日本災難導致世界股市暴跌
Stock markets in Asia, Europe and the United States plunged Tuesday in a broad sell-off as analysts said investors feared the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan.
Investors dumped stock holdings as Japanese officials warned of increased radiation around an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant. Market analysts said investors were increasingly worried about the economic impact of last Friday's devastating earthquake off the coast of Japan and the tsunami that quickly followed it.
One analyst said there was "no arguing with panic" in the sell-off. Another said that in the plunging market, traders sell stocks and "ask questions later."
Major U.S. stock indexes opened down more than 2 percent following a broad sell-off in Asia and Europe. Tokyo's Nikkei index closed down more than 10 percent, following a 6 percent drop on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell nearly 3 percent.
In Europe, stock markets spiraled down, with the DAX index in Frankfurt retreating nearly 5 percent, London markets off more than 2 percent and Paris dropping nearly 4 percent.
Japan's government tried to reassure markets and businesses after the disaster, putting a record $183 billion into money markets Monday and pumping another $61 billion into the financial system Tuesday.
Japan was already trying to cope with slow economic growth and high levels of government debt before the quake and tsunami. The extent of the economic impact of the disaster is still not known.
Economists say the nation's growth rate will probably slow in the short run as business and industry cope with power shortages, damaged transportation facilities, and other problems. But they say over the longer term, the need to rebuild damaged cities and infrastructure in the affected area could stimulate the Japanese economy and improve growth.
由於投資者擔心日本可能發生一場核災難，亞洲、歐洲和美國股市星期二出現普遍的股票拋售，股市急劇下跌。
投資人紛紛拋售手中持有的股票，原因是日本官員警告說，在地震中嚴重損毀的核電站附近核放射加劇。市場分析人士說，投資者對地震和隨之而來的海嘯帶來的經濟損失，越來越加憂心忡忡。
一位分析師說，人們拋售股票的時候無疑是帶有恐慌情緒。另一位分析師說，股市下跌時，投資者是先賣股票再問問題。
在亞洲和歐洲普遍拋售股票後，美國主要股票指數下跌2%以上。東京日經指數在星期一下跌了6%之後星期二收盤時大幅下挫了10%以上。香港恆生指數下跌的幅度超過3%。
歐洲股市也急劇下跌。德國法蘭克福DAX指數下挫近5%。倫敦金融時報指數下跌2.5%，巴黎CAC-40指數的跌幅超過3%。
地震過後，日本政府試圖安撫市場和企業的信心，星期一向金融市場注入創紀錄的1830億美元，星期二又向金融系統投入610億美元。這次災害對經濟造成的影響程度目前還無從得知。
經濟學家說，由於工商業必須應對電力短缺和交通設施遭到破壞等問題，日本的經濟增長在短期內可能會放緩。不過他們表示，從長期來看，受災地區的城市和基礎設施的重建可能會刺激經濟並促進增長。
