Investors started a wave of frenetic share selling, sending the Hang Seng Index plunging 201 points. One broker said, ”It was as near panic as I’ve seen in 20 years”
A. These words are used to talk about prices
| GOING UP | GOING DOWN |
| advance | decline |
| climb | drop |
| increase | fall |
| rise | retreat |
| gain ground | slide |
| hike | head south |
| lose ground |
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
SmithKline Beecham, a big British drugs firm, has just announced its third-quarter results. The price of its shares increased by 2.5% in London; on Wall Street by 6%.
A predicted slowdown in the personal computer industry led to broad selling in a variety of technology shares. Compaq Computer dropped 2 to 881/2 and Microsoft fell 31/4 to 52.
A slump in bank lending caused by sliding shares in Tokyo could feed quickly into other economies.
Shares lost ground again yesterday with the constituent FT-SE share index closing 23 points down at 2,036.2.
Capital Holdings stock returns are not directly correlated with market returns. Sometimes Capital will head south while the market goes north, or vice versa.
The share price may be such that it would be more sensible to achieve an increase in share price before an issue of shares.
Howard Klein said the fall in the Airtours share price raises serious concerns as to the underlying value of the shares.
B. These words are used to talk about prices when they
| RISE BY A SMALL OR | FALL MODERATE AMOUNT |
| edge ahead | dip |
| edge higher | drift (lower) |
| edge up | ease |
| firm | edge down (lower) |
| slip(lower) |
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
Wall Street edged up 0.4% and London 0.2%.
Stocks and bonds edged lower as trading activity remained sluggish.
Some analysts attribute the downward drift of bond prices to the continuing difficulty the market is having absorbing the glut of new supply.
A further rally in Euro Disney saw the shares touch 1575p, an advance of 20p.
C. These words are used to talk about prices when they
| RISE BY LARGER AMOUNTS OR | FALL BY LARGE AMOUNTS |
| INCREASE QUICKLY OR SHARPLY | dive |
| jump | nosedive |
| leap | plunge |
| roar ahead(up) | plummet |
| rocket | tumble |
| shoot ahead(up) | FALL BY VERY LARGE AMOUNTS |
| skyrocket | VERY QUICKLY |
| soar | collapse, crash |
| surge/ahead/ | crumble, slump |
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
Pioneer’s share price took a dive last month when rumours circulated that one of its subsidiaries was heading for bankruptcy.
Nicoli insists that last week’s good results and accompanying hike in the share price should prove to the skeptics that the company is already on track.
Analysts are hoping that a revival in the economy will lead to a dramatic fall in provisions for bad and doubtful debts among the banks. Barclays led the way with a leap of 45p to 336p as 25 million shares changed hands.
Euro Disney shares leapt 40p to 790p on news that the chairman, Robert Fitzpatrick, would be handing over to Phillipe Bourgignon in April. Brokers argued that the Frenchman would do a better job in his own country than in America.
Turner Broadcasting is moving to act while the company is hot. Its Class A stock has skyrocketed in the past year, from a low of $7.50 a share to a close of $53.865 a share in trading Friday.
While shares in foreign oil firms have been falling, shares in American oil and gas production companies have surged ahead.
Investors started a wave of frenetic share selling, sending the Hang Seng Index plunging 201 points. One broker said, ”It was as near panic as I’ve seen in 20 years”.
Grand Met, the drinks and food group, tumbled 34p to 378p, after issuing a warning that pre-tax profits will be virtually in line with last year’s 950 million pounds sterling.
There seem to be few areas of the world where Brent’s operations were not under pressure, and the news sent the group’s share price crashing 30p lower to 99p.
TEXTS TO TRANSLATE:
1. Markets Watch
The U.S.-Japanese trade row let the yen rise by almost 4% against the dollar. Unstabilities in many other markets helped the Swiss franc to gain strength. Except for the Slovenian tolar all other Eastern European currencies as well as the Russian rouble are still losing ground against the greenback.
A look at performances of the stock markets shows that the emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe are still going strong. If the rise of the yen had not helped the Nikkei to gain 9.3% in dollar terms, the Polish stock market would have made it to become “market of the month”.
2. Industrial Output Tumbles In Japan
Japan’s industrial output plummeted in May by 8.7% compared to a year ago, the most severe year-on-year decline since 1975, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said yesterday.
However, it was insufficient to encourage any drop in the high levels of inventories, which rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% during the month compared to April. Inventories were 5.5% higher than a year ago.
Shipments declined by 1.4%, month-to-month, indicating that final demand is still declining.
The rise in inventories suggests industrial output will decline further in the months ahead as manufacturers cut production to clear the overhang of unsold goods. Yesterday’s figures also bring into question the timing of an expected recovery, which the government expects to come in the autumn.
Sales at large-scale stores in Japan rose by 0.3% in May, compared to a year ago, Miti said. However, the increases were concentrated in supermarkets, while department store sales declined by 0.7%. The declines reflected consumer preferences for cheaper goods