While the antitrust authorities in Brussels and the United of States have launched investigations into possible abuse of dominant position of Google, which is the French court on Wednesday pulled out the first conviction for that reason. The reason: the free supply of services Google Maps for businesses. The Commercial Court of Paris ruled on the Internet giant guilty of unfair competition to the detriment of the small French company directory Cartographers and imposed a penalty of 500,000 euros in damages and 15,000 euros in fines. Google announced it would appeal the ruling.

"This will trigger the wrath of all other applications Google"

"It's the end of a fight two years is an unprecedented decision," welcomed Jean-David Scemama, a lawyer for the company directory Cartographers that Google had assigned to court in 2009. According to counsel, "is the first time that Google is condemned for its Google Maps application." "Today, all the market needs to know. Google will not stay on a free market and this will trigger the wrath of all the other Google applications," said the lawyer. And he said, the ruling of the Commercial Court opens way for Google's competitors, large groups, but also to other small SMEs to attack the American and force it to market its services.

The Google Maps service are not those referred to the general public, but those developed for companies that integrate maps on their websites. "The map products created by the company directory Cartographies happen to be very similar to those offered by Google free Google Maps API (or application programming interface)," the court noted in its ruling.

"Since the creation of Google Maps, the group's strategy was to say the markets of search engines, I am in a state of abuse of dominant position, but instead on the rest as the Google Maps, I'm on an isolated market, "said Me Scemama. "But the connection between the two markets, and Google directory mapping was demonstrated by the Commercial Court." It also recognizes that a directory Cartographers "underwent a series of injuries is characterized by an undeniable loss of customer and revenue." The court also added that "the practice of free clearly intended to optimize the marketing terms of targeted ads."

Clearly, Google would seek to eliminate competition by providing free services to companies relatively expensive, in order to further capture maximum publicity.

For its part, Google said on Wednesday France "remain convinced that a mapping tool free, high quality benefits both users and for website owners. Competition in this sector remains real for us, both in France and abroad, "according to a statement from a spokesman.

The court also ordered the publication of the sentence in the daily Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Le Monde, Le Figaro, La Tribune and Les Echos.

L counsel argues that Google Directory Cartographers "tried to maintain the service until the end, so much that they have tried just before the hearing to change their methods of sale".

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 two French car manufacturers have made inventory management a priority in order to avoid ending up in case of weaker demand in the same situation in 2008 when they accumulated levels of 80 to 90 days.

Renault wants to reduce its inventory from 50 to 60 days while the PSA is 60 days of inventory at the end of the year, against 76 days in late June.

"The days not worked must not be seen as heralding a fall in demand is a classic fit two months of the end of the year," said a Reuters spokeswoman for Renault.

She cites as evidence that Douai had experienced longer closures in 2009 and 2010.

"If demand was strong, particularly in France, we would not need to reduce the activity, ask instead how we supply the plants," said one union leader of the group in diamond.

The press reported on Monday and Tuesday as work at the Renault plant in Douai (Nord), which is produced Scenic, stop from Wednesday for nearly a week, while in Sandouville (Seine-Maritime) , Flins (Yvelines) and Novo Mesto (Slovenia), the teams would make the bridge from November 1.

In contrast, sites of Maubeuge (Nord) and Batilly (Moselle), respectively, out of which the utilities Kangoo and Master, are not affected by such measures.

Unlike the real short time, the teams concerned retain their full salary, as in the automotive sector, the "days not worked" are drawn from a capital established at time of peak activity.

EUROPEAN MARKET MORE UNCERTAIN

PSA Peugeot Citroën has set up its part of short days on several sites, and up to a week of closing the plant in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) is produced when the Citroen C3.

PSA also suspend production at its plant in Slovakia to the end and mid-November, a decision in this case attributed to lower orders in Europe.

"Apart from Aulnay and Trnava (Slovakia), on the other sites it comes to fine tuning," said a spokesman for SAP.

Plants Aulnay and Trnava are both specialized in small cars, the most affected by the end of scrappage. The Slovak site, the 207 reaches the end of life as her replacement, the 208 will be unveiled to the public next month.

The chief executive of the group, Philippe Varin, warned in September that the European market had become more uncertain in the climate of sovereign debt crisis.He added that if nothing appeared again in the order books, we had to prepare for more difficult times.

PSA and Renault expect a slight relapse of the French automotive market in 2011 and 2012, and an overall stable European market on each of two years. Both manufacturers will release their sales for the third quarter Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

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.

Production increased by 0.2% the previous month, according to the expectations of economists polled by Reuters and after remaining unchanged in August. (Revised from an initial estimate showing an increase of 0.2% in August.)

Production in the utilities fell 1.8% last month.She fell 2.9% in August after the July heat wave that had boosted the use of air conditioners.

The rate of capacity utilization rose to 77.4% against 77.3% (revised from 77.4%) the previous month. (Reuters: 77.5%).

This is the lowest closing price of Brent in seven and a half months.

Shortly before, a barrel of U.S. light crude had ended down $ 1.59, or 2.01% to 77.61 dollars.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) German would be "closer to 3% than 2.5%" this year. This statement comes as concerns about the impact of cooling of the global economy on the German economy, heavily dependent on exports, are more vivid. The official growth forecast of Berlin is 2.6% since April, but throughout the summer German leaders, in unison with most economists, have dangled a much stronger growth , 3% or more.

The new crisis in the financial markets and the turmoil in the euro area, however, have changed the situation.Growth forecasts in the world and the euro area have been revised down recently, including the European Central Bank (ECB) and Thursday by the European Commission. German GDP growth in the second quarter is also emerged well below expectations, to a meager 0.1%.

Renowned research institute, the IfW in Kiel, said Tuesday that Germany was "on the brink of recession," and projected a GDP growth of 2.8% this year and 0.8% only the next year. But Merkel's comments suggest that Berlin could still revise up its official forecast, which should be adjusted in October.

The car, based on a flexible architecture provided by the partner Daimler, will probably not built by Daimler plants nor by those of Nissan.

Besides the goal of exceeding the Lexus brand of Toyota in Europe, Infiniti also hopes to avoid the effect of a strong yen.

"Lexus is paralyzed by the yen to 77 per dollar, that puts them on their knees," said one source.

The euro continued to rise Monday above the threshold of $ 1.45, benefiting from a reflux of the risk aversion of the operators, after the speech the head of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, on Friday . To 15 hours, the European currency was worth 1.4524 dollars against 1.4490 dollars on Friday night. The euro also went further against the yen at 111.49 yen against 111.09 yen Friday.

Overall, the safe havens like the yen and Swiss franc pâtissaient the renewed attraction to risk, which benefited the other hand the European single currency. Ben Bernanke's speech, though no concrete announcement, has indeed been perceived positively by traders."We test the level of $ 1.45 but it's hard. This rise is related to the weaker dollar and renewed risk appetite in the wake of rising equity markets," noted Nordine Naam, bond strategist at Natixis. The strategist has nevertheless argued that the trend was "not strong", while the pair euro-dollar has generally traded in a range located 1.40 and $ 1.45 since May.

The call for an "urgent recapitalization" of European banks, launched Saturday by the Director General of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, did not weigh on the price of the euro. "This is the key to cut the chain of contagion," said Lagarde. It also found that to achieve this, banks should "first seek private funds to" and "using public funds if necessary."

Instead, the operators seemed more attention to the speech from Fed chief, delivered Friday at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Bernanke said that "the foundation of growth" were still there in the U.S., despite the persistence of "risks" weighing on the economy, and said to think that the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) "should improvement "in the second half.

Side of Japan, the appointment by the ruling party's finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, to become the sixth prime minister in five years the country weighed little. "His room for maneuver is very limited, given the debt of Japan. But one wonders whether it will allow more interventions on the foreign exchange market," said Dr. Naam.

Japan is the victim for several months of the high price of the yen, seen as a safe haven, including high levels penalize their exports and weaken the economic recovery of the archipelago after the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear accident in Fukushima .

The torpor of the activity in Italy and Spain, third and fourth economies in the euro area, continues to fuel the concern of the markets, which fear that this lack of not going further complicates their budget equation and does not lead contagion the debt crisis.

According to estimates released by the Bank of Spain, the Spanish economy grew 0.2% in the second quarter compared to the first, against 0.3% in the period from January to March.Economists surveyed expected an average of 0.1%.

For its part, the Italian agency of statistics Istat has reported a growth of 0.3%, as expected, after rising 0.1% on each of the two previous quarters.

But this slight burst Italian looks short-lived after the fall of industrial production in May and June and indicators gloomy side of purchasing managers and the business climate, economists expect that the growth slowed again in the second half.

"Most of the second quarter growth was obtained at the beginning of the period, and indicators over the three months have indeed shown a marked slowdown," notes Raj Badiani, IHS Global Insight.

The same applies to Paolo Mameli, Intesa Sanpaolo: "The weakness in industrial production over the last two months has raised concerns for GDP growth in the third quarter, which, at present, could fall to 0.1 %.Although GDP growth throughout the year, expected around 1%, could actually be below. "

BANK OF SPAIN FOR POLICY "Energy"

Many economists believe now difficult to achieve the growth forecast of 1.1% set by the government of Silvio Berlusconi, although Istat said that "acquired growth" at the end of the second quarter was 0.7%.

From one year to another, the Italian GDP rose 0.8% in the second quarter, a figure also consistent with the consensus of analysts, after +1.0% in the first quarter.

For Spain, this figure stood at 0.7%, as expected, after 0.8% in the first three months of the year.Final data are published in Madrid on August 16.

In its monthly bulletin, the Bank of Spain said that the good performance of tourism in the second quarter helped offset some of the deteriorating consumer spending and manufacturing activity.

However, it believes that the growing tensions in the market for sovereign debt are the main source of risk to growth.

"The information available in the second quarter suggests a weakening of activity in an environment marked by the deterioration of the crisis of sovereign debt in the euro area," said the central bank.

Symbol of these tensions, the bond market has experienced in early trading Friday a new onset of fever, the yield on Italian 10-year surpassing that of the Spanish paper of the same maturity, the first time since May 2010.

The securities to 10 years in Rome at the meeting showed a return of 6.18% while the yield was 6.11% Spanish, levels considered to be difficult to sustain over time.

The Spanish central bank has warned that a rapid and ambitious conclusion of the work on structural reforms would help reduce uncertainty and restore solid growth.

To overcome the debt crisis, European leaders should not hesitate to implement the agreement decided at the summit of 21 July, she said.

"However, in order to contain the contagion, there must also have a strong response in terms of national economic policy."

The Bank of Spain still discern a glimmer of hope: assuming a continuation of the global economic recovery, it evokes the "recovery" predictable Spanish industrial production in the coming quarters.