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Unemployment in the UK fell to 8.2% in March after 8.3% last month. However, he could brush against 9% in 2013. Mervyn King, head of the Bank of England expects lower growth than expected.

Unemployment fell in March in the UK, according to official figures released Wednesday better than expected by economists, who provide a rare good news for UK economy into recession. Unemployment in the UK fell to 8.2% in March after 8.3% the previous month, while economists on average expected a rate of 8.4%.

The number of people looking for work fell by 45,000 over the three months ended in late March, reaching 2.63 million people, said Wednesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS). "The employment figures are remarkably strong." But they "really do not stick with the fact that the UK is supposed to be in recession," said James Knightley, an analyst at ING Bank.

The government, which expects an increase in private employment to offset job losses in officials as part of its austerity plan, hailed a "step in the right direction." But the general secretary of the union confederation TUC, Brendan Barber, for its part held that the figures were "mixed", with a drop in unemployment accompanied by the increase in part-time work and pressure on wages.

Observers of the coup remain cautious thereafter, believing that the upturn is unlikely to last, while the purchasing power of households remain under stress and that economic prospects in the UK as in the euro area are adjacent to the less mixed. "The labor market still does not come in support of a recovery based on consumption", and Judge Vicky Redwood, economist at Capital Economics. Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight cabinet, table and on a peak in unemployment to 2.82 million people in the second quarter of 2013 with a rate of 8.8%.

These predictions stick with the diagnosis of the Bank of England (BoE). Economic growth in the UK in the short term will be "weaker" than expected, said Wednesday its governor Mervyn King at the presentation of the quarterly report of the institution on the economy. In this report, the Bank of England lowered its short-term forecasts, with an annual growth to below 1%, whereas in previous estimates, in February, she anticipated over the symbolic.

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Yes and no … The new president issued his declaration of assets. Well above the average of the French, it is also below that of his predecessors. Francois Hollande has assets of 1.17 million euros. Does that make him a rich?

During the 2007 presidential campaign, Francois Hollande, then first secretary of the Socialist Party, gave his definition of rich: more than 4000 euros per month. This Friday, now the president has made public, as is tradition, heritage. Heritage Francois Hollande totaled 1.17 million euros. It includes a house in Mougins, on the heights of Cannes, worth 800,000 euros. Holland is also part owner of two other apartments in Cannes. He also reported owning furniture for 15,000 euros. Finally, it has three bank accounts totaling about 8000 euros, and life insurance of 3550 euros. Then, Francois Hollande is he rich? It depends on perspective.

Yes, if you compare his assets to the French average.

On average, each household in France has a heritage worth 259,000 euros according to INSEE. At 1.17 million, that of Francis Holland is more than four times. It appears even in the richest 10% of the population, who have a wealth of at least 552,300 euros. However, it is not among the wealthiest 1%: to be part of this club, the bar is 1.9 million euros. Francois Hollande may well be a president "normal", its heritage, it is very much higher than normal.

No, if we compare its assets to that of previous presidents

Nicolas Sarkozy declared, after his election in 2007, a heritage of 2.7 million euros divided into two life insurance policies. And, unlike Francois Hollande, said he also had 100,000 euros of jewelry, gold and other art objects. In 2007, Jacques Chirac left the Elysee with a had a wealth of 1.4 million euros, made up, including Castle Bity, in Corrèze. As for Mitterrand, his heritage was 9.7 million francs as it leaves the Elysee Palace in 1995, about 1.48 million euros. It mainly consisted of her apartment in the Rue de Bievre in Paris and his home in Latche, in the Landes.

No, if we consider that rich is someone who pays ISF

Reform of the ISF of Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2011, increased the threshold of wealth tax: it now accounts for taxpayers with a heritage than 1.3 million euros. At 1.17 million, Francois Hollande did not pay the ISF. He does not pay with the promised reform of the tax. Certainly it provides a slice of 0.55% on assets ranging from 800,000 to 1.3 million euros. But only the assets in excess of 1.3 million will pay this additional tranche.

Higher oil prices supported the results of Repsol, which announced Thursday up 4% of its first quarter earnings, excluding the majority stake in energy group seizure YPF by the Argentine government.

On a pro forma basis, net income adjusted for exceptional items and storage costs stood at 474 million euros in the first quarter, supported by the rise in pe Petroleum and good performance in the liquefied natural gas.

Including YPF, its net profit fell 3% to 635 million euros, said the oil group.

At the Madrid Stock Exchange, the action Repsol gained 5.03% to 13.790 euros at 9:10 GMT, while the European index of oil and gas sector in Europe progressed by 0.3%. 

The title still shows a loss of 42% since the beginning of the year, heavily affected by the announcement last month of the seizure of his 51% stake in YPF in Buenos Aires.

This expropriation should result in a legal battle around the issue of compensation for Repsol.

The group, which opens new markets, to unveil his new strategy on May 29

European shares widen their losses Wednesday in early afternoon, while the German rate in 10 years fell to 1.51%, the situation of Spanish banks stepping up worrisome Market studies on the future of the euro area related to political instability in Greece.

Around 13:00, the CAC 40 index, which lost 2.8% Tuesday, 0.92% to 3096.18 abandons points after winning 0.4% in early trade.

The London Stock Exchange 0.95% yield, the Frankfurt 0.42% while the fall of Madrid up 3.3% with its banks. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 1.18% after a decline of 2%.

Illustrating the risk aversion of investors, the German 10-year yield fell to nearly 1.51% in the morning before rising to 1.52, against 1.55% the day before Closing.

The head of the Coalition of the Radical Left Greek, Alexis Tsipras, charged with forming a coalition government, will visit on Wednesday the leaders of major political forces without credible hope to break the deadlock that threatens up to membership of Greece in the euro area.

In Spain, the government will ask banks exposed to the property sector to provision additional 35 billion euros, it was learned from sources close to the financial negotiations. 

The Stoxx European banks grouping loses 2%, biggest drop sector in Europe.

This should significantly complicate discussions between Paris and Berlin. "It is not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact", which has already been "signed by 25 of the 27 member states of the European Union", said on Monday a spokesman for Angela Merkel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (the Bundestag by December 2, 2011).

It is "not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact" European, said Monday the spokesman of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Steffen Seibert.

"It is not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact", which has already been "signed by 25 of the 27 member states of the European Union", which aims to strengthen discipline in public finance management, said Mr. Seibert in a press conference, despite the wish of the new French president, Francois Hollande, to add to it a component of growth.

Lafarge announced Friday an increase in its turnover and its operating income in the first quarter thanks to emerging markets and improved pricing, allowing the world's leading cement to reduce its debt.

The group, which now generates 60% of its sales in emerging economies, achieved the first three months of the year sales up 5% to € 3.35 billion, slightly above the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters estimates from eight analysts who gave $ 3.3 billion.

Ebitda rose to its share of 8% to 516 million euros while operating profit rose 28% to 267 million. 

However, net income, group share, shows a loss of 44 million euros, against -29,000,000 a year earlier, reflecting restructuring charges corresponding in particular to the 500 job cuts engaged around the world as part of the reorganization of the group. Excluding these charges, Lafarge has emerged over the period with net income of 18 million euros.

"The group continues to anticipate an increased demand for cement, and maintains its estimate of market growth between 1% and 4% in 2012 compared to 2011," the group said in a statement .

"Emerging markets remain the main driver of demand growth (…) The prices should be up on the year 2012, and cost inflation more moderate e in 2011. "

CONTINUATION OF ASSET TRANSFERS

In the first quarter, net debt of Lafarge fell 13% year on year to 12.4 billion euros. One quarter to another, it is clear, however, up 3%, a trend linked "to normal seasonal variations in working capital (working capital needs)," said Lafarge.

The group's debt, inherited largely from the acquisition of Orascom in 2008, is still expected to decline "significantly" this year, without elaborating.

As part of its debt, Lafarge intends to limit to 800 million euros investment and reduce by at least 400 million euros in 2012 its costs. The group also maintained its target of over one billion euros of asset sales over the year, of which 71 million were made during the quarter.

Both activities are the subject of rumors of transfers, the plaster in North America, last active group in a trade which it is almost released last year, and cement in South Africa . The group must also achieve significant asset sales in Britain required by the Competition Authority to give its green light to the proposed joint venture between Lafarge and Anglo American.

"It is not impossible that these divestitures can be made in 2012," said the CEO of Lafarge, Bruno Lafont, during a teleconference.

The stock closed Thursday at 29.97 euros. Since the beginning of the year, the title took about 10%, after -42% in 2011.

Wall Street opened sharply lower Monday, as foreshadowed future, weighed down by the constant concern that represents the European debt crisis and by poor statistics in the euro area.

The result of the first round of French presidential and the imminent resignation of Prime Minister of the Netherlands with the prospect of early parliamentary add a touch of additional uncertainty coming from Europe.

The contraction of private sector activity in the euro area has increased more than expected in April, which could jeopardize the upcoming release of the region of the recession.

In early trade, the Dow Jones lost 0.9% to 12,909.08 points, the S & P 500 drops 1% to 1,364.87 and the Nasdaq Composite 1% to 2969.65.

Pfizer lost 0.66%. Nestle said Monday it agreed to buy child nutrition activities of the pharmacist to 11.85 billion U.S. dollars (8.99 billion euros) in cash, beating well on Danone.

Hasbro reported Monday a net loss of $ 2.6 million in the first quarter, amid lower sales in North America. The action yields 2.87%.

Xerox has released a quarterly earnings decline, investment in services has weighed on its margins. The action still earns 2.8% after the maker of copiers and printers has said it expects a rise in profit in the second quarter.

European shares ended sharply higher Tuesday, boosted by a Spanish award whose success is due to a sharp rise in interest rates and by the unexpected rise of the confidence index of German investors.

Paris closed up 2.72% to 3292.51 points after having crossed a zone of resistance around 3,260 points.

London gained 1.78%, Frankfurt and Madrid 2.65% 2.28%. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of large values ​​of the euro area took 2.86%.

The performance of the German government bond (Bund) and 10 years stood at 1.76%. The rate of the 10-year Italian BTP also remained stable at 5.48%, and that of the Spanish equivalent of eased 2 basis points to 5.9%.

The euro was steady at the end of the afternoon against the dollar, around 1.3130.

Carrefour, whose performance deteriorated further in France and Southern Europe in the first quarter, is preparing to face another difficult year as the worsening economic climate in Europe continues to weigh on spending for non-food products.

The second global retailer behind Wal-Mart has managed to stabilize its revenue through Latin America and a positive calendar effect, which masked a continuing decline in sales France, Southern Europe but also in China.

Its sales totaled 22.5 billion euros over the first three months of the year, slightly below the consensus of 22.6 billion set by Reuters. 

As reported, they sign an increase of 1.5% with a positive calendar effect and an increase in gasoline prices. But like basis and excluding fuel, they are virtually stable (-0.1%) and excluding the effect of schedule, they were down 2.1%.

"Trends are wrong in almost all markets, especially in France and Southern Europe," say the analysts of Espirito Santo Bank, evoking in particular a very sharp deterioration in the Non-food particularly affected by the crisis.

The non-food – which is affected by the crisis in Europe and competition from e-commerce as retail mix – is, according to analysts, the largest construction site in which Georges Plassat, Future Group CEO , will have to tackle.

Barclays analysts speak of a "challenging quarter" reflecting the magnitude of the task at hand. 

Unsurprisingly, Carrefour has given no indication of its expectations for the current year, while George Plassat will be appointed to head the company as of June 18

EXPECTATIONS OF LOWER INCOME

In the opinion of analysts, the upturn in Carrefour, which suffers from poor positioning of price, high exposure to Southern Europe weighed down by the crisis as well as a format – the hypermarket – in trouble in France, will take time and require investors to be patient.

According to those of Oddo Securities, "the year 2012 should be another year of sacrifices in terms of results" and the recovery could take three or four years. 

The first quarter figures only reinforce the belief of UBS: the consensus expects a stable operating profit of Carrefour in 2012 is "extremely optimistic", and analysts expect the bank a further drop of the EBIT (-18% after falling 19% in 2011).

Excluding the calendar effect, sales of Carrefour in France fell 3.1% in the first quarter.

Those of its hypermarkets, large black spot, have accentuated their fall to -5.8% after falling 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011, accusing the largest decline since 2009 , when the current CEO Lars Olofsson took the reins of the group. 

The distributor, which was launched in autumn 2011 in a strategic repositioning of its hypermarket prices in France to try to reduce the gap with its competitors, mainly Leclerc, informed by the voice of its chief financial officer Jean-Pierre Sivignon that "some improvement was under way."

"The image of Carrefour prices in the first quarter gave signs of improvement," he said. But short term, the abandonment of major promotional events for the benefit of sustained low prices weighing on sales.

In Europe, sales fell 3.8% on a comparable basis and excluding petrol, leaded by the sharp economic deterioration in the South, especially Spain, where sales fell by 6.1% (-8.1% excluding the calendar effect), Italy (-4.6% excluding the calendar effect) and Greece where the fall was 15, 9% on a comparable basis and excluding petrol.

In emerging countries, the only good news came from Latin America, particularly Brazil, where sales rose by 7.8% given in comparable (6.0% excluding the calendar effect), while in China the decline has continued (-6.9%). 

These very encouraging figures but meeting the expectations of analysts have argued the action Carrefour in the morning. Parisian traders reported a purely technical rebound for a title that had suffered a 17% decline over the last three weeks and had entered a zone of "oversold".

Earlier this afternoon, he gained 1.09% to 16.25 euros in a market down 0.3%.

Key values ​​to follow Tuesday on Wall Street.

* GOOGLE. The Android mobile operating system Google has been the most widely used in China last year, far ahead of that of Apple, according to the firm Analysys.

In late December, controlled 68.4% of the Android market in number of smartphones sold, against 33.6% at the end of first quarter 2011. The market share of Apple rose more modestly, from 4.1% to 5.7%.

* Chevron discovered a leak in the Roncador oil field, off the Brazilian coast, 500 meters from the deposit Frade, already responsible for a tidal Black in November. The leak occurs at the ocean floor and no trace is visible on the surface of the water, say the Brazilian authorities.

Leaks were detected in November and March to deposit Frade, which led to it suspend the activity and triggered lawsuits against Chevron and its contractor Transocean .

* ALCOA. The aluminum giant, often presented as a barometer of the U.S. economy, starts the earnings season after the close, with its e financial statements for the quarter January to March.