2014年经济学人 欧洲央行降息推高美元汇率 欧盟要求谷歌继续出血

Business this week

Alibaba took its IPO to investors¹ in a roadshow, having priced the offering at between 60 and 66 a share. This could value the Chinese e-commerce firm at around 160 billion when it lists in New York, which is close to Amazon's current market valuation. With reports that its order book is already full, Alibaba is likely to raise 20 billion or more on its stockmarket debut², and possibly be the most lucrative³ IPO ever.

Rocket Internet, a firm in Berlin that specialises in backing e-commerce startups, announced that it would float on the Frankfurt exchange by the end of the year. It hopes to raise 750m (970m), which would make its IPO Germany's biggest this year.

Europe's stockmarkets reacted positively⁴ to the European Central Bank's decision to cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.05% and adjust its rate on bank deposits to -0.2%. It is also to start a programme of buying asset-backed securities. With the ECB loosening monetary⁵ policy and the Federal Reserve moving in the opposite direction towards a rate rise, the dollar continued to strengthen, reaching a 14-month high against the euro.

As expected Joaquin Almunia, the European Union's competition regulator, asked Google to offer new concessions⁶ in an antitrust settlement that had been reached in February about its search business in Europe. Mr Almunia said that the reaction from Google's competitors had been “very, very negative”. He is leaving the job in November and will be replaced by Denmark's Margrethe Vestager.

BP's share price recovered somewhat from its hammering on September 4th, when a judge issued a long-awaited ruling and found it grossly negligent⁷ for the Gulf⁸ of Mexico oil spill in 2010, which leaves it exposed to fines of up to 18 billion. Halliburton and Transocean, which were also involved in the Deepwater Horizon project, were found to be negligent, but not grossly so.

Jack⁹ Lew, America's Treasury¹⁰ secretary, once again urged Congress to pass legislation to stop tax inversion¹¹ takeovers, warning that the relocation of American corporate¹² profits to lower-taxed countries threatened the progress made on reducing the budget deficit¹³. Mr. Lew wants a broad reform of business taxes, which he acknowledges are “distorted”.

Amid the usual hoopla Apple launched the iPhone 6 and its first smartwatch, simply called the Apple Watch. The premium¹⁴ version of the iPhone 6 has a bigger 14cm screen, a nod to the growing “phablet” market. Apple's latest devices can also be used to make “contactless” payments in shops. It was Apple's biggest product launch since the iPad, though wireless¹⁵ payments and smartwatches are not new and have so far failed to grip the imagination of consumers.

A sporty runaround

Fiat-Chrysler announced that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is to step down as chairman of its Ferrari division after 23 years in the job. He had repeatedly clashed over strategy with Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's boss, who wants to integrate Ferrari's technology with Fiat's premium cars as competition with rivals moves up a gear. Mr Montezemolo will depart on October 13th, the same day that Fiat-Chrysler lists in New York.

Carlos Slim added to the recent flurry of activity in Brazil's telecoms industry when his América Móvil confirmed it was in talks to join a venture to buy TIM Participacoes. TIM is owned by Telecom Italia, which insists the business is core to its strategy. The Italian firm was rebuffed last month in its bid to buy GVT, another Brazilian phone company.

General Electric sold its electrical-appliances business, which has supplied affordable¹⁶ washing machines and fridges to many American homes for decades, to Electrolux of Sweden for 3.3 billion. This is part of the conglomerate's strategy under Jeff Immelt to sell off its less profitable or unwieldy ventures in order to focus on engineering and aerospace¹⁷.

Mathew Martoma, a former analyst¹⁸ at SAC Capital, was given a nine-year sentence for insider trading, one of the longest prison terms handed down to date for the crime. The hedge fund, which is run by Steven Cohen, has already pleaded guilty in the case, in which it traded shares in two drugs companies conducting experimental work on a cure for Alzheimer's after receiving tip-offs.

Flying sardine¹⁹ cans

Ryanair, Europe's biggest budget airline, ordered 100 of Boeing's new 737 MAX aircraft, with an option to buy 100 more, as it forecast that it would carry 150m passengers in 2024, almost double the number today. The airline also persuaded Boeing to squeeze in eight extra seats, which it describes as “slimline”.

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

4 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

5 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

6 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

7 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

10 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

11 inversion   

n.反向，倒转，倒置

参考例句：

• But sometimes there is an unusual weather condition called a temperature inversion.但有时会有一种被称作“温度逆增”的不平常的天气状态。
• And finally,we made a discussion on the problems in the cooperative inversion.最后，对联合反演中存在的问题进行了讨论。

12 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

13 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

14 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

15 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

16 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

17 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

18 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

19 sardine   

n.[C]沙丁鱼

参考例句：

• Every bus arrives and leaves packed as fully as a sardine tin.每辆开来和开走的公共汽车都塞得像沙丁鱼罐头一样拥挤。
• As we chatted,a brightly painted sardine boat dropped anchor.我们正在聊着，只见一条颜色鲜艳的捕捞沙丁鱼的船抛了锚。