The new car registrations fell 7.6% last month to 179,160 units, show statistics released Thursday by the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA).

They were up 2.8% in October, thanks to commercial offers to individuals.

The figures quoted in the November raw data and working day adjusted, in November 2011 that counted as 20 working days in November 2010.

The Nikkei lost 34.31 points to 8,769.09 and the Topix, larger yielded 1.57 points (-0.21%) to 750.45.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou concluded an agreement with the opposition to form a coalition crisis supposed to approve the bailout of the country put together in late October in Brussels.

But in detail, both parties have provided little information on how this will unfold, including uncertainty about the identity of the future prime minister who will lead the coalition.

The euro area, you love it or leave it. This was essentially the message from Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel George Papandreou yesterday evening after a mini-crisis summit in Cannes. French President and German Chancellor had laid their conditions in the referendum decided by the Greek Prime Minister: consultation should not include the bailout of the euro but on the desire to remain or not in the euro area. And it should take place before Christmas.

From that moment, George Papandreou began successive setbacks leading to consider later in the day to withdraw its proposed referendum."One of the benefits for Greece out of the euro area is to default on its debt of 100%, but funding needs remain still very important," Jesus Castillo analysis, an economist at Natixis. Indeed, if it defaulted on its debt unilaterally and not coordinated with its creditors, Greece will be banned for a long time in financial markets. But the Greek public deficit, excluding debt burden, reached another 2.5% of GDP. To provide for turning the machine, the Greek state will have to reduce spending by 3 billion euros.

Moreover, the main losers of a total failure would not be French or German banks, but banks Hellenic, which hold a total of 52 billion Greek bonds, 15% of the debt. But the margin of Greek banks is very limited, if not nonexistent.

The Nikkei lost 62.08 points to 8,988.39 and the Topix, larger yielded 7.37 points (0.96%) to 764.06.

The Bank of Japan intervened in foreign exchange markets to counter speculation that makes the yen to rise and threatens to seal the country's recovery after the earthquake of March, announced the Minister of Finance Jun Azumi.

The Nikkei took up 1.1% immediately after the announcement, which reduced the yen against the dollar, and some investors doubted that the yen could remain permanently low, took the opportunity to pocket their profits.

Honda Motor, Toshiba and Panasonic have lost respectively 3.68%, 3.86% and 2.06%, while their results were expected after the close. The three exporters are not only affected by the force of the Japanese currency but are in addition to their production in Thailand affected by the floods.

"Bringing France to a system that works", "max out of Germany" … Yesterday, in his television interview, President Nicolas Sarkozy has once again praised the German economic success and the interest that France would have to be inspired.Henrik Uterwedde, deputy director of the Franco-German Institute in Ludwigsburg, analysis for expansion. Com fascination of French politicians for our neighbors.

How to interpret the willingness yesterday by Nicolas Sarkozy to "bring together the French and German economies"?

Henrik Uterwedde: I hear the speech, I wait for the acts, because this question is asked repeatedly by French politicians. In the 1970s, already, the president Valery Giscard d'Estaing had made the statement that Germany had more resilient to oil price shocks than France, and that, therefore, be based on the German model. But it was especially for the then government to denounce the behavior of unions and to better accept the French policy of fiscal restraint.We find ourselves a bit in the same situation today: the idea of ​​convergence is exploited for domestic policy.

In terms of unemployment, growth, public finances, Germany displays much better than France. Have we still not reasons to get closer to the German model?

Yes on the thoroughness, a word too long banned in France … However, each country has its own peculiarities, and it is difficult to translate the policies of the neighbor. We can watch what is happening elsewhere, but everyone must then find its way. Just look at the weight of SMEs in the economy, which is a major difference between France and Germany. The strength of our "Mittelstand", this network of small and medium enterprises, largely explains our export performance.

Research firm, which also reported a slowdown in activity in the third quarter, does not mention in its press release of a forecast growth in sales for 2011.

The group had said previously a target organic growth of over 6%.

"However, this reduction in growth prospects do not undermine the objective of Ipsos – Synovate out – to reach a record operating margin of at least 11% in 2011," the company said in a statement .

Ipsos, which became the third largest global market research industry by closing early October the acquisition of Synovate, said that the activity of the new entity should return to a normal rhythm "no later than summer 2012 ".

The third quarter sales of Ipsos, Synovate out to be consolidated from 1 October 2011, was $ 287.6 million, up 5.4% at constant scope and exchange rates, while Analyst estimates ranged from 5.6% to 6.0%.

It reflects a slowdown after growth of 6.4% announced in the second quarter and increased 6.2% over the first three months of the year.

The first nine months of the year, organic growth stood at 6.0% for sales to 845.8 million euros.

"The operating margin was up compared to the same period of 2010," said the company in a statement, without providing any figure indicated.

The French research company was particularly penalized in the third quarter by the slowdown in its business market research and advertising associated with a reduction in the number of client projects, Ipsos said.

Emerging economies, however, take the pace, with organic growth of 17% over nine months.

In its statement, the company said that the merger of the teams Synovate and Ipsos should be effective from January next year before the launch of a new integrated offering scheduled for February 15.

But if the decision of the rating agency to assess the stable outlook of the French financial risk rating to weigh on confidence vis-à-vis the currency area in the coming weeks, there is little chance that the risks associated materialize in the short term.

As for the long term, permanent mechanism for stability, which could take effect in July 2012, will shield the single currency which will have a solid capital structure and legal personality, making it impervious to turmoil on the notes of the national constituent countries.

Moody's justified its decision Monday night focusing on the risks to French growth and the potential costs of bank recapitalization and support to troubled countries in the euro area.

The news comes at the worst time when the leaders of the euro area, meeting Sunday in Brussels to agree on a strategy for Greece and their banks, already suffering from a lack of confidence from investors after almost two years of delay and 14 peaks that have failed to stem the crisis in Greece.

The risk premium associated with the French bonds jumped to a record since the inception of the euro after this warning, which now places a sword of Damocles over the Franco-German couple, the backbone of the currency area and the ultimate guarantor its stability.

Franco-German

The consequences could be felt this week and affect the contours of the European plan to reduce Greece's debt consistently, reinforcing the strength of the euro area banks by recapitalizing and maximize "the firepower of the fund to support the euro area (EFSF) by using leverage.

"The French are clearly vulnerable.It becomes difficult for them to talk on equal terms with Angela Merkel in terms of spreads (the spread between yields on French and German-Ed), "said Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Euler Hermes.

Philippe Waechter, director of economic research at Natixis Asset Management, for its part considers that the new could curb the ability of Europeans to use the EFSF to relieve the ECB in resolving the crisis.

"It's true (that announcements by Moody's) can weaken the EFSF, debts are guaranteed by France to the tune of 158 billion euros, which is significant.It could create a doubt, "he says.

As for Alex Koagne, an analyst at Natixis bank, it is estimated that the bank recapitalization component that is affected first.

"The message from Moody's equivalent to saying that France can not help its banking sector.It's a way of saying: 'If your bank should be recapitalized, they will do in the markets,' "he said.

CALENDAR

Beyond the impact on trust, risk, however, are limited in the short term.

The "multiplier" of EFSF, which could be decided on Sunday, will have no impact on the sovereign ratings of countries in the euro area and could increase the response capacity of the fund to some 2,000 billion euros in guarantees, which does not weigh on the public accounts.

The recapitalization of banks should in turn be primarily via internal reserves and facilities through the market, with limited impact on finances.

Above all, the European Stability Mechanism (MES) could start operating sooner than expected

Legal personality of international institution and its 500 billion euros in capital, which can be more easily "multiplied", will make it impervious to changes in national sovereign debt notes.

The date is now planned on 1 July 2012 but some call for further accelerate this timetable.

Moody's has on its side no plans to go as fast and was given three months to choose whether or not the French note on negative outlook, before eventually withdrawing its maximum score within two years.

Representatives of international donors in Greece (EU-ECB-IMF) urged Friday to the Minister of Transport on the need to deregulate transport, including taxis, said the Greek press agency Ana (semi-official ). The delegation, called Troika, and the minister, Yannis Ragoussis, also discussed the planned restructuring of public transport in Athens, and railroads, committed to a partial privatization, said the Ana.

After the meeting, held behind closed doors in a local government, Mr.Ragoussis agreed on the need "not to yield to the demands corporatist," referring to the mobilization since the summer of taxi owners against the liberalization of their profession, explicitly demanded for months by the troika. The meeting, scheduled before the Ministry has been postponed until mid-day, due to a manifestation of thirty employees who were blocking the entrance of the premises, protesting against the measures provided for compression of the public sector.

Friday morning, following the return of the troika in the country to endorse austerity measures announced by the government hopes to secure the release of the sixth tranche of the loan granted to the country in 2010, other ministries, including Finance and Environment, remained "occupied" by officials who are protesting against the austerity imposed. The talks with the troika M.Ragoussis occur before the next parliamentary scrutiny of the bill opening the taxi industry to competition. The measure provoked the ire of the owners of small employers who refuse to enter the market of large corporations. The tug-of-war between taxis and the government has been ongoing since the summer, with series of strikes that disrupted traffic and hinder tourism and urban services. The final took place on Wednesday and Thursday as part of a strike by public transport in Athens, which has completely paralyzed the capital.

For their part, employees of companies of buses, trolleys and trams have been involved in the strike to protest against lay-off thousands of employees of public companies under the government as part of fiscal austerity .The auditors of the troika had left Athens on September 2 after finding a new slide in the Greek government accounts, to allow time for the Government to take additional measures designed to meet the objectives of reducing the public deficit.

The troika, consisting of Matthias Mors representing the European Union, Klaus Masuch of the European Central Bank (ECB) and a representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must also meet Friday afternoon with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos. Another thorny issue to be discussed, the implementation of measures laid off in the broader public sector, covering 30,000 employees by the end of December.This subject, which was initially included in cabinet Thursday, is on the agenda of an extraordinary cabinet meeting convened by Prime Minister George Papandreou on Sunday on the eve of a meeting of finance ministers from the euro area in Luxembourg.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou would meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Friday to discuss the plan to end the crisis, said on Thursday a source close to the case in Athens. France is one of the main funders of Greece, with Germany, which was Tuesday Papandreou, who met with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Chancellor said it was awaiting the findings of the audit conducted by the troika of the country's creditors, representatives of the EU, the ECB and IMF, who arrived Thursday in Athens to whether there should or not renegotiate the terms of the second international aid plan decided on July 21 in Brussels by the euro area.

"Should we renegotiate, or not renegotiate? We would prefer of course that the figures remain unchanged, but I can not predict (the outcome of) the troika," said German Chancellor Wednesday in an interview with Greek state television NET . "We were obviously disappointed that apparently the numbers (the Greek budget deficit, Ed) in September were not as they should be. So we must wait and see what conclusions the troika arrives, the mission experts, what it tells us, "said Merkel.

For its part, the French Minister of Economy, Baroin said Wednesday evening that there was "no alternative" to the background, being ratified in several countries in Europe. "We have a plan" and "yes, France will continue to support the strategy of support" to a partner in the euro area, saidBaroin to the public television channel France 2. "This is the only strategy," he said. "There is no alternative to the declination of the agreement of July 21" and "there is no alternative to the implementation" of the European emergency fund, the EFSF, he said.

The plan, according to the French minister, will "ensure and support measures over time and measures to prevent contagion in large countries such as Spain and Italy." The European Agreement of 21 July expanded the toolbox of EFSF, which was established in 2010 to help countries in financial difficulty.It provides support some 160 billion euros to Greece to avoid bankruptcy, and most importantly, for the first time, the involvement of private banks in the rescue process, which agreed to voluntarily participate in an exchange program bonds when they lose 21% of their implementation, to avoid losing everything in case of bankruptcy of the country. Heads of Mission of the troika comprising the three main creditors of the countries (EU, IMF and ECB) are scheduled to resume Thursday in Athens their audit of the accounts of Greece after almost a month break.

Standard & Poor's downgraded Friday the long-term rating of Groupama, a decision to which the French group had prepared internally by announcing Thursday a savings plan and measures to strengthen its financial profile.

"We will now give priority to profitability rather than market share gains (…) Also, we do not expect to make acquisitions in this period (2012-2015), "said Jean Azema, CEO of Groupama, in an interview published Monday.

"The stock market listing of Groupama is reported at period end, that is to say more towards 2015," he adds.

The Director General further states have no particular concern about the solvency of Groupama by the end of the year and believes that a solvency ratio below 100% is not part of the scenarios to the agenda 2011.

"I will not deny that the situation is a bit tense, because we used to be far in excess of 150%. But it is only due to the collapse of financial markets.I have no concern for the end of the year, "he says.

"The measures we are taking should gradually return to our solvency margin to 150%. They should also allow us to improve our underwriting results with a combined ratio (total claims and expenses to premiums) around 98%" , says he.

Asked about the participation of Groupama, including the capital of Societe Generale, Jean Azema said that the investments of his group were part of the long term.

He also stressed the strength of French banks.

"Let us not forget that they have very strong fundamentals.This is what I see, especially as a director of Societe Generale. "

Groupama is exposed to the European sovereign debt to the tune of 770 million euros at end-June in Portugal, Greece and Ireland, as well as $ 1.5 billion to Italy and 670 million for Spain detailed the CEO.