经济学人下载:一周商业要闻

Business this week 

一周商业要闻

Oct 26th 2013 |From the print edition

The European Central Bank announced that it will begin its review of the quality of assets held by 128 banks in November. The review will cover all asset classes and be incorporated into the European Banking Authority’s stress tests next year. The ECB wants big banks to have core capital ratios of 8%, rather than the 7% under current regulations. 

欧洲央行日前表示：将于今年11月份起对欧元区的128家银行进行资产的质量审核。此次审查将囊括所有资产类型，并纳入明年央行当局对银行的压力检验。欧洲央行还表示希望大银行能将核心资本的缓冲比率调至8%，而不是现行条令下的7%。

Pick a number, any number

捡了芝麻，丢了西瓜

JPMorgan Chase and America’s Justice Department negotiated the final details of a settlement for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities that reportedly is going to cost the bank $13 billion. It may have to dig deeper still: details were also leaked of a separate settlement that JPMorgan is close to agreeing on with investors for $6 billion. 

日前，摩根大通集团和美国司法部签署了一份最终赔偿协议，根据该协议，摩根大通需要为其不当出售抵押证券支付130亿美元的罚金。对此事进行深层跟踪后得到数据显示：摩根大通集团可能还将向投资者机构再支付60亿美元以达成和解。

A federal jury in a civil case found Bank of America liable for fraud because of toxic home-loans its Countrywide Financial unit sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-backed mortgage giants, in 2007-08. Countrywide bundled the loans under a project it called “Hustle”.

联邦陪审团在一次民事案件的调查中发现美国银行涉嫌诈骗，因其各金融单位在2007年8月向两家已国有化的抵押贷款巨头房利美和房地美出售次级住房贷款。这个全国范围的出售贷款的项目被称为“快速泳道”。

America’s Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules to ease the ability of start-ups to raise money through crowd funding platforms on the internet. The rules would introduce limits on the amount that small investors can invest based on their income and net worth (up to 5% of annual income below $100,000, for instance), and on the amount that firms can raise. 

美国证券交易管理委员会出台新政策：通过网络众筹平台来缓解初创企业筹集资金的压力。该政策规定：个人投资者的投资金额上限由其收入确定（例如年收入低于10万美元的个人最高投资额度不超过其收入的5%）；而对于企业来说，这个额度会相对高一些。

Karnit Flug was appointed as the new governor of the Bank of Israel. Ms Flug was deputy to the previous governor, Stanley Fischer, and has acted as the central bank’s head since July. She is expected to continue the loose monetary policy that marked Mr Fischer’s tenure. In June the bank tapped Jacob Frenkel, an international financier, to be governor, but he withdrew from consideration. 

卡尔尼特•弗拉格当选以色列央行的新任行长。在此之前，弗拉格一直担任前任行长斯坦利•费希尔的代理人，并从七月份起以央行主管的身份管理央行业务。她预计将继续实施费希尔任职期间实施的宽松的货币政策。今年六月份央行希望国际金融专家雅各布•弗兰克尔出任央行行长，但被其拒绝。

It emerged that Raoul Weil, who used to run the wealth-management division at UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, was arrested while on holiday in Italy. The United Stateshas issued an extradition request for Mr Weil in relation to its probe of Swiss banks that allegedly help Americans evade tax. He is the biggest fish to be netted since the investigation began in 2008.

拉乌尔•韦尔在意大利渡假时被捕，据悉其曾在瑞士最大的银行瑞联集团的资产管理部任职。美国政府发出引渡请求，因其在瑞士银行工作期间帮助美国客户逃避税款。他是自2008年立案调查以来最大的落网之鱼。

American employers added 148,000 jobs to the payrolls in September, somewhat short of the monthly average of 181,000 between January and August. The employment report’s publication was delayed by the government shutdown, which Standard & Poor’s reckons will cost the economy $24 billion. The data make it less likely that the Federal Reserve will announce an easing of its stimulus programme at its October meeting.

美国九月份新增非农就业岗位14.8万个，低于1月至8月的月平均水平18.1万个。由于政府关门事件，劳工就业的报告发布推迟。标准普尔预计此举将造成240亿的经济损失。据此分析，美联储在接下来的十月会议中很有可能继续实施刺激计划。

After nine consecutive quarters of contraction, the Spanish economy grew by 0.1% from July to September, according to a first estimate from the country’s central bank, thanks to a bounce in exports.

西班牙在经历了连续9个季度的经济萎缩之后终于开始回升，根据央行的初步估计，该国经济7月到9月期间在出口的拉动下增长了0.1%。

On target?

成功实现了吗？

China’s economic growth rate picked up slightly in the third quarter, allaying fears, for now, of an acute slowdown. GDP rose by 7.8% in the quarter compared with the same period last year.

中国经济增长率在第三季度略有上升，这缓解了人们对于眼下经济增长急剧下降的忧虑。GDP在该季度同比去年增加了7.8%。

Apple, Microsoft and Nokia unveiled new tablets. The Lumia 2520 is Nokia’s first tablet, and also its last before it merges fully with Microsoft. The pair already co-operate on mobile technology and may streamline their combined product range. Both struggle to compete with Apple, which brought out the iPad Air this week, a thinner and lighter version of its full-sized tablet.

苹果，微软和诺基亚都推出了新的平板电脑。Lumia 2520是诺基亚推出的首款平板电脑，也是其与微软完全合并前最后的产品。这两家公司已经在移动技术上展开合作，且有可能优化他们结合起来的产品范围。微软和诺基亚两家公司将就该产品与苹果本周推出的ipad Air （在原有尺寸的基础上变得更轻薄的一款机型）争夺市场。

Google’s share price surged above $1,000 for the first time after it issued solid quarterly earnings underpinned by a 26% jump in paid clicks from ads. The tech company joins just a handful of big firms with a share price over $1,000, though more could follow as companies now tend not to split their stock when the share price rockets. 

谷歌公布其稳定的季度收益（其中26%的收入来自广告费的投入）后，其股价首次突破1000美元。谷歌作为一个技术公司，加入仅有的少数几个股价超过1000美元的大公司行列。而更多的人可以买进谷歌的股票，因为目前它没有趁股价飙升分裂股权的打算。

The European Court of Justice ruled that the veto held by Lower Saxony over strategic management decisions at Volkswagen, which has its headquarters in the German state, did not breach EU rules. The European Commission brought the case, arguing that Germany had not complied with a previous ruling to dilute the “VW law”.

欧洲法院裁定：下萨克森州持有大众汽车（总部设在德国）战略管理决策的否决权并不违背欧盟条约。欧盟委员会则认为德国没有遵守之前撤销“大众法”的判决。

The café-culture revolution

咖啡文化的变革

Starbucks was roundly denounced on Chinese state television for selling lattes and cappuccinos at higher prices than in other countries, the latest in a string of criticisms directed at foreign companies operating in China. Coffee sales in China have grown by 90% over the past few years, making it the second-biggest market, after the United States, for Starbucks. It says the criticisms are unfair. Local factors, such as a 15% import duty on roasted beans, help push up the price of a cup of coffee.

近期，中国对外企在华经营模式展开了一系列批判，其中中国央视曾严厉指责星巴克以明显高于其他国家的价格在中国售卖拿铁和卡布奇诺咖啡。在过去的几年中，中国的咖啡销售额增长了90%，成为了星巴克继美国之后的第二大市场。星巴克对此做出回应，表示中国当局对其指责并不公平：中国的咖啡价格比他国高昂存在很多原因，其首要原因就是地方因素，例如烘培咖啡豆的进口关税就要征收15%之多。