fragility, downturn,weaken, upturn, spiral

After Cashing In on Job Cuts, Wall St. Looks to Worker Upturn

By NATHANIEL POPPER

With jobs slowly coming back, hopes are that ordinary Americans will finally feel the recovery that the nation's corporations have seen for some time.

 Moody's dimmed its outlook on Germany, further exposing the euro zone's fragility. The warning followed a dramatic flight by investors from Spanish bonds.

Countries' Debt Woes Pose Risk to Upturn

Worries over finances of some of the world's governments rippled through financial markets Tuesday, as a series of negative credit-rating actions served as a reminder of the fragility of the global recovery.

TOP STORY
Weakening Pound Has Room
To Continue Downward Spiral

What Europe Could Have Learned From the U.S. Bank Bailout Peter Eavis reports that the U.S. government designed its rescue programs to support lending and prevent death spirals in the banks' stocks with two little known features that its European counterparts didn't implement.

Pound May Continue to Weaken

The British pound could be in for a prolonged slide amid investor worries about the U.K.'s ability to manage a sharp economic downturn.

The notion that Europe and Asia would shield the global economy from the effects of a U.S. downturn is being tested.

weak (NOT STRONG) Show phonetics
adjective
1 not strong; not strong enough to work, last, succeed, persuade or be effective:
It's not surprising you feel weak if you haven't eaten properly for days.
The electromagnetic field strength becomes weaker as you move further away from high voltage cables.
He was a weak king surrounded by corrupt advisers.
Any evidence that exists to support the hypothesis is fairly weak.
He gave the weakest of excuses when asked why he was late.

2 describes a drink that contains a lot of water compared to its other contents, so that it does not have a strong flavour:
I can't stand weak coffee/tea.

weaken Show phonetics
verb [I or T]
to (cause to) become less strong, powerful or determined:
You could see the poor dog weakening daily as the disease spread through its body.
Another defeat in parliament would seriously weaken the president's ability to govern.
We know that prolonged exposure to vibration can weaken aircraft components.
She's weakening - ask her some more questions and see if she confesses.

weakly Show phonetics
adverb
"The pain seems to have eased a little with these new tablets, " he said weakly.

weakness Show phonetics
noun
1 [U] when someone or something is not strong or powerful:
Any change of policy will be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

2 [C] a particular part or quality of someone or something that is not good or effective:
There are definite weaknesses in their security arrangements.
His main weakness as a manager is his inability to delegate.

3 weakness for a strong liking, usually for something which might have unpleasant or unwanted effects:
My diet would be fine if only I didn't have this weakness for sweet things.




downturn Show phonetics
noun [C usually singular] 下降, 沈滞.
a reduction in the amount or success of something, such as a country's economic activity:
the continuing economic downturn
There is evidence of a downturn in the housing market.


Compare upturn.(ŭp'tûrn', ŭp-tûrn')

v., -turned, -turn·ing, -turns. v.tr.

1. To turn up or over: upturn the soil.
2. To upset; overturn.
3. To direct upward: upturned their gaze.

v.intr.
To turn over or up.

n. (ŭp'tûrn')
An upward movement, curve, or trend, as in business activity.

fragility[fra・gil・i・ty]

• 発音記号[frədʒíləti]

[名]

1 [U]壊れやすさ, もろさ；虚弱；はかなさ.

2 壊れやすい物, もろい物.