Английский разговорный язык. Практическое пособие по развитию устной речи

8. Тексты для дополнительного чтения (Supplementary Reading)

New Forex Tool for Currency Investors

Investors have been given a new tool for trading in the global currency markets, with the launch of the first standardised foreign exchange indices on Monday.

These new products enable investors to place bets on the value of single currency, such as the dollar, in terms of a trade-weighted basket – instead of being forced to express foreign exchange views in pairs of currencies, such as the movement of the dollar against the euro.

This shift could potentially attract a new group of retail investors into the foreign exchange markets, some investment bankers claim. But it could also facilitate the creation of a new branch of advanced derivatives, since complex structured products are usually created using standardised indices – which have generally been lacking in the foreign exchange sector so far.

The new foreign exchange index, which will be called iBoxxFX, has been created by International Index Company, which is based in Frankfurt and jointly owned by a dozen major investment banks and Deutsche Börse.

Although IIC is not widely known outside the financial sector, it is a major player in the business of running independent market indices, such as the iTraxx index in credit derivatives. «Customers can now trade single currencies or specific macroeconomic blocks. This will facilitate the development of structured products based on indices,» said David Mark, chief executive of IIC.

He added that the development of such indices was particularly «timely» given the current investor attention to the dollar and euro.

The world of foreign exchange has until now lacked any major, well-established indices, in sharp contrast to the equity, credit or commodity sectors. Some investment banks have attempted to develop proprietary indices, but these have never become widespread.

As a result, investors who wanted to express a view on a currency usually had to do so in a way that forced them to make a judgement about two countries, rather than just one.

However, the iBoxxFX indices, which will cover most of the largest currencies, will let investors express a view about a single currency in isolation.

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By Gillian Tett

Слова и выражения:

branch – отрасль, ветвь

commodity – товар

complex – сложный, составной

dozen – дюжина

equity – капитал

euro – евро

facilitate – содействовать

global – глобальный, всемирный

index

( мн. ч . indices ) – индекс

isolation – изоляция

jointly – совместно

lack – терпеть недостаток

launch – стартовать, запускать, внедрять

proprietary – собственный

retail – розничный

sector – сектор

shift – сдвиг

single – единственный

standardise – стандартизировать

tend – иметь тенденцию, стремиться ( к чему-либо )

timely – своевременный

widespread – широко распространенный

place bets – размещать заявки на участие в торгах

in terms of – в терминах

trade-weighted basket – набор товаров и услуг

foreign exchange views – прогнозы и оценки состояния международного валютного рынка

pair of currencies – пара валют ( соотношение которых определяет валютный курс )

advanced derivatives

– современные производные ( от традиционных финансовых инструментов )

International Index Company – Международная компания индексации

investment bank – инвестиционный банк

Deutsche Börse – Германская биржа

so far – к настоящему моменту

credit derivative – кредитная производная

macroeconomic blocks – макроэкономические блоки

well-established indices – хорошо установленные индексы

in sharp contrast – в резком противопоставлении

Argentine Beef Farmers Warn of More Strikes

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Argentines eat more beef than anyone else in the world – more than 60 kilos per head a year – but this move was another attempt by the government to tackle broader problems of ensuring adequate supply in the domestic market and curbing inflation, already aggravated by high international prices of agricultural goods.