La Bourse de Paris en hausse, l’oeil sur les droits de douane

La Bourse de Paris va de l’avant mercredi, au début d’une séance sans rendez-vous majeur pour la place française, gardant son attention sur les droits de douane américains et leurs conséquences sur l’économie.Vers 09H40 (heure locale), le CAC 40 prenait 0,45%, à 7.655,14 points, en hausse de 32,37 points. La veille, l’indice vedette parisien avait perdu 0,14% à 7.621,04 points.Les marchés attendent l’entrée en vigueur de la plupart des droits de douane imposés par les Etats-Unis à leurs partenaires commerciaux, prévue le 7 août.Après divers accords signés ces derniers jours, les produits de l’Union européenne (UE), du Japon ou de la Corée du Sud seront taxés à hauteur de 15%, ceux du Royaume-Uni à 10%. L’Indonésie subira 19%, le Vietnam et Taïwan 20%.Les droits de douane de 50% prévus sur les produits brésiliens sont de leur côté entrés en vigueur dès mercredi.Le président américain Donald Trump a aussi haussé le ton mardi contre l’Inde, à qui il reproche d’acheter du pétrole russe, et contre le secteur pharmaceutique, assurant que de nouvelles taxes pourraient être annoncées rapidement.Les investisseurs jaugent “les risques (pesant) sur la croissance” américaine, a relevé Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyste chez Swissquote Bank. Ils craignent une “stagflation”, cumul d’une inflation élevée et d’une croissance atone.La veille, ils ont mal accueilli l’enquête mensuelle de la fédération professionnelle ISM mesurant l’activité dans les services, qui a nettement ralenti et s’approche d’une contraction. D’autant qu’elle arrive peu après des chiffres décevants sur l’emploi aux Etats-Unis.”Les investisseurs commencent à se demander si (ce) n’est pas le signe du début de la décroissance de l’économie américaine”, a estimé John Plassard, responsable de la stratégie d’investissement chez Cité Gestion Private Bank.”Le sentiment du marché laisse entrevoir un possible ralentissement économique aux Etats-Unis”, a renchéri Andreas Lipkow, analyste indépendant. Cela n’est “toutefois pas encore pleinement confirmé par les résultats d’entreprises”, a-t-il ajouté.”À ce jour, 74% des entreprises du STOXX 600″, l’indice rassemblant les plus grandes entreprises cotées en Europe, “ont publié” leurs résultats trimestriels, et “les bénéfices cumulés ont été supérieurs de 8% aux prévisions”, ont relevé les analystes de la Deutsche Bank.Après une salve de résultats en Europe mercredi – mais pas à Paris – les marchés attendent désormais la publication des résultats trimestriels de plusieurs poids lourds à Wall Street, avec McDonald’s, Walt Disney et Uber.Côté obligataire, le taux d’intérêt de l’emprunt français à dix ans atteignait 3,30%, contre 3,29% la veille en clôture.Wendel emprunteLa société d’investissement a annoncé mardi soir la “réussite” d’une émission de 500 millions d’euros d’obligations d’une échéance à 8 ans, avec “un coupon de 3,75%”.

Prince Harry cleared of ‘bullying’ in African charity rowWed, 06 Aug 2025 07:42:43 GMT

The UK charity watchdog Wednesday cleared Prince Harry of accusations of bullying in a row with an African charity he founded, but deplored that the bitter internal dispute was played out in public.The charity Sentebale was at the centre of an explosive boardroom dispute in March and April when chairperson Sophie Chandauka publicly accused Harry, …

Prince Harry cleared of ‘bullying’ in African charity rowWed, 06 Aug 2025 07:42:43 GMT Read More »

Taiwan’s orchid growers dig in as US tariffs shoot up

Since the start of US President Donald Trump’s global trade war, Taiwanese orchid grower Lee Tsang-yu has watched tariffs on his seedlings shoot from nothing to 20 percent.But, after weathering many economic crises, the 61-year-old seasoned farmer is digging in.Lee is cultivating new markets in Thailand and expanding in Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil, while cutting back shipments to the United States.”The US is such a huge market, we can’t pull out, and we won’t,” said Lee, whose company, Charming Agriculture, operates four rugby field-sized greenhouses in Houbi, a district of the southern city of Tainan.Taiwan’s more than 300 orchid growers rank among the world’s biggest producers of the thick-leaved plants, with Phalaenopsis orchids, also known as moth orchids, dominating exports.The island’s orchid shipments reached NT$6.1 billion (US$204 million) in 2024, with about NT$2 billion worth of plants sent to the United States, its biggest market, official data shows.Until now, most growers have been absorbing the cost of the 10 percent tariff that Trump slapped on nearly every trading partner in April, said Ahby Tseng, 53, secretary-general of the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association.But “no one can bear” all of Trump’s temporary 20 percent levy on Taiwan announced last week, he said.Tseng said Taiwan’s main rival in the United States was The Netherlands, which has been hit with a relatively lighter 15 percent tariff.The five percentage point difference is significant, he said.”It is actually very difficult to immediately pass the cost on to consumers because consumers can choose not to buy, or they can choose to buy other types of flowers,” Tseng said.And stockpiling orchids in a warehouse wasn’t an option given that the plants “keep growing”.While the higher tariff would erode his bottom line, Lee said he was more concerned about the general state of the US economy since Trump took office.”Everything has become more expensive in the US, and consumer spending is shrinking — that’s what worries me,” he said.”Since late May, we’ve already cut shipments by 15 percent. Before that, the US accounted for 45 percent of our exports.”Lee said he was optimistic his efforts to expand into other markets, though slow and not always as lucrative, would “gradually offset this impact”.Taiwan’s orchids also had a competitive edge, he said — their flowers could last longer than Dutch plants.And, he reasons, “Trump won’t be president forever.” 

Sri Lanka arrests Rajapaksa ex-minister for alleged corruption

Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption authorities arrested a member of the once-powerful Rajapaksa family on Wednesday, accusing him of illegally claiming reparations for property loss when his presidential uncle was toppled three years ago.The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) said it had taken Shasheendra Rajapaksa, a former minister and nephew of two presidents, Mahinda and Gotabaya, into custody.Shasheendra becomes the first Rajapaksa to be arrested since the leftist government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September, promising to investigate corruption.”Mr. Rajapaksa is charged with corruption for coercing state officials into paying him compensation for damage to a property he claimed was his,” CIABOC said in a statement.”However, this asset is located on state-owned land. He misused state land, claimed compensation he was not entitled to, and committed the offence of corruption.”Sri Lanka faced its worst economic crisis in 2022 when it declared its first sovereign default on $46 billion in external debt. Months of consumer goods shortages sparked widespread civil unrest, culminating in the ousting of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.Two of Shasheendra’s cousins, Namal and Yoshitha, both sons of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, are facing money laundering charges.Yoshitha has told investigators that he raised a large sum of money from a bag of gems gifted by an elderly grand-aunt, who has since stated that she could not recall who originally gave her the gems.Mahinda’s brother-in-law, Nishantha Wickramasinghe, has been charged with causing losses to the state while head of the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines.Another brother of Mahinda, Basil Rajapaksa, who also served as a minister, is facing money laundering charges.

Les Bourses européennes ouvrent en hausse

Les marchés boursiers européens évoluent en hausse à l’ouverture mercredi, digérant une nouvelle salve de résultats d’entreprises bien reçus dans l’ensemble, tout en gardant un oeil sur les droits de douane américains et leurs conséquences sur la première économie mondiale.Vers 07H05 GMT, dans les premiers échanges, Paris prenait 0,46%, Francfort 0,61% et Londres 0,26%. Milan gagnait 0,39%.

US envoy Witkoff arrives in Russia ahead of sanctions deadline

US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, state media reported, where he will meet with Russian leadership as President Donald Trump’s deadline to impose fresh sanctions over Russia’s offensive on Ukraine looms.Trump has given Russia until Friday to halt its military campaign or face new penalties. Ukrainian officials meanwhile reported Wednesday at least two people were killed and 10 others wounded overnight in Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia region.The White House has not outlined specific actions it plans to take on Friday, but Trump has previously threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” targeting Russia’s remaining trade partners, such as China and India.The move would aim to stifle Russian exports, but would risk significant international disruption.Trump said Tuesday that he would await the outcome of the Moscow talks before moving forward with any economic retaliation. “We’re going to see what happens,” he told reporters. “We’ll make that determination at that time.”After arriving in Moscow, Witkoff was met by presidential special representative Kirill Dmitriev, Russian state news agency TASS said.An American source did not specify if the meetings will include Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Witkoff has met with several times previously.The Kremlin said earlier this week it did not “exclude” a meeting with Putin would take place.Despite pressure from Washington, Russia has continued its campaign against its pro-Western neighbour.Three rounds of peace talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a possible ceasefire, with the two sides appearing as far apart as ever.Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support.Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week urged his allies to push for “regime change” in Moscow.- Nuclear rhetoric -Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Putin in recent weeks over Russia’s unrelenting offensive.Russia fired a record number of long-range drones at Ukraine in July, AFP analysis of data from Kyiv’s air force showed.Its troops have also accelerated their advance on the ground and pushed into parts of Ukraine that Russia has not claimed to have annexed.When reporters asked Trump on Monday what Witkoff’s message would be to Moscow, and if there was anything Russia could do to avoid the sanctions, Trump replied: “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday it considered the talks with Witkoff to be “important, substantial and helpful” and valued US efforts to end the conflict.Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said last week that he wants peace but that his demands for ending the nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive were unchanged.Russia has frequently called on Ukraine to effectively cede control of four regions Moscow claims to have annexed, a demand Kyiv has called unacceptable.Putin also wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO.The visit comes after Trump said that two nuclear submarines he deployed following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev were now “in the region.”Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.Russia, in its first comments on the deployment, urged “caution” Monday.”Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation. And we believe that everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric,” the Kremlin’s Peskov said.