美国国家公共电台 NPR 美联储降息至接近零利率以应对新冠肺炎疫情（在线收听）

The Federal Reserve made a surprise announcement this evening that it is cutting interest rates to near zero. The move comes as the U.S. economy has been rocked by the fast-moving coronavirus outbreak. NPR's chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley joins us now to give us the latest.

Scott, this w???????????as reminiscent of the emergency moves that the Fed made during the 2008 financial crisis. What does this tell us?

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Well, it tells us just how serious this situation is. The central bank doesn't ordinarily make announcements like this on a Sunday night. In fact, the interest rate setting committee of the Fed is set to meet this coming week, and we were anticipating a cut like this perhaps on Wednesday. The fact that they're acting now, before the stock market opens on Monday morning, and acting in concert with the European Central Bank in a coordinated way, tells us just how serious this situation is.

In its statement, the Fed said the effects the coronavirus are weighing on economic activity in the near term and pose risks to the economic outlook. In fact, a lot of economists think the virus has already pushed the U.S. into a recession. The Fed also promised to keep these near-zero interest rates in place as long as necessary to ensure that the economy has weathered the coronavirus shock.

MARTIN: So what effect is this likely to have on the economy?

HORSLEY: Well, there's some question, really, about whether this is, in fact, the medicine that the economy needs. The virus shock to the economy is taking a number of forms. It has affected supply chains. So factories here in the U.S., for example, can't necessarily get the parts they expected to get from China. Lower interest rates won't help with that.

The lower interest rates also might not do a whole lot to affect the current demand shock that we're experiencing. If people are more or less h?unkered down at home, if baseball games are canceled, if shops are closed, lower interest rates won't necessarily do a lot to address that.

What this will do, though, is communicate to the stock market that the Fed is on the case. The market had more or less anticipated a cut like this. And there was some expectation that if the Fed didn't deliver, the stocks, which have already been taking a big beating and are in bear market territory, would fall further this coming week. So this is a way for the Fed to offer some solace, at least to investors, and also remind people that the central bank's o?n the job.

MARTIN: So, in addition to cutting its headline interest rate, did the Fed announced other actions aimed at preventing, you know, further financial shocks? Tell us about that.

HORSLEY: They did. They announced that they're going to be buying more treasuries and also more mortgage-backed securities. There are some interesting signs in the financial markets, especially the credit markets this past week — bonds moving not in the direction you expect them to, signaling perhaps a real loss of confidence in the financial markets — not just the stock market, but the credit markets.

And the risk there is that the pain in the real economy — that is, the people who are having their hours cut and the stores that aren't making the sales they would — might trigger a seizing up of the financial plumbing that could make this a worse and a longer-lasting problem than it would otherwise be. So the Fed is basically adding some financial WD-40 to keep the gears turning so...

MARTIN: OK.

HORSLEY: ...The very real economic pain that we're experiencing doesn't bleed over into the financial sector.

MARTIN: Just as briefly as you can, Scott — we only have 20 seconds — does the central bank have any other options if these moves don't have the desired effect?

HORSLEY: Well, they do. They have other tools that they can use. And they have said that they are committed to using those other tools. But the monetary medicine here is not the only medicine that the economy needs. And it's really going to be up to Congress and fiscal policymakers to also do their part to cushion the economic harm.

MARTIN: All right. That is NPR's Scott Horsley.

Scott, thank you.

HORSLEY: You're welcome.

今天晚上，美联储宣布了一项惊人的决定——将利率降至接近零水平。此举公布时，美国经济正因迅速发展的冠状病毒疫情而遭受冲击。NPR新闻的首席经济记者斯科特·霍斯利将和我们连线，介绍最新情况。

斯科特，这令人想起美联储在2008年金融危机期间采取的紧急措施。这告诉了我们什么？

斯科特·霍斯利连线：这说明了现状有多糟糕。央行（美联储）通常不会在周日晚上发布这种公告。事实上，美联储利率制定委员会计划本周召开会议，我们原本预计降息决定可能在周三宣布。而他们在周一早上股市开盘前就采取了行动，同时以协调一致的方式与欧洲央行合作，这明确说明了情况有多糟糕。

美联储在声明中表示，冠状病毒对近期经济活动的影响正在加剧，而且对经济前景构成了威胁。事实上，许多经济家认为，该病毒已经使美国陷入经济衰退。美联储还承诺，只要有必要，就将维持这些接近于零的利率，以确保经济经受住冠状病毒的冲击。

马丁：这可能对经济产生什么影响？

霍斯利：就这是否是经济需要的药物来说，的确存在一些疑问。该病毒对经济的冲击有几种形式。它影响了供应链。举例来说，美国工厂不一定能从中国获得他们期望得到的零件。降低利率对此没有帮助。

下调利率也可能不会对我们正在经历的需求冲击产生太大影响。如果人们成天窝在家里，棒球比赛取消，商店关门，那下调利率不一定能解决问题。

不过，此举将告诉股市，美联储正在应对。市场或多或少地预料到了这样的降息。有人预计，如果美联储不宣布降息，那本就已经遭受重创且进入熊市范畴的股市，本周可能进一步下跌。因此，这是美联储提供安慰的一种方式，至少对投资者来说是如此，这同时也提醒人们，央行在努力工作。

马丁：除了下调总体利率，美联储有没有宣布防止进一步金融冲击的其他行动？请介绍一下。

霍斯利：有。他们宣布将购买更多国债和抵押支持债券。金融市场出现了一些值得注意的迹象，尤其是过去一周的信贷市场——债券并未向人们预期的方向发展，这表明人们可能真的对金融市场失去了信心——不只是股市，还有信贷市场。

现在的风险是实体经济面临痛苦，也就是说，人们的工作时间被削减，商店没有实现预期业绩，这可能会引发金融系统的停滞，从而使这一问题变得更严重也更持久。因此，美联储基本上是在增加金融WD-40，以保持齿轮转动……

马丁：好。

霍斯利：而我们正在经历的真正的经济苦难并没有渗透到金融领域。

马丁：斯科特，请尽可能简短地回答下个问题，因为我们的节目时间只剩下20秒，如果这些举措未达到预期效果，那央行还有其他选择吗？

霍斯利：有。他们有可以使用的其他工具。他们表示，他们致力于使用其他工具。但这些货币药物并不是经济需要的唯一药物。国会和财政决策者也要尽其所能来缓解经济伤害。

马丁：好。以上是NPR新闻的斯科特·霍斯利带来的报道。

斯科特，谢谢你。

霍斯利：不客气。