評(píng)論
打印
The world this week
本周國(guó)際要聞
Business
商業(yè)版塊
America’s annual inflation rate soared to 4.2% in April, higher than expected and fuelling concerns that rising consumer prices may become a problem for the American economy. Inflation hawks blame the huge amounts of stimulus injected into the economy and a boom in consumer demand (prices for used cars were up by a fifth, year on year). Global supply bottlenecks are also pushing up costs for manufacturers. The Biden administration, however, thinks inflationary pressures are temporary and will ease later this year.
美國(guó)4月份的年通貨膨脹率飆升至4.2%，高于預(yù)期，引發(fā)了人們對(duì)不斷上漲的消費(fèi)者價(jià)格或成為美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)問(wèn)題的擔(dān)憂。通貨膨脹鷹派將其歸咎于向經(jīng)濟(jì)注入的大量刺激和消費(fèi)需求的激增(二手車價(jià)格同比上漲了五分之一)。全球供應(yīng)瓶頸也推高了制造商的成本。然而，拜登政府認(rèn)為通脹壓力是暫時(shí)的，并將在今年晚些時(shí)候得到緩解。
Commodity prices are also going up, with the prices of iron ore and copper reaching record highs, in part because China’s factories are sucking up supplies. Oil prices are on the ascent again, approaching $70 for a barrel of Brent crude.
大宗商品價(jià)格也在上漲，鐵礦石和銅的價(jià)格都達(dá)到了歷史新高，部分原因是中國(guó)的工廠正在消耗供應(yīng)。油價(jià)再次攀升，布倫特原油(Brent crude)逼近每桶70美元。
The FBI launched an investigation into a cyber-attack that forced the closure of the Colonial Pipeline, which stretches from Texas to New Jersey, providing half the transport fuel for America’s east coast. A criminal gang called DarkSide claimed responsibility. It describes itself as apolitical. There was some panic-buying of petrol (gas) as pump prices soared.
美國(guó)聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局(FBI)對(duì)一場(chǎng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)攻擊展開了調(diào)查，這起攻擊迫使科洛尼爾管道公司(Colonial Pipeline)關(guān)閉了從德克薩斯州延伸到新澤西州的管道運(yùn)輸服務(wù)，美國(guó)東海岸半數(shù)的燃料都由該公司提供。一個(gè)名為“黑暗面(DarkSide)”的犯罪團(tuán)伙聲稱對(duì)此次攻擊負(fù)責(zé)。該團(tuán)伙聲稱，這次事件不牽涉政治。由于燃油價(jià)格飆升，一些民眾開始恐慌性地囤購(gòu)汽油。
With the outlook for inflation uncertain, stockmarkets bounced around as investors pondered whether the Federal Reserve would change direction and raise interest rates. The share prices of high-growth big tech companies have fallen in recent weeks because higher bond yields lower the value of their forecast earnings.
由于通貨膨脹前景不確定，投資者考慮美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)是否會(huì)調(diào)整方向并提高利率，股市隨之反彈。近幾周，高增長(zhǎng)大型科技公司的股價(jià)下跌，因?yàn)閭找媛噬仙档土怂鼈兊念A(yù)期收益價(jià)值。
Markets were also rattled by weak data on the American jobs market. Employers added 266,000 people to their payrolls in April, well below the numbers for February and March. And job vacancies hit 8.1m at the end of March, the most since records were first compiled in 2000. That led to a lot of head-scratching by economists trying to explain a lack of hiring when the economy is taking off.
美國(guó)就業(yè)市場(chǎng)的疲軟數(shù)據(jù)也令市場(chǎng)感到不安。4月份新增就業(yè)人數(shù)為26.6萬(wàn)人，遠(yuǎn)低于2月和3月的數(shù)據(jù)。3月底，職位空缺達(dá)到810萬(wàn)，是自2000年首次編制記錄以來(lái)的最高水平。這給經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們帶來(lái)了很多困惑，他們?cè)噲D解釋在經(jīng)濟(jì)起飛時(shí)就業(yè)卻不景氣的現(xiàn)象。
The British economy shrank by 1.5% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months. The post-Christmas lockdown hit output hard in January, but by March it was expanding again as businesses adapted to the restrictions. GDP was still 6% smaller than before the start of the pandemic in February 2020.
與前三個(gè)月相比，英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)第一季度萎縮了1.5%。圣誕節(jié)后的封鎖令嚴(yán)重影響了今年1月的產(chǎn)量，但到了3月份，隨著企業(yè)適應(yīng)了這些限制措施，產(chǎn)量再次擴(kuò)大。國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值仍比2020年2月疫情開始前低6%。
譯文由可可原創(chuàng)，僅供學(xué)習(xí)交流使用，未經(jīng)許可請(qǐng)勿轉(zhuǎn)載。
