A. Investors are worried about slower economic growth in China, a gloomier outlookfor U.S. corporate profits and an end to easy-money policies in the United States andEurope. They're also worry about country-specific troubles around the world--fromeconomic mismanagement in Argentina to political instability in Turkey. Those fearsconverged this week to start a two-day rout in global markets that was capped(使结束 ) by a 318-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average Friday.
B. The turbulence coincides with a global economic shift: China and other emergingmarket economies appear to be running into trouble just as the developed economiesof the United States and Europe finally show signs of renewed strength nearly fiveyears after the end of the Great Recession.
C. The trouble began Thursday after a January survey showed a drop in Chinesemanufacturing activity. Days earlier, China reported that its economic growth lastyear matched 2012 for the slowest pace since 1999. "It is interesting how even amild trembling in China's growth causes such anxiety around the world," said EswarPrasad, professor of trade policy at Comell University.
D. Slower growth in China is bad news for countries that supply oil, iron ore and otherraw materials to the world's second-biggest economy. Some of those countries, suchas Indonesia and South Africa, were already struggling with an outflow of capitalas rising U.S. interest rates drew investors to the United States. Here's a look at theforces buffeting global financial markets:
The End of Easy Money
E. Since the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the Federal Reserve ( 美联储 ) has floodedmarkets with cash to push interest rates lower and encourage U.S. businesses andconsumers to borrow and spend. But in December 2013, as signs of growing economicstrength emerged in the U.S., the Fed cut back--reducing its monthly bond purchasesto $75 billion from $85 billion. It also said that it expected to reduce the bond-buyingfurther "in measured steps" at upcoming meetings. The Fed meets again Tuesday andWednesday. Many economists expect the central bank to cut the purchases again--perhaps to $65 billion a month.
F. The scaling back of the Fed's easy-money policies has hit some emerging marketshard. When the Fed was pushing U.S. rates lower, emerging markets had seen aninflow of capital from investors seeking higher returns than they could get in theUnited States. Now investment is flowing back to America, hammering currenciesin emerging markets. "Talk that the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce anotherreduction in its monthly bond purchases next week (is also) contributing to a lossof confidence in some emerging markets," said Jane Foley, a currency strategist atRabobank.
Political Turmoil
G. In some countries, concerns over the local political or financial situation haveworsened the market volatility ( 反复无常 ) dramatically. That was most obviousin Argentina, where the peso this week suffered its sharpest fall since the country's2002 economic collapse. The govemment, running short of reserves it could use tobuy the currency and keep it from falling, has let the peso drop instead. The country'seconomic fundamentals are grim: Inflation is believed to be running at about 25percent to 30 percent. The peso fell 16 percent in two days, easily the worst performeramong emerging markets.
H. Turkey's national the lira, hit multiple record lows in recent weeks currency 
asinvestors worried about the negative effects of a corruption scandal that threatens todestabilize the government. Having a stable government for the past 10 years has beenone of the key ingredients in the country's economic revival. The lira hit an all-timelow of 2.33 against the dollar on Friday--from around 2 per dollar in December--despite a $3 billion-intervention by the central bank in foreign exchange markets.
I.Beyond political problems, the countries that have seen their currencies fall mostare those that rely heavily on exports of raw materials used in manufacturing. TheRussian ruble was trading at 34.58 per dollar, from below 34 on Thursday. The SouthAfrican rand weakened to l 1.13 per dollar, from 10.98 the day before.
China Global GrowthJ.Since the recession, the global economy has relied heavily on China and otheremerging markets as the developed economies of the United States, Europe andJapan struggled. But China's economy is decelerating. It grew 7.7 percent in October-December 2013 from a year earlier, down from the previous quarter's 7.8 percentgrowth. Factory output, exports and investment all weakened. On Thursday, thepreliminary version of HSBC's purchasing managers'index of Chinese manufacturing ( 汇丰中国制造业采购经理人指数预览值 ) fell to 49.6, the lowest reading sinceJuly's 47.7. Anything below 50 signals a contraction.
K. China's growth is still far stronger than the United States, Japan or Europe, butis down from the double-digit rates of the previous decade. Many economists aretroubled less by the slower growth numbers than by China's over-reliance on tradeand investment instead of spending by its consumers. "China, and the world at large,would benefit from its shift to a lower but more sustainable pattern of growth that isnot so heavily dependent on investment-led growth fueled by bank credit," Cornell'sPrasad said.
L. China's growth is slowing just as the world's rich economies begin to gain momentum. The 17 countries that use the euro currency appear to be recovering from a debt crisis that tipped them into a double-dip recession ( 二次衰退 ) in late 2011. In the United States, households have reduced crippling debt levels and are in better shape to start spending again. The International Monetary Fund expects theU.S. economy to grow 2.8 percent this year, up from 1.9 percent in 2013, and for the eurozone economy to grow 1 percent in 2014 after contracting 0.4 percent in 2013 and 0.7 percent in 2012.
 Corporate Profits
M. In the U.S., the outlook for corporate profits has already been weakening, and theturmoil in emerging-market currencies could make matters worse. About two-thirdsof the 123 S&P 500 companies that have reported fourth-quarter earnings so far havebeaten analysts' estimates, according to S&P Capital 1Q, in line with the historical average. But the forecasts for income growth have been falling and could decline further. As recently as this summer, analysts predicted earnings growth of more than 11 percent for the fourth quarter, but now they expect just half that--5.9 percent.
N. Some companies are becoming more pessimistic, too. For the January-March quarter, seven out of every 10 that have talked about their prospects have cut projections,more than average, according to FactSet. The stocks have tanked as a result. SinceUnited Continental lowered revenue estimates on Thursday, for instance, its stockhas fallen 6 percent. U.S.-based multinational companies posted some of the biggestdeclines on Friday as investors worried about overseas sales.
O. Companies that rely on overseas sales will bring home fewer dollars if the dollarcontinues to appreciate against foreign currencies, especially in emerging marketsthat have been hammered this week. In Argentina, for example, the same amount
of pesos buys fewer dollars today than it did last week. On Tuesday, Europe-basedconsumer goods giant Unilever said fourth-quarter sales slowed because of weaknessin emerging markets. The decline was mostly because of unfavorable currency moves.
"So when emerging markets sniffle," said Lawrence Creatura, a portfolio managerwith Federated Investors, "companies can catch a cold."