投资者寻求避险:黄金、石油价格上涨

Gold, Oil Prices Up as Investors¹ Seek Safe Haven 投资者寻求避险:黄金、石油价格上涨

NEW YORK—

The up-and-down prices of oil and gold mirror the unsettled world situation, and both reflect the economic squeeze most nations currently face.  

Analysts² are talking about the oil crash being over, with prices stabilizing³ in the mid-$30-a-barrel range — from a recent low of $26 — despite record supply levels. That's a 30 percent increase in the past two weeks.

The jump in the price per barrel has given rise to predictions that oil has bottomed out. Meanwhile, 413 oil rigs have been shut down in the United States because of an oil glut⁴ — with thousands of jobs lost.

"The supply and demand picture for oil is such that there's such a big glut over supply on a daily basis from the production side that, even if the demand side picks up marginally, we're still not going to eat up that for quite some time,” said commodities trader Eric Zuccarelli.

And gold, according to Zuccarelli, has inched up because of interest rates in the United States and around the world.

Interest rates and gold have an inverse⁵ relationship. Generally, rising interest rates are bad for gold prices, while decreasing rates are good. In a zero-to-negative interest rate environment, gold prices usually benefit. The Japanese and European Central banks currently have negative interest rates.

"We did see a very sharp move over a two-and-one-half-year period down to about 10.50 [$1,050 per ounce of gold] on the gold,” Zuccarelli said, “at which point the [Federal Reserve] finally began to raise interest rates for the first time since the world economy crashed. … As a consequence, the gold found some footing and reversed its downside and has rallied up to 12.50 [$1,250 per ounce of gold]."

As primarily a metals trader, Zuccarelli said commodities are in a waiting game.

"A lot of the industrial metals are stuck in much of the same world as oil, waiting for a true demand picture to come and sop⁶ up some of that excess supply,” he said. “So, whether it's copper⁷ — which I trade on a daily basis — which has put in pretty much of a bottom under $2, or some of the industrial metals — whether it's zinc⁸, lead, tin, nickel, steel — most of the industrial complex is starting to find support, but not necessarily ready for the rallies that we've seen in the past."

There are still questions about how far the price of gold will move, but in recent weeks it has been a good investment. However, like oil, the length of gold's rally is hard to predict.

1 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

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

4 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

5 inverse   

adj.相反的，倒转的，反转的；n.相反之物；v.倒转

参考例句：

• Evil is the inverse of good.恶是善的反面。
• When the direct approach failed he tried the inverse.当直接方法失败时，他尝试相反的做法。

6 sop   

n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿

参考例句：

• I used a mop to sop up the spilled water.我用拖把把泼出的水擦干。
• The playground was a mere sop.操场很湿。

7 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

8 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。