VOA慢速英语 Another Sharp Drop on China’s Stock Exchanges

Another Sharp Drop on China’s Stock Exchanges

Stock price indexes in China had their sharpest one-day drop in eight years on Monday. Stock indexes also decreased around the world but to a lesser¹ extent.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 8.5 percent. Another index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, in southern China, fell by 8.6 percent.

Experts say Monday’s price drop came from investors² trying to secure profits following recent Chinese government efforts to support prices. In early July, China’s central bank made billions of dollars available to brokerages. The money was for the purchase of shares in companies to prevent their prices from falling too far. At that time, more than 1,400 companies requested that trading in their stocks be stopped to avoid further losses. That number is now smaller.

Other experts say investors reacted to reports that the International Monetary³ Fund wanted China to reduce its market intervention⁴. Also, Chinese industrial companies reported earnings⁵ that were worse than expected and pork prices rose.

Raymond Yeung is a China economist⁶ at the Australia and New Zealand Banking⁷ Group. He says the main reason for the sharp drop is that Chinese stock markets are not done de-leveraging. De-leveraging means to reduce the amount of money borrowed to pay for investments.

“Because of the high leverage⁸ exposure of the Chinese markets, anything that triggers a decline in such a short time will see some negative spiral effects in such highly leveraged⁹ markets,” Yeung says.

Many investors borrowed money to buy stocks as China’s mainland stock markets rose by about 150 percent over the past year. Borrowing in this way is known as margin¹⁰ lending. But as markets have fallen, many investors could struggle to pay back the loans.

Raymond Yeung says he expects Chinese stock regulators to continue restricting such practices.

China has taken a number of measures to try to make sure the markets do not fall. These include requiring anyone with five percent of shares in a company to hold them for six months.

Lu Suiqi is an associate professor of economics at Peking University. He says regulators will not be able to keep the markets from falling, and they should not try to do so. Mr. Lu says Chinese stocks remain too costly¹¹.

“The government’s rescue measures could curb¹² the slides in a short term, but are powerless in reversing the long-term trend,” he says.

Words in This Story

listed – adj. to be among the companies that are traded on a stock exchange

de-leverage – v. (financial term) to reduce the amount of debt owed

margin lending – n. lending for investment purposes; lending part of the money owed in order to make a stock transaction

regulators – n. government officials who have power to make and enforce rules

curb – v. to limit; to reduce or discourage

trend – n. the general direction in which something is going

1 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

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 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。

4 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。

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 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。

8 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

9 leveraged   

促使…改变( leverage的过去式和过去分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• Chrysler has traditionally been a highly leveraged company. 克莱斯勒一向是一家周转十分灵活的公司。
• Leveraged recaps have become popular for a number of reasons. 杠杆资本重组的大行其道有好几个原因。

10 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

11 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

12 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。