VOA慢速英语-Economics Report - Wall Street, Without the Big Inve

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Many financial companies have moved to other New York streets. But Wall Street still holds its place in the language as the capital of American finance.

Now Wall Street is being reshaped by the crisis over mortgage-related securities. The markets are unable to place a value on them. So banks and other investors² are unable to find a buyer except possibly the government.

The aim is to unblock the flow of credit markets now, then sell the securities later, when the housing market improves.

But the new shape of Wall Street will be missing a piece. The credit crisis has ended the age of big investment banks. This week the last two, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, became bank holding companies.

As commercial banks, they can take deposits from the public and borrow from the Federal Reserve at any time. This will help them raise capital. But they will also face closer government supervision³.

Henry Paulson headed Goldman Sachs before he became treasury⁴ secretary in two thousand six.

Morgan Stanley also agreed this week to sell up to twenty percent of itself to Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ. And investor¹ Warren Buffett agreed to buy at least five billion dollars in Goldman stock.

Six months ago, there were five big, independent investment banks. Then, in March, J.P. Morgan Chase bought Bear Stearns in a rescue sale. And this month Merrill Lynch agreed to be sold to Bank of America.

The government provided loans to aid the sale of Bear Stearns. But officials decided⁵ to let Lehman Brothers, a one hundred fifty-eight year old investment bank, fail. Last week the British bank Barclay's purchased much of Lehman in bankruptcy⁶ court.

Investment banks raise money for companies through offerings of stocks and bonds. They also sell and trade securities and provide other services.

The banks could borrow huge amounts against relatively⁷ little capital. And they created ever more complex securities.

The Glass-Steagall Act of nineteen thirty-three barred commercial banks from owning investment banks. Morgan Stanley split from J.P. Morgan as a result of Glass-Steagall.

Congress passed the law to reduce risk to deposits following the stock market crash of nineteen twenty-nine. But Congress ended Glass-Steagall in nineteen ninety-nine. Now, commercial and investment banks are together again, much as they were before nineteen thirty-three.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

1 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

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 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。