The end of the degradation of the economic activity, in France, during 2016 final quarter, is it the signal announcing, at last, growth comeback in 2017? For the time being, nothing is sure. French economy is stagnating for four years. Last estimations of 2016 GDP growth, 1.2%, shouldn’t create illusions. 2016 was a bissextile year with, a top of that, three public holidays occurring on a Sunday. The rebound, forecast for the 4^th quarter, will more reflect a catching up after the previous six months stagnation, than the signal of a durable trend. But that catching up ...

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The stoppage, for diverse reasons, of around ten nuclear power plants and a colder autumn have been enough to disrupt the energy mix in France in November. Consumption increased by  near 9%, compared to November 2015, but the net electricity production fell by 3.7%, which has provoked a slump of exports. The trade balance has been divided by 10 with just a 0.64 TWh surplus. Nuclear production has fallen by 12.7% and its share of the power production, which usually is close to 75%, was reduced to 68%. Thanks to a good level of the water in ...

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Nothing happened in 2016 as expected. The Chinese economy didn’t fall into a major crisis. Its currency, the yuan, as its financial markets, stabilized after the previous summer bumps. Growth, even if it has been lower than in the past years, was still strong, at around 6.5%. This figure would make envious most of the emerging countries, not to say a word about developed ones. National debts, and notably state-owned enterprises and local authorities ones, have been refinanced without affecting the banking sector. Trade surplus and the central bank huge reserves protect the country from any wariness coming ...

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