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美联储继续缩减购债规模

The U.S. central bank is on pace to reduce its monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion - and interest rates will remain near record lows until the job market approaches something closer to normal.  So says Janet Yellen, who held her first news conference Wednesday as head of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

美国联邦储备委员会主席耶伦星期三在她的首次记者会上说，美国央行继续缩减债券购买计划，将每月购债额度再减100亿美元。另外，在就业市场回归正常之前，利率将维持在接近历史最低水平。

There’s a new Fed chief in town - but in terms of monetary¹ policy, there's very little difference between Janet Yellen and her predecessor², Ben Bernanke.  Despite her new responsibilities, the former central bank vice³ chair says don’t expect any surprises.

美联储有了一位新主席。但就货币政策而言，耶伦和她的前任伯南克没有多少区别。虽然承担了新的责任，但曾担任美联储副主席的耶伦说，不要期望有任何出人意料的变化。

“In terms of the conduct of business, it’s pretty much the same as usual.  I’m not envisioning, nor have there been so far, any radical⁴ changes in how the Federal Reserve does its business," said Yellen.

“就美联储的运作来说，基本上跟平常一样。我没有预期、而且迄今也没有计划对美联储的政策做任何重大改变。”

That includes winding⁵ down the bank’s accommodative policies that have kept interest rates near record lows.  This means monthly bond purchases will drop another $10 billion next month to $55 billion a month.

这包括逐步退出美联储的宽松货币政策 ，下个月的购债额度将再减100亿美元，至550亿美元。宽松货币政策使利率一直保持在接近历史最低。

The one notable change is the committee's decision to stop using a threshold level of 6.5 percent unemployment to decide when to start raising rates.

一个明显的变化是美联储决定停止用百分之6.5的失业率作为提高利率的门槛。

“Even after employment and inflation are near mandate⁶ consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping short-term interest rates below levels the committee views as normal in the long run," said Yellen.

耶伦说：“从长远看，即使就业和通胀接近理想目标，经济情况仍有可能在一段时间内需要我们将短期利率保持在美联储认为的正常水平之下。”

Instead, steady job growth and a target level of 2 percent inflation will determine the pace of interest rate appreciation⁷.

而稳定的就业提升和百分之2的通胀目标将决定利率上调的速度。

Mark Hamrick is Washington bureau chief at Bankrate.com.

Bankrate.com公司华盛顿区主管哈姆里克：

“It’s an acknowledgment that 6.5 percent as a target was not perfect, because we know in the past that we’ve seen the unemployment rate decline for the wrong reasons," said  Hamrick.

“这就是承认，把失业率百分之6.5作为目标不那么好，因为我们知道，过去失业率下降有时是出于错误的原因。”

At 6.7 percent - U.S. unemployment is close to a five-year low, but, Yellen says unusually bad weather in January and February has made assessing the underlying⁸ economy especially challenging.

目前美国失业率为百分之6.7，接近5年来最低。但是耶伦说，1、2月的坏天气对评估经济的强劲程度构成了挑战。