Another dismal day on the overseas markets as the global economic downturn continues. In Asia, tumbling Chinese exports are now affecting jobs there. In Europe, British retail sales are nose-diving.
星期二，全球股市在经济衰退继续蔓延的阴影下又度过黯淡的一天。在亚洲，中国出口暴跌影响到就业。在欧洲，英国零售额急剧下降。
Wave upon wave of negative economic reports keep pushing the world markets down.
一波又一波的经济坏消息接踵而来，促使全球股市大幅走低。
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei index lost nearly 5 percent of value as commodities followed oil prices lower.
在亚洲，由于大宗商品价格紧随油价下跌，日本日经指数损失了将近5%。
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 2 percent.
香港恒生指数下跌2%。
Chinese exports in December were down nearly 3 percent from the same time last year and the drop has triggered a spate of factory closures and layoffs there.
中国12月的出口比去年同期下降了近3%，引发大批工厂倒闭和裁员。
In Europe, shares fell for a fifth straight session led by banks, electricity and commodity stocks.
在欧洲，股市在银行、电力和大宗商品类股的引领下连续第五天下降。
U.S. stock futures pointed to a fifth straight loss early Tuesday, with grim earnings news and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's warning that the timing of an economic recovery was uncertain denting sentiment.
美国股市开盘前的预期指数显示股市将连续第五天下跌。开盘之后，市场在动荡起伏中走过了一天，最后三大股指涨跌互见。美国公司赢利大幅缩水，美联储主席伯南克警告说，经济复苏的时机尚不能确定，这些都打击了投资者的情绪。
Here in Britain, two new reports point to more economic pain in the pipeline.
英国新出台的两份经济报告显示更多的经济震痛还在前面。
In its fourth quarter economic survey, the British Chambers of Commerce found strong, deep declines across all businesses, all over the country. BCC director, David Frost says the findings were even worse than expected.
英国商会公布的去年第四季度经济调查显示，全国各地的所有经济部门都出现深度收缩。英国商会会长大卫.弗罗斯特说，调查结果比预想的还要严重。
"A truly awful set of results from virtually every part of the U.K. and every sector and size of company," said Frost. "We have seen a real worsening in their fortunes and how they view the economy in 2009 and 2010, whether that be exports, home orders, whether that be the service sector or manufacturing, companies are reporting a real fall-off in orders and confidence."
他说：“无论哪个经济部门，无论公司规模大小，实际上英国所有产业的结果都非常糟糕。我们看到它们的财务状况正在恶化，也了解到它们如何看待2009和2010年的经济。无论是出口还是房屋销售，也无论服务部分或是制造业，各种公司都在抱怨订单和信心纷纷下降。”
Stephen Robertson from the British Retail Consortium says sales figures for December were the worst in 14 years.
英国零售联合会的斯蒂芬.罗伯森说，12月的零售额是过去14年来最差的。
"Retailers, particularly non-food retailers, have been hit by a triple whammy of declining sales, crushed margins due to all these promotions and offers that we have seen and steeply rising costs," said Robertson. "I am thinking here of energy costs that do not seem to have gone down with the price of oil."
“零售商，尤其是非食品类零售商受到来自三方面的沉重打击：一是销售下降，二是各种促销和打折导致利润被严重压缩，三是成本大幅度攀升。我这里所说的是能源成本并没有随着石油价格下跌而走低。”
Economists now predict the British economy will likely contract by between 2 and 3 percent in what will prove to be a very difficult year ahead.
经济学家预测，英国经济在将被证明是非常艰难的2009年中将收缩2%到3%。 |