U.S. Air Force is currently reviewing applications from two groups, due by July 9, and may request further information.

This is the third time that the Pentagon conducts the tender to replace its fleet of KC-135, whose average age is around 50 years.

The contract is for several years among the priorities of capital projects for the Air Force.

The government usually requires a modified offers and if so, "we will respond," said Dennis Muilenburg, head of Boeing's weapons industry, at the summit organized by Reuters on the aviation and defense Tuesday in Washington.

"Our intention is to continue to offer a winning bid," he said in response to questions about the possibility of a reduction of the bid price at the Pentagon."Beyond that, I can not make specific comments until we have no specific requests of our customers."

The tanker is "a national priority and Boeing is ready to respond by taking into account the priority," he added.

Guy Hicks, a spokesman for the North American branch of EADS, has reacted to these remarks by explaining that an "interactive process with the customer" was committed.

"We have submitted a convincing proposal that corresponds to our trade policy," he said in an email. "We have the most capable tanker in existence.Point. "

The Air Force plans to issue its final decision later this fall, theoretically no later than December 20.

Dennis Muilenburg said that Boeing should decide on a possible revision of its offer price based on the interests of all its stakeholders.

"We will make decisions financially responsible," he added.

The first tender for the contract to supply ships failed in 2004 after a scandal that led to prison the number two arms purchases from the Air Force and a former chief financial officer of Boeing.

In 2008, the Pentagon awarded the contract for 179 aircraft to a consortium of Northrop Grumman and EADS, but the decision was overturned after an appeal by Boeing.

On the menu for the meeting re-entry working group chaired by Herman Van Rompuy: study of the arsenal of available sanctions, reflecting on how they should be fired and "half the European budget", that is to say, presentation by Member States to the European Commission of their proposed budget before adoption by national parliaments.

"We must ensure that those sanctions can be more automatic, they can be accelerated in order to play a role in the preventive (Stability Pact)," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker in his arrival in Brussels.

Mentioned before the summer break, any suspension of voting rights in the Ecofin Council or a freeze on payment of structural funds and agricultural subsidies, however, seems more relevant.

Many countries consider that these measures would be very difficult to implement and might ultimately penalize people more than their governments.

According to one European diplomat, the exercise of that Monday is similar to "duties of re-entry.

"The idea is to list what is already approved – to 27 economic government, half the European budget – and to go a little further into the technical discussion on sanctions before the October European Council where these options be endorsed by EU leaders, "he said personal loans.

MECHANISM ANTI-DEPRESSION

The discussion about creating a permanent mechanism for crisis management should be postponed for a later date due to technical questions posed by the device, but also differences of view on the shape and scope of Twenty Member States between -September

"Mechanism (crisis management) should be discussed in the next few weeks and it might be wiser to defer this matter to a later date (…) This requires, as perceived by some, a change treaty. I do not think we are prepared to amend the treaty, "said Jean-Claude Juncker.

The European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Olli Rehn echoed the statements of the President of the Eurogroup.He believes that sanctions pact to become "quasi-automatic" and that time does not press for an agreement on anti-crisis ongoing.

"It's probably better to postpone the debate on the aid mechanism (…) We have a credible mechanism that works and we can give time for reflection," he said.

The European Union agreed in early May on a plan to support the euro 750 billion, consisting of a community fund of 60 billion euros and loan guarantees of 440 billion euros supplemented by a budget of 250 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund.

This plan is intended to assist for a period of three years from any country of the European currency area that would have the need and request it.

It will complement existing bilateral loans to Greece for a total of 110 billion euros.

The spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the recent recalls of toxic toys and defective car had the effect of encouraging the authorities to create new rules, opening up lucrative opportunities for inspection companies.

This development could result in two or three percentage points of growth in turnover in testing, inspection and certification (ICT) sector by the end of 2010, said Laurent Brunelle, an analyst of Exane BNP Paribas.

The relatively high valuations of listed companies in the sector highlight investor optimism about their potential. The Swiss group SGS, the market leader, is trading at 17.7 times estimated earnings for 2011, the French Bureau Veritas at 15.8 times and 16.6 times Intertek English, is above average 12.2 of the European sector index.

The share price rose by SGS 17% since the beginning of the year and those of Intertek and Bureau Veritas have won over 30% while the sector index took 13%.And analysts believe this upward trend will continue.

In response to the disaster that struck the Gulf of Mexico, a new U.S. law may force oil companies to work with security firms will soon be on the agenda of Congress.

"Currently, there are some great players on the market for offshore oil drilling, such as Bureau Veritas, which holds about 10%," said Laurent Brunelle, noting that the French would be the winner if small rivals were not able to match the requirements of a market much more regulated.

A fragmented market

The market inspection and testing is in fact highly fragmented and composed a large part of small companies specialized in niches as diverse as testing raw materials, consumer products, agriculture, environment automobiles, all areas where government offices are also present.

The trend to increased regulation, globalization and therefore to the outsourcing of testing specialists to ensure the relay three market leaders, whose combined sales totaled about 7.8 billion euros 2009.

"Areas affected by oil spills from BP are the inspection and verification platforms so that companies that should benefit companies are active in the classification of ships.This is the case of Bureau Veritas, American Bureau of Shipping, Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and Germanischer Lloyd, "said Laurent Brunelle.

SMS is also well placed to benefit from U.S. laws more stringent because of its expertise in testing materials.

"SMS is strong in oil, gas and services to chemistry with almost one billion Swiss francs in sales (in 2009) and is very active in North America," says Jean-Philippe Bertschy, Vontobel analyst.

Bureau Veritas has recently strengthened its position in the testing of raw materials by buying the British Inspectorate for 450 million pounds while the SGS search acquisitions.

"SGS would like to enter the marine services," said Laurent Brunelle, adding that Bureau Veritas was best placed to buy the German Germanischer Lloyd if it became a target.

NEW SEGMENTS INVOLVED

In consumer products, the turnover of companies in the sector rose last year after the adoption of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), in reaction to recalls of toys produced by Mattel in China that contained lead paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed by children.

'The CPSIA could be extended to all consumer products ", said Chris Burger, an analyst at Helvea."But it's a very political issue and the government does not burden companies with new constraints. This could jeopardize the return to growth."

The new EU directive on toy safety, which comes into force in July 2011, will have a positive but less significant on the testing of major consumer product that CPSIA because it applies only to new toys.

Furthermore, new EU rules that require tires to be tagged for fuel efficiency, the wet grip and noise will be effective as of November 2012. They may require certification companies to strengthen their motor units.

This fund is part of a device based emergency loans to three years made in May by the euro area and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stem the contagion of the Greek debt to other countries.

"I am satisfied that the conditions under which Greece can use the funds comply with rules on support schemes for the financial sector during the crisis," he said in a statement Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for Competition.

The EU executive announced that the fund could be used until June 30, 2017.

The number two worldwide in distribution, after Wal-Mart, said in a statement it is an operating profit around 3.1 billion euros, as already stated mid-July.

The first six months of year, operating profit has already reached nearly 1.1 billion euros.

"We're quite pleased with the sales in July, a little disappointed by sales cons of August," said Pierre Bouchut, Carrefour's chief financial officer, during a conference call."The trend in emerging markets remains strong."

In the second quarter, Carrefour has benefited from the dynamism of emerging economies to reach a turnover exceeding expectations, nearly 25 billion euros, up 6.3%, offsetting a contraction in sales in Europe, mainly in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy, as well as in other countries of southern Europe such as Greece or Romania.

The group, which seeks to save 4.5 billion euros over three years to improve its margins, said he also cut costs by 236 million euros in the first half of the year, a target of 500 million for all 2010.

Asked about the Asian assets of the group, Pierre Bouchut has refused to comment on reports about a possible sale of assets Malaysian, Thai and Singaporean group.

"We do not comment on such rumors," said the CFO."Our goal is to build on certain markets and over time, without doubt, take the decision to abandon certain other markets."

"At what point will we take this decision? Will we really?" Everything remains open, "he added.

According to several sources, Carrefour tries to sell its assets in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore to focus its efforts on China and India.

This could generate some 800 million euros in the French distributor.

PTT, Thailand first group in the energy sector, has already expressed interest in taking over the assets in Thailand.

At the Paris Bourse, the Crossroad action won 6.42% but underperformed the CAC 40 rose 19.43%.

The stock closed Monday at 36.11 euros, up from just over 1%.

The net number four European sector, which has already published in July sales up 6% in the second quarter, up 16.3% to 174 million euros and EBIT of 5 , 1% to 422 million, as the EBITDA (+5.1% to 631 million).

Traffic, measured in number of miles traveled is up 3.1% over the first half of 2009.

Traffic car (VL), which had been assigned to the first quarter by multiple snowfalls in France, has benefited the reverse in the second quarter of prolonged disruption to air transport and rail in April. Eventually, it rose 2.6% over the first half of 2009.

The truck traffic (PL) has benefited from improved economic and confirmed its recovery with an increase of 5.8% over the first half of 2009.However, there remains 12% lower traffic recorded in the first half of 2008.

"The summer so far confirms the recovery of HGV traffic since the beginning of the first quarter, and the positive trend of development of light vehicle traffic," the group notes in a statement.

APRR estimated that the increase in toll revenue resulting from traffic recovery in 2010 will allow a further improvement in EBITDA margin (67% off construction at S1 and 68% in 2009).

Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône, a subsidiary of construction group Eiffage and concessions, is currently the subject of a bid withdrawal Eiffarie initiated by the joint venture between Eiffage and Australia's Macquarie has a concession at the network APRR Privatization of French motorways in 2005.

The President of the General Council of the Saone-et-Loire, the Socialist Arnaud Montebourg took the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) to try to block the exit of the Exchange APRR, because the privatization of the concessionaire would be integral.

Before the publication of these results, the action APRR closed Friday at 54.0 euros (+0.15%), which translates into a market capitalization of around six billion euros.

Around 9:15 am, the CAC 40 index yields 0.14% to 3470.19 points.

Carrefour leads the ACC increases and takes 1.04%, followed by Lagardère earning 0.68% Thursday after noting its 2010 objectives.

EADS shows the largest decline and fell by 3.06%.The daily Les Echos reported on Friday that its subsidiary Airbus has revised downwards its forecast production rate of the A350.

Outside ACC wins Scor 2.86% after an increase of recommendation from JP Morgan to overweight cons neutral.

London and Frankfurt are treading water, instead yielding UK 0.04% while the German rises of 0.01%. As for the European indices, the EuroStoxx 50 fell by 0.2% and the Eurofirst 300 lost 0.18%.

The Euro remains above 1.27 dollars after its rebound from yesterday, and traded around 1.2707 against the dollar.

U.S. light crude oil retreated slightly and treated around 73.10 dollars a barrel.

The Dutch group, whose main brands are Heineken and Amstel, has made the first six months of the year net profit up 17% on a comparable basis and before special items to 621 million euros.

Twelve analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast an average result of 595 million.

The group said growth forecasts of at least 10% of its net earnings over the whole year, indicating that volume trends in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as price increases , continue to have an impact on profitability.

The results presented Wednesday to two months include the contribution of the activities of FEMSA Mexican beer, bought by Heineken in order to increase its presence in emerging markets.

Last year, the Dutch made a little more than half its sales in Western Europe.

"The achievement of a significant number of assignments, the return of property investment companies in the market for hotels and good conditions of the transaction, all this confirms the potential value creation of the group's property portfolio," said a trader.

He added that Accor, which publishes Thursday its first half results, "is ahead of its targets on asset disposals, which confirms the willingness of management to accelerate the deleveraging of the group.

CM-CIC Securities considers the "positive set" and also stresses that it "is in line with the strategy" asset-right "Accor launched this year and will result in debt reduction the coming years.

It "also addresses the second goal of Accor, namely get flexibility on the rent with a lease variable," said the broker, which reiterates its advice to buy with a target price of 32 euros.

Credit Suisse is neutral and maintains its price target to 26 euros in the expectation of semi.The broker believes that the disposals will have a limited impact on earnings per share.

The bank added that its 26 euro price target incorporates the potential for recovery of Accor.

The sale announced Monday walls was performed for 80% of the amount with Predica insurance arm of Credit Agricole, and the rest with the Land Walls, a subsidiary of Land Regions.

At 11:10, Accor gains 0.49% to 23.475 euros while the CAC 40 lost 1.37%. Property Walls is 0.35% and Land areas lost 1.21%.

"The sooner we're out, the better," the minister said in an interview published in the weekend edition of the German newspaper, adding that the bank had recently posted a "pleasant change .

"We do not intend to retain ownership of Commerzbank for a long time," said Wolfgang Schäuble.

The institution hopes to begin repayment no later than 2012 funds injected by the Stabilization Fund financial markets (SoFFin).

After acquiring a 25% stake in Commerzbank for 1.8 billion euros during the financial crisis, the German government purchased 16.4 billion euros of shares without voting rights of the bank to stabilize institution's own funds.