One day after the U.S. central bank signaled a possible end to America's longest recession since World War II, new data suggest continued weakness in several economic sectors.
美国中央银行发出经济衰退可能即将结束的讯息的第二天公布的新的数据显示，几个经济部门依然疲软。
Less than 24 hours after the Federal Reserve proclaimed the recession to be easing, the United States has been hit with a quadruple batch of somber economic news, with retail sales down, business inventories cut, jobless claims up and home foreclosures hitting a new record high.
美联储发表经济衰退正在减退的评论还不到24小时，美国就传来了四条暗淡的经济消息：零售销售下滑、企业库存减少、失业补贴申请增加、失赎房屋数量再创新高。
Instead of the modest gain economists had been expecting, U.S. retail sales dipped .1 percent in July. Lakshman Achuthan of the New York-based Economic Cycle Research Institute says even a slight drop in sales has consequences.
美国七月份的零售销售不仅没有如经济学家们预期那样出现微幅上涨反而下降了0.1个百分点。纽约经济周期研究所(Economic Cycle Research Institute)的拉克舒曼·阿楚森(Lakshman Achuthan)说，销售即使稍有下滑，影响也是不小的。
"You are talking about an [American] economy that is almost $14 trillion," Achuthan said. "And that is why even a fraction of a fraction is billions and billions of dollars in activity."
“现在说的是美国几乎十四万亿美元的一个经济体，即使是百分之零几也都意味着数以10亿万、百亿美元的经济活动。”
Automobile sales were a bright spot in the retail sector, recording a 2.4 percent jump last month amid a government program subsidizing the purchase of new, fuel-efficient vehicles. Achuthan says America's sudden car-buying frenzy may have eaten up cash that would otherwise have gone to other sectors.
汽车销售是零售业中的亮点。上个月，由于政府给人们提供补贴，购买节能型新车辆，汽车销售跃升了2.4个百分点。阿楚森说，美国突然出现的购车热可能用掉本来会流向其它部门的现金。
"It may be that the effort to buy a car made people hold off on buying other items like refrigerators and new dining room tables and things like that," Achuthan said.
“人们可能会为了要买车而推迟买冰箱、新餐桌等等的计划。”
Other economic data included a slight rise in the number of people filing initial jobless claims. The Labor Department says 558,000 newly-laid off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, 4,000 more than the previous week. But the total number of people receiving benefits fell from 6.34 million to 6.2 million.
另外一个经济数据是，首次申请失业补贴的人数稍有增加。劳工部报告说，上个星期有55．8万人失去了工作，申请失业补贴，比前一星期增加了四千多。不过，持续领取这项补贴的总数则从原来的634万人减少到620万人。
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reports American businesses cut inventories 1.1 percent in June, the tenth consecutive monthly decline.
同时，美国商务部报告说，六月份美国企业库存削减了1.1%。这是连续第十个月下降。
And, despite recent signs of a turnaround in America's battered housing industry, a private group reports the number of new home foreclosure filings rose 7 percent in July from the previous month, and are up nearly a third from a year ago.
仅管一直萎靡不振的美国房屋市场最近有了回转的迹象，但是一间私人机构发布的报告显示，七月份新增失赎房屋的案子比六月份增加7%，比一年前增加约三分之一。
Rick Sharga is vice president of RealtyTrac, which compiled the numbers.
瑞克.夏尔加(Rick Sharga)是编制这些数据的RealtyTrac公司的副总裁。
"This month's report was particularly dismal. We really do not see much good news in any part of the country as it relates to foreclosure activity," Sharga said.
“这个月的报告特别令人沮丧。我们在全国任何地方都看不到任何一点有关失赎房屋方面的正面消息。”
It was a rash of home foreclosures after a prolonged period of lax lending standards that many economists blame for America's financial meltdown last year.
在经历了长期信贷标准宽松的阶段之后，失赎房屋一下子多了起来。许多经济学家都认为是这种信贷做法造成了去年的金融危机。
The day's economic data stand in contrast to Wednesday's encouraging assessment of U.S. economic conditions by the Federal Reserve. The central bank said it sees signs that the economy is "leveling out" after a prolonged downturn. Meanwhile, Europe's largest economies have returned to economic growth. Germany and France reported a .3 percent rise in second quarter gross domestic product.
星期四公布的经济数据跟星期三美联储对经济状况做出的令人鼓舞的评估形成强烈的对比。美联储表示，在经济长期下滑之后，它看到了经济逐步稳定的迹象。另一方面，欧洲的几个最大的经济体都已经恢复了增长。德国和法国二季度国内生产总值上涨了0.3个百分点。
Economist Lakshman Achuthan shares Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's oft-repeated belief that U.S. economic performance will improve by year's end.
经济学家阿楚森赞同美联储主席的看法，也认为美国的经济表现将在年底有所好转。
"The fact that retail sales come in weaker than expected does not change the future expectation that this recession is actually drawing to a close," Achuthan said.
“零售销售比预期的更为疲软的事实并不能改变衰退实际上已经接近尾声的预期。”
Even if the U.S. economy rebounds, most economists expect the recovery to be slow, with unemployment rates remaining stubbornly high for months to come.
不过，即使美国经济开始回升，大多数经济学家依然认为，复苏将是缓慢的， |