Business this week

2011~2012 spring semester

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.

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 AG.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

Paying dividendsBP 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.

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.

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 soonpoised to do something Spain was poised to become the dominant power in Europe

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.

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 onlyrecently started to loosen monetary policy as prices looked to be under control. Adding to themix, the IMF this week urged Beijing to ready a stimulus plan in case the global economyworsens.

advance stealthily or unnoticed

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 indexreaching 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.

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.

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.

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" principleThis 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

As the process of finalizing a second bail-out for Greece continued to grind on, official data recorded a contraction in the euro zone’seconomy 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.

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

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 wouldincrease to hit a “goal” of 1% “for the time being”. Japan’s GDP shrank by 2.3% in the fourthquarter.

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 isincluded in the Dodd-Frank reforms and is due to come into force in July, will restrict otherkinds of trading and hurt the wider financial system. But in a rebuttal to those arguments PaulVolcker, who proposed the rule, said less speculative trading would mean more security forinvestors.

The Volcker Rule is a specific section of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 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

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.

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

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 businessplunged. The unit’s annual pre-tax profit was down by 32%; Barclays reduced the bonus poolfor bankers by a similar amount.

Robert Zoellick confirmed that he would step down as president of the World Bank when hisfive-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 beconsidered to run the World Bank and the IMF. The Europeans clung on to the IMF’s top job lastyear, with the appointment of Christine Lagarde from France as managing director.

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.

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.

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 ProviewTechnology, a local firm that claims it has the Chinese trademark for “iPad”, persuaded somecities to remove the devices from shop shelves. Its lawyers have requested customs officials tohalt exports; if they agree, the financial blow to Apple would be severe.

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.

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.

The European Central Bank disbursed €530 billion ($712 billion) in a second round ofthree-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 torefinance their debt in the credit markets.

expend

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 whetherthe 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 downgradedthe country's credit rating to "selective default".

选择性违约

The "troika" overseeing euro-zone bail-outs said that Portugal's government is making "steady progress" towards meeting its fiscal targets for2012. 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.

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 theirlowest 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 newlows in December.

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

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, aftermore than a dozen rate rises over the past two years.

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 otheremerging markets, despite a cost-cutting strategy started by Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's chiefexecutive.

Standard Chartered, HSBC's smaller rival, made another record profit last year, of $4.8 billion. The bank conducts much of its business in HongKong and Singapore.

Boeing put the general manager of its successful777 airliner project in charge of its delayed 787 Dream liner, as it ramps upproduction 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 carsworldwide last year, second only to General Motors' 9m.

America issued a new warning about statins, a medicine that lowers cholesterol and is takenby 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 havelittle effect on most big drugmakers, as many statins have already lost patent protection.

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 thata successor has been chosen, as the investment company's board was "enthusiastic“ about "an individual to whom they have had a great deal ofexposure". But he didn't name the person, which kept people guessing about the candidates.

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

China-watchers pored over the government’s pronouncement that it will aim for an economicgrowth rate of 7.5% this year, the first time in eight years that the official target has beenunder 8%. Some wonder if Beijing’s resignation to slower growth will hurt the region andcommodity-rich countries, such as Australia, that feed China’s mighty appetite for rawmaterials. 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.

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 Greeksovereign debt they hold, which is a condition of Greece’s recent bailout package.

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.

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 withthe federal government, and unless it does so the trial will go ahead. Either way it faces a big payout.

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 cottonprices. But its decision to halt exports did little for its reputation in international markets.

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

Lehman Brothers officially emerged from its court-protected bankruptcy after three-and-a-halfyears. Lehman exists as a holding company now, with the sole task of distributing to creditorsthe $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 $6.9billion of AIG stock it holds.

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 thatcommitment. Businesses are insisting that any change should be voluntary and not, as has been mooted, imposed through legislation.

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

General Motors suspended production of its Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car for five weeksbecause 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 7,700were sold in America last year and stock has been building up. GM has set itself an ambitiousgoal to sell 45,000 Volts in 2012.

Apple unveiled its latest iPad tablet computer (which is simply called “iPad”, rather than iPad3). 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”.

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 globaldemand 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.

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 totread cautiously when handling trade disputes.

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 punitiveactions" 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

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 theunemployment rate reaching 13%. Fifteen of the 19 banks under review passed the tests,but four did not, including Citigroup.

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 condemnedthe firm's recent business practices in an articlein the New York Times. The criticism will sting Goldman, which prides itself on its reputationand care for clients.

a stupid person

Markets reacted calmly to Greece's debt swap, whichwas 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).

The London Stock Exchange announced that it was acquiring a 6o% stake in LCH.Clearnetin 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.

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 scrutinysince it unveiled a $5 billion IPO in February.

a breach or infraction, as of a law, right, or obligation; violation; transgression.

India's patent office ordered Bayer, a German drug maker, to license a cheaper version ofNexavar, an anti-cancer drug. Compulsory licensing is permitted under WTO rules butrarely 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.

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 thegovernment thinks will help the country's cotton mills.

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%.

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-volumetome in order to focus on the online and digital versions. The encyclopedia contains 40m words, is in its 15th edition and was first published inEdinburgh 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.

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.

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

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.

America’s nomination of Jim Yong Kim to lead the World Bank drew fire. Mr. Kim currently runsDartmouth 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 thatan American always head the World Bank, but some say it is time to break that tradition andpick Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister.

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.

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.

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

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.

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