Business Channel 2007-08-04&08-06, 市场进入混乱

Script:
Fear once again took hold, starting in Asia, following on into Europe. Even after Tuesday's strong showing, Europe opened sharply lower, when the credit crunch¹ spread beyond a few US specialty² mortgage funds. With an Australian Bank warning some of its investors³ might lose money, people seem no longer willing to risk the gains they made earlier in the year.

I think at the moment, we are trading on fear. We are looking into the abyss, and you know, the worst fear is that this spreads, and instead of being a US housing market problem, it becomes a credit cycle problem and the trigger for a weaker global growth.

The panic began in the US mortgage markets last month, when complex trades in mortgages tied to people with poor credits started to falter⁴. This has caused the collapse⁵ of some hedge funds. The bottom line is if this leads to the cost of credit or loans going up for companies, firms have to pay more to do business, especially in the mergers⁶ and acquisition field. And M&A has been driving much of the recent froth and the long bull markets.

That the US stock market in particular has been going up for more than four and a half years now, in Europe we've been rising slightly less than four and a half years, but it gained fairly steady gains. As we know, no market, um, goes up forever.

Wednesday's early falls in Europe came on the first day of the trading month, a month that is usually the quietest of the year. But thin volumes can exaggerate big swings in the market, so it may be a few holidays are cancelled or curtailed⁷ this August.

I think it's hard to say the blackberry of the bear minimum is going to be in much use around the holiday resorts of Europe and United States. August could set the tone for the rest of the year, and it started out on shaky ground.

European markets did begin to pare their losses around lunchtime. But in these days of sharp swings, heavy volumes, and uncertainty⁸ of whether this is just a blip or the beginning of a bear market. Volatility⁹ is expected to continue throughout August. Jim Boulden , CNN, London.


Notes:

M&A: Merger and Aquisition
Hedge fund: A hedge fund is a private investment fund charging a performance fee and typically open to only a limited number of investors

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

3 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

4 falter   

vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚

参考例句：

• His voice began to falter.他的声音开始发颤。
• As he neared the house his steps faltered.当他走近房子时，脚步迟疑了起来。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 mergers   

n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mergers fall into three categories: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. 合并分为以下三种：横向合并，纵向合并和混合合并。 来自辞典例句
• Many recent mergers are concentrated within specific industries, particularly in retailing, airlines and communications. 现代许多合并企业集中进行某些特定业务，在零售业、民航和通讯业中更是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

9 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。