growth? "Sure, in theory, the more days worked, the more activity, purchases, consumption, etc.. There is an effect on the raw data, "said Vladimir Passeron, Division Chief of the quarterly to the INSEE. In fact, France will work more during the month of May, which did not include bank holiday week, the production system will run more than a year so classic.

But it will not be visible in the figures for second quarter growth to be published this summer.Because the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies anticipates and smooth the data "in the discipline of working days" and structural effects, says the expert.

Three Saturdays worth a weekday

This correction is not performed when calculating annual growth. Therefore, the sum of the quarterly is not equivalent to the annual accounts! However, it should not be a macroeconomic impact on GDP 2011, relative to GDP 2010. Last year there were 254 days of the week (Monday-Friday) working, there will be only 253 this year. But if the May 1, 8 May 2011 and Christmas fall on a Sunday, the holiday fell on a Saturday in 2010. Gold worked three Saturdays "compensate" a weekday break, says a study by the INSEE.

The timetable "should not impact the annual growth between 2010 and 2011," concludes INSEE.At best, it would have a positive impact of 0.06 percentage point of GDP, at worst a negative point of 0.06. Only the thickness of the line!

Nevertheless, there are years when the holidays can impact less significant. "The growth differential can be up to 1 tenth of a point or more, is Nicolas Bouzou, economist at Asterès. We also know that the years with few working days result in distributional effects across sectors, to the detriment of the industry by example and benefit from tourism. "That will not happen this year.

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