VOA慢速英语20060616a

ECONOMICS REPORT - Hedge Funds Let Wealthy Investors¹ Take Risks for ProfitsBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: 2006骞?鏈?6鏃?

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Many people know that hedge funds are investments for the wealthy. But what exactly are they?

A hedge fund is an investment group often organized as a limited partnership². Hedge funds are governed by agreements between investors and one or more advisers³.

Hedge funds have existed for more than fifty years. There are different kinds, and thousands of different funds. Still, the industry in the United States is small compared to the value of mutual⁴ funds.

Hedge funds, though, do not have to report their activities to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S.E.C. is the government agency that supervises financial markets. But as of this year, advisers must register so the agency knows who they are.

Funds must also have a rules officer and written rules to help protect investors. Complex investment positions mean investors may not know the value of their investments at any given time.

Hedge fund investors must be worth at least one million dollars. But a person with at least twenty-five thousand dollars to invest can put the money into funds that invest in hedge funds. Not all of these register with the S.E.C., however.

To hedge is to balance investment risk. Like mutual funds, hedge funds may buy stocks and bonds. But hedge funds often borrow very large amounts of money to trade in risky⁵ investments in hopes of high returns. That does not always happen.

Hedge funds can be very profitable to manage. Management costs can take from one to five percent of the total value of the fund. And advisers can receive twenty or even forty percent of the profits.

In nineteen ninety-eight, a major hedge fund got into financial trouble and almost failed. Long-Term Capital Management controlled investments worth more than one hundred thousand million dollars.

The Federal Reserve helped get the parties involved to agree on a plan to save the company. World markets were already weak, so the central bank intervened to avoid a crisis.

Recently, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of risks to the financial system from the fast growth of the hedge fund industry. And the European Central Bank called hedge funds a major risk to world markets.

Yet Alan Greenspan had praise for hedge funds. The former central bank chairman said they improve markets by finding what he called mispriced securities.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

4 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

5 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。