It is prepared for our coming BUSINESS EHGLISH exam.

1. Business this week
2011~2012 spring semester

2. Glencore and Xstrata unveiled the details of
their proposed $90 billion merger, which
would create a giant in mining and natural
resources. The offer of a share swap would
result in Glencore owning 55% of a newly
combined company to be headed by Mick
Davis, Xstrata’s chief executive. The
companies have longstanding business links,
but there was some criticism of the deal from
institutional investors in Xstrata, who worry
that it is a takeover on the cheap.

3. Glencore International plc is a multinational mining and
commodities trading company headquartered in Baar,
Switzerland and with its registered office in Saint Helier,
Jersey. It is the world's largest commodities trading company,
with a 2010 global market share of 60 percent in the
internationally tradeable zinc market, 50 percent in the
internationally tradeable copper market, 9 percent in the
internationally tradeable grain market and 3 percent in the
internationally tradeable oil market.
Glencore has production facilities around the world and
supplies metals, minerals, crude oil, oil products, coal,
natural gas and agricultural products to international
customers in the automotive, power generation, steel
production and food processing industries. The company was
formed in 1974 by a management buyout of Marc Rich & Co

4. Glencore listed on the London Stock Exchange in May
2011 and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a
secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

5. Xstrata plc is a global mining company headquartered in
Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London,
United Kingdom. It is a major producer of coal (and the
world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, nickel,
primary vanadium and zinc and the world's largest
producer of ferrochrome. It has operations in 19 countries
across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and
South America.
Xstrata has its primary listing on the
London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of
approximately £29 billion as of 23 December 2011, making
it the 16th-largest company on the London Stock Exchange.
It has a secondary listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Its
largest shareholder is Glencore International plc, which has
a stake of approximately 34%.

6. A stock swap, also known as a share swap, is a business
takeover or acquisition in which the acquiring company uses
its own stock to pay for the acquired company. Each
shareholder of the newly acquired company receives a
certain number of shares of the acquiring company's stock
for each share of stock they previously held in the acquired
company. Sometimes some shareholders are required to
wait for an agreed-upon period before they are allowed to
sell their new shares of stock.

7. Rio Tinto announced a record underlying
annual profit of $15.5 billion. But the mining
company also booked an $8.9 billion charge
related to the falling value of its aluminium
business.

8. A term used to describe the actual reflection of a
company's profit. The underlying profit is not the
required accounting profit that is recorded on financial
statements and documents mandatory to follow preset
rules and regulations. This number is calculated by the
company to show what they believe to be an accurate
reading of the company's profit position and may exclude
one time charges or infrequent events.

9. Paying dividends
BP posted a 38% jump in quarterly profit, to
$7.7 billion, and increased its shareholder
dividend for the first time since the 2010
disaster at one of its oil wells in the Gulf of
Mexico. A trial that will apportion liability
for the oil spill among BP and its partners is
due to start in Louisiana on February 27th,
unless the company reaches a settlement
before then.

10. UBS went further than most other banks and
reduced its bonus pool by a comparatively
large 40% (and by 60% at its investment-
banking division), as it reported that net profit
in 2011 had fallen by almost half, to SFr4.2
billion ($4.6 billion). But the Swiss bank will
pay “special” share bonuses to around 5% of
its most senior bankers as it fights to retain
talent amid a downsizing of its investment
bank.

11. The Bank of England stood poised to launch a
third round of expansionary asset purchases,
or quantitative easing, to help the ailing
British economy. The British Retail
Consortium reported that shoppers drastically
reduced spending in January after splashing
out at Christmas.
completely ready to do something or for something to
happen, when it is likely to happen soon
poised to do something
Spain was poised to become the dominant power in Europe

12. As the world suffers its worst recession since the second
world war, policy makers are searching for the best tools to
limit the downturn. Central banks have rapidly lowered
interest rates in order to reduce the cost of borrowing. The
hope is to stimulate spending in the economy now.
So far, it has been to no avail. Confidence disappeared from
banks, companies and households in the autumn of 2008 and
unemployment is rising fast in 2009. Without an obvious
source of fresh demand, central banks are moving to open
the way to more unorthodox approaches to address the crisis.

13. China’s inflation rate unexpectedly crept up in
January, to 4.5% from 4.1% in December,
mostly because of higher food prices. Inflation is
a headache for the central bank, which only
recently started to loosen monetary policy as
prices looked to be under control. Adding to the
mix, the IMF this week urged Beijing to ready a
stimulus plan in case the global economy
worsens.
advance stealthily or unnoticed

14. Ben Bernanke warned that America’s labor market
was still a “long way” from recovery, despite the
unemployment rate falling to 8.3% in January, the
lowest for three years.
Stock markets had surged in response to the
employment data, with the Dow Jones index
reaching its highest mark since May 2008. But the
Fed’s chairman reminded Congress that the official
figure “understates the weakness” of the labor market
as it does not count people who have given up looking
for work or can find only part-time employment.

15. The trading of shares in Alibaba was
suspended amid rumors that the Chinese e-
commerce firm is to buy back the 40% stake
held in it by Yahoo! It is thought that Alibaba
has obtained loans from a syndicate of banks
to buy back some or all of that stake, which
could be worth $13 billion. Meanwhile,
Yahoo! took more steps to restore investor
confidence, as Roy Bostock announced he
was stepping down as chairman.

16. China barred its airlines from taking part in
Europe’s emissions trading scheme (ETS),
hardening its opposition to an attempt to get
carriers to pay for carbon emissions on flights
into and out of the EU. Russia, America and
India are also opposed to their airlines’
inclusion in the ETS.

17. The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a cornerstone
of the European Union's policy to combat climate change
and its key tool for reducing industrial greenhouse gas
emissions cost-effectively. Being the first and biggest
international scheme for the trading of greenhouse gas
emission allowances, the EU ETS covers some 11,000
power stations and industrial plants in 30 countries.
The EU ETS, a system based on the "cap and trade" principle
This means there is a "cap", or limit, on the total amount of
certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted by the
factories, power plants and other installations in the system.
Within this cap, companies receive emission allowances
which they can sell to or buy from one another as needed.
The limit on the total number of allowances available ensures
that they have a value.

18. At the end of each year each company must surrender
enough allowances to cover all its emissions, otherwise heavy
fines are imposed. If a company reduces its emissions, it can
keep the spare allowances to cover its future needs or else
sell them to another company that is short of allowances. The
flexibility that trading brings ensures that emissions are cut
where it costs least to do so.
The number of allowances is reduced over time so that total
emissions fall. In 2020 emissions will be 21% lower than in
2005.
Airlines will join the scheme in 2012.

19. Air France was forced to cancel about half its
long-haul flights because of a four-day strike
by pilots and crew, who walked out in protest
against government plans to require them to
give at least 48 hours' advance notice of strike
action.

20. Verizon announced a venture with Coinstar, the
owner of the handy Redbox DVD rental kiosks in
American supermarkets, in which the pair will
combine forces to challenge Netflix’s dominance in
the business of streaming and renting films online.
Coinstar, which also operates in-store coin-sorting
machines, saw its profit surge in the fourth quarter of
last year.

21. Verizon Communications Inc. is a global broadband and
telecommunications company and a component of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average. It started in 1983 as Bell
Atlantic (based in Philadelphia) with a footprint covering New
Jersey to Virginia and emerged as part of the 1984
AT&T breakup into seven "Baby Bells." In 1997, Bell Atlantic
merged with another Regional Bell Operating Company,
NYNEX, based in New York City with a footprint spanning
from New York to Maine. The combined company kept the
Bell Atlantic name. In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired former
independent phone company GTE, and adopted the name
"Verizon. The company's headquarters are located in the
Verizon Building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan,
New York City.

22. Coinstar, Inc. is an American company. The firm's original
focus was the conversion of loose change into
paper currency, donations or gift cards via coin counter
kiosks. Coinstar deducts a fee for conversion of coins to
banknotes and charitable donations, but not for gift cards.
The company has more than 60,000 locations including a
variety of services in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada,
Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Coinstar aims to create a presence in the front end of
stores (between the cash registers and the exit/entrance).
The foremost example is their ownership of the Redbox
DVD rental service. The company also produces machines
that provide prepaid credit cards and cellular phone cards
as well as e-payment kiosks.

23. Groupon released its first set of earnings since
going public in a much ballyhooed initial
public offering. Although revenue at the online
discount site almost trebled in the final quarter
of 2011 it made an unexpected net loss of
$43m. Its share price sank.
advertize noisily

24. Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features
discounted gift certificates usable at local or national
companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, and
the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon
thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. As of
October 2010, Groupon serves more than 150 markets in
North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South
America and has amassed 35 million registered users.
The idea for Groupon was created by now-CEO and Pittsburgh
native Andrew Mason. The idea subsequently gained the attention
of his former employer, Eric Lefkofsky, who provided $1
million in "seed money" to develop the idea. In April 2010,
the company was valued at $1.35 billion.

25. According to a December 2010 report conducted by
Groupon's marketing association and reported in
Forbes Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, Groupon
was "projecting that the company is on pace to make $1
billion in sales faster than any other business, ever".
However, a report from Forrester Research in October
2011 suggested that the Groupon business model was a
"disaster", and that the firm had become an example of
"how fast an Internet darling can fall."
In its first earnings release as a public company, Groupon
reported a fourth-quarter loss of $9.8 million on an
adjusted basis, disappointing investors.

26. Caesars Entertainment, which owns Caesars
Palace and other glitzy places where people can
lose money, floated a small amount of shares in
an IPO. The debt-laden company’s casinos are in
America and Europe, rather than fast-growing
Asia. It abandoned a more ambitious flotation in
2010, but this week’s gamble paid off: its share
price rose by 71% on the first day of trading.
to issue on the stock market in order to raise money, as stocks or
bonds.

27. As the process of finalizing a second bail-out
for Greece continued to grind on, official data
recorded a contraction in the euro zone’s
economy for the first time since mid-2009.
Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and
Portugal are now all in recession, defined as
two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

28. Moody’s cut the credit ratings of Italy, Portugal
and Spain, and also put Austria, Britain and
France on negative outlook, a warning that
their triple-A ratings could be downgraded by the
agency. Moody’s said that although Britain
was not in the euro zone the crisis was “exerting
negative pressure” on its economy, and that
the government may thus find it a “challenge” to
reduce Britain’s heavy public debt.

29. In an unexpected move the Bank of Japan
increased its bond-buying programme by ¥10
trillion ($130 billion) in an effort to boost
Japan’s struggling economy. After years of
deflation the central bank also refined its policy
on prices, saying it hoped the annual inflation
rate would
increase to hit a “goal” of 1% “for the time
being”. Japan’s GDP shrank by 2.3% in the
fourth
quarter.

30. American regulators were bombarded with
complaints from banks about forthcoming
restrictions on proprietary trading (in which they
use their own money to take risky bets), ahead of
a deadline for public comment. The banks worry
that without revisions the “Volcker rule”, which is
included in the Dodd-Frank reforms and is due
to come into force in July, will restrict other
kinds of trading and hurt the wider financial
system. But in a rebuttal to those arguments Paul
Volcker, who proposed the rule, said less
speculative trading would mean more security for
investors.

31. The Volcker Rule is a specific section of the
Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protectio
originally proposed by American economist and
former United States Federal Reserve Chairman
Paul Volcker to restrict United States banks from
making certain kinds of speculative investments that
do not benefit their customers. Volcker argued that
such speculative activity played a key role in the
financial crisis of 2007–2010. The rule is often
referred to as a ban on proprietary trading by
commercial banks, whereby deposits are used to
trade on the bank's personal accounts, although a
number of exceptions to this ban were included in the
Dodd-Frank law.The rule's provisions are scheduled
to be implemented as a part of Dodd-Frank on July
21, 2012

32. Proprietary trading (also "prop trading" or PPT)
occurs when a firm trades stocks, bonds, currencies,
commodities, their derivatives, or other financial
instruments, with the firm's own money as opposed
to its customers' money, so as to make a profit for
itself. They may use a variety of strategies much like
a hedge fund. Many reporters and analysts believe
that large banks purposely leave ambiguous the
amount of non-proprietary trading they do versus the
amount of proprietary trading they do, because it is
felt that proprietary trading is riskier and results in
more volatile profits.

33. A six-month ban expired on the short-selling of
shares in France’s biggest banks. The ban was
put in place last August, when financial markets
were plunging in a particularly acute bout of
anxiety over the euro-zone crisis. BNP Paribas
and Société Générale reported a sharp fall in
profits this week, as they took more write-
downs on their holdings of Greek sovereign
debt.

34. The selling of a security that the seller does not own,
or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a
security borrowed by the seller. Short sellers assume
that they will be able to buy the stock at a lower
amount than the price at which they sold short.
Barclays also reported a poor set of earnings, as
revenue from its investment-banking business
plunged. The unit’s annual pre-tax profit was
down by 32%; Barclays reduced the bonus pool
for bankers by a similar amount.

35. Robert Zoellick confirmed that he would step
down as president of the World Bank when his
five-year term ends in June. One question
regarding a successor is how much America
wants to hang on to the job, given its oft-repeated
call for candidates from emerging markets to be
considered to run the World Bank and the IMF.
The Europeans clung on to the IMF’s top job last
year, with the appointment of Christine Lagarde
from France as managing director.

36. The family holding company that owns the
Empire State Building outlined its plan to
launch an IPO as a real-estate investment trust
on the New York Stock Exchange, in which it
hopes to raise $1 billion. Malkin Holdings bought
control of the iconic skyscraper in 2002 from
Donald Trump.

37. The first arrests were made in relation to an
accounting scandal at Olympus that has
rocked Japan’s corporate world. The company’s
former chairman, his deputy and the corporate
auditor, who all left last year after the company
admitted to wrongdoing, were among those
arrested.

38. Apple’s stock rose to over $500 a share for
the first time. Its share price has jumped by
25% since the start of the year. But Apple,
already under attack for the working conditions
at factories that assemble the iPad in China,
suffered a new setback there when Proview
Technology, a local firm that claims it has the
Chinese trademark for “iPad”, persuaded some
cities to remove the devices from shop
shelves. Its lawyers have requested customs
officials to
halt exports; if they agree, the financial blow to
Apple would be severe.

39. Kellogg’s offered to buy Pringles for $2.7
billion. The popular potato-snack business is
owned by Procter & Gamble, which had planned
to sell it to Diamond Foods, until the deal was
blown off course by an accounting scandal
involving payments to Californian walnut farmers.
The scandal caused Diamond to restate its
earnings for two years.

40. The improper practices at a British newspaper
owned by News Corporation returned to the
front pages, after five journalists were arrested
at the Sun in connection with an investigation
into alleged payments to police and defence
officials. The Sun is Rupert Murdoch’s biggest-
selling daily. Last year the media mogul shut
down its sister paper, the News of the World,
amid a furore in Britain over phone hacking.

41. The European Central Bank disbursed €530
billion ($712 billion) in a second round of
three-year loans to banks at a super-low current
interest rate of 1%. The first round of lending in
the ECB's Long-Term Refinancing Operation last
December provided much-needed liquidity to
European banks that were struggling to
refinance their debt in the credit markets.
expend

42. Greece launched its debt-swap offer to private
creditors, who might see the value of their
bonds reduced by as much as 75%. Many
investors continued to question whether
the arrangement, which was agreed to in
Brussels as part of the latest rescue package
for Greece, constitutes a default, thereby
activating default insurance payments.
Standard & Poor's meanwhile downgraded
the country's credit rating to "selective default".
选择性违约

43. The "troika" overseeing euro-zone bail-outs said
that Portugal's government is making "steady
progress" towards meeting its fiscal targets for
2012. But yields on its debt continued to rise.
The general meaning of the Slavic word troika is
three of a kind, a collection of three or simply the
number three.

44. America's GDP growth rate was revised upwards
to 3% for the last three months of 2011 from a
first estimate of 2.8%. Banks in America
expanded their lending by $130 billion in the
period, the biggest quarterly increase in four
years, while losses from loans fell to their
lowest since the start of 2008.
The data were taken as more evidence that the
American economy is on the rebound, though
that was tempered by news that S&P/Case-
Shiller's home-price indices fell to new
lows in December.

45. Stockmarkets rose. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average closed above 13,000 for the first time
since May 2008; the NASDAQ reached a new
year high (pushed up by Apple, which is now
worth $500 billion, enough to pay a quarter of the
debts Uncle Sam racked up in 2o11). Hong
Kong's Hang Seng index continued along its
upward trajectory. It has risen by 17% since the
start of the year.
ACCUMULATE

46. India's economy grew by 6.1% in the last quarter
of 2011. It was the slowest rate of growth in
three years and put more pressure on the
central bank to reduce interest rates, after
more than a dozen rate rises over the past two
years.

47. HSBC posted an annual net profit of $16.8 billion,
buoyed by a record year at its commercial
banking division and an accounting gain on the
debt it holds. But the bank's costs rose by 10%,
mostly because of higher wages in Asia and
other
emerging markets, despite a cost-cutting strategy
started by Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's chief
executive.
Standard Chartered, HSBC's smaller rival, made
another record profit last year, of $4.8 billion.
The bank conducts much of its business in Hong
Kong and Singapore.

48. Boeing put the general manager of its
successful777 airliner project in charge of its
delayed 787 Dream liner, as it ramps up
production of the new jet to fill a backlog of
orders from angry airlines.
Volkswagen reported a bumper annual net profit
of €15.4 billion ($21.4 billion), driven in part by
the success of its Audi brand and option gains
from Porsche. The German carmaker sold 8.3m
cars
worldwide last year, second only to General
Motors' 9m.

49. America issued a new warning about statins, a
medicine that lowers cholesterol and is taken
by millions of people to fend off heart disease.
Drug labels must now state that statins may raise
the risk of memory loss and diabetes. It will have
little effect on most big drugmakers, as many
statins have already lost patent protection.

50. Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders
answered some questions about who would
eventually succeed him as boss of Berkshire
Hathaway. The 81-year-old suggested that
a successor has been chosen, as the investment
company's board was "enthusiastic“ about "an
individual to whom they have had a great deal of
exposure". But he didn't name the person, which
kept people guessing about the candidates.

51. James Murdoch stepped down as chairman of
News International, News Corporation's
British newspaper division, which has had a
wretched few months. Lurid allegations of phone
hacking and payments to police have generated
the wrong sort of headlines for the group. James
Murdoch, son of Rupert, will now focus his
talents on News Corp's television interests in
Asia and Europe.

52. China-watchers pored over the government’s
pronouncement that it will aim for an economic
growth rate of 7.5% this year, the first time in
eight years that the official target has been
under 8%. Some wonder if Beijing’s resignation
to slower growth will hurt the region and
commodity-rich countries, such as Australia, that
feed China’s mighty appetite for raw
materials. But the government’s new focus on
domestic demand as a driver of the economy
was welcomed by those who think it should do
more to reduce global trade imbalances.

53. Spain’s long-term borrowing costs rose above
those of Italy for the first time in eight months,
after Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister,
admitted that Spain’s deficit this year would be
above that agreed with the EU. Meanwhile,
Greece hastened efforts to convince more private
creditors to sign up to a restructuring of the
Greek
sovereign debt they hold, which is a condition of
Greece’s recent bailout package.

54. Oil prices remained high, despite news of
a push by the West to open fresh talks
with Iran over its nuclear programme.
Brent crude fetched more than $125 a
barrel; the price has risen by around 15%
since the start of the year.

55. BP reached a deal with some of the parties bringing a
civil suit against it over the oil spill caused by an
explosion at a rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The
energy giant is to pay out around $7.8 billion to
fishermen and other businesses from a fund earmarked
for those affected by the disaster. A trial that was set to
start on February 27th, but was delayed when
negotiators said they were close to a settlement, will
now be put off indefinitely. BP still has to settle with
the federal government, and unless it does so the trial
will go ahead. Either way it faces a big payout.

56. India imposed an immediate ban on cotton exports for
the second time in two years. Although it is the world’s
second-biggest producer of the fibre (after America), the
Indian government wants to increase its domestic supply
of the stuff to help textile companies battling high cotton
prices. But its decision to halt exports did little for its
reputation in international markets.

57. A jury in Texas found Allen Stanford guilty of
operating a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the
biggest frauds in history. Mr Stanford, a former
banker who based part of his business in
Antigua and used his riches to sponsor his own
cricket tournament in the West Indies, was
arrested in 2009. He will be sentenced later this
year and faces decades in prison.

58. Lehman Brothers officially emerged from its
court-protected bankruptcy after three-and-a-half
years. Lehman exists as a holding company now,
with the sole task of distributing to creditors
the $65 billion in assets they are expecting to get.
The first payments are expected in April.
Meanwhile American International Group, another
famous casualty of the crisis but one partly owned by the
Treasury, raised $5.6 billion by selling half of its
remaining stake in AIA, an Asian insurance business
which it listed in Hong Kong in 2010. AIG will use the
money from the sale to repay some of the cash it owes.
The Treasury announced that it would sell up to $6.9
billion of AIG stock it holds.

59. The European Commission began a consultation period
with companies about appointing more women to the
boardroom. Last year the commission encouraged
companies to pledge to raise the number of women on
their boards to 40% by 2020; 24 firms have made that
commitment. Businesses are insisting that any change
should be voluntary and not, as has been mooted,
imposed through legislation.

60. Peugeot-Citroen launched its €1 billion ($1.3
billion) share issue, through which General
Motors is taking a 7% stake in the company as
part of their recently announced alliance. The
price of the shares in the offer were discounted
by a hefty 42%. The debt-laden French
carmaker said it might like to buy a reciprocal
stake in GM in the future, but not now.

61. General Motors suspended production of its
Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car for five weeks
because sales of the vehicle are below target.
The Volt has won some big awards, including
“European Car of the Year” recently and “Green
Car of the Year” in 2011. But only around 7,700
were sold in America last year and stock has
been building up. GM has set itself an ambitious
goal to sell 45,000 Volts in 2012.

62. Apple unveiled its latest iPad tablet computer
(which is simply called “iPad”, rather than iPad
3). It has a zippier processor and a
“resolutionary” new screen. Tim Cook, Apple’s
boss, said the device would become the “poster
child of the post-PC world”.

63. China reported a trade deficit of $31.5 billion for
February, the largest in at least a decade, as imports
grew at twice the rate of exports. Factories were closed
during the Chinese new-year celebrations, which may be
one factor behind the slacker exports. But with global
demand fragile and separate data showing a slowdown
in Chinese car sales and industrial production, many
observers are now betting that the central bank will do
more to boost the economy.

64. America (and others) took a "first step" in bringing
a dispute with China over restrictions on exports
of rare-earth minerals to the WTO. China says it
limits exports because of concerns over the
industry's environmental impact, but America
argues that the controls create "massive
distortions“ in the market. China rejected that
claim as groundless, and warned America to
tread cautiously when handling trade disputes.

65. Airbus suggested that a row between Europe and
China about the forced participation of its airlines
in the European emissions-trading scheme could
lead to "suspensions, cancellations and punitive
actions" in retaliation. China is the most vocal
opponent of the policy and is withholding final
approval on orders for dozens of Airbus aircraft.
Meanwhile, 26 American economists, including
five Nobel laureates, endorsed Europe's
emissions-trading scheme as an "innovative"
effort to price carbon.
a noisy dispute or quarrel

66. The Federal Reserve released the results of the
latest "stress tests" of America's big banks,
which have to prove that they can withstand a
number of economic shocks, such as the
unemployment rate reaching 13%. Fifteen of the
19 banks under review passed the tests,
but four did not, including Citigroup.

67. Goldman Sachs faced more negative publicity
after the colorful resignation of an executive.
After 12 years at Goldman, Greg Smith decided
to quit because he overheard several colleagues
describe clients as "muppets". He condemned
the firm's recent business practices in an article
in the New York Times. The criticism will sting
Goldman, which prides itself on its reputation
and care for clients.
a stupid person

68. Markets reacted calmly to Greece's debt swap, which
was accepted by 86% of holders of Greek bonds. The
remainder were forced to sign up when the Greek
government enforced a collective-action clause, which in
turn led the International Swaps and Derivatives
Association to declare this a "credit event", determining
that insurance against a default should be paid out. The
deal will cut Greece's debt pile by €100 billion ($130
billion).

69. The London Stock Exchange announced that it
was acquiring a 6o% stake in LCH.Clearnet
in a deal that values the London-based clearing
house at €813m ($1.1 billion). Clearing is seen as
a lucrative area thanks to regulatory reforms.

70. Yahoo! filed a lawsuit against Face book for
alleged infringements on ten patents it owns.
Yahoo!, which is seeking to halt its decline under
the new leadership of Scott Thompson, claims
that the patents have been essential to the
market share that the social network now enjoys.
Face book has come under increasing scrutiny
since it unveiled a $5 billion IPO in February.
a breach or infraction, as of a law, right, or obligation;
violation; transgression.

71. India's patent office ordered Bayer, a German
drug maker, to license a cheaper version of
Nexavar, an anti-cancer drug. Compulsory
licensing is permitted under WTO rules but
rarely used; an Indian generic drugs company will
sell its version at a 97% discount to Bayer's and
hand over 6% of the revenues as royalties.
Bayer is planning to appeal. The decision will
heighten drug makers' concerns about investing
in India, which is involved in other patent rows.

72. There was confusion over India's recent ban on
cotton exports when officials appeared to reverse
the decision, but then said it would apply to new
bales of the fiber. Local farmers- and the
Chinese- are furious at the ban, which the
government thinks will help the country's cotton
mills.

73. America's employment situation continued to
improve, as 227,000 jobs were added to the
payrolls in February and the figures were
revised upwards for December and January.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at
8.3%.

74. In a move hailed as a triumph by the digerati but
deplored by bibliophiles, the publishers of
"Encyclopaedia Britannica“ decided to
discontinue the printed edition of the 32-volume
tome in order to focus on the online and digital
versions. The encyclopedia contains 40m words,
is in its 15th edition and was first published in
Edinburgh in 1768 but has been based in
America since 1901 (according to Wikipedia).
to cheer, salute, or greet; welcome
people skilled with or knowledgeable about digital
technologies, especially computers and the Internet.

75. Congress approved the JOBS Act, in a rare
spirit of bipartisan agreement. The legislation
will make it easier for some firms to go public,
addressing concerns that America’s recent
tougher financial regulatory requirements are
hindering initial public offerings. The act will allow
firms to waive certain listings regulations for up to
five years and raise money from investors online.

76. It emerged that Facebook is ending the trading
of its privately held shares on the secondary
market as it prepares to go public, which many
people now expect to happen in May. Private
secondary markets will see a big drop in their
trading volumes with the departure of Facebook.

77. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve,
warned that despite the improvement in America’s jobs
situation over the past few months the labour market
was “out of sync with the overall pace of economic
expansion” and still “far from normal”. But investors
responded positively when Mr. Bernanke implied that
“accommodative monetary policies” would continue,
ending speculation that the Fed was backing away from
its commitment to hold interest rates near zero until late
2014.

78. America’s nomination of Jim Yong Kim to lead
the World Bank drew fire. Mr. Kim currently
runs
Dartmouth College and is an expert on public
health, but he has scant experience in
economics.
In 2000 he published a book arguing that growth
does little for the poor. Tradition demands that
an American always head the World Bank, but
some say it is time to break that tradition and
pick Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance
minister.

79. Consumer confidence in France rose sharply,
baffling analysts. A drumbeat of grim economic
news had prompted them to expect otherwise. In
Germany consumer confidence fell.
Lloyd’s reported its first pre-tax annual loss
for six years. Thanks to Japan’s tsunami-
induced nuclear disaster and big floods in
Thailand, last year was the second most
expensive on record (after 2005) for total
catastrophe claims, which are estimated at up to
$116 billion. Richard Ward, the chief executive of
Lloyd’s, said he was “disappointed” that
insurance rates had not risen more.

80. The European Commission launched an
investigation into United Technologies’ $16.5
billion proposed takeover of Goodrich, which was
announced last year. Both companies are
American. The commission wants to know if a
deal would hurt competition in specific areas of
the aircraft components industry.

81. Sharp, a Japanese electronics company, sold
a 10% stake in its business to Hon Hai, a
Taiwanese contract manufacturer that assembles
a wide range of electronic products, including
the iPhone, at its factories in China, where it is
known as Foxconn. The investment underscores
the waning of Japan’s once-mighty consumer-
electronics industry. Much of Sharp’s business is
in televisions and LCD screens, which are made
more cheaply in Taiwan and South Korea.

82. Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, travelled to China to
meet a number of officials, including Li
Keqiang, a deputy prime minister. A court in
Guangdong will decide soon whether Apple has
rights to the “iPad” name, which is claimed by a
rival company in China. Mr Cook also visited
Foxconn’s new factory in Zhengzhou, where the
iPhone is made.

83. The Harry Potter books were released in
digital form for the first time. J.K. Rowling, the
world’s most successful author, has set up her
own website, Pottermore, as the exclusive seller
of the digital books, bypassing Amazon and other
online retailers. Consumers searching for the
books on other sites will be magically transported
to Pottermore.