Put the axe away
把斧头收好
When will Americans see those interest-rate cuts?
说好的降息呢？美国人何时才能看到？
Following a nasty surprise, some now think they may come only after the presidential election
在经历了恼人的意外之后，一些人现在认为降息可能要等到大选之后了
PERHAPS IT WAS always too good to be true. The big economic story of 2023 was the seemingly painless disinflation in America, with consumer-price pressures receding even as growth remained resilient, which underpinned surging stock prices. Alas, the story thus far in 2024 is not quite so cheerful. Growth has remained robust but, partly as a result, inflation is looking stickier. The Federal Reserve faces a dilemma about whether to start cutting interest rates; investors must grapple with the reality that monetary policy will almost certainly remain tighter for longer than they had anticipated a few months ago.
或许，当时一切就好得不真实。2023年的经济大事件是美国看似并无痛楚的通胀减缓，在消费价格压力减弱的同时经济增长却保持韧性，为股价飙升提供了支撑。可惜，2024年迄今为止的情况就没那么令人欢欣鼓舞了。经济增长依然稳健，但这也在一定程度上导致通胀看起来越发具黏性。美联储进退两难，不知是否要着手降息；而投资者必须面对一个现实，即相比他们在几个月前的预期，货币政策几乎肯定会保持更紧缩的状态更久。
- resilient 喻指人或动物“可迅速恢复的、适应力强的”，即能够承受或容易适应困难的条件，或者能够迅速从不幸、变化中恢复到常态（参见：小词详解 | resilient）
- surge 形容物价、利润、数量等“急剧上升、飞涨、激增”，多指在一段稳定或平静的时期内发生的短暂突然的大幅度增加（参见：小词详解 | surge）
- 拓展学习：本周《经济学人》封面用 sticky 谈当前通货膨胀困境
- dilemma 泛指进退两难的“窘境、困境”（参见：小词详解 | dilemma）
- grapple (with sth) 努力设法解决
The latest troublesome data came from higher-than-expected inflation for March, which was released on April 10th. Analysts had thought that the core consumer-price index (CPI), which strips out food and energy costs, would rise by 0.3% month on month. Instead, it rose by 0.4%. Although that may not sound like much of an overshoot, it was the third straight month of CPI readings exceeding forecasts. If continued, the current pace would entrench inflation at over 4% year on year, double the Fed’s target—based on a slightly different inflation gauge—of 2% (see chart 1).
令人烦恼的最新数据是4月10日公布的高于预期的3月份通货膨胀率。分析师们原本认为，剔除食品和能源成本的核心消费价格指数（CPI）将月度环比上升0.3%。但结果却是上升了0.4%。虽然听起来并没有超出很多，但这已是CPI连续三个月超出预测。如果当前的增速持续下去，通胀率将保持在同比增长超4%，是美联储2%目标（基于一个略有不同的通胀指标）的两倍（见图表1）。
- strip sth out 从（某处）拿走所有东西；使（某处）空无一物
- entrench 使处于牢固地位；牢固确立（参见：小词详解 | entrench）
