The rate of unemployment in the eurozone and the EU at 27, continues to increase. Under the impact of the crisis, he crossed the month of December 2009 to below 10% for the euro area, a level not reached since its inception in 1998. The unemployment rate in this area was in November to 9.9% and 8.2% in December 2008. Within the European Union to 27, unemployment is also growing, reaching 9.6% in December against 9.5% the previous month.
In total, therefore, 4.628 million more unemployed recorded by the European Union to 27, particularly affected by the crisis on the employment front, since December 2008.
Belgium (8.2% unemployment in December), Luxembourg (6.2%) and Germany (7.5% unemployment only partly through the use of massive unemployment) are the least impacted by unemployment, while Latvia (22.8%), Estonia (15.2% in the third quarter 2009) and Lithuania (14.6 in the third quarter of 2009 as well), beat the European record of rising to a year.
With unemployment of 10.0% in December 2009, France is however exactly the average of the eurozone.
This is without state support that Ford has managed to overcome its difficulties. The U.S. manufacturer announced Thursday it had made a net profit of 2.699 billion dollars over the full year 2009. A performance to be compared with the heavy loss of 14.766 billion harvested in 2008. Over the year, turnover was down to 138.1 against 118.3 billion in 2008.
The group included supporting a very successful fourth quarter. Over this period, the second largest U.S. behind General Motors reports net earnings of $ 868 million against a loss of about 5.978 billion dollars a year earlier. The per share earnings is 25 cents, hardly less than the 26 cents analysts who had forecast. Over this period, revenues totaled $ 35.4 billion against 29 billion a year earlier, an increase of 22%.
Before the opening of Wall Street, the title jumped 2.68% to 11.86 dollars.
$ 500 million quarterly savings
To obtain this result, Ford has relied on reducing structural costs of automotive operations payday advance . A total of 500 million dollars were saved in the fourth quarter. The group did not hesitate to pursue a higher price for its vehicles. His arm Ford Motor Credit has contributed to higher profits in this period with a profit before tax of $ 696 million against a loss of 372 million in 2008.
Ford is the only manufacturer of the "Big Three" of Detroit (with General Motors and Chrysler) have not gone bankrupt. It is reassuring for the future and plans to write "a profit before tax and excluding exceptional items for 2010, without specifying numbers.In addition to profitability, the group is including a U.S. car market between 11.5 and 12.5 of vehicles this year. In the year 2009 in the United States, sales at Ford fell 15.4% to 1.68 million units. Note that, after hesitating a large part of the morning, the Paris Bourse is moving more strongly in the green then qu'affluent results of U.S. companies show no surprises.
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China takes the issue of energy efficiency head on. The central government announced Wednesday the creation of a National Commission of Energy. Its mission: "to strengthen the strategic and policy coordination in the energy field.
This Commission will be chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao and co-chaired by Vice-Premier Li Kegiang. Among the 21 members it will have included several ministers.She will be responsible for developing "a national strategy on energy, key issues relating to security and energy development" for the overall coordination in domestic and international cooperation in this field, explains the central government, in his statement.
A voracious appetite for energy
During a visit to the headquarters of the National Commission of Electricity Regulation in Beijing, January 14, the vice-premier Li Kegiang stressed the need to intensify efforts to ensure security of supply China's energy. The country has experienced sharp drops in temperatures and heavy snowfall this winter, which boosted energy demand and tight supply, said Li Kegiang.
After the winter, the supply remains a critical issue for China.Driven by economic and population growth over the past thirty years, Chinese energy consumption has exploded. China has become the second largest energy consumer in the world behind the United States pay day loans .
The critical issue of supply
Its energy dependence is increasing accordingly. Thus, the country has been dependent to 52% of its crude oil imports in 2009, against 47% in 2006, says AFP. According to Wang Xudong, president of the National Commission of Electricity Regulation, Chinese consumption of electricity could rise by 7% this year if the country maintains its economic growth rate of 8%. Consumption had increased by 6.44% in 2009 compared to 2008, according to figures from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.Coal, however, still represents 70% of the energy consumption of China.
Focus on efficiency of energy policy
For Beijing, centralization is the answer to this challenge of supply. "Energy policy is now conducted by various ministries and local authorities," said Xu Bei, economist at Natixis. "The creation of this new body will respond to an emergency security of energy supply." The main domestic priority.
Ultimately, the Commission could also help Beijing to seal agreements on international cooperation, said He Jun, of Anbound Consulting. Provided that his role is really detached from that of many other government agencies that account China.
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Contracts on U.S. stock indices suggest opening up Wall Street after three sessions of consecutive decline markets suffered the effect of uncertainty on profits in the banking sector related to Barack Obama's desire to limit risk taking . On Monday, the future of Dow Jones rose 0.63% to 10,214 points, future increases in the Standard & Poor's and Nasdaq are more timid: 0.08% for each.
The markets are relieved by the prospect of an upcoming confirmation by the U.S. Senate, the appointment of Ben Bernanke for a second term as president of the Federal Reserve.
On the macroeconomic front, if the meeting Monday is looking pretty quiet with only a statistical program, home sales in December – are expected to decline by 10% after rising 7.4% in November — week, it will be more responsible.In addition to meeting the Monetary Policy Council of the Fed, which must render its decision on rates Wednesday, investors will pay attention to economic data front, starting with the first estimate of U.S. GDP for the fourth quarter 2009, expected on Friday. A follow clues consumer confidence (Conference Board that Tuesday and the University of Michigan Friday) and sales of new homes in December, Wednesday.
As for currencies, the dollar lost ground against the euro, thus yielding 0.4% to 1.419 dollar against the euro, but gained 0.4% against the yen to 90.2 yen Business Card Holders