????但隨著未來幾周，對這次天災的規模有全面的了解之后，其對日本不穩定的經濟和捉襟見肘的財政狀況的影響（包括對市場的影響）將開始增大。

????首先，來看看實際情況。日本有史以來最大的里氏8.9級地震已導致數百人喪生。一家煉油廠起火，核反應堆附近的居民被迫疏散。

????據CMA Market Data公司稱，地震發生后，日本股市出現下跌，針對日本債務違約的投保成本上升6%。由于投資者減持風險資產，債券價格上漲。

????與近幾周引發市場騷亂的高油價一樣，上周五的地震已經再次提醒我們，老齡化、增長緩慢、債務纏身的經濟體在災難面前是多么脆弱，即便全球經濟正處于擴張時期。

????來自凱投宏觀（Capital Economics）的朱利安?杰索普這樣寫道：“日本的經濟復蘇已經失去動力，而重建成本對政府龐大的債務負擔而言將更是雪上加霜。”他寫道，最新一屆日本政府早就該制定計劃讓政府支出更為可持續，但是這次大地震可能會令政府感到更加困難。

????經濟學家對地震消息的回應主要集中在兩個問題上：損害程度將有多嚴重，以及重建將給這個已經捉襟見肘的國家帶來多大的負擔。

????正如災難發生之后的一貫情況，媒體對災難的報道總是不一致的，一些評論家認為受災地區占日本經濟產值的1/6之多，而其他評論家認為這一數字或許應該是1/3。 考慮到這次災難的規模和性質，可想而知復蘇將會是多么艱難。

????IHS Global Insight的經濟學家在上周五一份報告中這樣寫道：“盡管日本產業的主要中心似乎未受影響，但基礎設施的破壞程度將非常嚴重。自然災害還可能破壞這個國家新生的經濟復蘇，同時由于應急響應費用將使日本政府開支猛增，日本公共債務不斷膨脹的問題會更加嚴重。”

????地震給這個業已搖搖欲墜的經濟體還帶來另一個打擊。 日本在經濟衰退中起起伏伏已長達二十年之久，按某種衡量標準來看，該國的債務負擔是其年經濟產值的兩倍以上，這一比率僅次于津巴布韋。

????這正是日本被普遍視為經濟災難隨時會發生的國家的原因，盡管由于高收入、高生活標準以及貿易順差，日本在國內就能完全滿足其融資需求。

????與此同時，購買長期疲軟的日本股票已成為2011年最佳投資主題之一，依據的假設是全球經濟復蘇不均衡以及通脹不斷上升將推高股票價值。這一觀點將在今后數周接受嚴峻的考驗。

????不管怎樣， 沒人知道財政拐點會出現在今年、明年，還是今后幾年（這種可能性更大）。關于建筑物并未大面積倒塌的早期報告或許能帶來一絲希望：地震并不意味著財政危機很快就會出現。

????日本大和住銀投信投資顧問公司（Daiwa SBI）的首席市場策略師Soichiro Monji表示：“盡管受到的地面沖擊比我之前所經歷的任何一次都要大，但幸運地是，我們沒有看到建筑物、道路或橋梁倒塌。”

????But as the scale of the tragedy comes into fuller view in coming weeks, the impact on Japan's unsteady economy and stretched fiscal position – and the implications for markets -- will start to weigh heavier.

????First, the facts. The quake, at 8.9 on the Richter scale Japan's biggest ever, has killed hundreds of people. An oil refinery caught fire and residents near a nuclear reactor were forced to evacuate.

????Japanese stock markets dropped and the cost of insuring against a default on Japanese debt rose 6%, according to CMA Market Data. Bond prices rose as investors pulled back from risky assets.

????Like the oil spike that roiled markets in recent weeks, Friday's quake offers yet another reminder of how vulnerable aging, slow-growing, debt-burdened economies are to a shock even in what is supposed to be a period of global economic expansion.

????"Japan's economic recovery has lost momentum and a large part of the reconstruction costs will add to the government's significant debt burden," writes Julian Jessop at Capital Economics. He writes that the disaster could make it even more painful for the latest Japanese government to take long overdue action to produce a plan that would put spending on a more sustainable track.

????Economists responding to the news of the quake focused mostly on two issues: how bad the damage stands to be, and how big a burden rebuilding stands to impose on an already stretched nation.

????As is always the case in the aftermath of a disaster, reports were mixed, with some commentators saying the affected region is responsible for as much as a sixth of Japanese economic output and others putting the figure at perhaps a third of that. The scale and nature of the destruction will naturally have a lot to say about how daunting recovery is.

????"Although the main concentration of industrial Japan appears unaffected, the extent of the infrastructural damage will be severe," IHS Global Insight economists wrote in a note Friday. "The natural disaster could also upset the country's nascent economic recovery while exacerbating the country's ballooning public debt issues, as spending by the Tokyo government will surge to meet emergency response costs."

????The quake strikes another blow at an economy that was already reeling. Japan has been in and out of recession for two decades, and its debt load is more than twice the size of its annual economic output, by one measure -- a ratio exceeded only by, um, Zimbabwe.

????That's why despite its high income and standard of living and a trade surplus that allows it to fund its borrowing needs almost exclusively at home, Japan is widely viewed as an economic disaster waiting to happen.

????At the same time, buying long depressed Japanese stocks has emerged as one of the top investment themes of 2011, on the assumption that an uneven global recovery and rising inflation will push up equity values. That idea will be sorely tested in coming weeks.

????In any case, no one has any idea whether the fiscal breaking point might come this year, next year or (more likely) years down the road. Early reports that building collapses weren't widespread perhaps offer some hope that the quake won't mean a near-term date with fiscal crisis.

????"Although the ground shocks were bigger than any that I have experienced before, we have fortunately not seen any collapse of buildings, roads or bridges," said Soichiro Monji, Daiwa SBI's chief market strategist.