VOA标准英语10月-More Volatility on Wall Street as Stocks Close Sh

Financial markets continue to exhibit extreme volatility¹ as investors² assess the impact of government intervention³ in both the U.S. and European banking⁴ sectors⁵. VOA's Barry Wood has more.
　

Wall Street trader, 16 Oct 2008

This time stocks ended higher with the Dow Jones Industrial recovering from a sharp decline to rocket up to a five-percent gain on late Thursday. The closely-watched index gained 401 points to 8,079. There was a huge advance on Monday followed by a nearly as strong decline on Wednesday. European and Asian markets were lower.

Commodity prices closed sharply lower as investors assume demand will weaken along with the slowing world economy. Oil fell another $4 to under $70 a barrel. It was a 14-month low for crude, which has now fallen 52 percent from its July 11 high of $147 a barrel. Gold was also lower with the price declining four percent to a one-month low of $804 an ounce. Gold analyst⁶ Thomas Winmill of the Midas Fund in New York expects gold to ultimately advance while the dollar declines.

"The thing that is very interesting to us is that as the dollar sort of shuffled⁷ around today, the price of gold came way down," said Thomas Winmill. "But longer term, though, the dollar is going to get weaker. So much money has been created. Fiscal⁸ and monetary⁹ policies are so weak, we think gold is going to trade up as the dollar goes down."

Winmill spoke¹⁰ on Bloomberg Television. The dollar held steady, trading at $1.34.5 against the euro and at 101 Japanese yen¹¹.

Industrial output in the United States fell sharply in September, posting its biggest monthly decline in over 30 years. Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley invesment bank says the housing recession is spreading to the broader economy.

"A housing recession, which was generally on the mild side the first eight months of this year, has shifted to a full blown consumer recession, which has a much bigger impact on a broad swath of the U.S. economy," said Stephen Roach.

The U.S. economy is still technically¹² not in recession as first reports indicate economic activity was positive in the July to September quarter. Since the financial crisis deepened in early September, business activity has contracted sharply.

　

1 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

2 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

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

5 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

9 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

12 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。