VOA标准英语10月-US Stocks Plunge in Volatile Trading Thursday

Financial markets remain under immense selling pressure as the Dow Jones Industrials fell Thursday by another seven percent, or 675 points, to a five year low of 8,579. VOA's Barry Wood has more.
　

Traders David O'Day, center, and Steve Schnibbe, right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange 9 Oct. 2008

Most of the selling came late in the day during a session that saw considerable volatility¹. The Dow Jones Industrials closed at their lowest level since August 2003. The closely-watched average has now fallen 37 percent, or more than 5,000 points from its all-time high exactly one year ago.

"We don't want fear to drive the markets. And we're getting to that point where sentiment is a very key factor," said David Gertz, a trader at High Mark Funds.

Scott Nations at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange says markets are disappointed that it will be several weeks before the government is able to use the $700 billion set aside for buying up distressed² assets. "The $700 billion intervention³ may be exactly the right move. But if it takes 45 days for that money to get into the system, then we're really stuck for those 45 days," he said.

Both Nations and Gertz spoke⁴ on Bloomberg Television.

It was the seventh consecutive⁵ daily loss on the New York Stock Exchange. Oil was steady at $86 a barrel and gold was down $20 to $886 an ounce.

On Friday finance ministers from the seven richest industrial nations hold a previously⁶ scheduled meeting at the U.S. Treasury⁷. That gathering⁸ is taking on added urgency as the credit crisis that began in the United States 14 months ago has spread to Europe and around the world. World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who will attend portions of the meeting, says finance officials will be discussing ways to unfreeze the markets so that normal lending can resume.

"What you saw with some of these financial institutions, even if they had a good capital based, they didn't have the liquidity⁹ to be able to respond promptly¹⁰ to people wanting to take money out of the system," he said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also plans to convene¹¹ a special meeting on Saturday of finance ministers and central bank chiefs from 20 industrial and developing countries.

1 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

2 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 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。

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

9 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

10 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

11 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。