Английский язык для экономистов - Малюга Е.Н.
ISBN 5-469-00341-8
Скачать (прямая ссылка):
None of this will surprise those developing countries that have grown used to seeing the gap between rich-country rhetoric and practice. A commitment to free trade is always much easier to reaffirm than to implement; and pledges seem easier to sign than cheques. But this failure to deliver sits oddly with the belief, which hardened after September 2001, that helping 136
Английский ЯЗЫК ДЛЯ экономистов
all countries to participate in the global economy was the best way to prevent "failed" states.
K.2. In groups answer the questions and make a list of the following.
1. What countries most urgently need help of the world community?
2. What are the most urgent problems?
3. What means can be used to help solve these problems?
4. What role can World Bank and IMF play in this?
Now present your ideas to the other groups. When you have finished your presentations, compare your ideas and decide which will be the best and why.
K.3. Write a proposal stating your ideas to the World Bank. Unit 8
Financial Markets and Investments
A. Preliminary discussion
1. What types of financial markets do exist?
2. What is the difference between capital and money markets?
3. What is investment and what two main forms does it take?
4. Give an example of securities market.
5. What is the purpose of a futures market?
B, Pre-reading exercises
B.l. Skim the text and give its key idea.
B.2. Scan the text for the following information.
1. Characterize in general the state of America's financial markets.
2. What is the clearest indicator of the markets state?
3. Is the risk of default on corporate bonds large?
4. How does market volatility effect investing?
C Reading
C.l. Read the text and answer the questions.
1. Why does the author compare investing with a manic depressive market?
2. What are the markets usually influenced by?
3. Analyze the situation with the government bonds and corporate bonds.
4. Give the general characteristic of the financial markets of America. 138
Английский ЯЗЫК ДЛЯ экономистов
America's Financial Markets
iiThe Economist"
Messages of Hope?
Investing, said the father of security analysis, Benjamin Graham, is like being in business with a Mr. Market, a manic depressive whose mood swings sharply between fear and enthusiasm. Sometimes Mr. Market's price is wildly above (or wildly below) any intrinsic value, and this is when the investor should sell (or buy). The trick is to work out when his mood is reasonable, and when it is unhinged.
Wartime has made Mr. Market more volatile than usual, with initial despair about the economic outlook after September 1 Ith giving way more recently to euphoria, to judge by the prices of some financial assets. As Wall Streeters headed off for Thanksgiving, financial markets seemed to be looking ahead to an early economic recovery in America.
Although they have dipped this week, share prices are still up sharply from their recent lows on September 21st. A rally of this speed and size (with prices up by about one-fifth) is unusual this early in a recession. Since 1932, Bianco Research has found seven similar-sized rallies of the S&P 500 index during a recession. And on each occasion, the rally preceded the end of the recession by an average of three-and-a-half months. Moreover, such stock-market rallies have usually continued into the following quarter, with share prices gaining on average a further 22 %. "Bluntly, the rally signals the market's belief that the recession is over," says Jim Bianco, the firm's boss.
The prices of government bonds, of all maturities, have been falling since early November. In the week of November 12th falling prices pushed up the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds by 39 basis points (hundredths of a
percentage point) — the biggest weekly rise since 1987. In the same week, the yield on ten-year Treasuries saw the biggest weekly increase since 1982. After an attempted rally ran out of steam this week, Treasury-bond prices resumed their fall, and yields — their rise. Plenty of commentators say this reflects expectations of stronger growth before long — and thus of higher inflation.
Corporate bonds with an investment grade tell a similar story, with yields ri- Unit 8. Financial Markets and Investments
139
sing over the past couple of weeks. Because the risk of default on these bonds is small, their prices are driven by the same economic forces as government bonds. The yields on junk bonds, on the other hand, are much more sensitive to the risk of default, which typically declines as the economic outlook improves. Yields on junk bonds have fallen over the past two weeks, and the gap in yields between investment-grade bonds and junk has narrowed, from 688 basis points to 600.
Commodity prices are sending mixed signals. Oil prices have fallen by one-third since September 11th, and do not appear to have hit bottom. Falling oil prices usually point to economic weakness. However, the fall in prices may be driven mostly by expectations of increased supply, especially from Russia, rather than of falling demand. Other commodity prices are behaving as one might expect if economic activity were turning up. The Economist's commodity price index is up by 5 % from its low on October 23rd, almost back to where it was before the terrorist attacks. Copper — known as the metal with a PhD in economics, because of its usefulness as a leading indicator — is up by 12 % in the past weeks, and is now higher than it was September 11th.
