Financial News, Economic Education, Analysis

In protest against the austerity plan of Prime Minister David Cameron, the public sector employees are mobilized en masse on Wednesday. A strike could be the "most important in a generation." Public transport could be very disturbed by work stoppages on Wednesday.

The British public sector employees are on strike on Wednesday against pension reforms, a move that will disrupt schools, airports, hospitals and municipal services, including trade unions and expect that it will be the "most important in a generation." More than a thousand events are planned across the country and the organizers hope that two million people observe this work stoppage, more so than during the previous day's strike in June for the same reason.

The government wants to delay the age of retirement in the public sector to 66 years in 2020 – against 60 for the most current, and increase contributions, as part of its austerity plan. Negotiations taking place for several months are currently at an impasse, the government citing the increase in life expectancy and the need to restore a balance with the private sector. In an attempt to limit the nuisance caused to users – a particularly sensitive subject in the UK – the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has asked companies to accommodate employees with exceptional children.

Wall Street has been able to maintain its gains Friday and turned down at the end of a shortened session and low volumes, a strong commercial start of the period of Christmas and New year could not compensate all fears arising from the debt crisis in the euro area.

However, U.S. consumers flocked to the doors of department stores, which opened earlier this Black Friday, traditionally the day that launches shopping season in the United States.

The markets were closed yesterday for Thanksgiving. The "Black Friday" is traditionally one of the least active day on Wall Street.

The S & P distribution, up much of the session ends with a loss of 0.84%.Wal-Mart has taken all the same 0.44% to 56.89 dollars.

The Dow Jones lost 25.77 points (0.23%) to 11,231.78 points. The S & P-500 loose 3.12 points (0.27%) to 1158.67 points. The Nasdaq Composite yield 18.57 points (0.75%) to 2441.51 points.

On the whole week, the Dow lost 4.8%, the S & P 4.7% and the Nasdaq 5.1%. This is the largest weekly loss in the S & P in two months.

"It's hard to say we had a session today, since there was virtually no one," said Kevin Kruzenski (KeyBanc Capital Markets).

"The market is oversold and some based on the hope the holiday season, but the general sentiment remains weak.

AT & T said Thursday it included in its accounts an exceptional charge of four billion dollars (3.0 billion) to cover the cost of a possible failure of his proposed takeover of T-Mobile, an operation whose outcome seems increasingly compromised.

The U.S. operator and Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile, ensured continued efforts to obtain the green light by U.S. antitrust authorities to repurchase $ 39 billion, which could threaten thousands of jobs but they withdrew the case filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the regulator of the sector in the United States.

"This formal approach is taken today by the two companies to consolidate their forces and focus their efforts to obtain antitrust approval from the Department of Justice", said the companies.

"AT & T and Deutsche Telekom keep the goal in the sale of AT & T, Deutsche Telekom's mobile operations in the United States," said the statement, published on Thanksgiving Day, a holiday in the United States.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FCC opposing the operation, which could only be reduced to three the number of national mobile operators.

A green light from the FCC would be useless without the DOJ.

The industrial new orders decreased by 3.1% in September from the previous month after rising 0.8% in August.

The commands in French industry, including export, fell sharply in September after several months of growth, even if they were up all over the third quarter, INSEE said on Friday. The industrial new orders (excluding transport equipment but including automotive) were down 3.1% from the previous month after rising 0.8% in August.

Those from abroad also recede, 2.7%, says the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in a statement. The decrease is very strong in the automotive (-6.9%), pharmaceuticals (-8.3%), chemicals (-2.7%), paper and cardboard (-6.2%) and textile (-3.2%). Electrical equipment, electronic and computer were down 1.6%.

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Thursday as investors showed particularly nervous after the downward crossing of an important threshold for the S & P.

The Dow Jones lost 1.13% or 134.86 points at 11,770.73 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500, the reference fund managers, gave up 1.68% or 20.78 points to 1,216 , 13 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.96% or 51.62 points to 2587.99 points.

There was no very obvious trigger for this downturn.

The Japanese bank Mizuho will remove 3,000 jobs in response to the deteriorating economic climate marked by weak demand for credit and a difficult economic environment at the international level.

Mizuho Financial Group announced the elimination of these positions, which represent about 5% of its workforce, by March 2016 in connection with the merger of its retail banking and business.

Half the income of Mizuho Financial Group, the second Japanese bank by assets, fell by a quarter, partly due to a drop in trading revenue bond.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), the third Japanese bank whose profits also fell by 25%, said it would repurchase up to 50 billion yen (476 million) of its own shares or 1.63 % of its claims.

"The profitability of their core business remains low in Japan, including disposals of investments and sales of insurance products, which remain low," he said of Mizuho and SMFG Chikako Horiuchi, an analyst at Fitch Ratings in Tokyo.

"Times are tough for their brokerage. So the question is whether they are capable or not boost their activities abroad."

The prospect of the Japanese economy is overshadowed by a strong yen and weak global demand.

Compagnie Financière Richemont said Friday expect a rise in operating income for the year after the publication of figures above analysts' expectations for the first half.

"In the second half, the impact on the luxury industry of the economic challenges the world faces and the high comparison base to which the measure group sales we suggest caution," said Johann Rupert, the chairman CEO of world number two luxury.

"Given the performance achieved to date, and despite these challenges, the operating profit of the year should be significantly higher than that of 2010-2011," he added.

Even as Richemont is known for prudent forecasting, these words echo the comments of all other major luxury groups, which have recently published quarterly defying the economic crisis.

Last week, the leather Hermes said he was hampered in its growth by its production capacity which does not allow it to meet demand, given the popularity of its handbags and famous silk scarves.

Mid-October, LVMH had also published quarterly strong despite the vagaries of the economy.

The German government's economic advisers believe that the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to lose credibility by buying government bonds heavily indebted.

"The bond purchase program dismantles market discipline without establishing a discipline policy in place," write the "Wise Men" German in a report released Wednesday.

Blurring the fiscal and monetary policies, "the ECB endangers its credibility because it may be suspected to monetize sovereign debt," they write.It previously projected 1.8% and 3% respectively.

Economic advisers plan for next year export growth of 3.2% and unemployment down to 6.9% against 7.1% in 2011.

Commerzbank may need assistance from the German government to comply with new European requirements for capital if the economy continues to slow, given the poor results recorded recently by the group, said Monday the agency Fitch Ratings.

Last week, Germany's second largest bank, owned 25% by the German federal state, however, had said she would not resort to state aid.

"The third quarter results of Commerzbank highlight the growing challenge of strengthening its equity while the growth of its main activities pick up," reads a note from Fitch.

"Fitch expects that any additional capital are the result of the state."

Commerzbank declined to comment on this post.

BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BPCE on the list of large systemic banks that will be published Friday by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), said Nicolas Sarkozy, closing the G20 summit in Cannes.

The CSF must publish a list of 29 banks that need to raise capital and be subject to more stringent rules because of the risk they pose to the entire financial system because of their size and complexity.