[2009.4.8] Business this week 本周财经

 

Business this week
本周财经
Apr 8th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Pundits continued to ponder the communiqué issued by the members of the G20 at the end of their summit in London. The agreement’s main points include a promise of more money for the IMF, taking its funding to $750 billion; an increase in countries’ access to Special Drawing Rights, the IMF’s synthetic currency; a promise to crack down on tax havens; and the establishment of a Financial Stability Board. The G20 members also committed themselves to supporting $250 billion-worth of new global-trade guarantees and gave assurances they would put a freeze on new protectionist measures.

权威人士继续G20成员国在伦敦峰会结束时发布的“会议公报”进行分析。会议公报主要内容包括：二十国集团承诺为IMF（国际货币基金组织）增资，使其资金总额增加至7500亿美元；增加各国对IMF货币的特别提款权；承诺对“避税天堂”采取制裁行动；建立金融稳定委员会。G20成员将提供2500亿美元作为新一轮全球贸易的保证，并承不设置任何新的投资或贸易壁垒。

Ford announced that after a successful debt-for-equity swap programme it had reduced its outstanding automotive debt by $9.9 billion, from $25.8 billion at the end of last year. General Motors and Chrysler are negotiating with their lenders and bondholders to reduce their debt in order to avoid bankruptcy.

福特汽车宣布，自去年年底成功进行债转股之后，公司已将258亿美元债务砍掉99亿美元。为了避免破产，通用汽车公司及克莱斯勒汽车公司正在和他们的贷款人及债券持有人商谈减少债务事宜。

Sour charity
变味的慈善

New York state’s attorney-general accused Ezra Merkin, a hedge-fund manager, of placing clients’ money with Bernard Madoff without telling them. There was no suggestion that Mr Merkin, a prominent Manhattan philanthropist, who invested money for many non-profit organisations, including New York University, knew Mr Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.

纽约州检察长指控对冲基金经理以斯拉·梅金，在没有告知客户的情况下将他们的资金投资给伯纳德·麦道夫。梅金是曼哈顿杰出的慈善家，他经常资助非盈利性机构，如纽约大学。没有任何迹象表明他知道麦道夫筹谋的是一出庞氏骗局。

Indian police widened their investigation into alleged fraud at Satyam Computer Services, one of India’s biggest technology companies, arresting three executives in its finance department for an “active role” in the crime. Satyam’s chairman resigned in January after admitting he had overstated profits and hidden liabilities at the company.

印度警方扩大对萨蒂扬软件技术有限公司所谓诈骗的调查范围。萨蒂扬为印度最大软件外包企业之一。逮捕了财务部的三名行政职员，因他们在犯罪活动中扮演着“活跃角色”。萨蒂扬董事长对自己夸大公司利润隐瞒公司债务供认不讳，之后于一月份辞职，

The European Commission sent a “statement of objections” to Visa Europe (a separate entity to Visa) regarding the transaction fee paid by retailers’ banks to the banks of their customers. Europe’s antitrust regulators are pushing for change at big credit-card companies, accusing them of acting as a cartel when setting fees. The commission recently reached an agreement with MasterCard to reduce its fees on cross-border payments.

欧盟委员会向威士（VISA）国际组织欧洲分部发送了一封“异议声明”，该声明主要涉及该公司的跨行交易费问题（资金从消费者发卡行转移至零售商账户时发生的一笔费用问题）。欧洲反垄断机构强烈地要求大型信用卡公司进行转变，并指控这些公司在设定费用方面宛如“卡特尔”（企业联合以控制产量、销售防止相互竞争）。欧盟会员会已与万事达信用卡于近日就减少跨境偿付费用上达成协议。

Berry good
非常莓好

Research In Motion’s quarterly earnings cheered investors. The BlackBerry-maker’s profit rose by 26% compared with a year ago, to $518m, and revenue soared by 84%. It added a net 3.9m subscribers, bringing the total number of those who use the popular e-mail device to 25m.

RIM公司（动态研究公司）的季度盈余让投资者欢欣雀跃。黑莓制造商的利润与去年同期相比上涨了26%，达到5.18亿美元，整体收益猛增84%。净增390万用户，使他们的总用户人数达到2500万。

A judge in Hong Kong ruled that Richard Li, the chairman of PCCW, had done nothing wrong when he handed out shares to investors ahead of a vote on his buy-out offer. Shareholders at the telecoms company voted in favour of Mr Li’s proposal, but Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission insists his actions affected the outcome.

香港一名审判员指出，在私有化交易之前，电讯盈科主席李泽楷给投资者分红的行为并无不法之处。电讯盈科的持股人投票支持李泽楷的建议，不过香港证券及期货事务监察委员会仍坚持他的行为对结果有一定影响。

The Pentagon proposed capping purchases of Lockheed Martin’s F-22 fighter jets and said it would cancel orders with the company to supply VH-71 presidential helicopters. The programme would have cost taxpayers $13 billion.

五角大楼计划购买洛克希德·马丁公司的F-22喷气战斗机，并称用新机型替代总统海军一号直升机编队的计划也将被取消。该计划将耗资130亿美元。

PartyGaming reached a settlement with American authorities, agreeing to pay $105m to avoid prosecution for providing online-gambling facilities to American residents. The company, which has its headquarters in Gibraltar, was a darling of the London Stock Exchange after a share offering in 2005, but in October 2006 Congress passed a law that clamped down on internet gaming and PartyGaming’s share price slumped.

PartyGaming公司与美国当局达成和解，同意支付1.05亿美元和解金，以避免为美国居民提供网络赌博设施而被起诉。PartyGaming总部设于直布罗陀，2005年上市之后是伦敦股票交易的宠儿，但在2006年10月美国国会通过一项法律取缔网络游戏，此后PartyGaming的股票价格暴跌。

Counting the toll
计算收费

America’s unemployment rate rose to 8.5% in March, its highest level in 25 years. More than 5m jobs have been lost since the recession started in December 2007.

美国的失业率在三月份涨至8.5%，达到25年来的最高峰。从2007年12月的经济衰退开始，已经有超过500万人失业。

A big drop in producer prices and retail sales in the euro area caused some analysts to predict that the European Central Bank will loosen monetary policy further. On April 2nd the ECB reduced its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, less than expected, to 1.25%.

欧洲的制造商及零售商都大跳价，导致一些分析师预测欧洲中央银行将会实行更加扩张性的货币政策。4月2日，欧洲中央银行降息25个基点，至1.25%，比预期中下调的少。

HSBC reported that existing shareholders had responded well to its rights issue and bought 96.6% of the shares on offer; the remainder were sold in the market. The bank, one of the few global financial institutions not to request state aid during the crisis, raked in $18.5 billion in new capital through the public offering.

汇丰控股宣布，现有持股人积极响应该银行增股，供股获96.6%股东有效接纳；剩余股份的认购在金融市场上完成。在金融危机期间，汇丰银行是未要求国家救助的新型全球金融机构之一，并迅速获得了股东配售185亿资金。

Royal Bank of Scotland said it would cut 9,000 jobs worldwide. Meanwhile RBS’s remuneration report was rejected by 90% of shareholders at the annual meeting. The report included Sir Fred Goodwin’s contentious annual pension of ￡700,000 ($1m). The bank’s former boss, whose aggressive approach to cost-cutting earned him the nickname “Fred the Shred”, resigned when the bank had to be bailed out.

苏格兰皇家银行称，将在全球范围内裁员9000人。同时，苏格兰皇家银行股东以90%的多数投票否决了薪酬报告。这份报告的内容包括：弗雷德·古德温饱受争议的70万英镑（合100万美元）的退休金。弗雷德为苏格兰皇家银行前任首席执行官，他在削减成本法规面的成功为自己赢得了“剪刀手弗雷德”的绰号。在银行面临倒闭的时候，弗雷德辞职。

译者/allithink:  http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=18605&extra=page%3D1