Business Channel 2006-09-11&14

Today's warning comes from Lennar. The company has become the 5th major US homebuilder in a little more than a month to slash¹ its outlook. It says the nation's real estate market is quote "continuing to deteriorate². " The problems, Lennar says it looks like new home orders slipped around 5% while at the same time, the company has been forced to boost sales incentives³ and that’s eating away at its bottom line. Virginia?

Well, Jen, Lennar just one piece of the puzzle, of course as we know, the signs of a housing slowdown have been coming for a while though, right?

Yeah, that is for sure, anywhere you look at Z&Z these days, and if you put all of those pieces together, it is definitely not a pretty picture.

Earlier in the week, homebuilders Hovnanian and KB Home cut their guidance as well, citing cancelled orders and generally unfavorable conditions in the housing market, and you know what, it's not just sales of new homes that are suffering now. Yesterday, an industry group slashed⁴ its forecast for existing home sales for this year. The main reason? Buyers are staying on the sidelines, hoping better deals will come along and they are just afraid to jump into a declining market at this point. And by the way, shares of the major homebuiler, builders had a volatile⁵ week, and today, finished mostly lower.

Mm, but for the overall market, a different story, right?

Yeah, it was a little bit of a different story, you know, stocks put in a pretty strong performance on this Friday, although the major averages are still below where they started this holiday-shortened week. There was some reassuring⁶ comments on inflation from a Federal Reserve official and that helped lift investors⁷' spirits. Also oil prices dropped yet again, finishing the week more than 4% lower at $66. 25 a barrel. Just take a look at those final numbers right now, the Dow Industrials rose nearly 61 points to 11,392. And the NASDAQ added half a percent, so not too shabby, at least a little bit of green here on the Street today.

Not bad, not bad at all, we like to see, you know, a little improvement. Now, there has been buzz on Wall Street on this for months, Amazon. com getting into the online TV and movie biz, can you talk about that?

Yes, buzz no longer. This is a new service that allows users to download TV shows and full-length movies onto their PCs. The service is dubbed⁸ AmazonUnbox that features movies from most of the biggest Hollywood studios as well as TV shows from dozens of TV networks both broadcast and cable. TV shows will cost just under $2 and movies will range from about $8 to $15. They can also be rented for 3.99. Interestingly, Walt Disney Pictures is not participating in this new deal. Coincidence? Probably not. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is Disney's biggest shareholder⁹ and sits on the board, and there is a great deal of speculation¹⁰ that Apple will launch its own movie download service next week, partnering with who else? Disney. Apple has announced a major press event for next Tuesday. They don't like to give a lot of information ahead of those, but that's a speculation anyway. Amazon shares, by the way today, added 2.5%. That is latest from New York.

1 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

2 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

3 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

6 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

7 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

8 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

10 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。