“艾尔玛”改道提振美国保险股

Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after Hurricane Irma’s last-minute shift westward eased fears about widespread devastation in Florida and helped propel the US stock market towards fresh records.

华尔街周一松了一口气。飓风“艾尔玛”(Hurricane Irma)在最后时刻改道西进，缓解了人们对佛罗里达州遭到大面积破坏的恐惧，也推动美国股市走向新高。

Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys on Sunday as a category four hurricane, but the eye of the storm missed Miami and steadily lost energy before hitting the mainland near Naples, then ploughed through the largely uninhabited Everglades. On Monday morning, it was downgraded to a tropical storm.

风暴等级为四级的飓风“艾尔玛”周日在佛罗里达礁岛群(Keys)登陆，但是飓风的风眼避开了迈阿密，并在那不勒斯附近袭击本土前逐渐降低威力，随后扑向基本上无人居住的大沼泽地(Everglades)。周一早晨，“艾尔玛”减弱为热带风暴。

Irma had roared through the Caribbean as a massive category five hurricane, raising fears it could become the most damaging storm in US history. But its eleventh-hour weakening over Cuba spared big metropolitan areas from carnage, triggering a jump in insurance stocks in particular, which climbed 1.8 per cent higher by midday in New York.

“艾尔玛”曾为肆虐加勒比地区的一个五级大飓风，令人担心它可能成为美国历史上最具破坏性的风暴。但在经过古巴时，它在最后时刻减弱，使都市地区免遭浩劫，引发保险类股价上涨，截至纽约午盘，保险类股票股价攀升1.8%。

Although nearly 6m Floridians had lost power and authorities were still calculating the damage, so far the death toll appeared limited and there was not the widespread disruption to energy or transport infrastructure seen in Houston after tropical storm Harvey struck last month.

虽然佛罗里达州近600万居民断电，且当局仍在计算损失，但到目前为止，死亡人数似乎有限，也没有造成像上月热带风暴“哈维”(Harvey)袭击休斯顿后导致的能源或交通基础设施的大范围中断。

Coupled with a broader rally and ebbing fears over North Korea, that lifted the S&P 500 index by 1.1 per cent and put it on track to a new record high closing level, after a bout of jitters weighed on the biggest US equity benchmark in August.

大盘反弹加上对朝恐惧减弱，令标普500指数(S&P 500 index)上涨1.1%，创下收盘水平新高。这个美国最大股市基准曾在8月受到一轮恐慌的拖累。

JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said Wall Street’s recovery was driven by receding fears over North Korea, where many analysts had predicted another missile test timed to Saturday’s annual celebration of the country’s founding.

TD Ameritrade的首席策略师JJ•基纳汉(JJ Kinahan)称，对朝鲜恐惧的消退带动了华尔街的复苏，许多分析师曾预测，朝鲜将在9月9日国庆日进行又一次导弹试射。