VOA标准英语10月-US Stocks Decline After Bailout Passage

Volatile¹ trading on U.S. financial markets ended in losses on Wall Street, after President George Bush signed a massive rescue plan for U.S. economy. From Washington, VOA's Kent Klein has more on that and Friday's other economic developments.
　

Trader David O'Day works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell, 3 Oct. 2008

U.S. stock markets surged early Friday, in anticipation² that the House of Representatives would pass a revised financial bailout plan. But after the bill passed and President Bush signed it, prices dropped. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Friday down 157 points, or 1.5 percent. The NASDAQ also lost 1.5 percent, and the S&P 500 slid 1.4 percent.

European stock markets finished higher on Friday, but markets in Asia were down.

London's Financial Times index was up two-and-a-quarter percent, the CAC 40 in Paris gained three percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt advanced 2.4 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei index lost two percent, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng fell nearly three percent. The dollar was lower against the Japanese yen³ but gained against the euro.

Asia's central banks have invested billions of dollars in credit markets since the U.S. financial crisis started to spread in September.

The secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Supachai Panitchpakdi, said Friday the rescue plan is only a first step towards major reform of the U.S. financial system.

"This is just to prevent the crisis from deepening - it doesn't mean that we've already succeeded in tackling the basic issues," he said. "So there needs to be a rethinking of the way that financial institutions have been managed and have been regulated in the United States and I think throughout the world."

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 263-to-171 to approve more than $700 billion in government spending to help stabilize⁴ the financial markets. Some lawmakers, like Democrat⁵ Barbara Lee of California, had voted against the bailout on Monday, but agreed to pass the enhanced legislation on Friday.

"We will not magically turn the economy around, reverse the rise in unemployment, or end this recession which we are in now," she said. "We must be honest about that. But I must err⁶ on the side of caution, so our seniors can have some confidence that their pensions are safe. And I hope that we will be able to help prevent this financial crisis from exacting⁷ an even bigger toll⁸ on the everyday lives of our constituents⁹."

Others, like Republican Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, remained unconvinced.

"Taxpayers¹⁰ for generations will pay for our haste, and there is no guarantee that they will ever see the benefits," she said. "We should not reward bad behavior. Wall Street will not have to learn its lesson, and we are not doing anything to keep them from running our economy into the ground again."

Almost all members of the House will be up for re-election in about a month, and mail, e-mail and telephone calls to their offices showed overwhelming opposition¹¹ to the bailout.

President Bush signed the bill shortly after the vote. He thanked lawmakers from both parties for their support, and said the bill's passage sends a strong signal to markets around the world.

"We have shown the world that the United States of America will stabilize our financial markets and maintain a leading role in the global economy," he said.

One factor in Friday's losses on Wall Street was news from the U.S. Labor¹² Department that the country lost 159,000 jobs in September. It was the biggest job loss in more than five years. The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 6.1 percent, largely because hundreds of thousands of people were leaving the workforce¹³. The reduction in payrolls¹⁴ was much sharper than economists¹⁶ were predicting, and this was the ninth straight month that the country has lost jobs.

Stuart Hoffman, an economist¹⁵ with PNC Financial, says the job losses are a bad sign for the U.S. economy.

"This is a sign that the American worker is hurting," he said. "They are losing jobs, and the economy's recession, which we believe it has been in for a while, is getting worse, not better."

Meanwhile, two big U.S. banks are battling to take over the troubled bank Wachovia. Wells Fargo signed a $15 billion agreement Friday to buy the institution without government assistance. However, under a deal announced Monday, Citigroup would acquire Wachovia with the help of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insisted Friday that the earlier agreement go forward.

Nancy Atkinson, senior analyst¹⁷ with the Itay Group, says Wells Fargo made Wachovia a better deal.

"Wells Fargo's financial standing¹⁸ is more secure than Citigroup's right now, and they are acquiring all of Wachovia, whereas Citi was excluding AG Edwards and Evergreen," she said.

The Federal Reserve says it has not yet had time to review the proposed sale to Wells Fargo.

1 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。

2 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

3 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

4 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

7 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

13 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

14 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

15 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。

16 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。