Financial News Headlines

The President of Finmeccanica Pier Francesco Guarguaglini resigned, while the Italian advocacy group is the center of a corruption scandal, said on Thursday a source familiar with the matter.

The information was confirmed by the group a few minutes later.

The Board has appointed the current Chief Executive Officer Giuseppe Orsi Group to replace him, the source added which states that it will combine the two functions.

The group is weakened by an investigation into suspicions of corruption that affects some of its most senior officials.

The Italian government is a shareholder of the group of aerospace and defense to the tune of 32% and this scandal is the first figure of political test for the new government led by Mario Monti.

In particular, Allianz gained 5.6% after posting a quarterly operating results better than expected and have claimed to be able to face difficult market conditions.

Earlier this afternoon, the Italian Senate approved the law of financial stability, a set of austerity measures demanded by the European Union to help the country cope with the debt crisis. Council President Silvio Berlusconi has promised to resign and make way for an emergency government once the text approved by the lower house of parliament, which is scheduled Saturday.

"The Italian rates were down significantly today.

Icade published Monday sales up 11% in the first nine months of 2011, thanks in particular to the full-year effect of the acquisition of Compagnie la Lucette.

The real estate company, a subsidiary of Caisse des Depots, recorded sales of 1,065.8 million at September 30, also boosted by lettings made in 2010 of its commercial property division and for the development division, by the progress of projects of operations signed last year.

Also for its development division, the group notes that "in an uncertain market environment and reduction of tax incentives", bookings were down 11% in value compared to the first 9 months of 2010.

Icade, whose action on Friday completed a course of 65.00 euros, provides no indication of its prospects.

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher Friday as investors welcoming the results exceeded expectations of big names from the coast and anticipating a positive outcome to the crisis of debt in the euro area.

The Dow Jones gained 2.31% or 267.01 points to 11,808.79 points. The Standard & Poor's has been 1.88% or 22.86 points to 1238.25 points.The Nasdaq Composite was awarded 1.49% or 38.84 points to 2637.46 points.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.3%, the S & P 1.1% but the Nasdaq fell 1.1%.

Obstacles remain on the path to solving the crisis in the euro area and major differences still separate France and Germany, but investors appreciate that the leaders of the euro area are set a deadline to Wednesday.

A meeting between Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, José Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy will be held Saturday night in Brussels on the eve of the summit of the EU and the euro area on the debt crisis. This meeting will be preceded by a bilateral meeting between French President and German Chancellor.In addition, the principle of a new special meeting of the Eurogroup summit by the euro area on Wednesday, is also acquired.

In addition, the finance ministers of the euro area approved Friday the release of the sixth tranche of aid to Greece. This round of eight billion euros must now be approved by the International Monetary Fund.

This is the third week of up to the S & P, the most since February. The benchmark index fund managers will have to get out of the range 1230 and 1250 in which it tends to evolve.

On the values ​​front, McDonald's reported a better than expected for the third quarter. The value ended with a gain of 3.7% to 92.32 dollars.The index values ​​of consumption has advanced 2.8%.

Honeywell International jumped 5.8% to 51.28 dollars. The industrial group has raised its profit forecast after better than expected quarterly accounts.

General Electric has instead yielded 1.9% to 16.31 dollars. Investors are questioning the lower margin of the power equipment sector industrial conglomerate, in spite of the consolidated results as expected.

The S & P industrials, which includes GE and Honeywell, ended with a gain of 1.9%.

According to data from Thomson Reuters, the 133 companies in the S & P 500 that have released their quarterly accounts on Friday, showed 68% of profits above expectations.

The Spaniard David Ferrer, seeded No. 3, qualified Saturday for the final of the Shanghai Masters 1000 at the expense of his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, a score of 6-7 (5) 6-3 6-3 .

Ferrer is a first Masters title in 1000, after his failures in the final in Rome in 2010 and in Monte Carlo this year against another of his countrymen, Rafael Nadal, world number one then.

For the title, it will face the winner of Sunday's second semi-final between Britain's Andy Murray, the fourth world and winner of the tournament in Bangkok and Tokyo over the past two weeks, the Japanese Kei Nishikori, who reached for the first time this stage of the competition in an event of this category.

The head of the mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Greece said Friday that substantial progress had been made, adding that there were important issues to discuss.

Poul Thomsen said he hoped that the review of the situation in Athens ends soon, stressing that the time had not yet come.

"We're not yet at the stage of conclusion," he told reporters.

"I hope we will soon conclude on a positive note, but we're not there yet."

Wall Street opened sharply higher Tuesday in the wake of European stock exchanges, investors wanting to believe the adoption of new measures to deal with the debt crisis in the eurozone.

In early trade, the Dow Jones advanced 2.08% (225.95 points) to 11,271.48 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, taking 1.78% (20.71 points) to 1183.33 points while the Nasdaq composite clinching 1.68% (41.34 points) to 2557.74 points.

"The market is starting to finally say that European leaders emerged from their torpor," Judge Peter Cardillo, chief economist at Rockwell Global Capital.

"The values ​​of all commodities are generally on the rise.People hope that a global recession can be avoided. "

Like their European counterparts, U.S. bank stocks are up, the S & P financials up 2.6% and the KBW bank index of 2.71%. JPMorgan, the largest increase Dow gained 3.8%.

The publication of an S & P Case / Shiller house prices unchanged in July has only little impact on index contracts before the opening, and investors are now looking to the index of consumer confidence The Conference Board in September, due at 14:00 GMT.

Christine Lagarde calls on Europe and the United States to take measures to raise economic growth, where possible, to address the crisis of confidence affecting the global economy.

"If the U.S. launches a credible medium-term adjustment, there is probably room for abandoning the austerity measures in the short term and introduce measures to support growth," said Executive Director of the Fund International Monetary Spiegel in an interview.

"For Europe, we recommend to countries to adjust their austerity programs in light of a changed situation and to consider measures to fuel growth."

Former French Minister of Economy has created an uproar the last weekend by asking politicians to force European banks to strengthen their capital base, a call she reiterates in the interview given to Spiegel.

Regarding Germany, the largest European economy, Christine Lagarde believes that public finances are recovering well.

"Everything depends on the circumstances, of course. If exports, upon which the German economy collapsed, the government could contrebraquer."

"If Germany stimulate domestic demand, it's good for the German economy and for neighboring countries," she says in response to a question in this regard.

The fear mongering by Christine Lagarde on the urgent need for recapitalization of banks in Europe are not convinced. Neither the EU nor the analysts or investors. Christine Lagarde is in the race to succeed DSK to head the IMF.

The European Union Monday defended the strength of European banks after the words of the IMF chief Christine Lagarde has called for their "urgent recapitalization" in order to restore market confidence and facilitate access to liquidity. Fearmongering that have not really worried the markets.In Paris, for example, the title Natixis gained 3.72% while Societe Generale and Credit Agricole have completed on increases of 3.61% and 3.37%.

"European banks are better capitalized than a year ago," said the Commissioner of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn, during a hearing before the European Parliament, referring to the results of stress tests published in the European banking sector during the summer. The results of these tests conducted in Europe over 90 banks were made public last July. Institutions that have failed to make decisions to recapitalize within six to nine months, through mergers or asset sales in particular, he said. If this does not work, solutions that require public sector intervention to bail them out would then be considered.

Returning to the turbulence of recent weeks, Mr.Rehn, however, admitted that European banks have faced difficulties recently to finance itself. "We hope that their financing conditions will improve. The banks also have access to liquidity set aside by central banks," he added.

Executive Director of the IMF said "urgent" Saturday to recapitalize European banks so that they are "strong enough to face the risks of public debt and weak growth." "It is essential to stop the contagion," she said, considering that "the most efficient would be a substantial recapitalization required" with private funds and public funds "if necessary".

Asked earlier on the subject, the spokesman for Mr.Rehn, Amadeu Altafaj, stated to see no need to go beyond what is already expected to strengthen bank capital, or make "something extra". "The discussions between the IMF and the EU have already taken place. The IMF knows the results and developments to come," he said.

For their part, several large French banks did not hide their surprise after remarks that do not differentiate between European institutions. "French banks are among the strongest in Europe," we fell on condition of anonymity in one of them, referring to the good report of resistance testing.

French Banking Federation (FBF) declined to comment, referring to a statement of 19 August in which it stressed that the capital levels of French banks were "well above regulatory requirements."The CEO of Crédit Agricole SA Jean-Paul Chifflet on Thursday had dismissed any need for capital increase. He also reassured liquidity: its annual plan is "completed at about 90%," with available reserves of over 120 billion.

Lack of precision?

The words of the boss of the IMF were also found to be inaccurate by some analysts. For Pierre Flabbée, an analyst at Kepler CM, "it seems that the idea of ​​Christine Lagarde whether to restore the normal functioning of the interbank market and banks' access to liquidity, the recapitalization is a necessary step.""Bring the capital would be used to restore market confidence," he noted, saying that the banks involved and the amounts necessary "should be clarified" by Ms. Lagarde.

A second analyst, regretted, on condition of anonymity, the "wrong" timing and lack of detail by Christine Lagarde, while the sector is slowly recovering from false rumors that have recently plunged. Especially that "there is no problem of liquidity in the euro area, and if there was one, the ECB is ready to intervene," he noted.

Several institutions have also noticed that they have strengthened their capital base in preparation for the coming into force from 2013 rules so-called "Basel III" in the G20 countries.According to these regulations, banks must hold capital "hard" accounting for 7% of the loans they give to their clients, against 2% currently.

"I do not think the risk is specific to European banks," said Jean Peyrelevade, chairman of Banca Leonardo France and former head of Credit Lyonnais, Business on BFM. As the problem of indebtedness of the States "is not resolved, there is doubt about the strength of the euro area itself and therefore the banks of the euro zone."

The Spanish economy has slowed in second quarter, rekindling fears of a relapse into recession if the country's economy, much worse, in the eurozone were to deteriorate.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in Spain rose 0.2% in the second quarter, as announced in the first estimate, following 0.4% (revised up) in the first quarter, according to figures released Friday by the National Institute of Statistics.

GDP growth stood at 0.7% per year, as markets awaited, and after 0.9% in the first quarter.

The government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero expects growth of 1.3% per year for 2011, but the consensus of economists appears rather around 0.8%, suggesting that Spain could face more difficulties than expected in the pursuing its objectives of reducing the deficit.

The bursting of the housing bubble and a prolonged liquidity crisis weighed heavily since 2008 on the construction industry, long a pillar of the Spanish growth, but exports and strong domestic consumption have so far allowed the country avoid falling back into recession.

While the unemployment rate approaches 21% and that disposable income declines, some economists, consumption relatively strong in the second quarter could indicate that households are cutting back on their savings.

"Again, this probably reflects the fact that households draw on their savings or save less, and this is obviously not a long term solution," said Ben May, economist at Capital Economics.

"Overall we continue to believe that Spain will at best grow very low on the next two quarters, and it could fall into recession," he adds.

Secretary of State for the Economy José Manuel Campa also said that the goal of a 1.3% growth in 2011 was possible but it could be threatened if the economic slowdown abroad.

"It is possible, but it will be difficult due to external factors," he said.