Member states of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced that the race to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head IMF will open on Monday. The board of directors composed of representatives from 24 countries and country groups, will collect applications until June 10 nominations. He has set a "target" to designate a replacement directeurdémissionnaire and prosecuted for sexual crimes in New York "by 30 June."

The board has promised that that choice would be "an open, merit-based and transparent." In a statement, the U.S. Treasury secrétaie, Timothy Geithner had these words, calling hopes for the selection process "open and fast."The procedure that has consistently taken a European to head the institution in Washington, however, remained unchanged.

The "consensus" is not unanimously

If there are three or less, they will be revealed at the closing depots, June 10 If there are more than three names will be kept confidential to determine time preference "by consensus", except by a vote, a shortlist of three candidates in the best position. The Board may also select the chief executive by majority vote.

On Thursday, India's representative on the board Arvind Virmani had told AFP he wanted a vote, more "democratic" consensus that is "not transparent".It has not been heard.

The daily procedures of the Board of the IMF mix a little of both: the 24 members vote formally well, but in practice they do not submit voting decisions over which they have previously agreed. Daniel Bradlow, professor of law at Washington specializing in international institutions and the IMF, the transatlantic axis remains dominant in every way. "Voting does not necessarily mean democracy. Even imagining a secret ballot, administrators do not necessarily want to go against a European given as a favorite, nor among those who do not announce publicly that they voted for the new CEO, says he AFP.

The emerging shared

The European continent has clearly shown its desire to present a candidate, Christine Lagarde the French who appear to be the favorite.Last votes to rule in his favor, his German counterpart, Finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, who has judged Saturday "as a perfectly appropriate person for this position."

Countries emerging BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), which could provide a solid weight-cons to a European candidate, showed no unity.

The Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega is not completely hostile to the idea of ​​a European, although he preferred a priori elsewhere. Moscow already has its candidate, Grigory Marchenko Kazakh. South Africa and India could push the front of the stage they are ready candidates, respectively Trevor Manuel and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. And Beijing is considering to submit one, that has not been clearly chosen.

Another emerging importance, Mexico, now officially campaigning for the governor of its central bank, Agustin Carstens.The Turk Kemal Dervis, who was considered a good compromise between the European and emerging markets, had withdrawn from the race.

The United States, without whose support it is not possible to win, wanted "a candidate with strong experience and leadership qualities required, and able to obtain broad support." Very popular in Washington, Christine Lagarde fits this description.

The description of the ideal candidate given by the IMF is almost the same as when recruiting Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2007: "outstanding experience in the design of economic policy at high levels, which helps finance ministers , or "communicating effectively", a quality attributed to the French minister for those who soutiennent.Timothy Geithner, who regularly meet at the G8 or G20, wrote in Time Magazine in May 2009 she was one of these "extraordinary individuals" that the world needed at crucial moments such as those caused by the financial crisis.

(With agencies)

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Doubts seize the oil markets on Thursday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the price of a barrel of light sweet crude for June delivery broke down the psychological barrier of $ 100. It closed at 99.80 dollars, a plunge of 9.44 dollars compared to the previous day (-8.64%). Prices had not changed at these levels since March 16, when the uprisings in the Arab world and worry about the nuclear crisis in Japan had made prices soar.

The downward trend is the same on the Intercontinental Exchange in London where a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was trading session at 112.55 dollars, more than 6 dollars less than Wednesday.

U.S. job fears

This acceleration of the decline reflects the concerns of increasingly sharp operators on the health of the U.S. economy.The bad macroeconomic indicators are linked in recent days across the Atlantic, suggesting that the recovery is too fragile. The last, fell on Thursday, did only exacerbated tensions. On the eve of the publication of the monthly report on employment, investors learn that new jobless claims in the United States increased sharply during the last week of April, 474,000 applications for allocations, while economists s 'expecting a decline. The day before, the numbers of firm ADP showed that job creation in the private sector in the United States slowed in April, well below forecasts of economists.

These announcements point to a decline in oil demand in a context of high oil prices.In addition, a continued rise in U.S. oil inventories, which should have been starting to fall a few months of the summer of large displacements.

In this context, the sharp rise in the dollar makes things worse. Thursday disappointed by the decision of the ECB not to raise interest rates next month, traders got rid of their euros. Result: the single currency, which was worth $ 1.49 yesterday, falling almost 2% to 1.4547 dollar. A situation which penalizes the purchase of dollar-denominated crude and thus rendered less attractive.

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Is this the end of the crisis as expected? In any case, Vinci has been a restart of the traffic on the motorway network (ASF, Cofiroute and Escota) despite soaring gasoline prices. In the first quarter, the passage of cars increased by 3.2% against only 2% over last year. The heavy-duty soared 3.8% while it had increased by only 3.2% in 2010. Another positive signal: late March, the group's order book stood at 26.6 billion euros, eleven months of activity.

A position that makes Vinci very offensive, especially to buy concessions, yet demanding equity and debt: "We're looking at regional airports in France are Lyon, Montpellier, Toulouse and Nice tomorrow, said yesterday at the general meeting of the group Xavier Huillard, CEO of Vinci.And we will continue to be interested in acquisitions abroad parking and highway assets in emerging markets. "

But if these activities are extremely profitable, they are not easy. Thus, the highway between Moscow and St no teletrack payday loan. Petersburg which Vinci was awarded in 2009 the construction and operation saw its site blocked for several months for ecological reasons. The situation was released in December 2010. "And the work should start in a few months," said Xavier Huillard.

Shipyard Canal Seine-Nord

As for the high speed line between Tours and Bordeaux, Vinci won the public-private partnership, in March 2010 remains confident to complete a quick initial funding was to be finalized in late February. "The contract should be signed within the next few weeks," said Xavier Huillard.

In addition, the Group is positioned to win several large projects. In France alone, it aims to be chosen to dig the canal Seine-Nord, build the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris, or build some stadiums hosting Euro 2016. And to obtain or not these contracts, Vinci expects growth of 5% of its turnover and net profit in line with that of last year which reached 1.7 billion euros.

The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply lower Tuesday. Investors worried about a disappointing start to the season for corporate earnings and the severity of the nuclear crisis in Japan. At the close, the Dow Jones dropped 117.53 points to 12,263.58 points and the Nasdaq, dominated by technological 26.72 points to 2744.79 points. As for the broader index Standard & Poor's 500 has dropped 0.78% (10.30 points) to 1314.16 points.

"The Exchange has resisted in Japan, the crisis in Libya. More and more investors are expecting a sustained correction, between 7% and 10%, and say that it can be when it will occur, "said Clement Decombe of Meeschaert Capital Markets, cited by AFP. He added: "There will have taken profits, some will wait until the situation clears up a bit before going on the market."

Japan came out strong concerns among investors, the Japanese authorities raising the level of the accident at the plant in Fukushima at maximum level, equaling that of Chernobyl.

The earnings season for U.S. companies for the first quarter has also started a tumble: the aluminum producer Alcoa plunged 6.02% to $ 16.70 after posting a profit slightly above expectations, but sales lower than expected by analysts.

Trade balance and budget figures

The investors were even more pessimistic on Tuesday that macroeconomic side, the U.S. trade deficit declined more slowly than expected in February. The trade balance posted a deficit of 45.76 billion dollars according to figures released by the Commerce Department, while the market was expecting a "hole" of 44.5 billion.In January, the deficit had amounted to 46.97 billion dollars.

As for import prices and export, import price inflation accelerated sharply in March to 2.7% this month alone, mainly because of higher oil prices and the diet. Next publication expected by investors, those of the U.S. budget figure for the month of March

Oil prices are displayed for the second consecutive day sharply lower.

Side currency, the euro start rising against the greenback after this series of indicators, and evolved over the threshold of $ 1 online payday loans.45 for the first time since January 2010.

Fastenal Co.publish its results tomorrow before JP Morgan

As for the publications of corporate earnings for the first quarter, they will continue this week, on both sides of the Atlantic after Alcoa, are among others the first quarter figures from JP Morgan (-0 , 47%, to 46.64 dollars) to be known from this Wednesday (13:00), ahead of Accenture (-0.29% to 55.84 dollars), Google (-1.17%, to 570, $ 61) and Hasbro (-2.68% to 46.47 dollars), all three on the agenda for Thursday. Bank of America (-0.15%, to 13.47 dollars) and Mattel (-1.78% to 25.32 dollars) will follow on Friday.

Meanwhile, Fastenal Con'a not convinced investors despite higher public expectations (-4.390%, to 64.54 dollars).One of the largest U.S. distribution of industrial and construction equipment has announced an increase of 23% of its quarterly revenue at $ 641 million and a 42% jump in net income.

In addition, Intel will launch new microprocessors that consume less electricity. This strategic announcement has not aroused the enthusiasm of investors, as Intel falling 1.79%, to 19.76 dollars.

Amazon (-1.93% to 180.48 dollars) for its part, announced Monday a further decline in the price of its Kindle electronic reading light at 114 dollars against 139 dollars so far. This new model will post advertising via various backgrounds, but also a whole series of promotions made from the home page.Delivery scheduled May 3 in the United States.

Chevron (-3.34% to 104.18 dollars) for his part announced Monday that its profits in the first quarter of 2011 should be higher than the last three months of 2010, thanks to buoyant oil prices refining margins and higher.

Finally, Hewlett-Packard (+0.07% to 40.65 dollars), will have to give up for now afford the software developer Tibco Software (3.93% to 28.05 U.S. dollars) morning after the announcement by two sources familiar with the failure of negotiations.

The Paris markets do not take risks on Monday. The CAC 40 thus begins the day on a small drop of 0.19% to 4054.32 points.

In Paris as elsewhere, investors are trying to make a first point on the Japanese situation, one month to the day after the disaster that has ravaged the north-east. Reassuring news fell on the nuclear situation: According to government spokesman Yukio Edano, "the risk that the situation at the nuclear power is deteriorating and it leads to a new major radiation leak was significantly reduced. " In Asia this morning, markets have however not given clear signals.

Side indicator, the day promises to be especially quiet since no statistics are expected.Only INSEE announced before trading up 0.4% of French industrial production in February, after rising 0.7% in January.

The rest of the week will be loaded with particular current accounts in France and the German ZEW index Tuesday, the Fed's Beige Book on Wednesday, the weekly jobless claims in the U.S. on Thursday and the index of U.S. consumer sentiment Friday.

Markets await especially forward to the start of the dance publications of quarterly results in the United States. As usual, Alcoa will begin the festivities this evening.

As for currencies, the euro appears small decline in morning trading at 1.4459 dollar. Same thing for oil, hit by profit taking after sharp gains last week.A barrel of light sweet crude for May delivery yielded 36 cents to 112.43 dollars while that of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery lost 83 cents to 125.82 dollars.

Values ​​to follow

Renault

The board of directors of the group will try Monday to see more clearly in the wrong spying scandal at a special meeting and will try to establish the responsibilities of everyone in this fiasco online cash advance.

Saffron

The Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DCRI) investigation on suspicion of spying for Turbomeca, a subsidiary of Safran including computer networks have been "looted" for several months.

NYSE Euronext

The board of directors of the transatlantic exchange operator yesterday rejected unanimously the offer of participation of $ 11.3 billion made by Nasdaq, coupled with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

EDF and EDF Energies Nouvelles

The listing of both Kingbird, who was suspended Friday after the announcement of a takeover offer from EDF on the 50% stake in its subsidiary EDF EN it does not already own, resumes today.

EDF also requested that the EPR reactor being built at Flamanville is considered "priority" as part of the audit of nuclear safety in France, said the Nuclear Safety Authority.

United States, the commission (NRC) has denied Unistar, owned by EDF, a license to build a new reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.

Carrefour

The walkouts on Saturday in favor of wage increases were a success according to the unions, who speak highly mobilized. The strike rate ranged from 30 to 85%.Negotiations will resume Wednesday.

Sanofi-Aventis

The group said Friday night that completed the acquisition of Genzyme after the reopening of its bid and said the U.S. biotech is now a subsidiary that holds all.

Total and GDF Suez

The French government has decided to ban the exploitation of shale gas and the repeal of licenses already granted.

Areva

The group bought for 1.62 billion euros from Siemens in the joint venture Areva NP, paving the way for a merger between Siemens and the Russian Rosatom, said on Sunday the German newspaper Die Welt.

The German publisher Axel Springer has gained control over 95% of the company of small ads on the Internet Seloger.com from the extension of its tender offer (OPA) announced the Authority Financial Markets (AMF), confirming a report from Reuters. "It (score) Stalinist," said one of those people.

The success of this operation means that SeLoger.com may soon bid farewell to the Exchange. Indeed, the French stock exchange law authorizes the issuer of a tender offer to delist its target if he can control at least 95% of its capital at the end of its range. The results of the extension of the tender offer to 38.05 euros per share is expected to be formally announced Wednesday by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF).

A company owning more than 95% of another listed company for the possibility to via IPO Squeeze (OPRO), to redeem all shares on the market. Investors then have the obligation to tender their shares to the offer as opposed to a takeover bid. This procedure is also called "squeeze out". Specifically, the delisting occurs most often in the form of a Public Buyout Offer (OPR) followed by a takeover of Squeeze (OPRO, which will compensate the shareholders of the company low fee cash advance.

The delisting is not excluded

Axel Springer has not formally ruled out making a "squeeze-out on SeLoger.com, but also said he has nothing against the act of keeping one of its acquisitions listed, as is still the case for Aufeminin, another French star net bought by the German publisher.Out a group of stock and raise its stake to 100% allows the shareholder to make a tax consolidation and reassembling easier dividends to the parent.

For its part, SeLoger.com announced Monday that he expected a double digit growth of its key financial indicators in 2011 thanks to record levels of hearing and that he intended to double its dividend . After a fierce battle market, Axel Springer was able to convince management and major shareholders of SeLoger.com. After his first offer, the publisher of the German tabloid Bild controlled nearly 75% stake in the company.

(With agencies)

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Unparalleled catastrophe experienced by Japan will lead to a severe impact on the accounts of insurers. The industry giant, AIG, announced Friday night that these events will cause a gross loss of $ 700 million (493 million) at its insurance arm injury Chartis.

In total, the insurer expects a gross loss of $ 1 billion (705 million euros) for its subsidiary in the first quarter 2011, a hole of $ 900 million after tax (635 million euros). In addition to the cost of the disaster Japanese, this loss is cut by "preliminary costs associated with the New Zealand earthquake, winter storms in the U.S., Australian and Brazilian floods and Cyclone Yasi in Australia," says AIG.

The bill may still rise, warns insurer American.This preliminary estimate does not take into account the group's participation in public reinsurer JERC Japanese (Japanese Earthquake Reinsurance Company) responsible for pooling the risks to the sector and to compensate victims of an earthquake on the archipelago.

Uncertain cost

A little over a week after the Japanese earthquake, opinions differ as to the cost of catastrophe for the insurance industry and reinsurance. According to risk modeling company EQECAT, the bill would rise between 12 and 25 billion dollars (12 to 17.6 billion euros). A range that would make it the most expensive natural disaster in history. But this estimate remains below that of another specialist, AIR Worldwide, which expects losses of between 15 to 35 billion dollars (10.6 and 24.6 billion euros).

The rating agencies consider that these figures do not endanger the insurers and reinsurers. "The losses should be absorbed by the sector without causing serious solvency problem or special financial strains," said Fitch Ratings in a note published Friday. Her colleague Standard & Poor's added that insurers have a strong financial position to face these hardships.

All, however, remains cautious. The cost of the disaster could still be revised upwards. And, as the consequences of the nuclear accident in Fukushima on the health of survivors, yet unmeasurable, insurers in the coming years could be heavily involved.

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At the critical moment of crossover holiday in February, about 30,000 passengers were affected by an act of vandalism on a line in the Alps, the SNCF said. "A malicious act has been committed so far (…) near Albertville. Cables were severed with a saw, seriously disrupting traffic in the Tarentaise valley, "SNCF said in a statement.

The railway line was repaired vandalized at 18h, allowing trains stuck between Bourg-Saint-Maurice Chambery and recovering gradually, said the station and the prefecture of Savoy. "The trains leave the circulation is restored," said the chief of staff of the Prefect of Savoy, Xavier Idier.Shortly before 19h, no more train was stuck in the Tarentaise valley, but 400 to 500 passengers were still in the station of Albertville, 400 to 500 in one of Moutiers, and from 1000 to 1500 passengers waiting to leave Bourg-Saint Maurice. "The incident is closed," confirmed a spokeswoman for regional station, explains that the movement was "slowly" resumed.

"Sabotage"

"Being a weekend announced long as particularly responsible, SNCF deplores and strongly condemns this new act of malice, which resembles a form of sabotage."A term by the Minister of Transport Thierry Mariani: "If it turns out to sabotage it, I hope that justice will be exemplary rigor, because tens of thousands of passengers, dozens of thousands of families will undergo five hours, six hours, seven hours late because of some thugs, "he said.

"An investigation is underway," said SNCF. "Three cables, signal and power were cut" in the morning on-line Chambery Bourg-Saint-Maurice, extremely busy this time of return and departure on vacation, said a spokeswoman for the Regional SNCF. In early afternoon, repairs were still ongoing. The return to normalcy is not expected until the evening.

A period of very heavy traffic

"Until 13:30, twenty trains were affected.The problem is that we are in times of high traffic, "she said. Delays of between three and five hours are expected. The incident occurred in full crossover vacationers and skiers of different areas of school holidays.

"My TER was to leave at 11 am from Bourg-Saint-Maurice left with thirty minutes late. The train was then locked one hour, "says an AFP journalist stuck in a train to Lyon, with no information on the time that his train will arrive. "The TER is full. All vacationers who are descended from Tignes and other stations are mounted in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. There are plenty of people who will miss their connecting flight to Paris or Toulon …», he concludes philosophically.

SNCF evokes an act of vandalism, not theft.Society is increasingly faced with flight cables, particularly copper, which have doubled with the soaring prices, causing delays for trains. In September 2010, SNCF counted forty flights per week cable and assessed his damages at several million euros.

More information about delays here.

(With AFP)

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From our Washington correspondent

The Pentagon chose Boeing and EADS not to deliver 179 aircraft-refueling tankers. The European group had, however, in 2008, won the giant contract estimated at $ 35 billion. But Boeing was able to invalidate the win. In a politically charged climate, Boeing had argued errors committed by experts from the U.S. Air Force in the evaluation of their offer."Disappointed and puzzled," according to the terms of Executive Chairman of the European manufacturer, EADS has ten days to enter to turn the U.S. Court of Auditors, which would be a hundred days to decide.

EADS offered to assemble a plant in Alabama, specially built for this purpose, a military version derived from the Airbus A 330.

Boeing wants his side to replace its old KC-135, in operation since 1950, for derivatives of the Boeing aircraft B-767 products in its factories near Seattle. The selection of Boeing will cause a stir in Congress, especially among Republicans from Alabama. Conversely, deputies and senators, anxious to defend Boeing and employment in the United States are met.The contract is more sensitive than the needs of the Air Force is pressing and unlikely to be affected by cuts in appropriations that hit other weapons programs, including those who live Boeing.

Operating Costs

The formula used by the Pentagon to compare the operating costs of both units played a crucial role in the decision. Indeed, the tanker offered by EADS is larger than the unit proposed by Boeing. To compare the two options, experts from the Defense Department have established a mathematical formula that adjusts costs to reflect this difference free instant credit score.

The model incorporates various scenarios of conflicts and situations of refueling more or less far from U.S. bases. It also takes into account the likely increases in fuel during the operating period is 40 years.However, Boeing had long argued that the formula favored EADS. It does not reflect the actual costs of operating the Boeing tanker supposed to be lower.

The manufacturer also claims that EADS is a company illegally subsidized by European states. Moreover, Boeing submitted to the Congress that the U.S. should not rely on a foreign company for a contract as important to national security.

The Pentagon had clearly rejected these objections. On the one hand because the dispute between Boeing and Airbus to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is not resolved, Boeing accused of being eligible for public subsidies. He also believed that competition between the two manufacturers was the ideal way to get the best tanker at the best price.Only against Boeing since Northrop Grumman has renounced his alliance with EADS on this project, the EU has even seen the Pentagon grant it the status of "prime contractor", reserved for the largest U.S. companies weapon. Still, a second phase is planned. The work carried out by EADS is not lost and he could catch up on this occasion

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While stating that the tax reform was only at the Heritage stage of reflection and will be debated by Parliament in June, Baroin suggested last night on BFM-TV, "a rise in threshold of entry to the ISF of 790,000 euros to 1.3 million currently.

According to the calculations of the budget minister, such a rise in the entry threshold would exclude 300,000 people from paying the ISF and result in a tax valuation of "900 million".

A significant shortfall that would be offset however by the elimination of the tax shield, which costs "between 700 and 900 million euros" in the state budget personal loans for bad credit. "If this is reform, it is not expensive," he further stated.It would have to be fair and it does not damage business competitiveness. "

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