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JPMorgan has been the subject of Wednesday two lawsuits from some of its shareholders, who accused the bank and its executives for taking excessive risks that led to trading losses of at least two billion announced last week.

A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase declined to comment on these two complaints that were filed in federal court in Manhattan.

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Industrial production grew only by 9.3% in April against 11.6% in the first quarter. This is the lowest figure since May 2009. Retail sales, exports and investment also slow. A factory in China flat panel displays.

China announced Friday a slowdown in inflation but also the smallest increase in industrial production in almost three years, two factors that should prompt the government to further relax its monetary policy to stimulate growth.

Industrial production grew only by 9.3% in April against 11.6% in the first quarter. This is the lowest figure since May 2009 when the increase was 8.9%. "The Chinese economy is even weaker than expected, with growth of industrial production in the single digits for the first time since the global financial crisis," said Alistair Thornton, economist at IHS Global Insight, based in Beijing.

Any effect of the second world economy is also reflected in a slower increase in retail sales, gauge consumer spending, which rose in April by 14.1% year on year, against 15.2% in March and 14.8% for the entire first quarter. "The figures of consumption and production (industrial) showering even more hopes for a resumption of rapid growth in China," said Mark Williams, an analyst at Capital Economics.

Finally, investments in fixed capital, contributing to over half of the formation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China also see their rise on a year to slow to 20.2% for the first four months of the year, whereas it was 20.9% for the first quarter. These weaknesses of the economy should prompt the government to ease its monetary policy, especially since the rise in consumer prices slowed to 3.4% yoy in April, against 3.6% in March.  

The level of inflation remains well below the 4% threshold set in March by the government, which closely monitors the evolution of prices to maintain social stability in a politically sensitive period, with the coming to power a new generation of leaders scheduled for the fall. On a year, food prices remain the main contributor to the rise, with 7% growth, which disproportionately hits the poorest households because they spend a larger portion of their income on food. But about a month, food prices fell 0.9% in April.

"The priority for the Chinese economy is not inflation but rather how to maintain economic growth," he told AFP Liao Qun, an economist at China Citic Bank International in Hong Kong. The producer price, which provides an early indication of future inflation, for their part, declined year on year by 0.7% in April. They had already declined in March but only 0.3%. "The extremely low index of producer prices will be one of the main factors that will force the government to further easing" monetary policy, according to Mr. Thornton.

Monetary easing seems all the more necessary that the Chinese economy is less and less driven by export growth, which suffer from the debt crisis in Europe, and struggling to find a relay in domestic demand. In April, growth in exports over the year fell to 4.9% and imports were virtually flat with only 0.3% increase, according to figures released by Customs on Thursday. These figures are significantly below the target of foreign trade growth of about 10% by government decree in 2012.

This smaller increase in foreign trade of China has contributed to the slowdown in growth, from 9.7% in first quarter 2011 to 8.1% in the first quarter of this year. To support the activity, the central bank will soon lower the reserve requirements for banks, allowing them to lend more, analysts said. Two drops of these reserves, very high in China, have already taken place in December and February.

General Motors announced Wednesday consider selling its manufacturing plant in Strasbourg gearboxes and be looking for investors willing to maintain the site activity.

The U.S. automaker, which announced in February an alliance with PSA Peugeot Citroen, has appointed an advisory bank and committed a "strategic review" concerning both the production engineer neering and development of this plant, says in a statement.

He was willing to explore the internal and external solutions to find "viable alternatives and potential solutions to secure the future of the site".

General Motors intends to favor buyers who will continue the work site, which employs a thousand people. 

This file may be one of the first industrial sensitive topics for the new president Francois Hollande, in a context of overcapacity in the hunt for European automotive sector.

Last year, the plant produced 280,000 automatic transmissions with six speeds, mainly for GM brands and BMW, mostly for vehicles assembled outside Europe.

This is the second time that General Motors is trying to lease the site. During the 2008 financial crisis, the company charged with liquidating the assets of the American manufacturer had not found a buyer. In 2011, a year after his brief for the procedure of bankruptcy, GM had bought the plant for a symbolic euro.

At the time, employees had accepted a two-year wage freeze in exchange for guarantees on jobs.

"There are several commitments in place to continue the manufacture of transmissions for years," assured Jim Cain, spokesman for GM.

Adecco is Tuesday first-quarter results better than expected, while announcing that the European environment is expected to remain difficult as North America, the second largest market of digital ; ro a global placement of personnel, should instead continue to do well.

The net result of the first three months of the yearâ increased 12% to 112 million euros, while analysts polled by Reuters had expected on average 100 million.

"We started in 2012. The turnover of the first quarter of 2012 is almost the same level as in the first quarter of 2011, a solid performance given the headwinds that blow in Europe, "says Patrick de Maeseneire, Director General ral of the Swiss group, said in a statement

. "Our sales in North America continued to hold up well." Revenues

the period rose 2% to 5.035 billion euros, against a consensus of 4.991 billion ..

……. Randstand, Dutch rival Adecco, spoke about the uncertain developments in Europe while the U.S. pre Manpower said ; see a double digit decline in southern Europe in the second quarter

.

Deutsche Lufthansa on Wednesday released a quarterly loss higher than expected, attributed to the surging cost of jet fuel.

Operating loss for the first quarter amounted to 381 million euros against a negative balance of 169 million a year earlier. The consensus gave a loss of 289 million euros.

The German airline, which must publish all of its accounts Thursday, has also reported a turnover up 5.6% to 6.6 billion euros.

Lufthansa has also reported a net loss of EUR 397 million against a loss of 507 million a year earlier.

It anticipates for 2012 an operating profit of around 500 million euros.

Honda Motor said Friday it planned for the year that has just begun operating profit increased almost three in favor of an expected surge in car sales Asia and the continued recovery of the U.S. market.

The third Japanese car maker turns the page on a 2011-2012 fiscal year marked by natural disasters-earthquake and tsunami in Japan, floods in Thailand-and the strong yen.

For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Honda expects an operating profit of 620 billion yen (5.8 billion) against 231.36 billion for the one that just ended. 

This forecast is below analysts' expectations, who see a figure of 645 billion yen, but remained optimistic for a reputable company to the prudence of these projections of results.

"The North American market is gradually picking up and we enter into new segments in Asia. We believe that we will grow faster than the market, "said Tetsuo Iwamura, executive vice president of Honda

…… The latter told … see a car market of 14.3 million vehicles in the U.S. this year, against 13.5 million in 2011

… He added that …… Honda, whose sales of the new version of "crossover" CR-V increased by over 25% in the U.S. since the beginning of the year , wanted to join as soon as possible a share of over 10% of the U.S.

. The group plans to jump from 2012 to 2013 38.4% of its global sales of cars, to 4.3 million units and a 10.2% increase in shipments of two-wheelers, to 16.6 million copies. 

For the last quarter of 2011-2012, Honda has reported a jump of 142.3% of operating profit, the production of Japanese automaker is back to normal Aftern ; s the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan March 11, 2011.

Over the three months to March, operating income stood at 111.98 billion yen (1.05 billion euros), a figure lower than the 123.2 billion average expected by analysts according to Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S.

Net income, which includes the results released in China rose 60.7% to 71.59 billion yen.

Honda is a Japanese manufacturer that has suffered most from natural disasters in Asia in 2011. 

The group has restarted its Thai factory in March after a period of six months.

The Eramet Group, whose sales fell 10% in the first quarter, said Thursday that operating profit in the first half should be lower than the first half 2012 due to the falling price of nickel and manganese.

The turnover of the mining group totaled 877 million euros in Q1 2012 against 973 million a year earlier (-7% at constant perimeter.)

The decline is 20% in the activity of manganese and nickel in 13% compared to first quarter 2011, while world production of stainless steel fell by around 3%. 

"As previously announced, average prices of nickel and manganese are the beginning of the year at levels below the current average of 2011 ", said in a statement the group, who still expects an increase of its turnover in the second quarter compared to first quarter 2012.

European shares ended sharply lower Monday, falling to a low of three months while disappointing economic indicators in the eurozone and political uncertainty in France and the Netherlands are threatening to stir the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

In Paris the CAC 40 finished down 2.83% to 3,098.37 points, its lowest level in four months. The UK FTSE lost 1.85% and 3.36% the German Dax, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 2.32%.

"The economic dynamics in the euro area is weakening and it will be more difficult for governments to achieve fiscal targets in an environment of low growth," said Emmanuel Cau, strategists ge at JPMorgan AM.

The sector index Stoxx 600 banks in the euro area fell by 4% to its lowest level since last November.

GDF Suez was down 2.68% despite increased performance in the first quarter thanks to Britain's International Power. It also confirmed its annual targets.

STMicroelectronics, largest decline in the CAC 40, fell 13.8% after the announcement of a further restructuring of its joint venture ST-Ericsson.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday it has presented his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix, who said she would consider it, paving the way for the e selection of a new parliament.

In France, Socialist Francois Hollande, topped Sunday, and the outgoing president, Nicolas Sarkozy, launched the campaign for the second round on May 6, whose outcome will depend part of the attitude of the voters of Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the National Front. 

On the purely economic front, the flash PMI released in the morning came out below the most pessimistic estimates and raised fears a continuing recession in the euro area.

European shares closed sharply lower Friday, weakened by the tensions of the Spanish sovereign debt and growth of Chinese considered disappointing first quarter.

In Paris the CAC 40 lost 2.47% to 3,189.09 points, regaining its level of more than two months.

For the week, shortened because of Easter Monday, the index lost 3.94%.

The decline was accentuated in the afternoon after an indicator of U.S. consumer sentiment slightly below expectations and statements of Klaas Knot, member of the Board of Governors of the European Central Bank, hoping to avoid having to resort to new purchases of government securities. 

"After rising yesterday as investors returned to the real problems of the Spanish debt. Klaas Knot's statements have put water on the fire," said Pierre Barral, portfolio manager at Convictions AM.

Klaas Knot, at a conference in Amsterdam, said:

"The instrument has not been used for a long time but it exists. I'm glad it was not used, I hope we will never to use it. "

"I do not think we are approaching the precipice, I think the markets have overreacted a little" (for Spain).

The London Stock Exchange yielded 1.03%, 2.36% Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid 3.43% 3.58%. Of the European indices, the Euro Stoxx 50 lost 2.58% and 1.63% Eurofirst 300.

Bank stocks and cyclicals suffered the largest declines sector in Europe, with a loss of 3% for the bank and 2.6% for cars.

The euro a little more resistant than shares and lost 0.8% against the greenback around 1.3080 dollar.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended down 0.53% Thursday, limiting its losses in the wake of the sharp drop on Wall Street and European markets.

The Nikkei fell 52.38 points to 9,767.61 points after touching a low four-week session and the Topix broader point yielded 2.79 points (-0.33%) to 832.57 points.

Toshiba has closed up 1.73%. The world number two flash memories is considering an alliance with South Korea's SK Hynix Semiconductor to buy Elpida Memory, according to the Nikkei newspaper.

Values ​​have been car clearances, leaving Toyota and Honda Motor 0.72% 1.13%.