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Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the Puerta del Sol in Spain's capital Saturday evening, to celebrate the anniversary of the movement was born a year ago. A success for the organizers, but will not necessarily last. Thousands of outraged gathered in the Puerta del Sol to celebrate the anniversary of the movement, May 15, 2012

To mark their first birthday, the indignation, surging last year in Spain to denounce the crisis, corruption and unemployment, have fallen back on the streets this Saturday. The desire to prove to those who claim they are gone they are wrong: In Madrid, thousands of demonstrators converged from 19 hours in several columns from the four cardinal points of the capital, towards the Puerta del Sol. A symbolic return to this place that their movement was born, May 15, 2011.  

"Rajoy go away!", "No to dictatorship of the markets", "The banks need an injection, but lethal yes", it said on placards brandished by protesters – signs distributed by organizers of the movement a little earlier. "The struggle continues, whatever the cost," shouted one of them in the microwave. "There is not enough bread for all these thieves," the indignant howl – a pun between chorizo ​​pan and then in Castilian slang thief said to be the most famous Iberian sausages.

Slogans as varied as are the claims. And illustrate the inability of the movement to bring the past year, with an overall theme. "I am here to protest against the liberal reforms of the Conservative government Marianno Rajoy, says Beatriz. All Spaniards are affected by these budget cuts and layoffs," continues this quinquagénaraire. "We protest against the capitalist system, banks, austerity policies," adds Elias, graduate unemployment.

Lack of positive proposals

"We demand democracy, the real, not the electoral system that makes the right is in power without having won a majority of the people," said Irene, one of organisatricee movement of May 15 In Spain, the system législtaif there favors the party out at the top of the polls, giving him a majority amplified. Last November, the People's Party has won the parliamentary elections with an overwhelming majority (186 seats out of 350). Since then the government of Marianno Rajoy implements a policy of unprecedented austerity.

Fertile ground, a priori, which was the anniversary of the movement a success. In Barcelona, ​​there were between 45,000 – according to police – and 200,000-according to organizers – outraged samredi evening. In Madrid, the Puerta del Sol, the crowd was also the rendezvous – 30,000 according to police, "hundreds of thousands" according to organizers. The leaders of the movement of May 15, intend to hold for four days, a "permanent assembly" in the square, defying an official ban that events must end at 22:00 each evening.

Not sure though as it lasts. Because unlike a year ago, the streets of Spain were invaded by almost weekly demonstrations called by trade unions against austerity. The outraged were drowned in the flood of protests. For Wald, a Scot living in Madrid, the shortness of the movement of outrage is due to the lack of proposals positives.Ce that unites them, in fact, it is the opposition. The above are outraged anti-system.

Responding to a horizontal structure, refusing to be in the party, they were unable to "organize discontent without concrete ideology," Analysis Antonio Alaminos, a sociology professor at the University of Alicante. "The result: many small groups relatively disconnected them who are no longer a social movement," he adds.

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The CAC 40 began the day post-presidential sharply down. But elections in Greece, making the country virtually ungovernable, much more concerned about the identity of the new French president. Greece in the storm.

The day promises to be eventful in European markets in the wake of the decline of the euro and Asian stock markets (around 2%) in the night. Investors fear the period of uncertainty that opens in Europe after several elections that reshuffling the cards of power relations in the eurozone and the fight against the means to reduce public deficits.

The French feared a worsening economy

If investors are more concerned with the victory of Holland, this is not necessarily the case with the French, who for nearly half fear the situation of France is deteriorating in the coming years, according to an Ipsos France Televisions, Radio France, Le Monde and Le Point. The poll, conducted before the second round, 46% of respondents expected a worsening situation if Francois Hollande was elected president, against 26% who felt that it will improve. If Nicolas Sarkozy was elected, they were 41% expected a deterioration of the situation, and a 25% improvement.  

The Paris Bourse was changing down sharply Monday morning (-1.81%), accusing the shot like other European markets, although uncertainty over the fate of Greece more concerned that the victory of Francois Hollande in France. At 9:14, the CAC 40 index lost 57.30 points to 3104.67 points. Friday, he had already dropped 1.90%.

Holland's victory anticipated by the markets

"It's not so much the result of the French elections worries us (the outcome was already known), the Greek election results," strategists warn of Credit Mutuel-CIC. The victory of Francois Hollande, the new President of the Republic, is not a surprise to investors as they had anticipated, given the many polls giving the winner. "The victory of Francois Hollande in France should not induce a violent movement in the markets" for economists at Aurel BGC, for which he should rather wait for the upcoming legislative elections and the first supplementary budget in a few weeks.

The evidence, the borrowing rate to 10 years in France, after starting the day down, went back Monday morning only very slightly in the bond market. After starting at 2.798%, 2.809% against closing in on Friday, the yield was posted at 8:30 of 2.842%. "The French market showed its resilience in the past two weeks, without political uncertainty takes precedence over demand for the security of France, "said Luca Jellinek and economist at Credit Agricole CIB.

No immediate impact by S & P

Another element reassuring to investors, the rating agency Standard & Poor's, which had withdrawn in January to France's highest grade "AAA", said Monday that the election of Francois Hollande to the presidency would not "immediate impact" on the rating of the country or its future trend.  

The memo from France, currently "AA +" for its long-term debt, however, is decked out with a "negative outlook", implying that there is "one in three chance" for it to be lowered again this year or in 2013, recalled SP in a statement.

Greece in the heart of concerns

However, the Greek situation has not enough to enthuse investors. Sunday, the parties opposed to an increase of austerity, the radical left to neo-Nazis have got hold of half the seats in parliament, making the country virtually ungovernable.

Enough to feed the fears of further forward the implementation of austerity measures in Greece, provided the international financial support. "The main risk for investors, would be the breakup of the euro area with the coming to power of anti-European political parties" and the consequences on other fragile countries in Europe, according to Aurel BGC.

Royal Bank of Scotland has said Friday on the road to recovery while the bank released first quarter operating profit better than expected and a sharp reduction of its balance sheet.

The banking group, 82% owned by the British state after having to be rescued during the 2008 financial crisis, has issued an operating profit of a , 2 billion pounds (1.46 billion euros), against a loss of 144 million the previous quarter.

"We are pleased with progress made in the first quarter, although the economic and regulatory environment remains tough," said CEO Stephen Hester. "RBS continues to significantly grow in strength and resistance."

RBS had closed its 2011 fiscal year in the red for the fourth consecutive year.

The consulting firm ADP showed a decrease of 41% of net job creation in the private sector overseas. A sharp slowdown worries scholarships.

Hiring companies in the U.S. slowed significantly in April, according to the monthly survey on employment of the consulting firm HR ADP released Wednesday.

The U.S. private companies have created that month 119,000 more jobs than they destroyed, reflecting a drop in net hiring of 41% compared to March, indicates ADP.Le last month, hiring, however, were rising again.

The slowdown in job creation highlighted by the firm is significantly stronger than analysts thought insofar as their median estimate gave 170,000 net new hires in the private sector in April. ADP has revised down its estimate of 4% of the creations from March to 201,000. The firm said in a statement that the "modest increase" in employment in April "is consistent" growth rate of U.S. GDP in the first quarter, which was 2.2% annualized according to the first official estimate released Friday and who shows a marked deceleration from the fall.

The statement reflected in the figures of April "evidence that the unusually warm weather boosted employment during the winter months and must now pay the consequences". The figures refer to the ADP non-farm employment. They show that the service sector has created 123,000 net new jobs in April. Conversely, the secondary sector has eliminated 4,000 jobs. The firm notes that the construction industry has lost jobs (5,000) for the first time in seven months after "hired solidly" in the winter.  

Consequence: U.S. and European stock markets panicked. Wall Street opened lower today, as New York Stock Exchange has reached highs not seen for four years.

The ADP survey is traditionally published two days before the monthly report on employment from the Labor Department. According to the median forecast of analysts, the ministry figures, covering the private and public employment, excluding agriculture, should show up Friday net hiring in the country by 38% compared to March, to 167,000, this which should have no effect on the unemployment rate, which would remain at 8.2%.

Richemont, the world number two luxury, will invest 100 million Swiss francs in a research and training in Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, at a time when the Swiss watch industry faces to a significant shortage of manpower.

The group, whose brand portfolio includes jewelery houses Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels and the prestige watches Vacheron Constantin and Roger Dubuis, also plans to invest 60 million in training and research ten years.

"The group will strengthen its foothold in Geneva and its commitment to the regional economy," said the Swiss group said in a statement Monday.

Richemont, which rivals the French LVMH, plans to build a training and research integrated 30.000 square meters in Meyrin, a suburb of Geneva.

The site will be built near the headquarters of the manufacturer Roger Dubuis, will bring together a creative workshop of Van Cleef & Arpels and production workshops of Vacheron Constantin.

Will be added the Manufacture Stern Geneva 1898, a manufacturer of high-end dials that will merge its operations with those of the Genevan Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie, specializing in components of movement.

The project also includes the creation of a center for training in the watch, which will accommodate 45 apprentices in three years, and a research center. 

"Meyrin offers the opportunity to create a magnet, and exchanges of excellence," said Richard Lepeu, the group's executive director, at a press conference in Geneva.

Richard Lepeu highlighted the interest of the pooling of research and the transmission of knowledge, with particular reference to the prevailing model in Silicon Valley.

"Rather than make everyone at home, we decided to share," he added.

The center, named "campus of Geneva watchmaking", will open its doors in 2014 and is expected to host 900 people by 2020, the group said in a statement, adding that 400 recruitments are planned term. 

"The campus is reminiscent of the university," added Richard Lepeu, explaining that the group had wanted to develop a concept that would appeal to young apprentices.

The Swiss watch industry is facing a shortage of skilled labor, while the sector is facing significant pressures on production capacity to face the excitement of Chinese consumers for luxury watches.

Reduced deliveries by Swatch Group, the leading manufacturer of movements and watch parts in Switzerland, has in addition forced manufacturers of luxury watches to substantially increase investment in production to secure their supply.

Faurecia announced Thursday the signing of a new joint venture agreement with 50/50 with the group unlisted Japanese Howa Textile Industry Co., Ltd..

This new joint venture-Howa Faurecia Interiors (FHI) – will be based in Atsugi (Japan) and will be dedicated to the development of automotive interior systems such as door panels, insulation of the interior, textile pieces and pavilions.

The objective of the partnership is to become a preferred supplier of Nissan in Japan and the rest of the world.

Based on current assumptions, FHI aims a turnover of 100 million euros by 2016 with Nissan, the French automotive supplier said in a statement. 

Faurecia has recently announced the expansion of its existing joint venture agreement with Japanese automotive supplier NHK Spring for providing solutions to car seats to Nissan.

As part of its strategic plan, Faurecia intends to more than double its business in Asia, compared to 2011, where its turnover is expected to increase from 1.5 to 4 billion euros of by 2015.

He is counting on continued growth in China, South Korea and the Asian manufacturers-first-with Nissan in the world to achieve this goal.

Finance ministers of the euro area have agreed to bring the total response capability for emergency funds to some 800 billion euros, said Friday the Austrian Minister of Finance Maria Fekter.

After intense discussions, in the opinion of several sources, the 17 euro zone countries have chosen a minimal agreement that suits countries like Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, which the public does not want to pay for bailouts, sources said the European Union. 

This includes $ 500 billion of the European Stability Mechanism (MES), the permanent emergency fund that will be operational in July, and 200 billion already committed by the Europe Fund in financial stability (EFSF), the temporary emergency fund to be disabled in July 2013, told reporters Maria Fekter.

She said that this was added the remaining 49 billion of European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM), which had been the first response to the debt crisis of the euro area, and 53 billion bilateral loan to Greece.

A senior official of the euro area has confirmed these amounts. 

The EFSF has a total capacity of loan of 440 billion euros and 240 billion would not mobilized a mattress in an emergency within 15 months, during which the EFSF and MES will be operational in parallel, said Maria Fekter.

The European Commission, France and several other major economic powers wanted to help build the capacity of the euro area as possible in the hope that, faced with such a display of force , markets regain confidence in the long run, thus avoiding having to commit any such capacity. 

But Berlin did not want such a mobilization in advance, not accepting that if it is really necessary, while noting that the markets were already over and placated implementation of agreed reforms was more important.

With such a decision, the euro area will have something to present to the G20 finance ministers in Washington in April, during a meeting that will discuss higher global contributions to the International Monetary Fund.

Capacity building of the eurozone bailout is, for most countries of the Group of Twenty (G20), a prerequisite for increased allocations to the IMF. 

From this perspective, the euro area is now well placed to discuss the matter, said Friday French Finance Minister Baroin.

"This is a good signal," he has said.

The redemption price of renewable electricity in France would result in additional annual cost of 7 billion euros compared to market prices in 2020, said Wednesday Proglio, CEO of EDF.

The financing of renewable energy in France is provided by the contribution to public service of electricity (CSPE), part of the bill paid by consumers, and through tariffs redemption by EDF set by the government. 

Taking into account the objectives that France has set itself for 2020, EDF considers that the overhead of this mechanism amounts to one billion euros per year for this horizon onshore wind, two billion for offshore wind, photovoltaics for 2.5 billion, one billion for the biomass sector and 450 million for cogeneration.

"In total, all segments combined, the additional annual cost for 2020 is around seven billion euros," said Henri Proglio at a hearing before a board of interviewers ; you of the Senate on the actual cost of electricity. 

The CEO of EDF said that the rise of the CSPE did not follow recent years the pace of development of renewable energy, resulting in a deficit for the group compensation cumulative $ 3.8 billion weighing on its debt and results in financial burdens of around one billion.

"The funding mechanism must be developed (…). Funding support for new energy could be provided other than by the CSPE, "he said

." It re corresponds to the objectives of economic policy: environment, industry, employment, land and has no reason to be financed solely by electricity consumers, which is the the low-carbon energy. "

" This could be financed by a fund over a much broader base, " Proglio said

. The boss of EDF has specifically asserted that "the energies strongly emitting CO2 as gas or oil "could be tapped, implicitly targeting groups such as GDF Suez and Total

.

The consumer prices in France rose 0.4% on month in February as a result of higher energy prices, services and fresh produce, statistics show released Tuesday by the INSEE.

Over one year, inflation in February stood at 2.3%.

In January, the index of consumer prices declined by 0.4% over the month and rose 2.3% yoy.

The harmonized price index HICP, which allows comparisons with other members of the euro area, increasing its share to 0.5% on a month for February. It rose 2.5% year on year.

Twenty economists polled by Reuters on average expected a rise in the HICP of 0.5% a month to month and 22 acceleration of 2.6% on a year.

Not easy being a socialist candidate in times of budget deficit. On the one hand, we must gather all left, and the other not to antagonize the financial markets, with power to increase the cost of debt. Francois Hollande in his first big campaign rally, Sunday, Jan. 22 at Le Bourget.

Finance the war against Francois Hollande is it already over? Having dug up the hatchet in January at Le Bourget, the PS presidential candidate seems ready to smoke the peace pipe in the British press when he denied any "aggression" against the financial markets.

It's early in the week that François Hollande has raised the white flag. Before going to London, he in effect gave an interview to several British correspondents including the Telegraph, the Financial Times and the Guardian. To reassure all these people came to interview in Paris – and at the same time readers of the City-François Hollande has tried convincing: no it is not regarded in France as a very left financial regulation. And no, the France of 1981 has nothing to do with that of 2012, where "there are more communists," he said. Since the Guardian has restored the full quote by adding the flat "or very little." But the little phrase made noise in France where she has raised the ire of the Communist Party and part of the left. And drew attention to the soothing message of one who presented himself as the exterminating angel of finance.

To please these ears International, Francois Hollande has indeed put barrels of water in his wine. He did not hesitate to recall that during the fifteen where they were in power, the Socialists had liberalized the economy, open markets to finance and privatization. According to him, he and Obama would also have very close positions on the topic: "One could say that Obama and I have the same advisors."

Finance, enemy number one on the inside …

A speech that contrasts clearly with the speech of January 22 Bourget, in which he had made finance enemy number one, it had to be slaughtered at all costs. This financing "nameless, faceless, non-party" but "nevertheless governs us" and took control of our lives …

At the time all the political commentators asserted: Francois Hollande had managed a grand coming out on the left! The verbal attack angered the bankers, tired of being stigmatized. And they came with a program: creation of a tax on financial transactions, separation of deposit banks and investment banks, creating a special tax for financial institutions, or limiting bonuses. Ultimately, however, nothing really revolutionary. But the strong speech perfectly met the expectations of the electorate to the left.

… partner and to be struck out

So why this double standard? Francois Hollande is a campaign from the first round of presidential elections in which he must collect the left where it calls for more measures to support growth. This does not prevent him from being convinced that deficit reduction is essential. His lecture on the encryption program, far from lyrical flights of Bourget failing to have been accurate on spending cuts, was already a sign. But he also knows that the markets are still the law in fiscal policy. To put them back is to take the risk of skyrocketing interest rates on the French debt.

But some recent indicators have come to confirm it was time to make peace with investors. A report by economist Erik Nielsen of UniCredit noted in particular the fear of the markets to see the PS candidate cross the steps of the Elysee. Concerned, the prospect of renegotiating the EU Stability Pact to avoid the constitutional goal of balancing public finances. Hence the signals sent through appeasement of the international press. However not sure whether they were intended to be discussed in the hexagon. Which is not without problems.

Olivier Dartigolles for example, spokesman for the PCF, the "kneeling" before the City of Holland "are hard to the left". A view shared by Marie-George Buffet and Jean-Luc Melenchon, who both joked statements of the candidate face to British journalists. "You can not simultaneously be the candidate of the City and the candidate cities", summed up Wednesday Hervé Gattegno, editor of the Point.

Furthermore, this game is subtle to say the least on how to reduce deficits, could also turn against him. It is said the markets they are non-partisan. Maybe, but they are adamant on one point: the deficit reduction plans should be adjusted to the nearest euro!