“侃爷”音乐会带动海口旅游收入3.73亿元；美联储重磅发布降息50个基点

American rapper Kanye West rocked Wuyuanhe Stadium in Haikou, capital of south China's island province of Hainan, with a live music show on Sunday, not only firing up his fans, but also sparking a surge in the local holiday tourism economy.

美国说唱歌手坎耶·维斯特周日在位于中国南部岛屿省份海南省省会海口的五源河体育场举行了一场现场音乐会，不仅点燃了粉丝的热情，还带动了当地假日旅游经济的激增。

The show on the first night of the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday marked Kanye West's return to China since his 2008 concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, and it was his only stop in China on a world tour.

这场音乐会是为期三天中秋节假期的第一天晚上举行的，标志着坎耶·维斯特自2008年在北京和上海举办演唱会以来再次回到中国，也是他全球巡演中在中国的唯一一站。

Dubbed a "world tour listening party," the live event attracted nearly 40,000 fans, with 95 percent coming from outside the island, most of whom were from Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Beijing. Some fans even came from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and abroad.

这场被誉为“全球巡演聆听派对”的现场活动吸引了近4万名粉丝，其中95%来自岛外，主要来自上海、广东、浙江和北京。部分粉丝甚至来自香港、澳门、台湾以及海外。

The city of Haikou had made full preparations for the event. Hotels, scenic spots, restaurants, shopping malls and retail stores offered over 100 discount services for fans to maximize the economic benefits of the show.

海口市为此次活动做了充分准备。酒店、景点、餐厅、购物中心和零售店为粉丝提供了100多项优惠服务，以最大限度地发挥音乐会带来的经济效益。

Partly thanks to the show, the city's average hotel occupancy rate rose to over 83 percent on the first day of the holiday, up 41.82 percent from last year, according to data from the municipal bureau of tourism.

据海口市旅游局数据显示，部分得益于这场音乐会，假期首日，该市酒店平均入住率上升至83%以上，比去年同期增长了41.82%。

It is estimated that the show could generate about 373 million yuan (about 52.6 million U.S. dollars) in total tourism revenue for the city. 

据估计，这场音乐会可为该市带来约3.73亿元人民币（约合5260万美元）的旅游总收入。

Li Qi, a fan from Chengdu in southwest China, arrived in Haikou a day before the concert. Besides attending the show, she also planned to spend her Mid-Autumn Festival holiday there, visiting the iconic tourist attractions, enjoying local delicacies, and doing some shopping at the duty-free stores.

来自中国西南城市成都的粉丝李琪在音乐会前一天抵达海口。除了观看演出外，她还计划在那里度过中秋节假期，参观标志性的旅游景点，品尝当地美食，并在免税店购物。

"I'm going to buy some duty-free goods for my family," said the excited visitor.

“我要为家人买一些免税商品，”这位兴奋的游客说。

"The show had a significant influence, with the vast majority of attendees coming from outside the island, bringing a large influx of tourists to Haikou," said Lyu Xiaolei, deputy mayor of Haikou.

海口市副市长吕小蕾表示：“音乐会产生了重大影响，绝大多数观众来自岛外，为海口带来了大量游客。”

"These visitors are engaged in duty-free shopping and various cultural and tourism activities, which will greatly boost Haikou's holiday consumption," she said, adding that the city will attract more international and domestic concerts in the future to build itself into an international city of performing arts.

“这些游客参与免税购物和各种文化旅游活动，将极大地促进海口的假日消费，”她说，并补充说该市未来将吸引更多国际和国内音乐会，以将自己打造成国际演艺城市。

Kanye West's performance wasn't the only high-profile event during the holiday. Across China, concerts and musical festivals featuring domestic and international stars drew large crowds. In Beijing, Mariah Carey's 2024 concert on Sunday and Monday attracted fans from across the country.

假期期间，坎耶·维斯特的表演并非唯一的高调活动。在中国各地，由国内外明星参与的演唱会和音乐节吸引了大量观众。在北京，玛丽亚·凯莉周日和周一的2024年演唱会吸引了来自全国各地的粉丝。

"I've been to Beijing many times, but this time I came just for Mariah Carey," said Geng Bo, a fan from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, located about 1,700 kilometers away. "Concerts like this are rare. Fans from all over the country and even around the world flew in to see her."

“我去过北京很多次，但这次我是专程为了玛丽亚·凯莉来的，”来自中国西南部重庆市、距离约1700公里的粉丝耿波说。“这样的演唱会很少见。来自全国各地甚至世界各地的粉丝都飞来见她。”

Geng said he had already made plans with other fans from across the country to gather at various restaurants and cafés in Beijing. According to Wang Jiansheng, head of the Hainan Tourism Development Research Association, due to China's development and globalization, an increasing number of Western musicians have been coming to perform in the country.

耿波表示，他已经与其他来自全国各地的粉丝计划在北京的各家餐厅和咖啡馆聚会。海南省旅游发展研究会会长王健生表示，随着中国的发展和全球化进程，越来越多的西方音乐家来到中国演出。

"Attending concerts has become a new form of social interaction," said Wang. "Fans, mostly young people, are also the main consumers in the tourism market."

“参加音乐会已成为一种新的社交方式，”王健生说。“粉丝，主要是年轻人，也是旅游市场的主要消费者。”

The growing integration of performing arts events with tourism, dining and retail has stimulated cultural tourism consumption and proved that the fusion of culture and tourism has enormous vitality, Wang added.

演艺活动与旅游、餐饮和零售的日益融合，刺激了文化旅游消费，并证明了文化与旅游的融合具有巨大的活力，王健生补充道。

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it is cutting its benchmark interest rate by 0.50 percentage points, marking the first reduction in four years and moving to ease borrowing costs as inflation-weary consumers are grappling with high rates on everything from mortgages to credit cards.

美联储周三表示，将基准利率下调0.50个百分点，这是四年来的首次降息，旨在缓解通货膨胀压力下消费者从抵押贷款到信用卡等一切贷款的高利率负担。

The Fed said the cut lowers the federal funds rate into a range of 4.75% to 5%, down from its prior range of 5.25% to 5.5%, which had been its highest level in 23 years. The half-point move signals that the Fed is acting aggressively to keep the U.S. economy from stalling, given that historically most rate cuts are 0.25 percentage points. Prior to the decision, some economists had urged the Fed to make a bolder reduction, given signs of weakness in the labor market and a cooling economy.

美联储表示，降息后联邦基金利率区间下调至4.75%至5%，而此前区间为5.25%至5.5%，这是23年来的最高水平。此次降息半个百分点表明，美联储正采取积极行动防止美国经济陷入停滞，因为从历史上看，大多数降息幅度为0.25个百分点。在做出这一决定之前，鉴于劳动力市场的疲软迹象和经济降温，一些经济学家曾敦促美联储采取更大胆的降息措施。

"This is a bit of a surprise," Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings, said in an email. The half percentage point cut "suggests an abrupt switch of focus back to the maximum employment mandate and a very sharp improvement in confidence in inflation progress in the last month and a half."

惠誉评级首席经济学家布莱恩·库尔顿在电子邮件中表示：“这有点令人惊讶。”降息半个百分点“表明政策重点突然转向最大就业目标，以及过去一个半月对通胀进展的信心有了非常明显的提升。”

"The latter is a little hard to understand given the incoming inflation data, and it suggests that the Fed may be more concerned than most about the state of the labor market, where the pace of job creation still looks pretty solid," he added.

他补充说：“鉴于即将到来的通胀数据，后者有点难以理解，这表明美联储可能比大多数人更担心劳动力市场的状况，尽管创造就业的速度看起来仍然相当稳健。”

Nearly there on inflation

接近达成通胀目标

At a press conference to discuss the rate cut, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the decision to ease more aggressively was based partly on the central bank's confidence that inflation will soon reach policymakers' goal of a 2% annual rate, as well as cooling employment. Powell added that the labor market remains solid, though not as hot as it was during the pandemic, when labor shortages drove up wages and some businesses found it difficult to find new workers.

在新闻发布会上讨论降息时，美联储主席鲍威尔表示，更加积极地降息的决定部分基于央行对通胀将很快达到决策者每年2%的目标的信心，以及就业市场的降温。鲍威尔补充说，尽管劳动力市场不如疫情期间那么火热，当时劳动力短缺推高了工资，一些企业难以找到新员工，但劳动力市场仍然稳健。

"We're certainly not saying mission accomplished or anything like that, but we are encouraged by the progress we have made" on bringing down inflation, Powell said in a response to a question from CBS News' Jo Ling Kent on whether the rate cut could be viewed as a declaration of victory over high price increases.

在回答哥伦比亚广播公司新闻频道乔·林·肯特关于降息是否可以被视为对高物价上涨宣告胜利的问题时，鲍威尔表示，“我们当然没有说任务已经完成或类似的话，但我们在降低通胀方面取得的进展让我们备受鼓舞。”

Later in the press conference, Powell noted that he doesn't see any red flags signaling an economic downturn. "I don't see anything in the economy right now that suggests that the likelihood of a downturn is elevated — you see growth at a solid rate, you see inflation coming down and a labor market that is still at very solid levels," he added.

在新闻发布会的后部分，鲍威尔指出，他没有看到任何表明经济衰退的迹象。“我现在没有看到经济中任何表明经济衰退可能性增加的东西——你看到经济增长率保持稳定，你看到通胀正在下降，而且劳动力市场仍然非常稳健，”他补充说。

Still, the Fed's economists are predicting that the unemployment rate could move up slightly by year end, rising from its current 4.2% to 4.4%, according to the central bank's Summary of Economic Projections.

尽管如此，根据美联储经济预测概要，美联储的经济学家预测，到年底失业率可能会略有上升，从目前的4.2%升至4.4%。

Protecting the job market

保护就业市场

It is the first drop in the federal funds rate — or what banks charge each other for short-term loans — since the U.S. central bank lowered rates to nearly zero in March 2020 amid an economic standstill caused by the pandemic. But as prices surged during the health crisis, the Fed repeatedly hiked rates in an effort to curb inflation. The economic whipsaw of the past four years has left many consumers and businesses struggling with both high prices and elevated borrowing costs, even as the Fed's rate hikes have helped cool inflation to 2.5% in August on an annual basis, close to the central bank's 2% target.

这是自2020年3月美国央行在疫情期间经济停滞期间将利率降至接近零以来，联邦基金利率（即银行之间相互收取的短期贷款利率）的首次下调。然而，随着健康危机期间价格飙升，美联储一再加息以遏制通胀。过去四年的经济动荡让许多消费者和企业既要应对高价格，又要承受高昂的借贷成本，尽管美联储的加息已将通胀在8月份的年率降至2.5%，接近央行2%的目标。

More recently, however, there have been some worrying signs about a slowdown in the labor market, prompting Fed Chair Powell last month to say "the time has come" to ease rates. In its Wednesday statement, the Fed cited its decision to make a larger cut "in light of the progress on inflation and the balance of risks."

然而，最近劳动力市场放缓的迹象令人担忧，促使美联储主席鲍威尔上个月表示“是时候”降息了。在周三的声明中，美联储表示，鉴于通胀方面的进展和风险平衡，“决定进行更大幅度的降息”。

"The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance," the Fed said in the statement. "The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate."

美联储在声明中表示：“委员会对通胀正持续向2%的目标迈进有了更大的信心，并认为实现其就业和通胀目标的风险大致平衡。”“经济前景存在不确定性，委员会正密切关注其双重使命两方面的风险。”

The bigger cut signals "the Fed's got the labor market's back," said Sonu Varghese, global macro strategist at Carson Group, in an email.

卡森集团全球宏观策略师索努·瓦尔盖塞在电子邮件中表示，更大的降息幅度表明“美联储在支持劳动力市场”。

Additional rate cuts in 2024

2024年进一步降息

Even more important than today's cut is what the Fed does in the months ahead as it pivots away from battling inflation to revving up the nation's economic engines in a bid to stave off a downturn. The Fed also released its economic projections for the coming years, which shows that its members are pegging the median 2024 federal funds rate at 4.4%, which would represent about a 1 percentage point reduction from its prior level, financial data firm FactSet noted.

比今天的降息更重要的是，美联储在未来几个月将如何行动，因为它将不再专注于对抗通胀，而是努力提振国家经济引擎，以避免经济衰退。美联储还发布了未来几年的经济预测，金融数据公司FactSet指出，美联储成员预计2024年联邦基金利率中位数为4.4%，比之前的水平下降了约1个百分点。

"We just have two more Fed meetings this year, and they've already gone down half a percentage point of that full percentage point. That means each of the next two meetings are a quarter of a percentage point," Veronica Clark, an economist at Citi, told CBS News. The Fed's forecast shows that its members are projecting that the median federal funds rate will decline to 3.4% at the end of 2025. Wednesday's cut should ease financial strains for some consumers, experts said.

花旗银行经济学家维罗妮卡·克拉克告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻频道：“我们今年只剩下两次美联储会议了，而他们已经降息了半个百分点。这意味着接下来的两次会议每次都将降息0.25个百分点。” 美联储的预测显示，其成员预计2025年底联邦基金利率中位数将降至3.4%。专家表示，周三的降息应会缓解部分消费者的财务压力。

"A September cut, along with the possibility of at least one more this year, should be welcome news to investors," said Joe Gaffoglio, CEO at Mutual Of America Capital Management, in an email ahead of the decision. The rate reduction, "coupled with moderating inflation, should help ease the financial strain on lower- and middle-income consumers."

美洲互惠资本管理公司首席执行官乔·加福里奥在决策前的一封电子邮件中表示：“9月的降息，以及今年至少再降息一次的可能性，对投资者来说应该是个好消息。”他补充说：“降息与通胀放缓相结合，应该有助于缓解低收入和中等收入消费者的财务压力。”

Economists are also forecasting that Wednesday's rate cut will mark the first in a series of reductions this year and into 2025, with many analysts expecting the Fed to also cut its benchmark rate at its November and December meetings, according to FactSet. (The Fed doesn't have a rate meeting scheduled in October.)

FactSet的数据显示，经济学家还预测，周三的降息将是今年和2025年一系列降息中的第一次，许多分析师预计美联储还将在11月和12月的会议上降息。（美联储10月没有安排利率会议。）

Next FOMC meetings

下次联邦公开市场委员会会议

Powell had previously come under fire by some economists and policy experts for moving too slowly, both in its hiking of rates to address inflation and in holding off on cutting rates as the economy wobbled. But the Fed chair defended the central bank's decision to wait until September to cut.

一些经济学家和政策专家曾批评鲍威尔在加息对抗通胀和在经济动荡时推迟降息方面行动过慢，但美联储主席为央行等到9月才降息的决定进行了辩护。

"I think our move is timely," Powell stated at the press conference. "And as I said, you can see our 50 basis point to move as as the commitment to make sure that we don't fall behind."

鲍威尔在新闻发布会上表示：“我认为我们的行动是及时的。而且，正如我所说，你可以将我们降息50个基点视为我们确保自己不落后的承诺。”

The next Fed meetings are scheduled for November 6-7, which will take place after the U.S. presidential election, and December 17-18.

美联储的下次会议定于11月6日至7日举行，届时美国总统选举已经结束，而12月的会议则定于17日至18日举行。