[转帖] [Business this week] [2012.11.03] Business this week 本周经济动态

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http://ecolion.cn/thread-166808-1-1.html
Business this week 本周经济动态

Nov 3rd 2012 | from the print edition

Walt Disney agreed to buy Lucasfilm, George Lucas’s production firm, which owns the Star Wars franchise, for $4.1 billion. Fans of the galactic saga were delighted to hear that this means a new trilogy of films in the series will be made. It is the latest big acquisition by Disney, which has bought Marvel and Pixar in recent years. Its deal with Mr Lucas also hands it control of Industrial Light & Magic, a leading visual-effects company in the film industry. See article

沃尔特-迪士尼同意以41亿美元的价格收购卢卡斯影业，后者是乔治-卢卡斯创立的电影制作公司，旗下拥有星球大战系列的专营权。对此，星战迷们喜闻乐见，这意味着新的星战三部曲将投入制作。近年来，迪士尼先后收购惊奇漫画和皮克斯动画，而卢卡斯是其最新的一笔巨额收购案。同时，与卢卡斯的这笔交易使迪士尼获得了对“工业光魔”——著名视觉特效公司的控制权。（见另文）

Pick up a Penguin 捡到一只“企鹅”

Penguin and Random House set pulses racing in the publishing world by announcing a joint venture. The combined firm could account for a quarter of book sales in the English language. Penguin Random House will pool resources in digital publishing; publishers’ revenues from e-books more than doubled last year to 15% of total sales. Penguin is controlled by Pearson (a part-owner of The Economist) and Random House by Bertelsmann, a German media group. See article
企鹅出版社与兰登书屋表示有意联手打造引领全球出版业的合资公司，合并后或将控制四分之一的英文出版市场份额。企鹅-兰登书屋将共享数码出版资源；同时，出版商从电子书方面获得的收入将比去年翻一番，占总销售额的15%。企鹅出版社的控制权掌握在培生集团（《经济学人》杂志的股东之一）麾下，而兰登书屋是德国媒体集团贝塔斯曼旗下的产业。

Apple shook up its senior management. Scott Forstall, who oversaw a befuddled roll-out of Apple’s new mapping service (which prompted techie rage in the blogosphere) is leaving the company, as is John Browett, who had been in charge of retail operations for only six months. Apple’s stock, meanwhile, has plunged from more than $700 a share in September to below $600. See article
苹果公司高层大洗牌。一塌糊涂的苹果新地图软件服务惹来博客圈内技术专家们众怒。日前，苹果公司负责此项软件监督的斯科特·福斯特尔即将离职；与他同行的还有主管零售运营仅仅六个月的约翰·布罗维特。与此同时，苹果股价暴跌，从9月份的每股逾700美元下跌至600美元以下。（见另文）

Netflix’s share price, which has tumbled from its peak in 2011, jumped by 14% after Carl Icahn, a renowned investor, revealed that he has amassed a 10% stake in the video-streaming and DVD-rental company. Mr Icahn expects to see “consolidation in this industry”.
著名投资家卡尔-伊坎透露其已收购提供在线视频服务和DVD租赁业务的网飞公司（Netflix）10%的股份。消息一出，网飞股价跃升达14%。而在2011年，这家公司的股价从其峰值急剧下跌。伊坎预计该行业将会出现一股并购浪潮。

Panasonic took markets by surprise when it reported an $8.7 billion quarterly loss, as it wrote down its business in solar panels, batteries and mobile phones. It had been expected to make a small profit. The struggling Japanese electronics company is headed for another big annual loss of around $10 billion. Sony posted its seventh straight quarterly loss and cut its forecast for the number of cameras, television and games consoles it expects to sell this year.
松下集团财报爆出高达87亿美元的季度亏损，震惊市场。其亏损主要见于太阳能电池板、电池和移动电话业务。财报前该公司预计将获少许利润，这家奋力挣扎的日本电子公司或将面临又一番约100亿左右的巨额年度亏损。索尼公司报出其连续第七个季度的亏损，并砍低其照相机、电视机和携带型游戏机的本年度预期销量。

Fiat’s share price fell sharply after it outlined a turnaround plan, the latest European carmaker to do so to cope with what Fiat calls a “carmageddon” in sales. But instead of closing factories the company will make more top-end Alfa Romeos and Maserati models in Italy and give over more production to exports.
为应对其所谓的“车市末日”（即销量末日），欧洲最年轻的汽车制造商菲亚特公布了它的重整计划纲要，此后菲亚特的股价便一路急剧下跌。不过，菲亚特不再考虑关闭工厂，而打算在意大利生产更多的阿尔法·罗密欧和玛莎拉蒂高端车型，并增加其出口规模。

Just as it was hoping to put the LIBOR rate-fixing scandal behind it, Barclays faced fresh investigations into its business in America. Regulators are looking at the bank’s capital-raising efforts during the financial crisis (when it turned to the sovereign-wealth funds of Abu Dhabi and Qatar for cash) to make sure they comply with America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. And a federal energy commission sought to fine Barclays $470m for manipulating energy securities in California four years ago, which it denies.
正当巴克莱银行迫切希望伦敦银行间拆放款利率操纵丑闻尽快烟消云散之际，其在美国的业务又陷入新一轮调查。监管机构正对该行在金融危机期间的筹资行为（令阿布达比酋长国和卡塔尔加入其创立的主权财富基金）进行审核以确定其未违反美国的《反海外腐败法》。四年前，某联邦能源监管委员会曾试图就加州能源证券操控案对巴克莱银行处以4.7亿美元的罚款，不过后者对此予以否认。

Moody’s put six of Canada’s biggest banks on review with an eye to downgrading their credit ratings. At the height of the financial crisis Canadian banks were often praised for their prudence and Canada’s financial system was singled out as the strongest in the world by the World Economic Forum. But household debt as a proportion of disposable income has surged, leading to now-familiar warnings about the dangers of debt-fuelled economic growth. See article
穆迪将加拿大六大银行纳入审查名单，以考虑是否降低其信用评级。在经济危机进入高峰期时，加拿大银行往往因其稳健而备受赞誉，此外，世界经济论坛曾认定加拿大的金融系统为世界最稳定金融系统。不过近来，占据不可支配收入一定比例的家庭债务涨势迅猛，引得如今为人们所熟知的债务主导型经济增长不得不发出危险警告。

U’ve Been Sacked  瑞银：你被解雇了 【注1】

UBS unveiled more drastic cost-cutting measures, as it shrinks its investment bank to become less capital-intensive and refocus on wealth management. The Swiss bank is shedding 10,000 jobs. Some of the losses were brutally immediate: dozens of traders turned up to work at offices in London this week to find that their security passes were no longer recognised. See article
瑞银集团出台了更猛烈的削减成本措施，除了收缩旗下投资银行的集聚资本并将业务重心再次转移到财富管理上，这家瑞士银行又拟裁员近万人。部分员工解雇立即生效：本周，一些交易员们到达伦敦的办公室里正欲工作，却发现他们的通行卡已经失效。（见另文）

The former UBS trader whose alleged rogue trades caused a $2.3 billion loss took the stand at his trial. Kweku Adoboli denies the charges, and partly blamed a “huge cultural change” at the Swiss bank that caused executives to push traders to take greater risks.See article
据称造成瑞银23亿亏损的前“魔鬼交易员”奎库·阿多博利日前出庭为己作证。阿多博利否认法庭对其所述指控，认为交易员们所以铤而走险，部分当归咎于执行官们对其施压，而这是由于瑞银的“巨大政策变化”所造成的结果。

India’s central bank held its main interest rate at 8%, despite being prodded to cut rates by the government, which unveiled a five-year plan to reduce the budget deficit (there was also a big cabinet reshuffle). The Reserve Bank of India did lower the cash-reserve ratio for banks by a quarter of a percentage point, to 4.25%, to boost lending. The RBI is trying to tackle India’s twin troubles of a slowing economy and rising inflation.
印度政府出台减少预算逆差的五年计划（其中包括内阁大改组），并敦促央行削减利率，但印度央行依旧将基准利率维持在8%不变。印度储备银行则将各银行的存款准备金率下调25个基点至4.25%，以刺激借贷，同时力图解决印度的“双生难题”——即经济增长慢和通胀率上升。

The new normal?  回归正常？

America’s economy grew by a better-than-expected 2% in the third quarter, according to a first estimate. It was the 13th consecutive quarter of economic expansion in America; since the middle of 2009 quarterly output has risen by an average of 2.2%. See article
据初步评估，美国经济第三季度增长2%，高于市场预期。这是美国连续第十三个季度经济增长；自2009年中期以来，美国季度均产量增长达2.2%。（见另文）


1.UBS=U’ve Been Sacked=United Bank of Switzerland 【可惜了，原文这么精彩的双关意我不知道怎么用中文体现出来...】