Well, we had the worst day since February for the world's stock markets yesterday,

昨天是股市自二月以來最糟糕的一天

today we've had one of the best.

今天，則是最美好的一天

Now we heard from the Fed late in the U.S. afternoon,

我們聽到聯準會在美國時間下午發布的訊息

they published the minutes to their last meeting,

他們公布了最新的會議紀錄

that really didn't change very much, rate expectations were almost unchanged afterwards.

但這其實沒帶來多大的改變，期望報酬率幾乎毫無變動

The big driver came from the oil market.

原油是其中一個有力的驅動者

Now if we take a look at the oil price over the last two years,

我們看一下過去兩年的原油價格

you can see obviously the dramatic decline that it suffered in 2014, it still hasn't been corrected

很顯然的，2014它大幅下跌，直到現在都還沒完全回升

You can see in the last week or so, an incipient further decline, it dropped some 15% from the peak it reached last month.

而在上個星期左右，他又再度下跌。比起上個月的頂峰，原油下跌了約15%

Therefore, the rebound that it's had in the last couple of days

因此，過去幾天的反彈

even though only just shows up on that chart has been enough to restore sentiment in the stock market quite considerably.

儘管在圖表上看起來非常微小，卻足以有效地恢復股市的信心

That largely comes from inventory data here,

這些主要是庫存數據

in the States there is still a flood of oil available here in America,

在美國仍有大量的原油可供使用

but the latest numbers do show that the inventories have declined slightly,

但是最近的數字顯示庫存的確有些微的減少

that has been enough to put up prices and to reassure those watching in the stock market that the oil price is not going to go on another indefinite decline,

那足以使原油價格上升，且讓關注股市的人們安心，因為這代表原油不會無限期的下跌

hence stock markets have recovered.

也就是股市已有回升的跡象

Now we also now know that the Fed is watching this very closely.

我們知道聯準會也非常密切地關注這個議題

Perhaps, for me, the single most interesting line to come out of their minutes was their clarification that when they say they are data-dependent,

對我而言，聯準會的會議記錄中最有趣的一點，是他們對於自己「採用數據」的聲明

the data they depend on includes international and financial data that's affected the economic outlook.

聯準會表示他們所採用的數據包含對整個經濟有影響的國際金融數據

And that includes both the oil price and as we come to now, the dollar.

這也就包含了原油價格以及美元

Now as you can see, the dollar strengthened radically while the oil price was weakening.

如你可見，美元走強的同時，原油反而走弱

And it will / has not escaped attention that it is now weakening once more today, it has dropped on a trade-weighted basis to its lowest level since last October,

而大家也都注意到美元如今又開始走弱，其貿易加權指數跌到了自十月以來的新低

as you can see it's roughly at the same level it's been for over a year now.

它現在大約和一年前的情況差不多

A weaker dollar helps U.S. companies, it flatters U.S. profits, and will generally boost the stock market as well,

較弱的美元對美國公司有利，它會使增加美國國內的利潤，且對股市有正面的影響

it also alleviates pressure on emerging markets, countries whose currencies had come under pressure

同時，它也緩和了新興市場的壓力。本來，這些國家的貨幣飽受壓力所苦

and where there had been some concerns about a possible debt crisis.

並且也存有債務危機的困難

Therefore if you do see oil rising and the dollar weakening as you have today,

所以，原油的上升與美元的走弱

that relieves everybody and so at least for today you get a good strong day on the stock market.

使得大家都輕鬆了一點。至少今天，股市度過了美好的一天。