Japanese stocks fell to fresh 20-year lows on Monday and the dollar struggled to gain despite strong U.S. consumer data

　　尽管美国消费者指数强劲，日本股市周一还是跌至20年来新低，美元汇率也奋力上升。

　　The apparent end of the Iraq war sent South Korean shares jumping and pulled down oil prices, but most other markets focused on the prospects for the struggling U.S. economy.

　　伊拉克战争的明显结束使韩国股市上扬，并拉低油价，但大多数国家的股市仍然把注意力集中在艰难的美国经济上。

　　Consumer sentiment and retail sales data on Friday suggested the economy was in better shape than analysts had anticipated. However, few investors wanted to bet on a recovery before seeing quarterly U.S. results out this week.

　　(上)周五消费者信心和零售指数表明情况比分析师们所预计的要好。但是在本周美国季度数据公布之前，投资者仍不确定经济已经复苏。

　　"The main investors will mostly sit on the sidelines before January-March results from big-name U.S. firms like Intel, Microsoft and others are out later this week," said Tsuyoshi Segawa, an equity strategist at Shinko Securities.

　　Shinko证券基金分析师Tsuyoshi Segawa表示："在一月至三月数据，比如像美国巨头公司如英特尔，微软等其他公司数据公布之前，大部分投资者都只是静观风向。"

　　That left Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average down a quarter of a percent by the midday break at 7,795.49, a new 20-year low.

　　这使日经225平均指数在午间收盘时下降1/4个百分点，报7,795.49，创20年新低。