Date: Wednesday 16 Jun 2010
Europe’s main markets managed to hold on to gains despite a profit warning from Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia.The handset maker on Wednesday now expects second-quarter net sales in its mobile devices and services business to be at the lower end, or slightly below, of its previous expected range of €6.7bn to €7.2bn.
Elsewhere, France has outlined a plan to hike its retirement age to 62 from 60 by 2018 and increase taxes for top earners in an effort to get the country's public finances under control.
Under the plans, the minimum retirement age will be lifted by four months every year beginning 1 July 2011, Labour Minister Eric Woerth told reporters. In comparison, Germany is raising the retirement age to 67 from 65, while Britain and Italy are standardising it at 65.
Woerth called the measure, which has been strongly opposed by left-wing politicians and labour union, a ‘real moral obligation’. "There is no magic trick when it comes to pensions," he said.
Meanwhile, European officials on Wednesday denied a report that the European Union, the IMF and the US Treasury were drawing up a liquidity plan for Spain.
However, Spain announced that its central bank will publish stress tests on its lenders.
Across the markets, the Dax in Frankfurt closed 16 points higher at 6,191, with the Cac in Paris 14 points better at 3,676. The Swiss market gained 5 points to 6,490.
In the banking sector, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and UBS were all on the rise.
Carmakers Vauxhall and Opel have withdrawn applications for state help as governments become increasingly reluctant to spend. The European arm of auto giant General Motors still need €1.8bn (£1.5bn) of aid, but have found the process "much more complex and longer than anticipated".
US president Barack Obama stepped up the pressure on beleaguered oil giant BPwith a vow to make the company pay for its "recklessness" in the Gulf of Mexico.In a speech to the US nation using the intimate setting of the White House's Oval Office for the first time, the US president said he would tell BP to set up a compensation fund for those affected by the spill. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward and BP America President and Chairman Lamar McKay are currently at the White House to meet with President Obama.
On the economic front, eurozone consumer price inflation rose to 1.6% in May from 1.5% in April.
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