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PSA Peugeot Citroën is the star of the Paris stock exchange today. Its title flies by nearly 10%, boosted by the announcement of cooperation projects and a possible alliance with General Motors. A PSA Peugeot Citroën plant in Coventry, UK.

The title of French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen flew Wednesday morning at the Paris Bourse, boosted by the prospect of an alliance with General Motors. At 10:10 (9:10 GMT), the value gained 9.80% to 15.80 euros and largely occupied first place in the CAC 40, which lost 0.29%. Analysts at Natixis bank have in turn raised to "buy", against "neutral" before their recommendation on the title, with a price target to 20 euros.

The French manufacturer, sentencing, said review "projects of cooperation and alliances" about which "discussions are ongoing". The site reported Tuesday LaTribune.fr advanced negotiations for a marriage with General Motors. Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand confirmed Wednesday that French was in talks with the U.S.. Florent Couvreur, analyst at CM-CIC Securities, said that PSA is among the largest European manufacturers "most isolated" and that furthermore it is difficult to generate sufficient margins in its core automotive operations. The analyst also puts forward the fact that the company Opel, GM's European subsidiary, "is in the same situation."

Analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, "the first result of such discussions is the need for both companies to improve their position in Europe where all groups except two (Renault and Volkswagen) have recorded losses in the second half 2011 ". Thus, an alliance with PSA GM "could allow these two groups of strong synergies and economies of scale", such investments and R & D (research and development), for Mr. Slater. This merger would allow PSA to benefit from the GM position in Asia and the U.S. while the U.S. would have the opportunity through the French to build on small models, explains the analyst.

"GM-PSA could be the new Fiat-Chrysler", states Mr. Couvreur, while warning against a number of uncertainties. These include the future participation of the Peugeot family, the reaction of other PSA partners (Ford on diesel engines and Toyota in the "mini cars") and whether the alliance has held a probable reduction in overcapacity Europe. Analysts at the U.S. bank, however, wonder if this alliance fear materialize and warn that PSA longer needs this merger as GM, "given its dependence on Europe and its inability to cut costs fast enough ".

The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering allowing Greek bonds held by central banks in the euro zone to experience discounts similar to those offered by private investors, told Reuters sources within these central banks.

Central banks in the euro area hold some 20 billion euros of Greek securities in their investment portfolios. They are distinct from the 40 billion euros of debt acquired by the ECB as part of its share buyback program launched in May 2010.

The chances of such a discount applied is 50%, said one source, adding that the issue in discussions within the ECB, to be decided before a definitive agreement with the private sector on debt restructuring Greek, whose conclusion is expected by early next week.

If central banks were willing to take losses on their securities Greek, this would bring to Greece immediately available funds, in addition to 12-15 billion euros in capital gains realized es by the ECB on its debt and that the Greek proposes to reassign indirectly in Athens.

Officials from the euro area are studying how to delay parts of or the entire second level of aid to Greece, if possible until after the election pre views for April, it was learned Wednesday from European sources.

While the new aid package of € 130 billion is now almost ready, the finance ministers of the euro area are still not satisfied with the commitments of the Greek political leaders to implement the agreement, which realizes that Athens provides further budget cuts and introduce many unpopular reforms by 2014.

There are also doubts about the path of debt reduction Greek. It represents about 160% of Greek GDP and the "troika" consisting of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund would like to return to 120% of by 2020.

"There are proposals to delay the Greek package or cut into parts, so that immediate fault is avoided, but without commitment on the whole (package)" said one source.

"The options will be discussed (…) There is pressure from several countries to hold things until there is a concrete commitment in Greece, which could not come before the elections, "they added.

A telephone conference of finance ministers of the euro area must take place at 17:00.

German exports in December accused their most marked decline in almost three years, the first sign that the euro area economy has suffered heavily in the last quarter of re percussion of the debt crisis.

But the figures of the Federal Bureau of Statistics also show that exports have reached record levels in all of 2011, and, according to the latest predictors, the German economy is back on track after a brief contraction.

"Earlier this year, the outlook for the German economy is better, while the global economy gathers momentum and the uncertainty surrounding the debt crisis eases ", Ulrike Rondorf analysis, economist at Commerzbank. 

The euro stood Wednesday peaks several weeks against the dollar and the yen, investors hoping to make Greece the austerity measures demanded in return for a second bailout.

On a seasonally adjusted, German exports fell 4.3% in December, their most marked decline since January 2009. Economists polled by Reuters on average expected a decline of only 1.0%.

The trade surplus has settled to 13.9 billion euros after 14.9 billion (revised figure) in the previous month and 14.0 billion expected.

THINNING FOR

The German economy, export-oriented, quickly recovered from the 2008-2009 financial crisis but the budgetary problems of the euro area and the global economic downturn have clouded his growth prospects.

The first official estimate reported a contraction of 0.25% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter and German economic indicators in December were more still bad as feared. 

Industrial production in December suffered its biggest decline since early 2009, heavily disappointing expectations.

Economists were betting on domestic demand to support the economy and anticipated imports up 0.6% in December, but they fell 3.9%.

The trade surplus of Germany, however, reached 158.1 billion euros in 2011, after 154.9 billion in 2010.

This contrasts sharply with the trade deficit of France, which last year reached a record 69.6 billion euros.

The economic forecast surveys also suggest that the slump in the German economy will be short lived. 

The business climate has improved in January for the third consecutive month, while consumer confidence in the horizon of February rose against all odds at its highest level in ten months.

Over the full year 2011, German exports exceed 1,000 billion euros. And the trend is rising: industrial goods orders rose 1.7% in December, despite the erosion of demand from the euro area on the bottom of the debt crisis.

"With the 2008 financial crisis, the importance of different export markets of Germany has changed somewhat, declining slightly in Europe and the rest of gaining importance worldwide, "said Anton Börner, director of industrial consolidation BGA.

The rapid increase of the debt crisis in the euro area threatens the credit ratings of all European states, warned Sunday the U.S. rating agency Moody's. Moody's in New York.

In a "special comment" on European countries published Sunday, Moody's says it still considers that the euro area will maintain its unity without any fault as that of Greece, but notes that even this' scenario 'positive' carries consequences very negative for the notes "of European countries. The U.S. rating agency, recently warned that France could lose its "triple A" allowing it to borrow at favorable rates in the markets, and clearly indicates that no country, even among those considered most solids, such as the Netherlands, Austria, Finland or Germany, is immune to a lowering of note.

Other countries may need help

While countries such as Italy and Hungary have more and more difficult to obtain financing at rates viable markets, Moody's wrote that "the political momentum to implement an effective solution to the crisis could n ' be found after a series of shocks, which could lead more countries to be deprived of access to funding markets for an extended period. " The agency is referring to countries like Ireland, Greece, Portugal or Hungary, which have benefited from one or more financial rescue from the European Union or the International Monetary Fund. She said other countries may need to use this kind of solution if the EU fails to quickly find an adequate response to the crisis, these countries would then most likely lowered their rating to that of a investment "speculative."

Exchanges in the euro area have closed down sharply Friday, with the G20 summit concluded its work without any major decision, and especially without a concrete solution to the debt crisis in the eurozone.

In Paris the CAC-40 lost 2.25% to 3123.55 points. For the week, it yields 6.72%. The other major European markets also ended down: London and Frankfurt lost 0.33% 2.72%. Of the European indices, Eurofirst 300 finally lost 1.02%.

The Wall Street players show the same skepticism, resulting in losses of more than 1% for the three major Dow Jones, S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, despite the employment statistics rather positive.

"The G20 has not entered into by major decisions. It was a big problem with Italy," says one vendor."There is no visibility," he said, adding that the new EU stability "is not forthcoming."

Alexandre Le Drogoff, technical analyst at Aurel BGC, said the "bear market" comes back and that "the current decline in prices should lead to lower annual test" (2693 for the CAC 40, 1935 for the Eurostoxx 50).

The euro transplanted nose against the dollar and appears on course to acknowledge its biggest weekly loss since mid-September, traders in the largest remaining uncertainty about the bailout of Greece in preparation for the vote of confidence.

The Bund future was up, taking advantage of the lack of commitment of the G20 countries on strengthening the participation EFSF, especially after the statements of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The German Government has almost halved its growth forecast for next year, reduced to 1% against 1.8% auparavan.

After several economic research institutes, the German government has significantly revised down its growth forecast for next year, noting the slowdown in the economy under the weight of the financial crisis in Europe. Berlin now expects growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1% in 2012, nearly half its previous estimate of 1.8%, said Wednesday sources close to the government. This forecast should be formalized Thursday by the Ministry of Economy.

The reduction comes as no surprise. Signs of a slowdown in the dynamics have increased recently. The latest business survey, the ZEW, which measures the expectations of analysts and institutional investors, reached Tuesday its lowest level since December 2008.The Ministry of Economy considered himself last week that the risks had "significantly increased" for the first European economy, strong exports. Germany suffers from weaker growth in its European partners, which absorb 60% of its exports.

The main economic research institutes predicted the country in their autumn report, which is the basis for forecasts of Berlin, a decline in GDP in the fourth quarter 2011, followed by stabilization at a low level. The export will not contribute to growth next year, they warned.

Strong last year after the terrible recession of 2009, German growth has largely continued this year and should reach 2.9%, putting Germany in the forefront of Europe.

German manufacturers of cars, machine tools and chemicals filled their order books since last year, and "the companies still much to do to fulfill their orders," Analysis Carsten Brzeski, economist at ING, "this time, they are much better prepared to face a crisis of Lehman type ". The recession following the collapse of U.S. investment bank in 2008 had occurred in a phase of over-capacity of German industry, breaking net momentum.

In the area of ​​machine tools, high of about one million employees and a major exporter, the production growth should slow markedly course next year, warned Tuesday the federation VDMA, but at 4%, remain fully is honorable.

The sequence of events for the German economy, that is "an anchor of stability and growth in Europe" in the words of its Minister of Economy, will very much depend on the outcome of the debt crisis.

EU leaders promise solutions in the coming weeks, and the business press them to do so. But if the remedies proposed were not sufficient to stem the crisis, "the German economy would be penalized more than expected, and would fall into recession," predicted institutes last week. The export collapse, consumer confidence, yet relatively untouched because of a strong labor market, would be reached, and the banking crisis handicap investment, according to worst-case scenario.

The Health Minister urged to sign the mutual agreement on the reimbursement of excess fees by the end of the week, in which case the government "take responsibility". The Minister of Labour and Health Xavier Bertrand

The Health Minister Xavier Bertrand on Tuesday reaffirmed that if by the end of the week did not sign the mutual agreement on the reimbursement of excess fees in certain specialties, parliamentary and government "take responsibility". "I prefer appeasement rather than confrontation," assured the minister of LCI considering that "it is the interest of patients that we take care in an organized and excess fees in certain medical specialties ".

According to Xavier Bertrand, mutual initially had agreed to the project and "bang, because there was the tax on contracts managers, they tell us no.""We need that before the end of the week, there is a meeting to see if it's yes or no, and if yes, when," he said. Without mutual agreement, "the government and parliament take their responsibilities." "We need a clear agreement," he said.

The medical convention signed in July between GPs and health insurance provides for an optional area in which said tariff would fall practitioners who agree to limit their fees, conditional relief from their charges.Les additional reimbursement to patients overruns capped nationally.

They have until September 30 to sign the agreement but they want to continue the discussions, including consideration of regional disparities in rates charged by practitioners.Mutuals are also unhappy with the increase in the tax on their contracts, health caring and responsible decision in the austerity plan.

The Greek authorities have promised Sunday drastic measures to avoid non-payment of debt interest payments and get the next tranche of international aid, but have not announced anything new.

George Papandreou, head of government, gave up a visit to the United States to chair a cabinet meeting on the eve of a crucial deadline for the release of this new installment.

His finance minister Evangelos Venizelos will present Monday, as part of a teleconference, the plan of fiscal consolidation to inspectors of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will decide whether to release the eight billion euros, of which Athens will be needed in October.

After the Council of Ministers, Evangelos Venizelos stressed the need for budgetary targets for 2011 and 2012, and the deficit next year.

"I want to avoid a default.To stabilize the situation, to remain in the euro area (…), we must make strategic decisions, "he said without further detail.

The government will meet again after his meeting with the inspectors to detail the measures adopted.

Fault of payment of that portion of eight billion euros, Greece is insolvent next month.

This week, the government blamed the widening deficit in a recession stronger than expected and decided to impose a new property tax which he expects around two billion euros per year.

The "troika" formed by the inspectors of the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank (ECB) may, however, that this tax does not change the situation and really requires more information on how the government intends to do it to correct the public accounts.

"The troika believes that the recently announced property tax alone will not bridge the budget deficit and pushed for conservation measures, downsizing and wage in the public sector," said a senior Greek.

OPPOSITION wants to renegotiate

International donors are also concerned about the lack of political consensus on how to implement out of the crisis.The conservative New Democracy, spurred by a growing popular discontent after two years of austerity, propose them, measures to boost growth.

Their leader Antonis Samaras called Saturday for early elections, saying that the path followed so far produced no results despite the sacrifices required of the population.

"A renegotiation with our donors to stimulate the economy is a condition to get out of this crisis," he said Sunday at a news conference.

The Socialist Party of George Papandreou has a majority in parliament, but internal differences associated with radical protests against the austerity could lead to early elections, say some observers.

In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble considers that Greece must have a clear mind about his future in the euro area.

"Belonging to a currency union is an opportunity but also a heavy burden. The measures to align its very difficult and the Greeks must decide whether to bear this burden," he said.

"No one should kid ourselves: without a positive assessment by the troika of the commitments of Greece, the next installment will be paid.So the Greeks must have numbers proving that they stick to the plan. "

His French counterpart Francois Baroin recalled his part that the plan of aid to Greece was a loan, not a gift, save for the euro.

"The observers are in place, they continue their work.Greece knows what she has to do it we have said, she has commitments, she has duties vis-à-vis its creditors, it has the requirement to provide answers. "

In the meantime, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini writes Athens plans to make the country's banks credit guarantees of up to about thirty billion to enable them to access the emergency stop of the central bank.

Excluded from the interbank market, Greek banks have become dependent on the ECB for their refinancing, borrowing in its operations in the money market, in exchange for guarantees in the form of sovereign bonds and other assets.

Steve Jobs, Apple's iconic chief, resigned from his position as general manager, said Wednesday night the Apple brand.

On sick leave since January, Steve Jobs has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Apple and Tim Cook replaces the position of CEO.

"I always said if I ever came to not being able to perform my duties and obligations as CEO of Apple, I'd be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come" he wrote in his letter of resignation.

For many analysts, the resignation of Steve Jobs, predictable long-standing, should not prevent the group from Cupertino to continue on the path he laid out, marked by timed out.A new iPhone could also be marketed in September and the third version of the iPad tablet in 2012.

"I would say to investors not to panic and stay calm. Is the right thing to do. Steve Cook is president and CEO," responded Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial.

At 56, Steve Jobs has survived pancreatic cancer and was on sick leave since Jan. 17.

He was briefly interrupted in March when, emaciated, he came to present the new version of the tablet from Apple, the iPad.Steve Jobs was then photographed at a meal with President Barack Obama.

Since sick leave, Tim Cook held the position of CEO on an interim basis.

Steve Jobs spent all day Wednesday at the headquarters of his company in Silicon Valley, officials said a source close to Apple.

He met with the board and his closest collaborators and intends to play an active role in his new role, they added.

"Investors are very comfortable with Tim Cook, even if Jobs was the engine of innovation.Tim has shown that Apple could totally outperform when he was CEO of Apple, "said Shannon Cross, analyst at Cross Research.

Trading in Apple stock was suspended in electronic transactions. By 2300 GMT, it was indicated down 7%.