2020年经济学人 银行业戏剧的三幕(1)

The first act of the impact of the coronavirus on America's financial markets and banking¹ system was characterised by panic.

冠状病毒对美国金融市场和银行体系影响的第一幕是恐慌。

As firms scrambled² to amass³ the cash they needed to survive shutdowns,

各公司争先恐后地积累度过倒闭危机所需的现金，

they rushed to sell their holdings of securities and draw down their revolving⁴ credit lines.

他们匆忙抛售他们所持有的证券，并削减他们的周转信用额度。

Traders attempting to make markets from their sofas were overwhelmed with record volumes.

试图坐在沙发上做市场的交易员被交易量所淹没。

Banks' loan books and deposit accounts swelled⁵. Risk managers frantically⁶ tried to compute⁷ potential loan losses.

银行贷款和储蓄存款增加。风险经理疯狂地试图计算潜在的贷款损失。

All this was reflected in the big banks' first-quarter earnings⁸, reported in the middle of April.

所有这些都在大型银行四月中旬报告的第一季度收入中得到了反映。

Trading profits were sky high, lifting investment-banking revenues.

营业利润极高，这也抬高了投资银行的收入。

But bottom lines suffered as commercial banks set aside reserves to prepare for likely credit losses.

但随着商业银行为可能的信贷损失做拨款准备，盈亏底线受到了影响。

The second act was less turbulent, as government support quelled⁹ the panic.

第二幕没有那么混乱，因为政府的支持平息了恐慌。

Legislation passed in March bolstered¹⁰ unemployment benefits,

三月通过的立法巩固了失业津贴，

set up a lending scheme for small businesses and provided a backstop for the Federal Reserve to buy up corporate¹¹ debt.

为小企业设立贷款计划，并为美联储购买公司债券提供了支撑。

This seems to have insulated firms and households from much of the damage, and has restored order to financial markets.

这似乎使公司和家庭免受了大部分损失，还重新恢复了金融市场的秩序。

But unease about the future remains¹². These dynamics¹³ were evident in the second-quarter earnings put out by Citigroup,

但对未来的不安依然存在。7月14日和15日，美国四大银行：花旗银行、

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, four of America's largest banks, on July 14th and 15th.

高盛集团、摩根大通以及富国银行公布了第二季度收入，这些动态在其中非常明显。

(Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, America's other big lenders, were due to report on July 16th, as The Economist¹⁴ went to press.)

（美国银行和摩根士丹利，美国另外两大银行，将于本刊付印之际，即7月16日发布报告。）

As bond markets began to function again, firms rushed to sell securities.

随着债券市场重新开始运转，企业纷纷抛售证券。

In America companies have issued more than $2trn in equity¹⁵ and debt,

在美国，各公司已经发行了超过2万亿美元的股票和债券，

equivalent to 5% of the entire value of outstanding corporate bonds and public equity, and an increase of almost 50% on the year.

相当于未清偿企业债券和公共股权全部价值的5%，较上年同期增长近50%。

Accordingly, primary-issuance revenues at the four big banks rose by 56%, year over year, to $7.8bn.

因此，四大银行原始发行收入同比增长56%，达到78亿美元。

Traders stayed busy: trading revenues rose by 70% on the year to an all-time high of $26.9bn.

交易员依旧忙碌：交易收入比去年增长了70%，达到269亿美元的历史新高。

That reflected stronger client activity, as well as wider trading spreads, said Stephen Scherr, the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs.

这反映出客户活动增强以及交易价差扩大，高盛集团的首席财务官Stephen Scherr说到。

More company bosses are now telling investors¹⁶ that they hold enough cash to cover two or three years' worth of outgoings.

现在，越来越多的公司老板告诉投资者，他们持有的现金足够覆盖两三年的支出。

Newly recapitalised companies are paying back revolving loans. Of the $55bn drawn¹⁷ down from JPMorgan in March $39bn has since been repaid.

新的资本重组公司正在偿还周转性贷款。在摩根大通今年三月削减的550亿美元资金中，已有390亿美元已偿还。

Commercial banks are bracing¹⁸ for the impact of the crisis, but it has yet to come.

商业银行正在为危机的影响做准备，但危机尚未到来。

Although 17.8m Americans were unemployed¹⁹ at the end of June, few have defaulted so far,

尽管6月底，有1780万美国人失业，但到目前为止几乎没有人违约，

thanks to stimulus²⁰ cheques and meaty unemployment benefits, and banks' willingness to defer²¹ mortgage and credit-card payments.

这多亏了刺激计划支票和大量的失业救济，以及银行推迟抵押贷款和信用卡支付的意愿。

The four banks' charge-offs—ie, their write-offs for loans in default—

这四家银行的贷款冲销——即对违约贷款的勾销——

rose by just 22% to $4.9bn in the second quarter, up from $3.9bn during the same period in 2019.

从2019年同期的39亿美元上升到49亿美元，仅上升了22%。

By contrast, $29.5bn was set aside for provisions for expected losses, compared with just $3.9bn in the same quarter in 2019.

相比之下，银行为预期亏损拨备了295亿美元，而2019年同期仅为39亿美元。

1 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

2 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 amass   

vt.积累，积聚

参考例句：

• How had he amassed his fortune?他是如何积累财富的呢？
• The capitalists amass great wealth by exploiting workers.资本家剥削工人而积累了巨额财富。

4 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。

5 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

6 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

7 compute   

v./n.计算，估计

参考例句：

• I compute my losses at 500 dollars.我估计我的损失有五百元。
• The losses caused by the floods were beyond compute.洪水造成的损失难以估量。

8 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

9 quelled   

v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thanks to Kao Sung-nien's skill, the turmoil had been quelled. 亏高松年有本领，弹压下去。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• Mr. Atkinson was duly quelled. 阿特金森先生被及时地将了一军。 来自辞典例句

10 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

14 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

15 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

16 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

17 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

18 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

19 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

20 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

21 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。