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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

Pierre Mariani denied Wednesday a decision on his replacement as head of Dexia, the Franco-Belgian bank being dismantled, and tried to defuse a polemical ; economic initiated in Belgium he would receive a golden parachute when he left.

Several Belgian newspapers reported that the Belgian government would like to replace Karel De Boeck, former CEO of Fortis. They add that Pierre Mariani was ready to leave his position as Group CEO on condition of receiving severance pay of EUR 1.2 million provided in the contract .

Reacting to the press articles, Pierre Mariani has denied having set conditions for his eventual departure.

"The Group CEO has made no request to the Belgian and French about the conditions of his eventual departure contrary to news reports published so far," he Pierre Mariani informed in an email to Reuters.

"No decision on the replacement of the CEO and President (Jean-Luc Dehaene, Ed) Board has been taken to date" he continues. 

"NO GOLDEN PARACHUTE!"

In Belgium, the assumption of payment of severance pay as described by the press was greeted coldly by the government and by politicians.

"Certainly, this should be discussed with the French authorities, as (with) shareholders. But my position is clear: no golden parachute! "Said Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo on his twitter account

." 1.2 million euros of golden parachute for Pierre Mariani is unacceptable as incomprehensible! ", were on their side exclaimed MPs environmentalists in a statement …… Dexia

… already saved from bankruptcy in 2008 by Belgium, France and Luxembourg, was cornered in the fall due to the dismantling of the crisis of sovereign debt

. Luc Coene, the Governor of the Central Bank of Belgium, said Monday Dexia, which enjoys state guarantees for its refinancing needs, would probably need to be recapitalized again

……. .. Since the crisis, the banking group has seen its market capitalization collapse. It is no longer valued on the stock market than about 370 million with a share price below 20 cents.

"CONFIDENCE TO PETER MARIANI"

Asked by Reuters, Michel Bouvard, president of the supervisory board of the Caisse des Depots (CDC), Dexia's largest shareholder with 17.7% stake, has in turn brought ; support for Pierre Mariani.

"Personally, I have every confidence in Pierre Mariani," said Michel Bouvard. "When you are in managing a complex issue, which is the case, it is better that he who began managing the file management ends until one goes to the next step. "

"I did not speak on matters of internal governance of Dexia," he nonetheless added.

Since the decision late last year to dismantle Dexia, the Belgian authorities have carried out the nationalization of retail banking activities in Belgium while France has decided to return via the CDC and the Postal Bank, the activities of local government financing.

The European Commission must still approve the plan and set the price that Dexia will have to pay in exchange for 90 billion euros of state guarantees provided. 

Dexia posted a net loss of 11.6 billion euros in 2011, and some analysts said the bank could continue to generate losses in the coming years.

Although in sharp decline, the size of the stock of Dexia is considered by some analysts as systemic because a failure to pay the bank would have incalculable consequences for the entire sys European Banking me.

American Diversified industrial manufacturer United Technologies on Tuesday released a quarterly profit above consensus citing better than expected demand of heating and cooling market ; North America.

Carrier and its subsidiary shows a 19% increase in orders for residential air conditioning systems with a sharp improvement in demand in late March. And this demand has remained strong since the beginning of April, said chief financial officer, Greg Hayes.

"The warm weather in March helped but it is also due to low inventory on the market", which has forced distributors to increase their orders, he said during a teleconference ; reference.

Excluding the accounts of three subsidiaries that were sold by the group, quarterly earnings totaled $ 1.26 billion, or $ 1.31 per share, up 19% year on year. It thus clearly exceeds the Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S, which gave a profit of $ 1.19 per share.

After consideration of past depreciations on affiliates to sell and other special items, net income was down 67.4% to 330 million dollars.

The quarterly revenue fell 2% to 12.42 billion against $ 12.71 billion expected.

Outside the U.S., the economic situation is more mixed, said Greg Hayes.

"Europe is horrible, I think it's the simplest way of saying things. Construction contracts have been really anemic and there they remain, so we do not see many signs of recovery in Europe. "

.. In emerging ……, sales remained strong in the first quarter, except in China, where the decline of commercial real estate construction has weighed on demand for elevators, has continued CFO

. United Technologies, the world of elevators and air conditioners, has confirmed its forecast for the entire 2012 , ie an EPS of 5.30 to 5.50 dollars for a turnover from 61 to 62 billion, up about 10%

A

. the New York Stock Exchange, under the United Technologies gained 1.12% to 80.64 dollars around 1300 GMT while the Dow Jones took 0.83%. 

The group will finalize in the coming months its largest acquisition with the purchase of Goodrich aerospace equipment for $ 16.5 billion.

It seeks to give three parallel activities in the smaller sector of capital goods-Rocketdyne, Hamilton Sundstrand and Clipper Windpower.

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.

McDonald's has published quarterly results rise, driven by strong sales in its restaurants in the United States.

Net income for the world's largest fast food reached $ 1.27 billion, or $ 1.23 per share, in the first quarter against $ 1.21 billion, or $ 1.15 per share, a year earlier.

Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 7.3%, while analysts polled by Consensus Metrix had forecast 6.7%.

At the New York Stock Exchange, McDonald's action progressed by 1.8% in pre-market trading.

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%.

Low-fat diet for households and businesses, slashing the state budget and credit crunch could lead bank for Spain by years of economic stagnation, and force her to ask, such as Greece, an international aid.

Forced by the European Union to reduce the deficit and meet the new budget rules, the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy promised that the draft budget presented Friday would be "very, very austere." 

While the Spanish economy is already on the verge of its second recession in three years, that unemployment exceeds 22% and that the costs of bonds go up, Some economists predict the country a "lost decade" like the one Japan experienced in the 1990s and which he never fully recovered.

Others, including the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, consider that Spain could result in the entire euro area a new crisis.

"We signed a suicide pact, Europe, accepting that everyone could save," said Luis Garicano, an economist at the London School of Economics and a researcher in the circle reflection Spanish FEDEA. "Europe must admit that this creates a downward spiral that does a disservice to anyone."

The Spanish economy, characterized by a debt of nearly 70% of gross domestic product (GDP) and private debt among the highest in the euro area , represents more than twice those of Ireland, Portugal and Greece combined, which excludes its partners leaves the sink.

DRYING OF CREDIT

In financial markets, the financing costs of the Spanish debt have certainly receded after last year reached their highest levels for 14 years, but the recent renewed concern weeks resulted in a rise in yield spreads between Spanish and German bonds. 

"There is a risk that Spain forced eventually to seek financial assistance in order to borrow at reasonable interest rates," said Ben May at Capital Economics.

The draft government budget Rajoy will include at least 35 billion euros in savings and new revenues, including an increase in certain taxes and wage cuts and staffing in the Public .

And Budget 2013 promises to be just as rigorous.

Problem: Spanish domestic demand, a key driver of growth in the boom years before the crisis, is now more to go.

The country's GDP expected to contract 1.7% this year. In turn, property prices fell 11.2% in the fourth quarter of last year and some are predicting 30% price decline further. The construction sector, flourishing during the housing boom, collapsed after 2008, which resulted in several million additional unemployed.

The unemployment rate in Spain is thus twice the average for all EU and approach 50% among youth. The kingdom also displays the rate of development of the highest poverty in Europe.

POLICY DANGEROUS TURN

The situation of enterprises is not much better and even the most promising sectors are cutting their workforces, like tourism (11% of GDP), where the group Sol Melia had sell assets in late 2011 to reduce its debt, despite the increased number of visitors favored by the Arab spring.

"At this stage, in the absence of significant changes in reservations in view of the first book, we prefer to adopt a wait, and especially if we take into account the weak position of the Spanish market, "said the group managing director, Gabriel Escarrer.

Bank credit, it is virtually at a standstill. The financial sector, captured by a vast movement of consolidation and mergers, has instructed the government to strengthen its financial strength by injecting 50 billion euros in its balance sheets.

"I do not expect any credit growth this year: it will not accelerate as the economy slows," said a senior industry.

This drying up of lending in Spain affects both large, established companies that families bold enough to ask for a mortgage.

"We are one of the strongest Spanish companies but banks simply will not lend," says an executive from a leading company, who requested anonymity. 

His group nevertheless manages to borrow in the bond markets, which are obviously inaccessible to smaller businesses.

Some economists believe the situation in Spain is unfortunately similar to that of Japan in the 1990s. At the time, the shift to austerity operated by Tokyo in 1997 while the private sector was working to pay off debt had resulted in five quarters of contraction Japanese GDP and a soaring budget deficit.

"The recession will last much longer if the government continues to insist on fiscal consolidation at a time when the Spanish private sector debt reduction," said Richard Koo, Nomura Research Economist Institute in Tokyo.

"It took ten years in Japan to recover from this error policy. I would hate to see Spain follow the same path."

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended down Friday as investors questioned the growth in China and in the euro area.

The Nikkei was down 1.14% or 115.61 points to 10,011.47 points, accusing its daily loss in the largest percentage for two months. The Topix broader, showed a decrease of similar magnitude (-1.11%) or 9.54 points to 852.53 points.

Expectations of economic slowdown has affected exporters. Toyota lost 2%, 2.9% Honda 3.1% and Sony.

Nomura Holdings has continued to slide and yielded 3.8%. An employee of the main Japanese investment bank is suspected of insider trading.

Speakers stressed however that the profit-taking offer buying opportunities for long-term investors.

Despite the drop Friday, the Nikkei is up over 18% since the beginning of the year.