经济学人下载:一周商业要闻

America's big banks reported earnings for the second quarter. The headline figures looked buoyant, partly because of lower operational and litigation costs. Net income at JPMorgan Chase rose by 31% to $6.5 billion; Bank of America's profit was up by 63% to $4 billion; and Citigroup's quarterly profit of $4.2 billion was its best since 2007. Goldman Sachs saw income double to $1.9 billion. But with the outlook for growth subdued in the banking industry, margins down and more costly regulations coming in, investors were unimpressed.

美国的各大银行发布了第二季度的营收。数据显示营收有所上涨，部分原因是运营和诉讼费用的减少。摩根大通公司的净收入增长了31%，达到65亿美元；美国银行的利润增加了63%之多，达到了40亿美元；花旗银行的季度利润达到了42亿美元，是自从2007年至今的最好业绩。高盛的收入翻番，达到了19亿美元。但是随着对银行业未来增长前景的看衰，利润减少以及管理费用的增加，投资者并没有为之所动。

America's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fined Barclays $453m for allegedly manipulating electricity prices in four states in the American West to benefit the bank's derivatives positions. Barclays is fighting the claim and will take the matter to court. JPMorgan Chase was said to be in talks to settle with the FERC in a similar case.

美国联邦能源管理委员会给巴克莱银行开出了4亿5300万美元的罚单，原因是后者据称为了使其银行衍生产品卖得更好，在美国西部的四个州操纵电价。巴克莱银行予以反击，并将在法庭上解决此事。摩根大通也卷入类似风波。

"Fabulous Fab" 

神奇的法布

The trial got under way in Manhattan of Fabrice Tourre, a former banker at Goldman Sachs, on civil charges of securities fraud. Mr Tourre allegedly did not tell investors that a hedge fund had helped him select the assets in a portfolio of mortgage bonds, which it then bet against. The investors lost $1 billion.

在曼哈顿对于前高盛银行家法布里·托雷尔的审讯正在进行中，其涉嫌进行证券欺诈。据称，托雷尔先生未告知其产品投资者一家做空这些抵押贷款的对冲基金参与了产品的设计。导致投资者蒙受10亿美元的损失。

A judge allowed a $5 billion lawsuit, brought by the Justice Department and claiming that Standard & Poor's intentionally misled investors, to proceed. The government alleges that S&P produced inflated ratings between 2004 and 2007 to please its clients in the financial industry.

一位法官接受了一起涉案金额50亿的案件，原告是司法部，指控标准普尔蓄意误导投资者。该案件正在接受审理。政府控诉标准普尔在2004年到2007年期间为了取悦其金融业的客户，在评级中作假。

A Chinese executive at GlaxoSmithKline appeared on state television giving details of what the government alleges to be graft at the drugmaker's operations in the country. Four executives are accused of paying bribes to medical staff to entice them to sell GSK's products. GSK said its Chinese staff are expected to abide by the law and it had "zero tolerance" for bribery. 

葛兰素史克公司的一位中国主管出现在中国国家电视台解释中国政府所说的运营中行贿的细节。四个主管被指控贿赂医药人员怂恿其销售葛兰素史克的产品。葛兰素史克表示其中国员工应该遵守法律，并且其对贿赂持零容忍态度。

How Lou can you go?

楼能走多远？

China's economy slowed again, growing by 7.5% in the second quarter. The finance minister, Lou Jiwei, caused a stir when he reportedly said he expected GDP for the year to rise by 7%, which is below the government's 7.5% target (Mr Lou's figure was rewritten by the state press to reflect the party line). With industrial production also slowing, some economists wonder whether it is time for them, too, to rewrite their forecasts.

中国经济再次放缓，第二季度增幅仅为7.5%。财政部长楼继伟在其报告中表示他预期今年GDP的增长为7%，低于政府7.5%的目标，这引起了不小的震动。（为了跟党的方针相呼应，楼的数据被重新更正）。随着工业生产的放缓，一些经济学家开始思考：对他们来说，是不是也应该重新预测经济走势了？

Google's effort to end an antitrust inquiry into its search business in Europe appeared to be in trouble when Joaquín Almunia, the EU's competition chief, declared that it had so far not done enough "to overcome our concerns". In April Google submitted several remedies to the EU to address complaints that it promotes its own services over those of its rivals in search results.

谷歌试图结束欧洲对其搜索业务的反信任调查的努力再次陷入麻烦，欧盟竞争委员会主席Joaquín Almunia称谷歌到目前为止尚未做出足够措施来解除我们的担忧。四月，谷歌向欧盟递交了几项改进措施，并投诉其只是在竞争对手的搜索结果上推广其自身服务。

Yahoo's earnings were mixed. The internet company's net income grew by half compared with the same quarter last year, to $331m, but revenue was down, as was the price it charges per ad. Investors expressed confidence, however, in Marissa Mayer's strategy (she took over as chief executive a year ago), pushing the share price to a five-year high.

雅虎公司的营收账目混乱不堪。与去年同一季度相比，这家互联网公司的净收入增长了50%，达到3.31亿美元，然而收益却由于每支广告的收费下降而下降了。但是，投资者们都对玛丽莎·梅耶尔（于一年前接任雅虎首席执行官）的战略计划信心十足，雅虎股票已被推高至五年来的最高值。

From dreams to nightmares

从梦到梦魇

Investigators looking at the cause of a fire on a parked Boeing Dreamliner at Heathrow airport found no initial evidence that the jet's batteries were the source. Several charred components have come under scrutiny, including the plane's emergency transmitter. All Dreamliners were grounded worldwide for three months earlier this year because of overheating batteries.

对停在英国希斯罗机场的波音梦幻客机的起火原因，调查员表示，目前初步发现没有证据表明电池是飞机起火的原因。包括飞机应急发射器在内的几个被烧焦的部件已经受到了严格的审查。今年早些时候，所有的梦幻客机由于电池组过热在全球范围内停飞三个月。

In Argentina a joint venture was announced between Chevron and YPF, the state-run energy company, to develop the Vaca Muerta shale formation, one of the biggest outside North America. Vaca Muerta was discovered in 2010 when YPF was majority-owned by Spain's Repsol. The venture with Chevron is YPF's first big deal since it was expropriated by the Argentine government last year.

在阿根廷，由雪弗兰公司和一家阿根廷国营企业YPF组成的合资企业，宣称将开发瓦卡姆尔塔这个除北美外最大的页岩潜油层。瓦卡姆尔塔在2010年被发现，当时YPF的大部分股份由西班牙雷普索尔石油公司持有。这次与雪佛龙组成的合资公司是YPF自去年被阿根廷政府国有化以来首次大规模的交易。

Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of the Formula One Group, was charged by a German court in a case over an alleged $44m bribe to a banker who was involved in the sale of the car-racing championship to CVC Capital in 2005. Mr Ecclestone has acknowledged the payment but insists he was being blackmailed and rejects the charge.

一级方程式赛车的首席执行官伯尼·埃克莱斯顿因向一位银行家行贿4400万美元被德国一家法庭起诉。这位银行家曾在2005年参与私募股权基金公司对赛车锦标赛的收购案。埃克莱斯顿先生承认支付了费用，然而坚持声称他遭到勒索并对控告表示抗议。 

Rossignol, a French ski-maker, was bought by Altor, a Swedish private-equity firm. The global ski market has gone downhill from its peak in the 1980s partly because more people are renting skis rather than buying them. The Nordic firm hopes to make Rossignol more profitable by expanding into outdoor wear, a strategy it tried with Helly Hansen, a Norwegian sports-apparel firm that had struggled before Altor bought it in 2006.

法国滑雪板制造商金鸡被瑞典一家私营公司Altor收购。全球滑雪板市场在20世纪80年代经历高峰期，此后不断走下坡路。部分原因是越来越多的人选择租用滑雪板而不是自己购买。这家北欧公司试图通过拓展户外装备业务让金鸡盈利增加，其曾在挪威运动服饰公司哈里汉森实施过这项战略，哈里汉森于2006年被Altor公司收购。