2022年经济学人 日本软银减持阿里巴巴股份（在线收听）

The world this week--Business

本周国际要闻--商业

America’s annual rate of inflation, measured by the consumer-price index, dropped to 8.5% in July, from 9.1% in June.

以消费者价格指数衡量的美国年通货膨胀率从6月份的9.1%降至7月份的8.5%。

Petrol prices explained the dip.

汽油价格下降是原因之一。

The average price of a gallon of car fuel is now just under $4; in mid-June it was around $5.

目前，每加仑汽车燃油的平均价格不到4美元;在6月中旬，每加仑汽车燃油价格在5美元左右。

The economy is also cooling, shrinking by 0.9% at an annual rate in the second quarter after a contraction of 1.6% in the first.

经济也在降温，继第一季度萎缩1.6%之后，第二季度折合成年率萎缩0.9%。

The labour market is still red hot, however.

然而，劳动力市场仍然火热。

Employers created 528,000 jobs in July, many more than had been expected.

7月份，雇主创造了52.8万个工作岗位，远远超过预期。

The deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sir Dave Ramsden, said that interest rates would probably have to go up again to tame inflation.

英国央行副行长戴夫·拉姆斯登爵士表示，利率很可能不得不再次上调，以抑制通胀。

The bank recently lifted its benchmark rate by half a percentage point, to 1.75%, the biggest rise since 1995.

银行最近将基准利率提高了0.5个百分点，达到1.75%，这是自1995年以来的最大涨幅。

The move was criticised by some for increasing the possibility of recession, but the bank faces a tricky balancing act.

一些人批评此举增加了经济衰退的可能性，但英国央行面临着棘手的平衡问题。

Not all inflation is within its control.

并非所有的通货膨胀都在控制范围之内。

One forecast reckons the average annual energy bill will jump to over ￡4,400 ($5,320) early next year.

一项预测认为，明年初，平均每年的能源账单将超过4400英镑(5320美元)。

The plunging value of investments at its two tech-focused Vision Funds pushed SoftBank to a ￥3.2trn ($23bn) quarterly net loss, a record for the Japanese conglomerate.

软银旗下专注于科技领域的两只愿景基金的投资价值暴跌，导致软银季度净亏损3.2万亿日元(合230亿美元)，创下这家日本企业集团的纪录。

The rout in tech shares was not all to blame.

科技股的暴跌不能完全归咎于此。

The weakened yen led to a ￥820bn foreign-exchange loss.

日元贬值导致8200亿日元的外汇损失。

“The world is in great confusion,” said Son Masayoshi, SoftBank’s boss.

软银总裁孙正义表示:“世界陷入了巨大的混乱。”

SoftBank later said it would reduce its stake in Alibaba, which it has held for 22 years, from 23.7% to 14.6%, which should raise around $34bn.

软银后来表示，将把其持有阿里巴巴22年的股份从23.7%减至14.6%，这将筹集约340亿美元。

Berkshire Hathaway reported a net loss of $43.8bn for the second quarter, reflecting this year’s broad decline in stockmarkets.

伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司公布第二季度净亏损438亿美元，反映出今年股市普遍下跌的趋势。

However, operating income, which excludes the effects of market vicissitudes on Berkshire’s share portfolio, surged to $9.3bn.

然而，不包括市场变化对伯克希尔股票投资组合影响的营收飙升至93亿美元。

Inflation hasn’t put people off visiting Disney’s theme parks, which notched up their best-ever quarter in sales.

通货膨胀并没有阻止人们参观迪士尼主题公园，该公园创下了有史以来最好的季度销售额。

Customers are also signing up to Disney+ in droves.

用户也在一批批地注册迪士尼+。

The streaming service added 14.4m users over the past three months, bringing the total to 152.1m.

过去三个月，该流媒体服务增加了1440万用户，用户总数达到1.521亿。

The share price of Novavax plummeted after it forecast a slowdown in revenue because of falling demand for its covid-19 vaccine.

诺瓦瓦克斯股价暴跌，此前该公司预测，由于对新冠肺炎疫苗的需求下降，其营收将放缓。

Moderna recently wrote off $500m-worth of vaccines that have gone unused.

莫德纳最近摒弃了价值5亿美元的未使用过的疫苗。