Pulling the Punch: Financial Markets
① Economics outweighed politics as far as the financial markets were concerned in 2017.
② Investors may have taken occasional fright at President Donald Trump's bellicose tweets, the slow progress of Brexit or populism in Europe.
③ But their attention quickly switched back to the main theme of the year: economic growth forecasts were upgraded and inflation remained low.
④ As a result the two potential stockmarket bogeymen—a recession and rapidly rising interest rates—were kept at bay.
⑤ Subdued inflation also meant that government bond markets defied the bears for yet another year with yields staying at low historical levels.
⑥ But politics could bite back in 2018 if tensions rise further between America and North Korea, or between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
⑦ And it is far from clear how markets will cope as central banks continue to withdraw their monetary stimulus.
⑧ But who wants to spend the Christmas holidays thinking about the punchbowl being snatched away?
▍生词好句
pull the punch: 手下留情
A outweighs B: A 比 B 重要
take fright at sth.: 受到……的惊吓
bellicose /ˈbɛlɪkəʊs/: adj. 好战的
populism /ˈpɒpjʊlɪz(ə)m/: n. 民粹主义
bogeyman /ˈbəʊɡɪman/: n. 可怕的人；妖怪
keep…at bay: 不让……逼近
subdue /səbˈdjuː/: vt. 镇压；制伏；征服
defy /dɪˈfʌɪ/: vt. 阻止；使……无效
bear: n. 熊市
yield /jiːld/: n. 收益
stimulus /ˈstɪmjʊləs/: n. 刺激物
punchbowl /ˈpʌn(t)ʃbəʊl/: n. 潘趣酒碗
snatch /snatʃ/: vt. 夺走
