STOCK MARKET WATCH - Thursday, 26 January 2012

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62. French Socialist Pledges Retirement Age Cut in Platform

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/sarkozy-rival-hollande-may-seek-bank-split-in-election-platform.html

Francois Hollande, the Socialist candidate seeking to unseat President Nicolas Sarkozy, pledged a cut in the retirement age to 60 from 62 and a tax increase to pay for the reversal of the Sarkozy policy.

Hollande, 57, the frontrunner in the presidential campaign, advocated forcing banks to separate retail and investment operations. He’ll raise levies on the wealthy to finance an expansion of the civil service while respecting budget-cutting commitments.

“We must make an effort for more fairness and to rein in the financial industry,” Hollande said today as he detailed his campaign platform in Paris. “We will separate the speculative sector from the credit sector.”

Hollande’s address in Paris came four days after his first major campaign speech in which he said the finance industry, and not Sarkozy, was his main rival. Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has plunged the region into an economic slump.