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(在线收听) |
Business this week Alibaba took its IPO to investors 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 debut, and possibly be the most lucrative 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 positively 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 monetary 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 concessions 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 negligent for the Gulf 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. Jack Lew, America's Treasury secretary, once again urged Congress to pass legislation to stop tax inversion takeovers, warning that the relocation of American corporate profits to lower-taxed countries threatened the progress made on reducing the budget deficit. 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 premium 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 wireless 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 affordable 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 aerospace. Mathew Martoma, a former analyst 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 sardine 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”. |
原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/2014jjxr/491615.html |