豆知识 2010-06-06&06-12 股票市场

 The numbers we see every business day can tell us important information about our economy, but where do they come from and what do they mean?

 

This is Stock¹ Markets in Plain English.

 

Let's get started by talking about companies. There are two basic types. The first is called a private company. Ownership² in these companies is private, which means it's not available to everyone. They are usually small to medium-sized and there are a lot of them, from the bakery down the street to a local trucking company. Private companies are typically owned by an individual or a small group of people. Because ownership is limited, we won't worry about them.

 

Our focus is on companies that offer ownership to everyone. These are called "public" companies. Here's how they work.

 

 

Let's say Zipper³ Corp is a successful company that has big plans. It wants to expand and build a button factory, but it doesn't have enough money. Because it's a public company, Zipper Corp can divide part of the ownership of the company into thousands of pieces and sell them to people like Maya. These are company stock, also called shares. This way, Maya gets to own a small part of the company and Zipper Corp can raise money for their new factory. Being a public company allows Zipper Corp to raise money from lots of new owners like Maya.

 

 

Now, Maya's share of the company has a value that typically changes each business day. When Zipper Corp is doing well, the future of the company can look promising⁴. This means that the value of the company and the value of her shares may go up.

 

People like Maya buy shares because they can make money by selling them at the right time. The big idea is to buy shares at a low price and sell them at a higher price. Of course, this is risky⁵, because a company's future is hard to predict.

 

 

For example, people who believe the button factory is a good move, may want to buy Zipper Corp shares because they think the value will increase. People who believe the button factory is a bad idea, may want to sell Zipper Corp shares because they think the value will decrease. This means the company stock has both buyers and sellers⁶.

 

 

Each business day, shares change hands, depending on how people feel about the company's future value. Some days there's more buying which can cause the stock price to rise. Some days there's more selling which can cause the stock price to fall. This is true for each public company in the market. As people buy and sell shares, stock prices can change each day. It's these exchanges, across thousands of companies and millions of people that make up a stock market.

 

 

When you see news that a stock market rose, it generally means that across public companies, the value of shares went up more than they went down. This is usually considered good news. People feel good about the future, and they're buying shares.

 

 

Now, because there are thousands of companies, there has to be an easy way to see the big picture across the market. We do this with an index⁷, which is an average of a specific group of stock prices. Indices⁸ help us understand if the markets went up or down on a given day by looking at the performance of a group of companies. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an average of the stock prices of 30 large US companies. The S&P 500 is an average of 500 companies.

 

 

We hear a lot about stock markets in the U.S., but there are stock markets all over the world. In each market, companies share ownership with the public and that ownership is exchanged over and over. And we get to see how it all comes together across public companies thanks to indices we see in the news each business day.

1 stock   

n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货

参考例句：

• The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。

2 ownership   

n.所有(权)，所有制

参考例句：

• The house is under new ownership.那栋房子已易新主。
• He claimed ownership of the house.他声称那幢房子归他所有。

3 zipper   

n.拉链；v.拉上拉链

参考例句：

• The zipper is red.这条拉链是红色的。
• The zipper is a wonderful invention.拉链是个了不起的发明。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

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。

6 sellers   

n.卖者( seller的名词复数 )；卖方；销售者；销售商

参考例句：

• buyers and sellers transacting business 进行交易的买方和卖方
• All manner of hawkers and street sellers were plying their trade. 形形色色的沿街小贩都在做着自己的买卖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 index   

n.食指；索引；标志；指数；v.把...编索引

参考例句：

• Performonce is an index of ability.成绩是能力的标志。
• Manner of walking gives an index to one's charactor.走路的姿态可反应出人的性格。

8 indices   

(index的复数)

参考例句：

• Core indices have continued to move up in some countries even as headline inflation numbers have declined. 在一些国家，虽然总体通胀指数有所下降，但核心通胀指数却在持续攀升。 来自辞典例句
• These composite indices are derived by standardizing each of its component series. 这些综合指数是使通过把它们的组成部分中的各个数列标准化而获得的。 来自辞典例句