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.

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.

Brussels wants farmers to "go green". The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to condition part of the aid to respect for the environment, and to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) fairer by capping subsidies, despite the reluctance of the industry. "A redefinition of the CAP is necessary," the MEPs tried before the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Romanian Ciolos, presenting the details of its proposals to reform the system of EU agricultural subsidies from 2014.

He has proposed to link some of the aid paid to some 12 million European operations "to a few simple agricultural practices whose effects are well established" crop diversification, maintenance of permanent pasture, and conservation of biodiversity reservoirs or landscape elements of at least 7% of arable land. The reform also aims to shift to a "sustainable production practices," while Europe has "for years" led the farmers "on the way to a stress-free productivity," noted Ciolos.

Another key measure for the capping of aid. These become progressively reduced from 150,000 euros per year per firm and will not exceed 300,000 euros.Germany, or the UK – where farms reap the crown of England every year hundreds of thousands of dollars – are opposed to the cap, brandishing the risk of fragmentation of their large holdings. These are always more numerous in Europe in seven years, the number of farms decreased by 20% for a reduction of only 2% of the agricultural area, is the statistical office Eurostat.

France is the first bénéficière envelopes States

Criticized by the European Court of Auditors to have paid aids golf clubs or airports, the CAP will also be reserved for the future to "active farmers".Calling for a change of "paradigm", Ciolos also called for a more equitable CAP with the introduction of a single payment per hectare for each State and each region, which should balance out subsidies to benefit of extensive agriculture.

However, it is still far from a fair rebalancing envelopes allocated to each state. France continues to be the first beneficiary and lose relatively little, while the countries of Eastern Europe continue to receive bonuses per hectare well below the European average. In Brussels, a Baltic hundred farmers have agreed to meet Wednesday to protest against this compromise deemed disadvantageous to farmers Baltic. "Politics, more at European level is the art of the possible equilibria," agreed Ciolos."The most important is to stimulate a movement in the right direction," he said, promising to continue this trend toward more balance beyond 2020.

The proposals of the Commissioner Ciolos will now be subject to approval by MEPs and the 27 Member States, and negotiations promise to be difficult. For the main organization of farmers in Europe, Copa-Cogeca, the principle of ecological fallows is "illogical, while global food demand is expected to increase 70% by 2050." Greening is also criticized by the German Green Häusling Martin, for whom he does not go far enough, or the French Socialist Stéphane Le Foll, who lampooned the "weaknesses" of agri-environmental measures proposed, such as fallow "too rigid" .

The European aircraft manufacturer, a subsidiary of Airbus, said the amount of its gross orders had reached 1,179 aircraft and reported delivered 374 aircraft in the first nine months of the year.

By comparison, Boeing had recorded at September 27, net orders of 425 aircraft, a delay that the American manufacturer hopes to meet with his future MAX 737.

Airbus was far behind its major competitor at the Paris Air Show that was held in June in order.

In early trade, the Dow was stable (0.04%) to 11,406 points.The Standard & Poor's also (-0.01%) to 1204 points while the Nasdaq composite fell by 0.1% to 2610 points.

The Federal Reserve, which meets Tuesday and Wednesday, is expected to announce steps to further lower the long-term rates by changing its own bond portfolio.

Wall Street has little else to move, in the absence of outside major indicator of housing starts, or major corporate earnings.

The housing starts fell more than expected in August, falling 5% to a seasonally adjusted pace of 571,000 units, according to the Commerce Department (consensus: 590,000 units).

Markets on both sides of the Atlantic do not seem overly unsettled by the decline of Italy by rating agency Standard & Poor's, a decision yet unexpectedly revives the specter of a contagion of debt crisis in the eurozone.

Values, Xilinx lost 2.38% at the opening. The programmable chip maker cut its revenue forecast for the second quarter due to the sluggishness of some of its markets.

This evaluation suggests that the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm may have caused less damage than feared by insurance professionals.

According EQECAT, the bulk of the damage in both states was recorded in North Carolina, including unusual waves and flooding.

Added compensable damage suffered in the Caribbean, estimated between 300 and 600 million, now estimated EQECAT Irene has so far caused damage of between 500 million and one billion dollars.

This is less than the estimates of the competitor AIR Worldwide, which refers to 1.1 billion damage in the Caribbean region alone.

Estimates of damage to the rest of the United States are expected in Monday.

Although it remains optimistic about the long term, the Fed chief has said that some changes were still troubling.He particularly said that the Fed would meet two days in September, instead of originally planned to study, among other things, the possibility of providing the economy with a new monetary stimulus.

The central bank lowered its growth outlook for the U.S. economy, Bernanke continued, noting that the policy of the central bank had a priority to boost growth, without going into details his intentions.

"It is clear that the recovery after the crisis was much less robust than we had hoped," he said in a speech he was to deliver at the annual meetings of the Fed's Jackson Hole ( Wyoming).

The dollar rose and the stock market increased its losses in reaction to his comments, some stakeholders have hoped for something more clearly in favor of further monetary easing.

"The fundamental growth of the United States appear to have been permanently affected by shocks of the past four years," said Bernanke."The economic recovery will take time and there may be setbacks wipes along the way (…) However, the treatment should not leave large scars."

Bernanke stressed that most of the work to establish a solid foundation supporting growth in the long term was within the White House and Congress.

"The financial stress have been and continue to be an obstacle to the resumption of importance here, as elsewhere," he said."It is difficult to assess how these developments have affected economic activity so far, but it is almost certain that the confidence of households and businesses has been altered and that this poses risks for growth well represented" .

"Small Steps"

The Fed said earlier this month that it would leave close to zero its intervention rate for two more years at least and it was reviewing what steps it might take to further boost growth.

Bernanke has only repeat the last monetary policy statement the Fed after which it examines the choices available and ready to act if necessary.

Some markets have began to hope that it will launch a new wave of quantitative easing (EQ3), having already repurchased 2,300 million of bonds.Many analysts see the Fed act more modestly, for example by reconstructing its asset portfolio to longer maturities.

"Monetary policy must respond to economic changes and, in particular, the prospects for growth and inflation," he said Bernanke, reiterating that lower commodity prices would bring inflation back to 2 % or slightly less, which are the target of the central bank.

In an interview with CNBC is published before Bernanke's speech, Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed, said buying more bonds would be of great help to an economy that has grown only 1% in the second quarter, after 0.4% the previous quarter.

Plosser is one of the champions of the fight against inflation in the Fed and had objected to what it decides to inform the market of its intention to let the ultra-low rates for two more years at least.

Some at the Fed raised the possibility of buying more debt to sell long and short instruments, which could generate a downward pressure on long rates even without inflating the balance sheet of the central bank.

Apart from the psychological effect, a decline in long rates might encourage purchases of homes and automobiles, and business investment.

"These are small steps," said John Silvia, economist at Wells Fargo. "This is not the time to forge ahead under full sail."

Some members of the Fed saw no great merit in the attempt to influence long rates."This would not have much effect, we've long been analysts for the show," said Reuters and James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Fed.

Around 9:30, the CAC 40 index, which gained 2.89% Thursday, losing 1.65% to 3038.81 points after opening up 0.51%.

Very sensitive to changes in public debt crisis on both sides of the Atlantic, the big banks are making large losses. Societe Generale, biggest drop in the index, lost 2.78%, 2.33% Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas 1.89%.

The cyclical as Technip (-2.22%) head back down.Lafarge loses 2.21%, Goldman Sachs no longer purchase the title of the cement.

Carrefour (3.15%) is head increases the CAC 40. Wal-Mart Stores has hired UBS as the bank board in order to study a possible takeover of the Brazilian subsidiary of French group, a source familiar with the matter.

London yields 0.2%, 0.5% and Frankfurt Milan 0.9%.

The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index lost 1%.

In the bond market, all the 10-year rate in the euro area relax as investors seek the safety of government bonds.

The euro declined and traded around 1.4165 dollars against 1.4225 on Thursday.

Vehicle production is interrupted in April at Saab, suppliers refusing to deliver more parts until they have been paid.

Lars Holmqvist, Director of the European automotive suppliers, told Reuters that the Spanish supplier Matrici S.Coop preparing an application for bankruptcy of Saab on the grounds that the manufacturer owes him two million euros.

The Spanish company could not be reached immediately.

In July, Saab was able to avoid the bankruptcy of one of its units by entering into an agreement with the supplier SwePart Verktyg AB.

"Some companies expect and receive no response.Others have heard that some had been paid in part, what irritates them greatly, "reported Lars Holmqvist.

"They realize that there is no alternative but to seek bankruptcy, because obviously in this case, Saab will pay."

He has said he was approached by German suppliers, who reported each of around five million euros of debt on Saab.

A spokesman for the Swedish carmaker, said: "We know in what situation we are. We work very hard to resolve it and ensure more stable funding."

While S & P downgraded Friday to AA + the United States and matched their score with a negative outlook, Paris and London still enjoy a stable outlook on its triple-A, said Moritz Kraemer, quoted by the German economic daily Handelsblatt.

"We note the risk that we perceive the prospect that we attribute," he said.

"Accordingly, the United States were negative watch, and we have a stable outlook for both France and for Britain, which indicates that this point of view we do not anticipate a reduction in the next two years. "

France – which shows the worst ratios of fiscal group of "triple A" in the euro area (France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg) – will honor its commitments to keep the note allowing it to fund the best conditions in financial markets, said Tuesday morning the budget minister Valérie Pécresse.

The budget deficit of the French state amounts to 61.3 billion euros at end-June against 61.7 billion a year earlier, according to data released Tuesday by the Budget Ministry.