[(Title)] SocGen to buy Commerzbank’s equity markets and commodities arm

PARIS/FRANKFURT: Société Générale has agreed to buy Commerzbank's equity markets and commodities business (EMC),strengthening its presence in areas such as derivatives while Commerzbank itself looks to sell off non-core assets.

法国兴业银行同意收购德国商业银行的股票市场和商品业务(EMC)，加强其在衍生品等领域的存在，而德国商业银行则希望出售非核心资产。

The two banks did not disclose a price for the transaction, although Commerzbank said on Tuesday that its EMC division had 2017 gross revenues of €381 million ($443.18 million).

德国商业银行周二表示，其EMC2017年的毛收入为3.81亿美元（4.4318亿美元）。

"Société Générale and Commerzbank's EMC franchises are complementary and present an important potential of synergies.

This acquisition would further reinforce our Global Banking and Investor Solutions activities in line with our 2016-2020 strategic plan"  Severin Cabannes, SocGen's deputy chief executive officer, said.

"In addition, while complementing Lyxor's ETF franchise, this acquisition would be transformational for our activities in Germany as it would enable Société Générale to reach a new scale in the leading Eurozone economy,

"  Cabannes added.

Commerzbank Chief Executive Martin Zielke said the sale of the unit was in line with the German bank's  "4.0 strategy,"  which entails divesting non-core assets to raise capital for the company's core banking franchise.

德国商业银行首席执行官马丁.齐埃克(Martin Zielke)表示，该股的销售与德国银行的“4.0战略”是一致的。

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan is likely to cut its price growth forecasts at a policy meeting later this month as long-term inflation expectations stall, sources said, highlighting the bank's difficulty in hitting its elusive price target.

日本央行(Bank of Japan)可能会在本月晚些时候举行的政策会议上下调物价增长预期，因为长期通胀预期将停滞，这凸显了日本央行难以实现其难以捉摸的价格目标。

Three sources with direct knowledge of the bank's thinking told Reuters that the BOJ was likely to cut its projection for core consumer price growth this fiscal year to around 1.0 percent from the 1.3 percent projected in April,

三位直接了解该行想法的消息人士说，日本央行可能会将本财政年度核心消费者价格增长的预测从4月份的1.3%下调至约1.0%，

and for next year to around 1.5 percent from 1.8 percent.

而明年为1.8%左右。

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the BOJ board's discussions are confidential.

消息来源是在匿名情况下发言的。

The BOJ said on Tuesday that companies in its tankan survey expected consumer prices to have risen 0.9 percent a year from now, slightly above their projection of 0.8 percent three months ago.

日本央行本周二表示，在坦桑尼亚调查中，公司预计消费者价格比现在每年上涨0.9%，略高于3个月前预计的0.8%。

Companies in the survey also expected consumer prices to have risen an annual 1.1 percent three years from now and 1.1 percent five years ahead, suggesting little confidence in the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target being reached anytime soon.

接受调查的公司还预期，三年后消费价格将每年上涨1.1 %，五年后将上涨1.1 %，这表明人们对日本银行近期内实现的2 %目标信心不足。

Tuesday's tankan findings came in the wake of a massive stimulus program deployed by the BOJ in 2013 aimed at shocking consumers out of their  "deflationary mindset"  and boosting corporate and household inflation expectations.

日本央行2013年实施了大规模经济刺激计划，旨在让消费者摆脱“通货紧缩思维”，并提升企业和家庭的通胀预期，由此导致了周二的结论。

After failing to make much headway on price growth, the BOJ revamped its policy framework in 2016 to one better suited to a long-term battle against deflation, although its results have been modest.

在未能在价格增长方面取得显著进展之后，日本央行于2016年对其政策框架进行了修改，使之更适合与通货紧缩的长期斗争。

The BOJ is increasingly at a loss to explain why consumer prices consistently undershoot. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has suggested that online shopping, which allows consumers to easily find the lowest prices for goods and services, may be one reason.

"The BOJ will try to explain why inflation is not picking up when it next meets, but the reality is wages are not rising much and some people are not confident in the outlook,"  said Shuji Tonouchi,

senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

The central bank's board is due to review its quarterly projections at a meeting ending on July 31, and will examine whether or not weakness in consumer prices is likely to continue.

央行董事会将在7月31日结束的一次会议上审查其季度预测，并将审查消费者价格是否将继续疲软的问题。

Japan has what appears to be unusually low unemployment at 2.5 percent and 1.6 jobs for every applicant,

日本的失业率似乎非常低，每位申请人有2.5%和1.6个职位。

but BOJ Deputy Governor Masazumi Wakatabe has said that what looked like some slack in the labor market could in fact be underemployment among workers in the 20 to 50 age category.

但日本央行副总督Masazumi Wakatabe说，劳动力市场看起来有些不景气，实际上可能是20至50岁年龄组的工人就业不足。

Underemployment refers to skilled workers stuck in lower-paying jobs and part-time workers who want to work full-time but cannot find a suitable job and could help explain Japan's chronic lack of inflationary pressure.

就业不足是指陷入低薪工作的熟练工人和非全日制工人，他们希望全职工作，但找不到合适的工作，有助于解释日本长期缺乏通胀压力。

The nationwide core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food costs, rose just 0.7 percent in May from a year earlier, well below half the central bank's 2 percent target.

全国核心消费者价格指数（包括石油产品，但不包括波动的鲜食成本）5月份仅较上年同期增长0.7%，远低于央行2%目标的一半。

Economists say the BOJ is unlikely to ease policy any further because of concerns that its heavy buying of government debt is hurting bond market liquidity and that its negative interest rate policy is squeezing bank margins.

经济学家表示，由于人们担心日本政府债务的大量购买会损害债券市场的流动性，而且其消极利率政策正在压榨银行利润率，因此日本央行不大可能进一步放松相关政策。

Japan's economy is expected to have bounced back in the second quarter after a contraction in the first quarter, which ended the longest uninterrupted period of growth since the 1980s bubble economy.

预计日本经济第二季度在第一季度出现收缩后将复苏，从而结束了1980年代泡沫经济以来持续时间最长的增长期。