本周全球股市继续下滑

The world this week -- Business

本周国际要闻——商业

The world's stockmarkets continued to slide this week, as investors prepared for tighter monetary policy.

由于投资者们在为收紧的货币政策作准备，本周全球股市继续下滑。

By January 26th the S&P 500 index had dropped by 9% since the start of the year.

截至1月26日，标准普尔500指数自年初以来已经下跌了9%。

Share prices elsewhere have been falling too.

其他地方的股价也在持续下跌。

The NASDAQ composite, a tech-heavy index, has dropped more sharply than the broader market.

以科技股为主的纳斯达克综合指数比大盘跌幅更大。

Higher interest rates would lower the value that investors place on the future profits of speculative firms.

更高的利率会降低投资者对风险性公司未来利润的估值。

America's Federal Reserve signalled that it will indeed raise interest rates in March to try to bring inflation under control.

美联储发出信号，它确实将在三月提高利率以控制通货膨胀。

That will be the first increase since 2018.

这将是自2018年以来的首次增长。

The Fed also signalled that it will wind down its bond-buying programme, which was expanded during the pandemic.

美联储还表示，其将逐步结束疫情期间扩大的债券购买计划。

Cryptocurrencies have also experienced a sell-off recently, partly caused by growing scrutiny from regulators.

加密货币最近也经历了一场抛售，部分原因是监管机构的审查越来越严格。

Bitcoin sank to a six-month low this week.

比特币本周跌至六个月低点。

It has lost roughly half its value since November.

自去年11月以来，它的价值已经缩水了大约一半。

The price of smaller currencies, such as Ethereum and Litecoin, also fell.

以太坊和莱特币等较小币种的价格也有所下跌。

Microsoft said that its fourth-quarter sales grew to a record $51.7bn, up 20% from the same period last year.

微软称其第四季度的销售额增至创纪录的517亿美元，比去年同期增长了20%。

Net income rose to $18.8bn.

净利润增至188亿美元。

The results were fuelled by its gaming and Windows software units.

该公司的游戏和Windows软件部门推动了这一增长。

But even though they beat analysts' forecasts, the firm's share price fell after the announcement.

但是，尽管结果超出了分析师的预测，该公司的股价在此结果宣布后还是下跌了。

It later recovered when the firm published rosy forecasts for its cloud division.

后来，当公司发布了对其云业务的乐观预测时，股价又有所恢复。

Boeing reported a loss of $4.3bn for 2021, its third annual loss in a row.

波音公司报告称，2021年亏损43亿美元，这是该公司连续第三年亏损。

That is partly because of a charge of $3.5bn it had to pay to compensate customers for the delays in delivering its 787 Dreamliner.

这在一定程度上是因为，波音不得不支付35亿美元的费用，以补偿因其延迟交付787梦幻客机而受到影响的客户。

Factory defects and regulatory problems have slowed production.

工厂过失和监管问题延缓了生产。

As part of a firm-wide restructuring plan Unilever, a consumer-goods giant, said that it will axe about 1,500 management jobs.

作为全公司范围重组计划的一部分，消费品巨头联合利华表示将裁减大约1500个管理职位。

Pressure to improve performance has been increased of late by Trian, an activist hedge fund which has built a stake in the company, and by the firm's failed bid to buy the consumer-health business of GlaxoSmithKline, a British drugmaker.

最近，该公司提高业绩的压力增加了，因为激进的对冲基金Trian入股了该公司，同时该公司收购英国制药公司葛兰素史克消费者健康的业务也失败了。

Tesla reported record net profits of $2.3bn in the fourth quarter of 2021.

特斯拉报告称在2021年第四季度实现了创纪录的23亿美元净利润。

But Elon Musk, the electric-car maker's boss, warned that supply-chain woes, such as the shortage of semiconductors, would probably weigh on the firm's results during 2022.

但这家电动汽车制造商的老板埃隆·马斯克警告称，半导体短缺等供应链问题可能会影响该公司2022年的业绩。

He noted that Tesla's factories have been running below capacity for several quarters.

他指出，特斯拉的工厂已经连续几个季度产能不足。