The number of unemployed people in France rose to a fresh high last month, official data shows. There are now some 3.2 million people seeking work in France, 11.5% more than a year ago and 1.2% more than in February, the labor ministry said.   The number of job seekers is the highest since records began in January 1996.  The ministry does not express the job seeker figure as a percentage of the work force, as done by the International Labor Organization.   Speaking earlier during a state visit to China, French President Francois Hollande said the government's priority was tackling France's rising unemployment.  "Everything the government does, in every ministry, must be to continue to strengthen the battle for jobs," he told a news conference.  "I want all the French people to unite behind this one national priority."  He has promised to reverse the rise in unemployment before the end of the year.  The figures underlie the grave economic problems still haunting eurozone economies, after Spain earlier reported record unemployment amid its continuing recession. Speculation is again rife that Greece may soon leave the eurozone.
Greece's parliament is voting on painful budget cuts and labor market reforms that must be passed in order for Greece to receive its latest round of bailout money. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has warned that if the vote fails, the government will run out of money by 15 November and be forced out of the single currency. Even if the vote passes, the government still needs to implement the reforms - something the previous Greek government noticeably failed to do. Tax rates were raised, but the taxes were not collected. Promised privatizations were not carried out. Civil servants were suspended but not dismissed.  If Greece once again fails to deliver, and if it were forced out of the euro, what is the worst that could happen? Click on the graphic to find out.

IN THE WEEK AHEAD

IN THE WEEK AHEAD: Investors will have only a few U.S. economic reports to distract them from the events in Europe. Factory orders and an update from the service sector will be followed by monthly updates on consumer credit and sentiment. Investors will focus on the European summit in Brussels at the end of the week. Yes, we are still talking about Europe. Fiscal union and tighter controls will be the main topics, as the wealthier nations (read: Germany) try to extract a pound of flesh in exchange for a full-fledged bailout of weaker nations. Economists have been saying that to solve the European crisis, Germany would have to come down from its moral high horse and admit it has far too much to lose if the EU were to implode. Last week, Merkel's comments, along with the central bank action, were seen as positive developments towards that end. To wit, stocks were up 7 percent, the strongest weekly performance since 2009. German government bonds, which until recently had been a haven from turmoil in the rest of the euro zone, are losing their allure as the sovereign-debt crisis roils Europe. For most of the two years since Greece's budget woes set off a spiral of selling in the bond markets of some euro-zone countries, German bonds, known as bounds, have benefited from a flight to safety along with Treasury bonds and U.K. gilts. But that relationship started to crack a few weeks ago when Germany had its worst 10-year bond auction in history, which sparked one of the biggest sell offs in some time. Despite the brouhaha about the U.S. jobs report (more on that below), the stock market-moving news last week was all about Europe and the coordinated central bank action to attack one of the symptoms of the European contagion --liquidity for European banks. Sure, the action could be called a "band-aid," but it could also be seen as the necessary preparation for the major procedure that is required to treat the ailing patient.

Germany staged an impressive recovery from the 2008/2009 global economic crisis, but there are increasing signs that the boom is now coming to an end. After almost two years of strong growth, its economic outlook is starting to deteriorate, due to a slowdown in major emerging markets including China and fears of a possible United States recession caused by $2.4 trillion in spending cuts linked to the debt ceiling deal. Various indicators released in recent weeks point to a deceleration of Europe's largest economy. The Ifo business climate index for July fell sharply to its lowest level in nine months, and analysts say it is likely to keep dropping. The ZEW investor sentiment index showed the weakest level since January 2009. And the Markit/BME purchasing managers' index for the German manufacturing sector fell 2.6 points in July to 52 points, its lowest level since October 2009. "New order levels went into reverse in July, as fewer export sales helped end a two-year period of sustained growth," Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, said. German engineering orders in June rose by just 1 percent year-on-year, after having jumped 21 percent in May, the VDMA engineering industry association said. "There are initial indications that demand for investment goods has become less dynamic in Germany and in the other euro member states," said VDMA economist Olaf Wortmann. In addition, top German firms have given more cautious outlooks for the remainder of 2011. Analysts have been paying particularly close attention to what is being said by the chemicals industry, which is regarded as a bellwether for the general industrial outlook because it supplies many different sectors.

Two of the leading Petrom top managers, who were in the company's management team ever since the privatisation of the oil and gas producer in 2004, have this year left to carry out the reorganisation of OMV's latest acquisition: Petrol Ofisi."I won't be talking about Petrom today because it is already going in the right direction, of integration. Let's talk about Turkey." This was one of the opening messages conveyed by Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, CEO of OMV in London, at the latest media summit organised by the Austrian oil group, Petrom's majority shareholder.
In mid-October, OMV finalised the acquisition of Turkey's biggest petrol station chain, Petrol Ofisi, for which it paid one billion euros, securing a significant share of a market credited with the biggest chances of growth in the next period.Reinhard Pichler, 49, former CFO of Petrom, left his position last week, being replaced by Daniel Turnheim, a member of the OMV group since back in 2002. Pichler is not leaving the group, however, but will go to Turkey, where he will fill the same position he has occupied in Petrom since 2004.At the beginning of this year Tamas Mayer, who used to be in charge of Petrom's marketing operations, i.e. of the nearly 550 distribution stations, left the position to become Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Petrol Ofisi. According to some sources, Mayer will be running marketing operations within Petrol Ofisi, as well.Agerpres, Mediafax, Romanian Vancouver Sun,Global News, Financial Times,Tribune, ,Wall Street Journal,The Washington Times,Athens News,The New York Times,USA Today,Le Monde

IMF to relax deficit targets for the co-funding of more EU projects

The IMF should relax budgetary gap targets for Romania so that more EU projects could be co-funded, states Andreas Treichl, a CEO with Erste Group, which controls BCR. "Romania is in a situation of conflicting objectives: its strong advantage are the funds available from the EU, but governmental funding is also necessary for these funds to be used. If money from the budget is allotted, deficit targets agreed on with the IMF are overshot and a conflict of 'interests' emerges. The IMF could relax the targets for the European funds to be used. This will be a very interesting exercise in the following months," Treichl stated.Banks have a direct interest in the success of such a move, considering many entrepreneurs and public authorities need loans to be able to co-fund the European funds they try to get. It remains to be seen whether the banking lobby in this respect will be as strong as in the case of modifications requested for Ordinance 50 regarding retail loan contracts.

Romania's international foreign currency reserves

Romania's international foreign currency reserves do not necessarily need to grow as they stand at a comfortable level, according to the governor of Romania's Central Bank (BNR), Mugur Isarescu.
He mentioned we have to give up the idea that it is a good thing if the international reserve is growing, NewsIn states.
As to the gold reserves of the neighbor countries, he said the central lender of Bulgaria has a reserve of 39.8 tons, that from Latvia 7.8 tons, that from Lithuania 5.9 tons, that from Poland 103 tons and that from Slovakia 31.7 tons. Romania's gold reserve stands at 103.7 tons.
The governor also talked about the gain from administering the international reserves, which dropped dramatically from 2008 and 2009 and even more in 2010.
The price of gold rose 2.5 times in the past five years.
Romania's foreign currency reserves lowered by 1.13 percent in June from the previous month, to 31.62 billion euros, according to a release issued by the central lender BNR.
Romania's international reserves – foreign currency and gold – eased 0.7 percent at the end of June to 34.99 billion euros, from 35.25 billion euros at the end of May.
The gold reserve maintained at 103.7 tons, but the evolution of international prices increased its value by 3.37 percent to 3.37 billion euros, from 3.26 billion euros in the previous month.