http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e16eb92c-f617-11dd-a9ed-0000779fd2ac.html

Last month Microsoft warned that the first half of this year at least could see even weaker conditions than the final quarter of last year, when an expected 10-12 per cent increase in the PC market completely evaporated.

Other one-off factors have complicated the outlook and could bring more disruption for the traditional PC industry, analysts say.

evaporate 蒸発させる,〈希望などを〉消失させる

one-off 一度限りの

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7bbd5bfc-f495-11dd-8e76-0000779fd2ac.html

They will travel from points near and far – from California to the New York island – but the financial titans converging on Washington next week for a congressional grilling will all leave the private jet in the hangar.

Vilified for enjoying lavish lifestyles while their companies are kept afloat by billions of taxpayers’ dollars, the men formerly known as Masters of the Universe have opted to get a first-hand look at the US’s crumbling transport infrastructure.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup’s chief executive will also be on one of the NYC-DC air shuttles. After being castigated by the US Treasury for wanting to take delivery of a $50m jet – a decision subsequently reversed – Citi is in no mood to antagonise its government benefactors.

But even John Stumpf, who runs San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, is going to have to stand in line at security before he embarks on his coast-to-coast jaunt.

converge に向かって集まる

grill 〈人を〉厳しく尋問する

hanger 格納庫

vilify 〈人を〉けなす，中傷する.

afloat 破産せずに

first hand 直接の

crumble 〈建物・勢力・希望などが〉もろく消えうせる

castigate 〈人を〉厳しくしかる; 罰する

subsequently その後

antagonism 反対，敵対，敵意

benefactor 恩人

janut (近距離の)遠足

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0e28cf0-f377-11dd-9c4b-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Japanese police on Thursday arrested the 75-year-old head of a bedding company and 21 others suspected of operating an alleged $2.5bn Ponzi scheme that sucked in tens of thousands of people, the country’s largest ever such fraud.

The suspected fraud would rank among the biggest of a growing number of such scams, the largest being the alleged $50bn Ponzi scheme operated by Bernard Madoff in the US.

alleged 申し立てられた，うわさによる

Ponzi　scheme ネズミ講

scam 詐欺

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1e100fe-f30e-11dd-abe6-0000779fd2ac.html

US credit card delinquencies hit a record high in January, and further deterioration is likely as the economy slows down and unemployment rises, Fitch Ratings says.

Credit card lenders also wrote off loans to delinquent borrowers at close to record levels, and such “charge-offs” were expected to breach records in the coming months.

Securities backed by credit card receivables have rallied in recent weeks, in part because of such lower cost funds, and as investors look forward to the launch of a new Federal Reserve programme to lend against such asset-backed securities.

Credit card lenders have also suffered as consumers rein in their spending.

delinquency (支払い・職務などの)怠慢; 滞納

write off (負債などの)取り消し

breach 突破する

rally (気力・景気などの)回復

rein in 〈…を〉制御する, 抑制する

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a32aa9a2-f246-11dd-9678-0000779fd2ac.html

Disney’s broad mix of businesses has helped it fare better than rival media companies, but the depth of the economic slump ensured there were few parts of the company unscathed.

unscathed 無傷の

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e99e8514-f234-11dd-9678-0000779fd2ac.html

The slump came in spite of generous incentives offered by carmakers last month, including employee pricing deals, and an infusion of federal cash to the carmakers’ lending arms. GMAC and Chrysler Financial are accessing a total of $7.5bn of troubled asset funds.

“Today we’re at the vortex of the economic downturn, and it’s difficult to talk about recovery,” said Emily Kolinski Morris, Ford’s senior economist.

infusion 注入、点滴

vortex 〔社会運動などの〕渦巻き

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b7616a0e-f16b-11dd-8790-0000779fd2ac.html

People close to the situation said the discussions over UBS Financial Services – acquired in 2000 in the $11.8bn purchase of PaineWebber, the US brokerage and investment bank – were preliminary and were unlikely to be rekindled.

News of the talks with Morgan Stanley will raise further questions over the strategy of UBS, which has been buffeted by credit-related losses and a US government investigation into its offshore banking activities for American clients.

The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the conversion of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs into bank holding companies so they could receive US government aid have called into question the viability of stand-alone investment banks.

preliminary 予備的な;準備; 前置き.

rekindle 〈…を〉再び元気づける.

buffet 〈波・不運などが〉〈人を〉もむ，左右に打ちつける《★しばしば受身で用いる》

viability (計画などの)実行可能性

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d45ab80a-f106-11dd-8790-0000779fd2ac.html

This has knocked back the spring feel good factor, which we hoped would kick start the economy,” said Stephen Alambritis from the FSB.

Transport disruptions were widespread.

City traders gained a rare respite from the turbulence of the past few months.

One managing director of a UK broker complained that a third of his staff were “at home with their kids riding toboggans”.

knock back 〈人を〉びっくりさせる; ろうばいさせる

disruption 途絶; 混乱

respite ひと休み

toboggan トボガンそり

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9bfa29c6-f05e-11dd-972c-0000779fd2ac.html

Mr McConnell’s comments – together with those of other senior Senate Republicans – indicate that the stimulus bill is likely to face serious wrangling when debate begins today.

Some Democratic senators have also expressed unease at parts of the plan – which then stood at $819bn – the House agreed last week, including earmarks for particular spending projects.

wrangle 口論する，論争する

earmark 〈資金などを〉〔特定の用途に〕とっておく，向ける 〔for〕

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/31/google-glitch-briefly-dis_n_162822.html

Google has become part of so many people's lives on this planet, like a dependable appendage -- until suddenly it malfunctions.

Here’s the gist of Google’s explanation: What happened? Very simply, human error.

Google flags search results with the message “This site may harm your computer” if the site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously.

Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.

glitch (機械・計画などの)欠陥，故障

appendage 付加物，付属物

gist [the 〜] 〔…の〕要点，要旨

surreptitious (特に，不正な理由で)人目を忍んで行なう，内密の

stagger　よろめく，よろよろする

revert 〔もとの習慣・状態などに〕帰る，逆戻りする

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a711fbd6-efbe-11dd-8e69-0000779fd2ac.html

Tens of thousands of Thai anti-government protesters swarmed into the prime minister’s office compound in Bangkok on Saturday in a bid to press for fresh elections, the latest example of the political dysfunction that has roiled the Southeast Asian kingdom for nearly three years.

However, unlike previous protests, UDD organizers said protesters would not enter Government House, and would disperse after reading a list of demands that include the swift prosecution of PAD members who seized two Bangkok airports last year, paralysing air traffic and denting the economy.

swarm 群がる，たかる

compound 複合、混合

in a bid to　〜 しようとして、〜を目指して

roil 〈液体を〉(かき乱して)濁らせる

disperse 消散する 解散する

swift すみやかな

prosecution 起訴

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/30/auditors-we-may-never-kno_n_162655.html

WASHINGTON — We may never know whether the government's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry worked, according to a new report from congressional auditors. That's because it will be impossible to sort out which of the government's spending and other tinkering has made a difference, according to the report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office.

"The lack of a clearly articulated vision has complicated Treasury's ability to effectively communicate to Congress, the financial markets, and the public on the benefits of TARP," the report said.

sort out 〈…を〉分類する

tinker 〔…を〕下手に修繕する，(修繕のつもりで)下手にいじくり回す

articulate 〈考え・論旨など〉明確な，理路整然とした.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1a4abfa-eead-11dd-bbb5-0000779fd2ac.html

Of the Y150bn Mizuho lopped off from its forecast net earnings for the year, Y80bn was due to higher credit costs suffered in the third quarter and expected in the fourth quarter.

“It’s hard to glean too many positives from these results,” said Jason Rogers, analyst at Barclays in Singapore.

However, Mr Rogers said Japanese banks were likely to have to raise even more capital in the form of common shares, as the dire economic situation led to increasing non-performing loans.

lop 〈…を〉削る 〈off，away〉

glean 〈情報・事実・知識などを〉(苦労して少しずつ)収集する 〔from〕

dire 恐ろしい，ものすごい; 悲惨な

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/30/exxon-mobil-reports-recor_n_162468.html

In the fourth quarter alone crude tumbled 60 percent, prompting spending and job cuts in an industry that was reporting robust, often record, profits as recently as last summer.

With piles of cash and diversified operations, the majors like Exxon Mobil have fared better than many smaller oil and gas companies, but Friday's results show no one is completely insulated from the ongoing malaise.

Exxon Mobil said it bought 119 million shares of its common stock in the quarter at a cost of $8.8 billion. Roughly $8 billion of that amount was dedicated to reducing the number of shares outstanding; the balance was used to offset shares issued as part of the company's benefit plans.

prompt 〈人・行動を〉刺激する

robust 〈経済など〉健全な

insulate 〔…から〕隔離する

malaise 沈滞

dedicate　ささげる

Disney's TV Unit To Cut 400 Jobs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/29/disneyabc-tv-unit-to-cut_n_162417.html

The job reductions, to be implemented in the coming months, were the latest announced at the family entertainment company, which is grappling with weak consumer sentiment and a declining advertising market.

Last week, Disney's parks division also offered voluntary buyout packages to about 600 executives and gave them until Feb. 6 to opt in.

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said in November the company was seeking to pare costs across the company to keep pace with worsening economic conditions.

grapple 〔難問・困難などに〕取り組む 〔with〕

opt 選ぶ

pare 〈費用などを〉少しずつ減らす，削減する

UBS bankers told bonuses will be cut by 80%

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a823942-ee6f-11dd-b791-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

One banker said employees were "shocked" at the news that the compensation pool would probably be less than SFr2bn ($1.7bn) - a fraction of the award for 2007.

Wall Street firms cut payments for 2008 by 44 per cent, the second straight decline after two record years, according to New York state estimates. Bank of America is planning to defer bonus payments to some investment banking staff this year.

UBS's approach to bonuses has been influenced by the Swiss government and a backlash to the rescue of the group. UBS had the highest losses from the credit crisis of any European bank.

fraction 少量

defer 延期する

backlash 跳ね返り