WSJを真面目に読む　August 8, 2012

mizushima

大学卒業以来ほとんど会う機会がなかった友人3名で集う。有朋自遠方来不亦楽乎　少し話をすれば一度に37年の時間差がうまる。人生いろいろ、なれど、友人は大切。

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【一面見出し】

Chinese trial has echoes of dark past.

              When Gu Kailai-the wife of a disgraced Chinese politician-walks into a courtroom here on Thursday, it will recall the trial of another once-powerful woman, more than a quarter-century ago-and a watershed moment in China’s modern history.

              食傷気味の記事。江青を持ってくるところがすごい。

 

U.K. bank reputations take hit.

              Is something rotten in the City of London?

              サブプライムを比較的無傷で乗り越えた、Barclays, HSBC, Standard Charteredのいずれもがスキャンダルまみれになっていると言う記事。

 

Monti talks tough to save Euro.

              During an all-night European summit in June, Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel an unexpected ultimatum.

              イタリアは、モンティ首相はしのげるだろうか？

 

【Business & Finance】

Dream works heads to Shanghai.

              DreamWorks Animation SFG Inc., looking to boost its presence in a fast- growing market, signed deals with Chinese partners to build a $350 million movie studio in Shanghai and help design an entertainment complex meant to capitalize on the success in China of its “Kung Fu Panda” film franchise.

 

In China’s power Nexus, a redemption tale.

              Liu Minghui’s battle to clear his name and save his business, a fight that pitted him against some of the most powerful forces in China, began the day of his company’s Christmas party in 2010.

 

Allegations may tarnish U.S. bank’s clean image.

              Last week, Standard Chartered PLC, Chief Executive Peter Sands told analysts that “our culture and values are our first and last line of defense.

             このようなウソをCEOに言わせる組織は何であろうか？

以上

WSJを真面目に読む　August 7, 2012

mizushima

今、海外投資信託の契約書を読んでいる。会計処理と開示に関しても勉強中。あまり本もない。ある程度のレベルまで到達するのは簡単そうだが、細部を理解するのは難しそう。神は細部に宿ると言われる。慎重に学びたい。

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【一面見出し】

Sunni’s exit indicates Syria divide

Syria’s government lost its highest –ranking Sunni member, Prime Minister Riad Hijab, in what his spokesman called a defection to the opposition as the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad inflames sectarian emotion in the Middle East. 

Sunni: スンニー派　cf  Shiah or Shi シーア派

アサド家はスンニー派の中の少数派のアラウィー派に属す。多数は出身の首相が亡命したということになる。シリアは最終的にはどうなるのだろうか。アメリカの本気度とシリアとイランの関係とかいろいろな要素がある。最終的には政権が崩壊する道をたどるとみる。

 

Standard Chartered at risk in U.S.

New York’s top financial regulator accused a Standard Chartered PLC unit of running a “rogue institution” that “schemed” with Iran’s government to hide more than $250 billion in illegal transactions for nearly a decade.

米国の不動産会社に勤務しはじめたとき、そこのパートナーからschemeというのはずるい、人をだますやり方のことだから、schemeとは決して言うなと言われたことを思いだす。何と言えばよいか？structureです！

 

Friction as China’s clout expands in Japan

              In a notable role reversal, China is emerging as a major investor in Japan- a diminished status for the island-nation that is inflaming old animosities between two wary neighbors.

             clout: 勢力、強い影響力

              animosity: 敵意、敵対意識

              wary: すきのない、油断のならない

新潟の中国領事館用地の話。中国では土地は私有できないから日本大使館は借地、中国は日本で大使館・領事館用地を取得できる。これは不平等だよね。

 

【Business & Finance】

Knight receives $400 million lifeline.

              Knight Capital Group Inc. confirmed it has agreed to a $400 million rescue plan that would address huge losses caused by errant trading last week.

              errant: 正道から外れた、逸脱した

In China, local brands take on imports

              Gone are the days when big multinationals in China could easily dominate every consumer segment from toothpaste to laundry detergent.

              Take on: 争う、挑戦する

　　　    歯磨きの例があがっているが、Ｐ＆ＧのCrestという有名なブランドの約2倍の値段の中国製の歯磨きがシェアを伸ばしているという。

 

以上

Bystander’s View on Japan #10, August 6th 2012

mizushima

TOPICS OF THE WEEK 

THINKING OF IMMIGRATION BY LOOKING AT OLYMPICSJapanese women finished 16th, 19th and 76th in Women’s Marathon in London Olympics.Remembering Japanese woman won gold medal in Sydney and Athens, this drop is disappointing. They are behind today’s high speed race led by Kenyans and Ethiopians. 

The winner of yesterdays race was Ms. Gelana, an Ethiopian.One thing I was surprised to know about her is that she was trained by Japanese company-sponsored team for a while in Japan.Actually, the gold medalist at Men’s Marathon in Peking Olympics, Mr. Wanjiru, a Kenyan, was traind in Japan from high school to a company-sponsored team. He can command good Japanese, and popular in Japan. He seems to be liking to live in Japan. 

In the London Olympics, we can see many Africans and Chinese who moved his/her nationality to other countries to compete in the games. Japanese team is organized by only pure Japanese now. If Wanjiru and Gelana were in Japanese team, Japan could have won two more gold medals.Japan’s population is decreasing, and that is said to be the major reason of declining Japan’s power in the world.We should relax immigration policy drastically, and should accept immigrants who are willing to live in Japan.  Japan should give green cards to the students from overseas who wish to stay and work in Japan. 

Having said this, I now come to the point that Japan is not open even accepting short term visitors. Japan should relax in its visa policy. Japan should abandon requiring visas from tourists from ASEAN countries as a first step.

MARKETS

                     August 3      %Change

    NIKKEI     8555.11        -0.13

    TOPIX       723.94        -0.34

 

TSE has been having very thin trade volume for several weeks. Hot summer has come, but market is cooling. Some large companies have announced fiscal results worse than market expectation. Sharp, SONY, Mitsubishi Chemical, Sumitomo Corp. Shiseido, Komatsu and Honda are such examples. Few companies have announced better results than expectation. TDK, Panasonic and Softbank are such examples. 

ECONOMY

Generally speaking, sentiment is better on Japanese economy. Thanks to hot weather, summer sale has been good. People may spend more during summer holidays. Although China slowdown may be the risk factor, Japanese economic performance must be better than other developed economies. Comparing to Taiwan and Korea, Japan will less vulnerable to the European and American recessionary situation.

 POLITICS

Now, political scene becomes very serious. Opponent LDP is threatening governing DPJ by showing the possibility that they will submit no-co9nfidence motion on PM Noda. This will likely to be approved if all opponents to DPJ get united.

Popularity of DPJ dropped to 18%, while PM Noda’s approval ratio dropped to 28%. Many political analysts are saying the general election is inevitable in September 2012.

End 

 

WSJを真面目に読む　August 3-5, 2012

mizushima

金曜にマレーシア出張から戻りましたが、東京は暑いですね。東京で動き回ると大汗をかきぐったりします。クアラルンプールでは歩き回ることが少ないですが、それでも東京でほど、汗をかきません。そうそうＫＬで印象的だったのはＴＶのオリンピック中継。二つのチャンネルがずっと放送してましたが、そのうちの一つは日本ではほとんど放送されない馬術でした。他のチャネルはいろいろやってましたが日本選手はほとんど映らず。放送は国によるのだなと感じました。

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【一面見出し】

Draghi plan for Euro disappoints

The European Central Bank may soon step in to buy government bonds on the open market and consider other unconventional measures to lower “exceptionally high” borrowing costs of financially stressed euro-zone economies, ECB President Mario Draghi said Thursday.

              ドラギの発言に一喜一憂する状況は変わらず

Annan quits as special envoy to Syria, citing discord at U.N.

 Kofi Annan resigned from his role as special envoy for Syria, condemning world powers’ failure to unite over the country’s escalating violence, particularly the standoff among the U.N. Security Council’s five veto-wielding members.

              Standoff: 行き詰まり、離れて立った状態

　           Veto-wielding: 拒否権を行使する

              安保理5カ国の既得権はどうにかならないのかと思う。

Long road ahead for tech giants

 Japan’s electronics giants aimed for a fresh start last year, shaking up their management following record losses, but announcement of dismal earnings from stalwarts Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. on Thursday showed the firms still have a long way to go.

              Stalwart: 屈強な人、堅固な人

　　　　　　　　　GOP stalwarts: 共和党の重鎮

　　       　　　　　industry stalwarts: 業界の大手各社

              この記事の通り。道は長いと言うより、見えないと言うのが正しい。

North Korea broadcasts London Olympics on TV

 North Korea is allowing five hours of daily coverage of the London Olympics to be shown on its TV network, a South Korean broad caster who arranged technical logistics for the North said.

              国民懐柔策だろうが、軍部との軋轢をどうコントロールできるかがポイント。この点は中国も同様。

 

【ビジネス・ファイナンス面見出し】

China head for European Soccer deals: Investor group to acquire stake in Iner Milan; China Railway Construction seeks to build stadium in Italy

             Inter Milanの第二位の株主になる。条件は開示されず。

　           驚いたのはAir Asiaの社長のTony Fernandesが昨年Queens Park Rangersのオーナーになったという説明があること。

An about-face on Facebook

 Fidekity Investments was an early buyer of Facebook Inc. shares. In the spring of 2011, two dozens of its funds bought more than $200 million worth of the company’s private stock. …Now, many of the Boston-based company’s fund managers are shrinking their stakes.

              About-face: 180度の方針転換

              非公開時積み上げ多分で大儲けしただろうが、公開時に買い、その後売った分ではいくらFidelityでも利益は取れないだろうと思う。

NEC Olympics as sales on pace to avoid big loss

 There have been plenty of negative hashtags assigned to NBC’s Olympic coverage on Twitter, including #NBCFails….

              Hashtag: ハッシュタグ　twitterでグルーピングに使う＃

              twitter使って無いのでこの言葉知りませんでした。

 

以上

WSJを真面目に読む　August 1, 2012 （番外編）

mizushima

KLにいます。最高気温29度。東京よりよほどしのぎやすい。交通渋滞はひどい。午後3時のアポ。都心からやや郊外へ。タクシーで、行きは40分。帰りは15分。行きは郊外へ向かい車の渋滞がひどかったからです。インドの停電のニュースを聞くとマレーシアのインフラの信頼性の高さを実感します。もうすぐ先進国入りですからね。今日もInternational Herald Tribuneからです。

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【見出し】一面の見出し４つ

Militant network frays U.S.-Pakistan ties: The Haqqina network’s attcks on U.S. troops could set off a wider conflict with Pakistan.

  Fray: 擦り減らす、ぼろぼろにする　（再掲）

For 2nd Day in row, India hit by huge power loss: About half the country goes dark after grids fail, affecting 22 0f 28 states.

  3年前にニューデリーに出張で行った時、一日に何回も停電する（止まっている時間はわずか10秒程度）ので驚いた記憶があります。電力供給に信頼が置けないとつらいですね。

Social media give companies a clue on catch products: It’s amazing that we can get that kind of real feedback

  Frito-Layがマーケティングに使っている例が最初に取り上げられている。確かにマス向け商品の市場調査は以前より格段にし易くはなったでしょうね。

Romney offends Palestinians: Mitt Romney offended Pelestinians by suggesting that “culture” explained why Israelis were more successful.

  こんなこと言わない方が良いと思うけど

 

【経済】経済面の見出し

Fraud threat to solar panel maker: Suntech of China finds German bonds it used as collateral may not exist.

  サンテックをめぐる不正の可能性の記事。欧州の太陽光発電の会社（サンテックのパネルを使用する）への投資資金調達に際し担保に提供していた580mnユーロのドイツ国債が実在しないという奇妙な不正の記事。これが本当なら、サンテテックは倒産に追い込まれる可能大と思われる。

Alibaba nearly ready to escape from Yahoo: E-commerce giant plans to use new financing to buy back a 20% stake.

　Yahooが持っているAlibabaへの持分40％のうち、20％を＄7.1Bnで買い戻すという記事。関係は既に希薄。落ち目のYahooは応じると思われるがこの先のYahooの戦略展開に注目したい。

South Korean ad agency purchases McKinney: Deal brings U.S. unit into cheil Worldwide’s quest for global network.

  電通もそうだけど、地域性が強いと思われる広告会社のM&Aの行方に注目したい。

Honda profit quardruples in recovery from disasters

  去年が悪すぎたからだが、元気のよい記事は歓迎。昨夜のBBCでも日本の自動車会社の業績回復が大きく報道されていた。

以上