VOA标准英语10月-World Stocks Down Again; US Retail Sales Drop

Stock prices were down again Wednesday, on Wall Street and in Europe and Asia. As VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington, investors¹ seem to doubt that plans to help troubled financial institutions will be enough to fight off a deep recession.
　

Pedestrians2 take a look at stock indicators3 in Tokyo, 15 Oct 2008

Wall Street followed Europe and most Asian exchanges in losing ground on Wednesday. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 300 points, or three percent, early in the day. London's FTSE 100 index, the DAX in Frankfurt and the CAC 40 in Paris were all down more than five percent in afternoon trading.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index gained 100 points, or more than one percent, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped almost five percent (835 points).

A report that U.S. retail⁴ sales plunged⁵ in September accented global concerns that the United States is either moving toward a recession or already in one. The Commerce Department said Wednesday retail sales dropped by 1.2 percent last month. It was the biggest decline in three years, and almost double what experts were expecting. Consumer spending is two-thirds of the total U.S. economic activity.

Another report showed that U.S. wholesale⁶ prices dropped for the second straight month, led by retreating energy costs. But aside from energy and food, all other wholesale prices had their biggest annual increase in more than 17 years.
　

President Bush remarks on the economy as he meets with his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House, 15 Oct 2008

U.S. President George Bush says he believes the nation's economy will rebound⁷. As the president met with his Cabinet Wednesday to discuss the financial crisis, he said his administration has taken bold actions to strengthen financial institutions.

"These are extraordinary measures, no question about it," he said. "But they are well thought out, they are necessary and I am confident in the long run this economy will come back."

On Tuesday, Mr. Bush announced plans for the government to buy $250 billion in stock in private banks, in hopes of getting credit flowing again.

Meanwhile, the European Union is holding a summit in Brussels, focused on the financial crisis. EU officials want to increase the amount of money protected by insurance, among other initiatives. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the world's financial institutions need major changes.
　

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, (r), addresses the media together with Britain's PM Gordon Brown in Brussels, 15 Oct. 2008

"To build confidence about the future, which is essential for every saver and every depositor and every business, we have to show that we are dealing⁸ with the problems that caused the events of the last few months in the first place," he said.

In other business news, U.S. antitrust regulators have approved Bank of America's $35 billion purchase of Merrill Lynch. The deal combines the largest U.S. bank by deposits with the world's largest brokerage. The acquisition must still be approved by the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve.

Also, J.P. Morgan Chase's profit plunged by 84 percent in the third quarter, due largely to bad mortgage investments, leveraged⁹ loans and home loans. Still, profits at the New York-based bank were higher than expected.

And one big U.S.-based company has some good news. Coca-Cola reports its third-quarter profits were up 14 percent. Sales in emerging markets offset¹⁰ weakness in North America.

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 pedestrians   

n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

6 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

7 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

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 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。