World markets are lower after new figures show Japan's economy is shrinking at a rate not seen for decades and more bad financial news is released in Britain.
新的经济数据显示，日本经济出现数十年未曾有过的收缩，英国也发布了更多负面的金融消息，所有这些导致全球股市下挫。
In Japan, a fourth-quarter economic contraction of 3.3 percent rattled the markets.
日本去年第四季度的经济收缩了3.3%的消息震动了市场。
For the year, the world's second-largest economy shrank by 12.7 percent, which is a much steeper decline than is being seen in either the United States or Europe.
过去一年，全球第二大经济体日本的经济收缩了12.7%，下降幅度大大超过美国和欧洲。
Reinforcing the point, Japan's Economic Minister said his country faces its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II.
日本经济大臣证实了这种看法，他说日本面临二战结束以来最严重的经济危机。
The Tokyo market finished four-tenths of a percent down on the day while Hong Kong finished seven-tenths off.
东京股票市场当天下跌0.4%，香港股市下降0.7%。
In Europe, financial stocks again dragged the markets down.
在欧洲，金融类股再次带动股市下跌。
In London, all eyes were on the Lloyds Banking Group. Much larger than expected losses at Halifax-Bank of Scotland or HBOS, which Lloyds recently acquired, sent jitters through the market.
伦敦股市的所有注意力都集中在劳埃德银行集团身上。劳埃德银行集团最近收购的苏格兰海法银行的损失远远超出意料，令股市感到不安。
London market analyst Richard Hunter says depending on how things go, some sense that Lloyds may need additional taxpayer backing further down the recessionary road.
伦敦市场分析师理查德.亨特说，取决于形势进展如何，劳埃德银行集团也许需要纳税人投入更多资金，以避免在衰退的道路上越陷越深。
"A lot of the sting was taken out on Friday, obviously, with that 32 percent drop. There are indeed concerns around nationalization. There are further concerns as well," Hunter noted. "We are of course getting into a state of the recession where credit write-downs will become less of an issue, but normal write-downs, if you like, as people will start defaulting on loans will become more of an issue."
“资产损失了32%，这显然对市场是一个很大的刺激。确实有人担心银行国有化的问题，还有更进一步的担心...... 我们当然正处于这样一种衰退状态，信贷下降将不是一个主要问题，但是当人们开始违约偿还贷款时，通常银行资产的下降将成为主要问题。”
Adding to the gloom, a new report by the Confederation of British Industry shows that this is going to be a rough one economically in Britain with unemployment heading up.
英国工业联合会发布的一份最新报告进一步加剧了经济前景的黯淡。报告显示，失业率上升将使英国面临经济艰难的一年。
"The slowdown in the economy, much faster than anticipated means that tax revenues will be way down, like 50 billion [Pounds] over the next couple of years and benefits will rise as unemployment increases," said CBI Director-General, Richard Lambert. "So it looks as though we are talking about government borrowing over the next couple of years being, getting on for a 100 billion more than the Chancellor hoped for last time around."
英国工业联合会秘书长理查德.拉姆伯特说：“经济衰退的速度大大超出人们的预料，这意味着税收将出现下降，今后两年将下降500亿英镑。而随着失业率不断攀升，政府的福利费用也将增加。所以看起来我们将面对政府在今后两年将靠借债度日的局面，借债数额可能要比财务大臣上次所说的高出1千亿英镑。”
Also adding to the depressed mood Monday, some investors reacted with disappointment after finance chiefs from the Group of Seven industrialized countries failed to produce any concrete measures at their meeting this weekend in Rome.
另外，一些投资者对工业化7国集团的财政主管官员们上个周末在罗马的会议上没有制定出任何具体措施感到失望，这也增加了星期一市场的负面情绪。 |