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Manufacturing activity contracted in January in the euro area, for the sixth consecutive month, the burst displayed by Germany was not enough to prevent the depression is prolonged, the figures show the survey by Markit Purchasing Managers with. Although industrial production rose for the first time since July but the level of new orders continued to decline in the region, raising fears that it will take time before the economy the euro area to return to solid growth. In its final version, the index stood at 48.8, slightly better than the flash version (48.7) and in December (46.9). The sub-index of production rose for the first time in July to 50.4, revised from an initial estimate to 50.0, against 47.1 in December. The sector has experienced rebound in Germany, where manufacturing activity in January has returned to growth for the first time in four months. The index rose to 51.0 in January, against 48.4 in December and 50.9 in the first estimate. It has surpassed the 50 which separates growth from contraction. However the activity of the manufacturing sector has deteriorated in France. The PMI rose to 48.5 last month, according to the first estimate (flash) published on January 24. He had registered 48.9 in December.

Exchanges in the euro area have closed down Tuesday, still hurt by the crisis of sovereign debt and the risk to the region from falling into recession.

Sign of the serious concerns surrounding the monetary union, the euro is less resistant to storm the previous day. He fell under $ 1.35 and was trading around 1.3497 dollars in late afternoon.

In the wake of the countries now in the crosshairs of the markets, Italy and Spain, whose 10-year rates and spreads (spreads) performance with Germany were strained, France saw its 10-year spread with the Germany to a new high since the launch of the euro in 1999 to 190 basis points (the nominal rate of 10-year OAT standing at 3.68% against 1.77% for the German Bund).The historical record of the spread (250 bps) above the euro and goes back to January 1990.

The Paris Stock Exchange ended down 1.92% to 3049.13 points, those in Frankfurt and Milan, down 0.87% and 1.08% respectively. The index of the principal values ​​of the euro area, the Eurostoxx 50, lost 1.32%.

Outside the euro area, London has resisted (-0.03%).

Financials (banks and insurance) (-1.4%) (-1.85%) and construction (-2.12%) recorded the largest falls in Europe and sector weighed on the stock exchanges, including in Paris.

The new car registrations in France rebounded in October, supported especially by the commercial offers to individuals, announced Wednesday the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA).

After declining 1.4% in September, new registrations in the Hexagon rose 2.8% last month to 176,203 units. The change means in raw data and adjusted for working days in October 2010 and October 2011 were both counted 21 working days.

The PSA Peugeot Citroën registrations fell by 4.5% in October, after -18.4% in September, while those of Renault continued to rebound with an increase of 11.3% last month.

The first ten months of the year, the French market is growing by 0.4%.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended up 1.76% Thursday, away from a lower-end two and a half hit the previous day as investors to buy back the securities after reassurances from France and Germany, who felt that the place of Greece is well within the euro area.

The Nikkei gained 150.29 points to 8,668.86 points and the Topix, broader, took 10.07 points (1.36%) to 751.76 points.

The support shown to Greece was interpreted by investors as a positive sign for a resolution of the debt crisis in the euro area.

The market participants also welcomed the statements by the European Commission said it would shortly put forward proposals for the introduction of euro bonds.

Values, title Elpida Memory has closed up 5.03%. The third global manufacturer of memory chips has announced the relocation of part of its production in Taiwan and production of new generations of chips.

Nestle, the world leader in food, will continue to invest in Switzerland, his home country, although the appreciation of the franc makes it less attractive.

"There are now many questions regarding the crisis in Europe, low consumer confidence and the rise in the Swiss franc. Uncertainty is high, but growth is still possible in Europe," said Director General Paul Bulcke at the inauguration of a factory near Berne.

Asked if the group of Vevey to postpone or cancel investment projects in Switzerland due to the appreciation of the franc, Paul Bulcke said "that the Swiss franc has no impact would be quite incorrect.But as a multinational, we have a natural protection. "

"This is not the Swiss franc is strong, it is the other currencies that are weak.I hope one day there will be a return to reason, "he said, adding that Nestle invests in the long term.

Nestlé inaugurated Thursday a new production facility in Konolfingen, the site of its oldest plant, where it will produce next generation probiotic foods for babies.

"Obviously the strong Swiss franc does not help the production of Nestlé in Switzerland," said Paul Bulcke, repeating that the currency had only a limited impact on the operational performance of the group.

The franc has strengthened its final months against the euro and the dollar, prompting the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to increase liquidity in the money market in France to fight against the strength of the Swiss franc, which makes Swiss exports more expensive abroad.

Two thirds of the outgoing products of the ten Swiss Nestle factories are exported to the euro area.And with a resounding as loudly it is more difficult to remain competitive, said Eugenio Simioni, the head of Nestlé Switzerland, adding that the capacity for innovation and service quality can offset this appreciation.

Nestlé has invested 400 million francs in the Konolifingen site over the past four years and doubled the number of jobs to 770.

The nutrition business of Nestlé produce about 90% of sales of baby formula and Paul Bulcke said the group plans acquisitions to his unit, who directed last year's sales of 10.4 billion francs.

He declined to comment on a possible interest in the activity of infant formulas from Wyeth, a subsidiary of Pfizer, which is on sale and is valued at approximately ten billion dollars.

After Moody's, S & P plans to degrade the United States, while negotiations between Republicans and Democrats always stumble to avoid non-payment of the first global economy. Barack Obama October 31, 2010.

The rating agency Standard and Poor's warned Thursday, July 14 it was considering lowering the rating of financial solvency of the United States because of the impasse of political negotiations to avoid a default in the country. "We now think we could lower the ratings of the United States in three months," wrote S & P said in a statement, referring to the note that she attaches to the long-term debt of the U.S. Federal State and is the best possible, AAA.The decision "reflects two separate but related problems," the agency wrote.

"The first problem is the persistent failure to raise the ceiling of U.S. public debt in order to allow the federal government to insure scheduled payments related to its obligations on the debt," the statement said. "The second relates to our current view on the likelihood that Congress and the government agree in the near future on a credible plan for fiscal consolidation in the medium term budget," the agency said.Its rival Moody's announced it before Tuesday it planned to lower the "triple A" of the United States for similar reasons.

Reacting to the announcement of S & P, the Treasury Department reaffirmed that it put "new evidence that the Obama has been saying for some time: that Congress must act immediately to avoid a default on the obligations of countries and to adopt a credible deficit reduction, which has bipartisan support. " At the end of the fifth session of fruitless negotiations between the White LaMaison to President Barack Obama and parliamentary leaders for raising the debt ceiling, several elected officials said there would be no further meeting Friday . "The time for decisions has come.We need concrete projects to advance "those records, Obama said after the meeting.

Established by Congress to 14.294 billion dollars, the upper limit of the debt has been reached in mid-May The Treasury uses since their wits for the operation of the state without increasing the debt of the country but warned that they would be exhausted on August 2 and that the United States would find themselves so quickly into default, unable to borrow. Democrats and Republicans do not agree to raise the ceiling, the latter demanding in exchange for their agreement of the budget cuts without raising taxes, on a scale that the Democrats are not willing to accept.

The European Commission will propose in the fall of new measures for regulating rating agencies, said Friday its president Jose Manuel Barroso, following the criticism of the decision by Moody's lowered the rating of Portugal.

Many European politicians have criticized in recent days the decision by Moody's to downgrade the sovereign rating Portuguese category "speculative", even though the country is the subject of a rescue plan and that the Union is struggling to find a solution to the debt crisis.

At a press conference in Warsaw, President of the Commission welcomed a "growing consensus" among the 27 countries of the European Union on the need to better regulate the credit rating agencies.

"Some in the EU are considering the creation of a rating agency, or more rating agencies in Europe. This would obviously be useful because there will be more competition the better," said José Manuel Barroso.

The President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker had ruled Thursday in favor of this option, while the President of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet had deplored the "small oligopoly" of rating agencies.

Japanese Minister of Finance promised Tuesday that his country would continue to buy European bonds. "We will cooperate if there is anything that Japan can do," he said about Greece. View from the industrial port of Tokyo.

Japanese Minister of Finance, Yoshihiko Noda, promised Tuesday that his country would continue to buy bonds from the European Financial Stability (EFSF), to help the euro area to overcome the debt crisis of some members . "Japan has already helped to stabilize European finances by buying bonds from the European financial stability," said Mr. Noda at a news conference. "We want to continue these efforts," he said.

World's second largest holder of foreign currency after China, Japan bought about two billion euros of bonds in the two programs launched to date by the EFSF in January and in mid-June The funds raised by this organization, created last year and backed by the euro area, were allocated to two-zone countries in difficulty, Ireland and Portugal.

Attention is now, however, focused on Greece, which received a separate system of bilateral loans. At the edge of default, the country waits for the payment of a further tranche of 110 billion euros promised last year by the euro area and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but EU officials just to condition the adoption by Athens to a new set of austerity measures in the next two weeks. "We will cooperate if there is anything that Japan can do," saidNoda about Greece.

A conference call about the debt crisis of the Greek Sunday met finance ministers of the club of seven most industrialized countries of the world (G7), which includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada. The situation in Greece worried because a collapse of this country could have serious consequences, primarily on other countries in the euro area in need (Portugal, Ireland, Spain or Italy) but by extension the entire global finance. Many fear a new "Lehman," the U.S. bank whose bankruptcy in mid-September 2008 had triggered the global financial crisis.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called for the trust of the national parliament in order to get its austerity plan, a vote which is expected Tuesday night.

The French Minister of Economy, candidate to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the Fund, will be heard next week. The Economy Minister Christine Lagarde welcomes the diagnosis made Wednesday, June 15 by the IMF on the French economy. The fund warns, however the French government against any complacency.

The French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde will be heard next week by the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who must choose by the end of its new general manager, said on Friday in his entourage. The candidate to succeed his compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn, charged with sexual assault in New York, will on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, where the IMF headquarters, and remained there Wednesday and Thursday, according to his official agenda.

She will be heard by the Board of Trustees, which must then appoint the director general of the financial institution, said his entourage told AFP, without saying what day would be this great oral. The 24 members of the board also will hear next week, the only rival of the French, the Governor of the Central Bank of Mexico Agustin Carstens. Christine Lagarde, however, given overwhelming favorite to win the position, always occupied by a European since the IMF in the aftermath of World War II.

Agreement on a new international aid to Greece will be found by the end of the month, said Friday Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council.

"We are working on different levels of assistance. First, in Greece, we are working on a series of measures to correct the fiscal slippage in 2011," he said at a conference.

"We are also exploring ways to involve the private sector, so as not to cause default or credit event."

"We are working on additional EU funding for Greece. As before, we find a positive outcome and we have an agreement by the end of the month."