高盛和花旗業(yè)績差距突顯美國分化

Bumper third-quarter profits at Goldman Sachs and another loss for Citigroup yesterday highlighted the gap between the resilience of Wall Street and the woes of Main Street, fresh evidence that two Americas are emerging from the crisis.

高盛(Goldman Sachs)第三季度盈利豐厚，而花旗集團(Citigroup)再次出現(xiàn)虧損，突顯了華爾街的彈性與美國經(jīng)濟主體的困境之間的鴻溝，再次證明金融危機過后，美國正出現(xiàn)分化。

The diverging performance of investment banks such as Goldman and the retail operations of banks such as Citi is problematic for an administration that wants a strong Wall Street but is also under pressure to tackle the plight of ordinary people.

對于既希望華爾街強盛、又必須解決普通美國人困境的奧巴馬政府來說，高盛等投資銀行與花旗等銀行零售業(yè)務(wù)在業(yè)績上的落差，是一個傷腦筋的問題。

“When you have unemployment creeping towards 10 per cent and a sluggish economy, stories of huge profits and huge bonuses...could create difficulties if [the president] needs any more stimulus,” said Norman Ornstein, political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

“當(dāng)你面臨失業(yè)率逼近10%、經(jīng)濟疲乏無力的形勢時，傳來巨額盈利和巨額獎金的消息……假如（總統(tǒng)）需要出臺新的刺激措施，就會很困難，”美國企業(yè)研究所(American Enterprise Institute)的政治分析師諾曼•奧恩斯坦(Norman Ornstein)表示。

Goldman announced near-record earnings of $3.2bn, boosted by surging profits in bond and currency trading – activities that have become more profitable after the crisis reduced competition and governments injected emergency funds into the banking system.

高盛公布，第三季度實現(xiàn)利潤32億美元，接近歷史最高水平，主要受債券及外匯交易業(yè)務(wù)利潤大增的推動——在金融危機減少競爭以及政府為銀行體系注入應(yīng)急資金后，這些業(yè)務(wù)變得更有利可圖。

Goldman's profit, nearly four times higher than in the third quarter of 2008, underscores its status as one of the winners from a crisis that eliminated two rivals – Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns – and hobbled others such as Citi, Merrill Lynch and UBS.

高盛第三季度利潤比上年同期增長近4倍，突顯出其作為金融危機贏家之一的情況，這場危機為高盛消除了兩大競爭對手——雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)和貝爾斯登(Bear Stearns) ——并使得花旗、美林(Merrill Lynch)和瑞銀(UBS)等其他競爭對手舉步維艱。

Citi, by contrast, suffered its seventh loss in eight quarters.

與高盛形成反差的是，花旗出現(xiàn)了8個季度以來的第7次虧損。

“US consumer credit remains the number one issue affecting our near-term results,” said Vikram Pandit, Citi's chief executive, after announcing the bank had suffered credit losses of $8bn in the three months to September, largely in its consumer business.

“美國消費信貸仍是影響我們近期業(yè)績的頭號問題，”花旗首席執(zhí)行官潘偉迪(Vikram Pandit)表示。他宣布，在截至9月份的季度內(nèi)，花旗出現(xiàn)80億美元的信貸虧損，主要來自消費者業(yè)務(wù)。

Citi, which has been bailed out with $45bn of US taxpayers' money, has suffered a total of more than $42bn in credit losses since the beginning of 2008.

花旗此前接受了450億美元納稅人資金的紓困，自2008年以來，該行的信貸虧損總額超過420億美元。

Citi's investment bank, which includes Salomon Brothers, a once-feared Wall Street powerhouse – underperformed its rivals, helping to push the group into a loss of $0.27 per share. That loss raises questions over whether the government, which owns a 34 per cent stake in Citi, will allow the bank to repay the aid in the short term.

花旗的投資銀行——包括昔日令人畏懼的華爾街強者所羅門兄弟(Salomon Brothers)——表現(xiàn)遜于競爭對手，也是該集團每股虧損0.27美元的因素之一。花旗的虧損引發(fā)了有關(guān)政府是否會允許該行在短期內(nèi)償還紓困資金的問題。美國政府持有花旗34%的股權(quán)。