经济学人:一周商业要闻4

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　　Britain's recovery gathered pace. 英国经济加快复苏脚步。

　　Industrial output grew by 1.2% year on year, the fastest rate since January 2011, with manufacturing up by 2%. 工业产出与去年同期相比增长了1.2%，这是自2011年一月份以来的最快增速，其中制造业增长率达到了2%。

　　The composite purchasing managers ' index, a measure of business activity in which a reading above 50 indicates growth, stood at 59.5 in July, the perkiest since records began in 1998. 综合采购经理人指数七月份达到了59.5，这一指数是用来衡量商业活动的，指数大于50意味着经济增长，而59.5也成了自1998年有记录以来的最大值。

　　The Italian economy also performed better than expected, though it still shrank by 0.2% from April to June. 意大利经济表现也好于预期。尽管二季度意大利GDP仍旧缩水了0.2%。

　　GDP has now sagged¹ for eight consecutive² quarters, making this Italy's longest post war recession. 意大利的GDP已经连续8个季度为负增长，是战后最长的衰退期。

　　Output languishes³ 8.8% below its peak in 2007. 工业产出与2007年峰值相比下降了8.8%之多。

　　Mark Carney, the new governor of the Bank of England, used" forward guidance" to set expectations for the path of future interest rates. 英格兰银行的新老板Mark Carney采用“前瞻性指导”确定未来利率走向期望。

　　He vowed⁴ to keep the bank's benchmark rate at 0.5% as long as unemployment stays above 7%, 他承诺，只要失业率保持在7%以上，该行的基准利率就定在0.5%，

　　unless this threatens financial stability, raises inflation expectations or pushes inflation forecasts too high. 除非该利率威胁到了金融稳定，提高了通货膨胀预期或者让通货膨胀预期过高。

　　Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist⁵ at the IMF, was picked to head the Reserve Bank of India. 国际货币基金组织前首席经济学家Raghuram Rajan被任命为印度储备银行的行长。

　　Mr Rajan, who will succeed Duvvuri Subbarao as governor in September, acknowledged that" there is no magic wand" to fix India's problems of slowing growth, a weak currency and a big current account deficit⁶. Rajan先生将会在9月接任Duvvuri Subbarao，掌管印度储备银行。他承认解决印度经济增长放缓，货币疲软以及巨额经常账户赤字等问题没有什么妙招。

　　The Royal Bank of Scotland named Ross McEwan, a retail⁷ banker from New Zealand, as its new boss. 苏格兰皇家银行任命来自新西兰的一位零售银行家Ross McEwan为新行长。

　　In June Britain's government, which still owns 81% of the lender, decided⁸ to boot out his predecessor⁹, Stephen Hester. 6月，仍持有苏格兰皇家银行81%股份的英国政府决定将行长Stephen Hester解雇。

　　Mr McEwan will take over in October. McEwan先生将会在十月份走马上任。

　　HSBC's net profit rose by 25% in the first half of the year. 汇丰银行今年一季度的净利润增长了25%。

　　But the British bank's revenue was down by 7%, as it reduced its global presence to focus on" priority markets", where growth has eased. 但是随着汇丰银行收缩期全球分布，专注于优先考虑的市场，而这些市场的增速已放缓，导致其收入下降了7%。

　　HSBC also admitted that it may have to pay the American government up to $1.6 billion in damages over the improper¹⁰ sale of mortgage backed bonds. 汇丰银行也承认它将向美国政府赔偿高达16亿美元，以应对按揭贷款不当销售。

　　An American court found Fabrice Tourre, a former Goldman Sachs trader, liable for fraud in a complex derivatives¹¹ deal from 2007. 一家美国法院判定前高盛交易员Fabrice Tourre对2007年的一起复杂衍生品交易诈骗负有责任。

　　The ruling marks a victory for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed the case in 2010 in an effort to show it was holding bankers to account following the subprime crisis. 该判决标志着美国证券交易委员会的胜利。2010年，美国证券交易委员会向法院提起诉讼，表明其对次贷危机后问责银行家做出努力。

　　In an effort to overhaul¹² America's housing finance system, Barack Obama signalled that he will endorse¹³ a bipartisan Senate bill to wind down the two government sponsored mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  巴拉克·奥巴马努力改革美国住房金融体系，他发出信号表示，他将会签署一项代表两党意愿的法令，逐步减少政府资助的房利美和房地美的业务。

　　The bill would also require private investors¹⁵ to take the first loss on mortgage defaults, but preserve the federal government's role as a backstop. 该法案也会要求私人投资者承担按揭贷款违约的直接损失，但是保留联邦政府作为最后保障的角色。

　　The White House overturned a ban on the sale of some Apple gadgets¹⁶ imposed by an American trade tribunal, which had sided with Samsung, a South Korean rival, in a patent dispute. 白宫驳回了美国贸易特别仲裁机构对苹果部分产品的销售禁令。该禁令源于苹果与竞争对手韩国三星的专利纠纷。

　　Less welcome for Apple was the Justice Department's request to a judge to curb¹⁷ Apple's influence in the e publishing market and introduce government oversight¹⁸ of its iTunes and App stores. 苹果公司也收到了司法部的要求，要求削弱苹果在电子书领域的影响力，并且让政府监管其iTunes和软件商店。

　　Apple called the idea" draconian¹⁹ and punitive²⁰". 苹果当然不高兴，并称这过于严厉，带有惩罚性。

　　Several countries, including China, recalled milk powder produced by Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, 包括中国在内的几个国家召回了恒天然生产的奶粉。恒天然石世界上最大的牛奶出口商。

　　after the firm found traces of a bacterium²¹ that can cause botulism in one of its products. 此前，该公司发现其一款产品中有能导致肉毒中毒的细菌。

　　The New Zealand company's boss, Theo Spierings, rushed to Beijing to apologise to Chinese consumers. 这家来自新西兰的公司老总Theo Spierings迅速来到北京向中国的消费者道歉。

　　Royal Dutch Shell took a $2.2 billion write down in the second quarter, primarily on its American shale²² assets. 荷兰皇家壳牌公司二季度减值22亿美元，主要是美国的页岩资产。

　　This, combined with oil theft and disruptions to gas supplies in Nigeria, which accounts for as much as one tenth of the Anglo Dutch oil giant's daily production, slashed²³ quarterly profits by $1.1 billion compared with a year ago, to $4.6 billion. 而且尼日利亚的石油盗窃和天然气供应破坏也频发，这些占到该公司日生产的十分之一。上述因素使得壳牌公司与去年同期相比利润下降了11亿美元，仅为46亿美元。

　　In the latest blow to Eike Batista, who lost the title of Brazil's richest man earlier this year following the implosion²⁴ of his oil and mining empire, Eike Batista陷入最新风波，今年早些时候他的油矿公司爆发内讧，使其丢掉了巴西首富的头衔，

　　a group of disgruntled investors accused him of insider trading. 而现在一群不满的投资者则指控他进行内幕交易。

　　Brazil's stockmarket regulator is already pursuing 13 other inquiries²⁵ into OGX, Mr Batista's flagship company. 巴西股市的监管者开始对Batista的旗舰公司巴西油气公司展开13项调查。

　　Sony's board voted unanimously to reject a proposal by Daniel Loeb, an activist²⁶ investor¹⁴ whose fund, Third Point, holds a stake of around 7% in the Japanese firm, to spin off its lucrative²⁷ entertainment division and focus on its core electronics business. 索尼董事会投票一致反对激进投资者Daniel Loeb的提议。Loeb建议索尼取消有利可图的娱乐部，专注于核心电子产品业务。Loeb的第三点基金公司持有索尼7%的股份。

　　The Washington Post Company announced it will sell its flagship newspaper( and a few other titles) to Jeff Bezos, the founder²⁸ of Amazon, for $250m. 华盛顿邮报公司宣布将其旗舰报纸及其他几项出版物以2.5亿美元的价格卖给亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯。

　　The New York Times Company, meanwhile, agreed to sell the Boston Globe to John Henry, another billionaire, for $70m, a fraction of the $1.1 billion it paid in 1993. 同时，纽约时报公司也同意将波士顿环球报卖给另一个亿万富翁约翰·亨利。交易价格为7000万美元，是其1993年以11亿美元购买该报纸价格的零头。

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