Stockmarkets
股票市场
Is America’s raging bull market exhausted, or taking a breath?
美国的红火牛市是精疲力竭了，还是暂时喘口气？
Investors have a slight hangover
投资者略感宿醉
- exhaust 使筋疲力尽、使疲惫不堪；用完、花光、耗尽；详尽讨论（或研究）
- hangover 宿醉（过量喝酒后第二天的头痛以及恶心反应）；遗留的感觉；沿袭下来的风俗（或思想等）
IF YOU HAD an overindulgent Christmas, you may have begun the new year in a more austere frame of mind. Recent goings-on in the markets may therefore seem familiar. As 2023 drew to a close the American stockmarket was on a ripping run. It ended the year with nine consecutive weeks of gains, the longest winning streak since 2004. The S&P 500 index of leading American stocks was a whisker away from its all-time high, set on January 3rd 2022, when investors thought that interest-rate rises would be small and slow. Now punters are suddenly in a more sober mood, with stocks falling by 1.4% in the first two trading days of the new year. Such modest fluctuations are hardly unusual. Nonetheless, they raise the question of whether the blistering bull market is over, or has further to go.
如果你在圣诞节肆意狂欢了一番，可能就会以更加冷静节制的心态进入新年。你对近期市场上的动态可能也就不会觉得陌生。2023年接近尾声时，美国股市一路狂飙，最终以连涨九周走完了2023年，创下自2004年以来的最长连涨纪录。主要股指标普500距离2022年1月3日（当时投资者预测加息将会是“小步慢跑”）的历史最高点仅一步之遥。现在，投资者突然变得更冷静了：股市在新年的头两个交易日下跌了1.4%。这种小幅波动并不稀奇，但还是引发了一个疑问：这轮大牛市是走到头了，还是能再往前一步？
- austere 形容人的生活条件或者生活方式“苦行的、禁欲的、简朴不奢华的”，暗含克制、克己、节俭、朴素以及在操行上一丝不苟等褒义（参见：小词详解 | austere）
- 拓展学习：熟词僻义 | frame 是一种怎样的害人手段？
- ripping 极好的、美妙的
- streak 主要指短暂连续成功或失败的“一段时间、一阵子、一连串、一系列”，特别是在体育比赛或赌博中用来形容运气或手气（参见：一词多义 | streak）
- 拓展学习：熟词僻义 | lead 是一种什么金属？
- a whisker 差一点儿
- punter 顾客、主顾、客户；赌马的人
- sober 形容人或其言行等“严肃的、持重的”以及“冷静的、清醒的、不言过其实的”，通常以稳重、严肃或认真周到的性格或举止为特征，没有表现出过分或极端的幻想、情感、偏见、恐惧等，强调对情绪或激情的控制或抑制（参见：小词详解 | sober）
- blistering 酷热的、炎热的； （体育动作）飞快的，强劲的，有力量的；（评论）严厉的，愤怒的，尖刻的
For the first ten months of 2023, the market rally was largely concentrated in seven tech stocks, led by Nvidia, a maker of the computer chips that are used to process artificial-intelligence (AI) algorithms. Since then, however, it broadened and gained pace. Firms that mirror the wider economy, such as retailers and banks, soared—JPMorgan Chase is up by a quarter since late October. The S&P 500 rose by 14% in the final two months of 2023, and towers 31% above its most recent trough, well above the 20% that is often used to define a bull market.
在2023年的头十个月，美股上涨主要集中在七支科技股上，由制造处理人工智能（AI）算法的计算机芯片的英伟达领跑。之后上涨范围扩大，涨速也加快。零售商和银行等反映更广泛经济的公司股价飙升，摩根大通的股价自10月底以来上升了四分之一。标普500指数在2023年最后两个月上涨了14%，比最近期的低点高出31%，明显高于通常用来定义牛市的20%。
- rally （体育运动或证券交易）止跌回升
- algorithm （尤指电脑程序中的）算法，运算法则
- tower over/above sb/sth 高于，超过（附近的人或物）；（在能力、品质等方面）胜过，远远超过（其他）
