Dependent on business investment, the French machinery industry has experienced a particularly gloomy year 2009. The turnover of this sector has plunged 15% to 97.9 billion euros, returning to its 2005 level.

Compared to its European competitors, French industry is doing rather well. "The activity of other countries fell by an average of 19%," said Yvon Jacob, president of the Federation of Engineering Industries (FIM). The French exception is explained in part by the support that was received by French manufacturers.

The recovery plans, the state aid measures such as scrapping bonus, or the continuation of regional investment activities have supported activity. The role of the state does not explain everything. Companies based in France have taken advantage of the health of certain sectors such as construction, aerospace, energy and railway industries."Moreover, thanks to social shocks, household consumption remained at a good level," says Yvon Jacob. The social situation remains tense engineering industries (650,000 jobs) lost 5.5% of their workforce in 2009. The FIM also fears of new staff reductions, and does not expect improvement until the end of the year. The activity should indeed be further reduced by 5% this year. "If the recovery occurs in 2010, it does not benefit us immediately, says the president of the Federation, as investments leave last.

Manipulation. The word has been uttered by Andrew Cuomo, the Minister of Justice of the State of New York. The latter accused Bank of America (BofA), the largest bank in the United States, having committed a "huge fraud" during the merger with Merrill Lynch. He said the former BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis and his former chief financial officer Joe Price, while two continued, would have deliberately hidden the huge losses at Merrill Lynch for a massive federal assistance.

This "arrogant maneuver" after Andrew Cuomo, would have allowed BofA to validate the merger by the shareholders. Once the transaction is approved, the management of Bank of America has made public the statement of loss and "manipulated the federal government to save the deal with billions of taxpayer dollars, claiming falsely that it would cease the agreement without assistance.

The bank responded by saying "disappointed" and said its leaders had always been "good faith". The respective lawyers of Kenneth Lewis and Joe Price state that the accusations are baseless.

150 million dollars in penalties

In addition to these criticisms, the SEC, the gendarme of the Exchange in the United States, announced Thursday that the agreement to settle other lawsuits related to the acquisition of Merrill Lynch now amounted to 150 million cash advance payday loan . The first agreement concluded in August 2009 set out the penalties owed by Bank of America to 33 million.

The SEC alleges that BofA for hiding its shareholders having authorized its future subsidiary Merrill Lynch $ 3.6 billion in bonuses despite losses of the latter in 2008.

The new deal announced Thursday provides for further measures to strengthen the bank's procedures, including the stipulation that shareholders will now have their say on remuneration of the management team. It must still be approved by Judge Jed Rakoff, who had refused last summer how the first agreement.

The SEC also announced that the proceeds of the fine will be distributed to shareholders penalized by the actions of the bank.

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The carbon tax is passed to the door Tuesday censured by the Constitutional Council. The government promised to submit within three weeks, a new mechanism. Anyway, the series of texts budget voted in recent weeks Finance Act 2010, Act funding Social Security, supplementary budget for 2009 includes several other measures affecting the taxation of households this year. Here are the key.

• Ceiling overall tax loopholes

For income received in 2010, a taxpayer may not reduce their income tax using the tax loopholes (working from home, child care, grants to associations, Scellier …) beyond an amount equal 20 000 plus 8% of its taxable income. Introduced in late 2008, the overall ceiling was far more generous, to 25 000 plus 10% of income.Taxpayers who use the niches Dom-Tom, Scellier, or devices for tourist homes have a respite: they have signed an investment commitment before December 31, 2009, they escaped the drop in overall ceiling .

• Act Scellier

The reduction of income tax, taxpayers enjoyed buying a new home for rent under certain conditions, remains at the same level as in 2009 – representing 25% of the purchase price – for homes purchased in 2010 that they meet or not the standard "building low-power" (BBC). The "greening" starts from 2011 for non-BBC dwellings, the tax cut to 15% next year and 10% in 2012. For homes BBC, it remains at 25% in 2011 and then fell to 20% in 2012.The Scellier disappears at December 31, 2012.

For new housing, the loan rate zero (PTZ) was doubled in 2009 and will continue until June 30, 2009. Photo credits: Pascal SITTLER / REA

After the euphoria of recent days, the time for consolidation. U.S. markets were closed Tuesday in the red, ending a series of six consecutive sessions of gains. The rise in consumer confidence, the highest since December 2007, the figures and stable real estate did not convince investors. Results: From Tokyo to Paris, via London and Frankfurt, all exchanges are this Wednesday, in the red.

Thus, as expected, Wall Street began the session on a tentative note, but still negative. The Dow Jones dropped to 0.35% open and yielded almost 34 points, to 10,511.56 points.Same trend towards the S & P 500 has lost 0.31% at 1122.68 points while the Nasdaq Composite has dropped from 0.23% at 2283.07 points.

Just after the opening, the Chicago PMI index for the month of December has given a reason for clues to recover and move toward equilibrium, or even find the green. Economic activity in the Chicago area accelerated against all odds: the index rose by 3.9 percentage points to 60 points all round. This figure is considered a leading indicator of manufacturing activity at the national level.

Airlines monitor

According to information from The Wall Street Journal, the American GMAC Financial Services (0.75%, to 18.85 dollars) could benefit from additional public help than 3.5 billion dollars from U.S. authorities .It would occur in addition to $ 2.5 billion collected in December 2008.

The way Johnson & Johnson (-0.15% to 64.84 dollars) is being monitored. The FDA, U.S. health officials rejected a license application filed by the pharmaceutical group on ceftobiprole, treatment of skin infections of the skin structure. The Swiss Basilea Pharmaceutica had granted an exclusive worldwide license to the ceftobiprole Cilag, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Also in the same sector, Pfizer (-0.11% to 18.54 dollars) has announced its decision to terminate its phase 3 trials for the treatment of cancer, figitumumab.

A follow also the share prices of U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines (-0.79%, to 11.24 dollars) and American Airlines. Both eyeing the ailing Japanese company Japan Airlines (JAL).But rumors about a possible bankruptcy JAL has already had a falling action of the latter to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday.

Moreover, U.S. markets, airlines are also suffering: Index NYSE Arca Airline loose opening 1.06%, with 10 out of 13 companies listed in this index in the red.

Another repercussion of difficulties nippon, the dollar regained ground against the yen for the second consecutive session, reaching a recor of two months. Therefore, gold has dropped below the $ 1,100 an ounce. "Given the dollar's recovery, it is possible to see the yellow metal down to $ 1,050," analyzes James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com.

The Public Utilities Commission of Maryland announced Friday that it allowed the joint venture with Constellation Energy, EDF Group conditionally. Among these, Constellation must provide 250 million dollars in cash to its subsidiary Baltimore Gas & Electric by the end of June

Constellation Energy and EDF said Friday they were reviewing the decision of Maryland, authorities imposing the two groups said in writing before November 6 if they wish to conclude the agreement and when.

"We consulted with our Board and received approval. We will now conclude the transaction as quickly as possible, "said the American group on Monday.

"EDF will therefore initiate the process for financial closure of the transaction for which he has already received authorization from its Board of Directors," said the French reaction to the decision of its U.S. counterpart.

EDF, which has disbursed 4.5 billion dollars to acquire 49.99% of the nuclear activities of the American plans to build four nuclear reactors of third generation (EPR) in the United States through a joint venture with Constellation.

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The Industry Minister has detailed a series of measures that could change the face of French industry at the opening of the Estates General, which meet from today the industry representatives and social partners. He said hoped "that we study the financial and tax help for the relocation of production facilities and R & D". Christian Estrosi said that this "could take the form of premiums for relocation financed by the state variables at amounts of investment and number of jobs re-created. For example, the Minister cited the automotive supplier Ghent, which brought the activities of Romania to the Vosges.

However, Claude Miserey, Vice-President of the French Union of the Clothing Industry, said for his part that "it's not because we're going to reward our textile industries will begin to relocate, why should significantly reduce payroll taxes for production in France again become competitive. "

Aids for companies with fewer than 100 employees

Christian Estrosi has also proposed developing "a model of cooperative enterprise in which employees have majority ownership, a measure especially designed for businesses with fewer than 100 employees. In addition, the Minister mentioned the track "innovation tax credit, which would complement the existing research tax credit to help the innovative company after the filing of patent and until the launch of production.Other track: minister said he would "consider the implementation of green subsidized loans for the benefit of investment in industrial processes more environmentally friendly."

The estates will be developed around three pillars: a "national focus, with the establishment of a committee" called "CNEGI (National Committee of the General Industry), a" regional focus ", with the organization of workshops in the regions, and a "participatory axis, via a website. The themes will be related to innovation, the "policy networks", "employment and training", "competitiveness and green growth" and "access to finance.Up to € 15,000 per job in France repatriated Specifically, companies, small or large, can benefit from a support mechanism whose details remain to be determined but will take into account several factors including geographic location, the amount of investment and the number of jobs relocated. "It will be a variable premium and no tax credit. This will obviously give and take," said one expert dossier. The company wishing to relocate part of its activities will be most helped if she settled into a disadvantage. Experts estimate that the amount of aid will be between 10,000 and 15,000 euros per job. This amount will likely be added to other premiums. The number of jobs that companies with foreign parties could relocate in France is still difficult to assess.According to recent experiences, the Department estimates that on average a year, French companies could result in such incentives to repatriate a thousand jobs a month. Several companies have recently set the example, the company Vosges Ghent (Europe's leading metal mechanics and perforated fabric) has reported its machines from two sites in Romania. "We expect that the crisis subsides to make the hires," says a spokesman. In the world of optics, Atol relocated in 2005 a portion of its production previously done in China, for example, be more responsive to the request of its customers. Relocation may also have commercial benefits