欧美多国通货膨胀
Inflation in many western countries
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
The world this week - Business
The yields on short-term American bonds rose significantly, an indicator that markets are expecting hefty interest-rate rises from the Federal Reserve.
Pressure on bond yields was felt globally.
Japan’s central bank offered to buy an unlimited amount of government bonds, an intervention designed to protect its 0.25% cap on Japan’s ten-year yield.
Yields on two-year American Treasury notes briefly rose above those on the ten-year note for the first time since 2019 (government bonds with longer terms usually offer higher yields).
Such an inversion of the yield curve is often taken as a sign that a recession is on the cards.
Consumers in Britain borrowed an extra net ￡1.5bn (that’s $2bn) on credit cards in February, the highest monthly figure since records began in 1993.
The data suggest that with inflation at a 30-year high, people are taking on more debt to maintain household spending as prices increase.
Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, warned this week that consumers face a “historic shock” to their incomes because of inflation, fuelled mostly by energy prices.
Germany’s annual inflation rate is expected to come in at 7.3% for March, according to the country’s statistics office, the highest rate since German reunification in 1990.
Inflation in Spain surged to 9.8%, the highest in that country for almost 40 years.
HP said it would buy Poly, which makes devices for video-conference communications, in a transaction valued at $3.3bn.
The computer-maker said the deal would bolster its business in hybrid working.
It reckons that 75% of office workers are investing in improvements to their home office set-ups; revenue in the “office meeting room solutions” industry is expected to triple by 2024.
The co-chief executive of SK Hynix, a South Korean chipmaker, said his company was interested in buying Arm through an investment consortium.
Nvidia’s proposed $60bn acquisition of the British chip designer collapsed recently because of competition concerns.
SK Hynix stressed that it does not yet have a specific plan to take over Arm.
Tesla announced its intention to split its stock, though it didn’t say when and what the ratio would be.
The electric-car maker has split its stock before, in 2020, when shareholders were given five new shares (so reduced in value by four-fifths) for every one they owned.
Stock splits are intended to drum up interest from investors who might be put off by the high price of a company’s shares.
Alphabet and Amazon both recently laid out plans for 20-1 stock splits.
VOCABULARY
1. bond n. an agreement by a government or a company to pay you interest on the money you have lent; a document containing this agreement 债券；公债
2. intervention n. 干预; 调解
3. inversion n. the act of changing the position or order of sth. to its opposite, or of turning sth. upside down 倒置；颠倒。例如：the inversion of normal word order 正常词序的倒装
4. on the cards: (British English) (also North American English in the cards) (informal) likely to happen 可能发生的；可能的。例如：The merger has been on the cards for some time now. 合并的事情已经酝酿了一段时间。
5. the Treasury （单数名词 +单数/复数动词） (in Britain, the US and some other countries) the government department that controls public money（英国、美国和其他一些国家的）财政部
6. bolster v. to improve sth. or make it stronger 改善；加强
7. hybrid n. something that is the product of mixing two or more different things （不同事物的）混合物，合成物
QUESTIONS
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
1. Pressure on bond yields was felt locally.
2. Japan’s central bank offered to buy a limited amount of government bonds.
3. Such an inversion of the yield curve is often taken as a sign that a recession is on the cards.
4. Andrew Bailey is the next governor of the Bank of England.
5. Germany’s annual inflation rate is expected to come in at 7.8% for March.
6. Inflation in Spain surged to 9.8%, the highest in that country for almost 40 years.
7. Nvidia’s proposed $66bn acquisition of the British chip designer collapsed recently because of competition concerns.
8. Tesla announced its intention to split its stock, though it didn’t say when and what the ratio would be.
KEY
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
(F) 1. Pressure on bond yields was felt locally.（正确表达）Pressure on bond yields was felt globally.
(F) 2. Japan’s central bank offered to buy a limited amount of government bonds.（正确表达）Japan’s central bank offered to buy an unlimited amount of government bonds.
(T) 3. Such an inversion of the yield curve is often taken as a sign that a recession is on the cards.
(F) 4. Andrew Bailey is the next governor of the Bank of England.（正确表达）Andrew Bailey is the governor of the Bank of England.
(F) 5. Germany’s annual inflation rate is expected to come in at 7.8% for March.（正确表达）Germany’s annual inflation rate is expected to come in at 7.3% for March.
(T) 6. Inflation in Spain surged to 9.8%, the highest in that country for almost 40 years.
(F) 7. Nvidia’s proposed $66bn acquisition of the British chip designer collapsed recently because of competition concerns.（正确表达）Nvidia’s proposed $60bn acquisition of the British chip designer collapsed recently because of competition concerns.
(T) 8. Tesla announced its intention to split its stock, though it didn’t say when and what the ratio would be.
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