The Apple and the iconGovern it forecast

A misfortune never comes alone. At the time where BNP Paribas, faced with a loss of EUR 1.6 billion in two months in its investment bank, sees its course down 17 in a day, the Bank must cancel the agenda of the General Assembly planned Friday to approve the terms of the acquisition of Fortis. Certainly, the appointment maintained with shareholders but transformed into a simple briefing will be an opportunity for the President, Michel Pébereau, explaining the delights and Belgian finance and justice poisons and subjects of concern which are not lacking. First, how the more conservative French banks could find themselves also violently in the red. The deepening of the crisis after the bankruptcy of Lehman may not be enough to comfort the shareholders disappointed that BNP Paribas had not to reduce its wing earlier as his unfortunate fellow Société Générale and Crédit Agricole. About Belgian history of the time, it should reaffirm the attractiveness of Fortis for French, especially as it must pay valued shares two times more than the current, which largely dampens the loss of concomitant value of Belgian due to crisis. Finally, the shareholders should be reassured on the ability of BNP Paribas to reach 4 billion profit in 2008. A division by two honourable, even if it involves a significant reduction of the dividend.

The Apple and the icon

Govern, it forecast. But it is also lying. The charismatic co-founder Apple boss Steve Jobs seems to hesitate between the two, sometimes pushing on the front of a scene that he monopolizes most of the time some of its putative dolphins and leaving regularly cast doubts about his health. They were revived again by the announcement of his absence to the next track to Apple, communicating to the title of one of these loons on the stock market it is now customary. If he has succeeded against all the odds to get Apple to rut where he had fallen eleven years turning a business monoproduit (Mac) a provider of digital content through the iPod, the iPhone and the iTunes software and services, the great organizer of the Applemania was unable to detach this success of the person, which is probably normal for one of the inventors of the icons. Wall Street continues to be regarded as the best seller of the firm Apple, worth almost as much to his eyes and a low of $ 24.5 billion wool or absence of debt on the balance sheet. A cult of personality which may more avail a Microsoft having turned this year page Bill Gates, valued on the stock market almost twice less results than Apple.

A zero of more

The time is not so far where the investment bankers like align the zeros on the transactions that they achieved on their bonus. Nothing more normal, therefore, be it a star of Wall Street to cross to the global financial system a symbolic bar, that of the 1,000 billion in write-downs since the outbreak of the crisis of the "subprime". The $ 2.2 billion in additional losses aligned by Morgan Stanley on this sad list, although that much more heavy than expected, have certainly nothing of infamous after those of 2.1 billion in the fourth quarter of Goldman Sachs. The net profit, which peaked at 30 of the own funds of the Bank when she committed 31 times more active, has fallen to 5 this year, the assets representing more than 11 times the capital. The shareholders who felt the leverage effect play in reverse find that with regard to the title, the analogy is instead of the black hole. Despite its recent rebound, the market capitalization of Morgan Stanley remains less than the 19 billion injected in October last by the US Treasury and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial. Evidence now that the Bank is more a case of subtraction by addition.