German Orders Rebound; Kl

Arthi Gupta
08 Mar, 2011
New York City

The European indexes gained after German factory orders rebounded in January. French business sentiment remained flat in February. Swiss and Czech jobless rate fell in February. Kl

[R]1:00 PM Frankfurt – The European indexes gained after German factory orders rebounded in January. French business sentiment remained flat in February. Swiss and Czech jobless rate fell in February. Klöckner fiscal year 2010 sales surged. Microsoft agreed to pay $1 billion to Nokia to promote Windows based handsets.[/R]

World markets advanced after oil prices eased for the first time in three days on the speculation that Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi may surrender power.

Arab TV network Al Jazeera claims Gadaffi proposed a meeting with the Libyan parliament to effectively negotiate surrender terms, which will include immunity from prosecution for Gadaffi plus a “golden parachute” payment. The leaders of the rebel movement have reportedly rejected the overtures.

German economy will continue its recovery this year, helped by robust consumer spending, Bundesbank President Axel Weber said today.

""Germany''s strong cyclical recovery will continue in 2011, albeit at a somewhat slower pace,"" he said while presenting the annual results of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

In Paris CAC 40 Index gained 8.99 or 0.23% to close at 3,999.40 and in Frankfurt DAX Index edged lower 10.34 or 0.14% to close at 7,151.59.

German Factory Orders Rebound

German factory orders grew by a seasonally adjusted 2.9% in January following a revised 3.6% fall in December, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology said.

On a yearly basis, growth in industrial orders was 16% in January compared to 19.6% in December.

French Business Sentiment Static, Trade Gap Widens

French business sentiment remained unchanged at 110 in February; latest survey results from the Bank of France showed on Tuesday. However, confidence among service providers rose slightly to 102 in February from 101 in January.

The Bank of France forecasts 0.8% economic growth in the first quarter of 2011, unchanged from the previous estimate.

French trade deficit rose more than estimated to €5.89 billion in January from €5.06 billion in December, the country''s customs office said.

Swiss Jobless Rate Falls

Switzerland''s unemployment rate dropped in February, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate eased to 3.4% in February from 3.5% in January.

The number of registered unemployed, on an unadjusted basis, declined 3.7% to 143,325 in February from 148,784 in January. From the same month last year, the figure dropped by 29,674 persons. Youth unemployment dropped by 1,170 persons monthly to 21,280.

Czech Jobless Rate Declines

The Czech jobless rate fell to 9.6% in February from 9.7% in January, the Labor Ministry said in a report on Tuesday. The unemployment rate for women was 10.3% and that for men was at 9%.

Job offices paid off unemployment benefits to 182,670 job seekers, 32.2% of all job seekers under registration.

Further, there were 566,896 job seekers in February, down 4,967 from the end of January.

Hungarian Industrial Production Surges

Hungary''s annual industrial production index rose a working-day adjusted 10.9% in January compared to the 5.9% increase in December, preliminary data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

Romania Industrial Turnover, Orders Rise

Romania''s industrial turnover increased 25.5% annually in January, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed. Manufacturing turnover advanced 27.4%, while turnover in the mining and quarrying sector fell 3.2% annually.

On a monthly basis, industrial turnover declined 11% in January, with an 11.1% fall in manufacturing turnover and a 9% drop mining and quarrying turnover.

Romania''s industrial new orders climbed 41.1% on a yearly basis in January, led by a 46.7% growth in intermediate goods orders. On a monthly basis, there was a 13% growth in new orders in January.

Gainers & Losers

Air France-KLM SA gained 0.26% to €11.63 after the French air carrier reported a 5.7% rise in the number of passengers in February 2011 to 5.05 million from 4.78 million in February 2010, despite continuing unfavorable geopolitical context in the Africa/Middle East region and the Europe/North Africa region.

Klöckner & Co SE rose 0.83% to €24.25 after the German steel and metals producer reported fiscal year 2010 sales climbed 34.7% to €5.2 billion. For the year 2010, group net income was €80 million compared to last year''s loss of €186 million. Earnings per basic share were 1.17 euros compared to a loss of 3.61 euros per share a year ago.

Nokia Corporation fell 1.77% to $8.34 after the mobile handset maker will be paid more than $1 billion by Microsoft Corp. to promote and develop Windows-based handsets as part of their smartphone software deal announced in February, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the terms.

RHI AG slumped 3.32% to €25.63 after the company specializing in the field of refractory products and services reported fiscal year 2010 revenues increased 23.1% to €1.52 billion from €1.24 billion last year. Earnings before interest and taxes or EBIT surged 129.9% to €126.0 million as against €54.8 million a year ago.

SCOR S.E. dropped 0.40% to €20.98 after the provider of non-life reinsurance and life reinsurance products reported fourth quarter Group net income surged 64% to €151 million or 0.83 euros per share from €92 million or 0.51 euros per share a year ago. Gross written premiums grew 11.9% to €1.674 billion from €1.496 billion.

Separately, Scor SE is in talks to buy Dutch insurance company Aegon N.V.''s U.S.-based Transamerica Reinsurance unit, a Bloomberg report said citing people with knowledge of the matter.

STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG plunged 5.80% to €30.52 after the manufacturer of fully automated analyzer systems reported fiscal year 2010 sales climbed 28.1% to €102 million from €79.6 million in the prior year. Consolidated net income for the year, on an IFRS basis, rose 11.7% to €13 million or 1.14 euros per share from €11.7 million or 1.03 euros per share last year.